- Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Storage
- Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Freezing
- Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Drying
- Preserving Fruit and Vegetables: Preserving and Canning
- Preserving fruit and vegetables: Pickling
- Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Fermenting
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The harvest was good - but what to do with all the vegetables? We explain how to dry, freeze, can, or otherwise preserve your harvest.
It's harvest time again and suddenly you're inundated with delicious vegetables and sweet fruits. It could be so nice, after all there is nothing better than tasting your own harvest. Unfortunately, in the good years, you can hardly keep up with eating and processing. When even friends and relatives can no longer see the vegetables from your own garden, it's time for an emergency plan: just conserve your vegetables for the winter. Whether traditionally canned, dried or frozen - there are many different ways of preserving your vegetables and stocking them up for the time after the harvest. Here you can find out what options there are for preserving fruit and vegetables and which types of vegetables they are best suited for.
Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Storage
Simple but effective - some vegetables don't need any treatment and can simply be stored over the winter. Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) and various types of cabbage in particular can be stored for months without any problems, but robust apple varieties such as the "Boskop" can also remain fresh beyond Christmas if stored properly. A suitable place is particularly important for storage: it should be as dark as possible and have a constant temperature between 5 and 10 °C. Humidity of around 80% is also important, otherwise the vegetables quickly lose moisture. Already when storing, you should make sure that no bad and moldy vegetables are stored, because the mold can quickly spread to the other vegetables. Even leftover leaves or grass have no place in storage. In addition, vegetables and fruit should not be stored in the same room - fruit gives off ethylene gas, which causes vegetables to ripen and become soft and inedible over time.
Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Freezing
Even if freezing is probably one of the most modern methods ofheard about preserving vegetables, it has also become one of the most popular. The reasons for this are obvious: not only is freezing probably the easiest way to preserve fruit and vegetables, it is also the gentlest. Almost all ingredients, including the sensitive vitamins, but also the taste are retained if fruit and vegetables are frozen shortly after harvest.
Before freezing, you should wash and trim all fruit thoroughly. For larger vegetables, it is also advisable to chop them up. Firm vegetables or those with a low water content freeze better when blanched. Before packing, you should dry the fruit and vegetables well and then pack them in small portions. Make sure that there is as little air as possible in the bags and containers, as this destroys the vitamin C. Vacuum sealing in plastic bags is therefore ideal for freezing. Once frozen, fruits and vegetables can last for months (if not years). Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes), peas (Pisum sativum), various beans, corn (Zea mays), carrots and all berries can be frozen without any problems. Potatoes, radishes (Raphanus sativus subsp. sativus) and green salads are not suitable for this.
Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Drying
While freezing is arguably the newest way of preserving vegetables and fruit, drying is arguably the oldest. But what used to be done by sun and air is now not only faster, but also easier in the oven or in the dehydrator. During drying, the water is removed from the fruit or vegetables so that they cannot rot or become moldy - the dried end result can therefore often be kept for years. The problem with this method, however, is that the vitamins in particular can be destroyed by excessive heat. In order to prevent this, fruit and vegetables should be dried evenly at the lowest possible temperature: a temperature between 45 and 60 °C over a period of 36 hours has proven successful.
The best-known types of dried fruit and vegetables are probably apple rings and dried tomatoes. But other types of vegetables can also be dried wonderfully: peppers (Capsicum), leeks (Allium ampeloprasum subsp. ampeloprasum),Mushrooms and carrots can be dried just as well as pears (Pyrus), plums (Prunus domestica) or apricots (Prunus armeniaca). Our tip: Ground dried leftover vegetables to make a great homemade vegetable broth.
Preserving Fruit and Vegetables: Preserving and Canning
The classic among the preservation methods: everyone probably remembers boiled or canned fruit and vegetables from their childhood. Both methods are based on the same principle, namely using the heat to kill germs and at the same time creating a negative pressure in the glass, which prevents new air (and therefore oxygen) from entering. In this way, fruit and vegetables can be kept for at least a year. The difference between canning and preserving is minimal.
When preserving, fruit or vegetables are put directly into the glass with the liquid and heated in a closed pot in a water bath at 75 to 100 °C. When preserving, on the other hand, the ingredients are first boiled and then placed hot in the glass. In order to create a vacuum inside the glass, the glasses are then turned upside down. In fact, almost any fruit or vegetable can be preserved. However, since fruit and vegetables are exposed to great heat when they are boiled and canned, the consistency and important ingredients are often lost. That's why many prefer to canning already processed vegetables - like tomato sauce or jam - rather than the individual blanched vegetables.
Preserving fruit and vegetables: Pickling
When it comes to pickling, most people probably first think of the famous pickles. No wonder - after all, preservation in vinegar is probably the most well-known form of pickling. The vegetables (raw or blanched, depending on the recipe) are layered in jars with the appropriate spices, completely covered with a broth of vinegar, water and sugar, and the sealed jars are sterilized in a water bath for half an hour. The acidity of the vinegar now prevents microorganisms from being able to spread, but at the same time it also attacks other materials - so only use glasses and no crockery made of aluminum, copper or similar materials when storing. But not only cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) can be pickled in this way: Almost all waxy vegetables such as pumpkin (Curcurbita), beans or cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. bortytis), but also mushrooms and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) can be preserved very well in this way preserve. Also fruits like apples (Malus),Pears or plums make a good vinegar fruit and impress with their sweet and sour taste.
If the vinegar is too acidic for you, you can preserve your fruit in other ways. Alcohol also inhibits the growth of microorganisms and thus ensures that fruit preserved in it does not spoil. Notorious for this type of pickling is above all the rum pot with various fruits, but also individual types of fruit - including peaches (Prunus persica), plums, but also rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) and figs (Ficus carica) - taste excellent when pickled. However, pay attention to the choice of alcohol: Only high-proof schnapps such as rum, cognac or vodka are suitable for pickling, because too little alcohol can lead to the fruit still fermenting - if the alcohol content is too high, the fruit will become hard.
Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Fermenting
Ferment? Most people associate this word with going bad and not with preserving food. This form of preservation has therefore been forgotten, especially in the last few decades, but recently fermentation has been rediscovered by upscale gastronomy and top chefs and has since been celebrating its return to kitchens. Rightly so: Not only are fermented foods incredibly tasty, they are also very he althy. They contain natural enzymes and lactic acid bacteria that are supposed to support the intestines and the immune system. The lactic acid bacteria develop during fermentation. To preserve the vegetables, they are first grated finely, rubbed with s alt, placed in a glass and stirred until a brine has formed from their own juice.
Then the whole thing is sealed airtight and left to stand at room temperature - the rule is: the longer the vegetables ferment, the stronger the taste. Once it has reached the desired taste, it can be stored in the refrigerator. The classic fermentation method is probably sauerkraut, but many other types of vegetables can be pickled using this principle. Carrots, beetroot (Beta vulgaris) or radish (Raphanus) in particular taste particularly good when fermented. The Asian dish kimchi, which is also based on the principle of fermentation, has even become a real gourmet tip.