Ways to preserve your harvest

Ways to preserve your harvest…

It’s easy to get carried away sowing all the seeds and planting all the trees and plants, but what happens if it all actually works?  If you end up with hundreds of courgettes (which is so easily done) or you have a bumper crop of figs, apples, or herbs?

If you have animals, chickens, pigs, goats etc many things can be fed to them, but if not, you might want to consider how you are going to preserve everything.

Firstly, you’ll need somewhere cool (not damp) dark and animal/insect free to store things like potatoes.  I recommend hanging them in nets from the ceiling of a cellar (and moving them out of the cellar once it starts to get damp in the autumn) sweet pots will keep for 6mths and butternut squash for over a year like this.  You can store them in other ways, like in sand/straw pits in the ground but I assure you the rodents will eat the lot here!

So, other than the above here’s some of my favourite ways to preserve food…

Freezing – This usually only gives you 1-3 months, but it’s helpful if you don’t have enough time that week to preserve the harvest or you don’t quite have enough to make it worth preserving yet.  I have known friends though to loss their whole harvest as their electric went off and so did their chest freezers!

Water Bath Canning – This is for acidic foods only (chutneys, marmalades, jams, tomato soups/sauces and anything with A LOT of vinegar &/or lemon juice in, and will keep for 1-2 yrs.  You will see people using this method for non-acidic foods, but you are leaving yourself open to botulism etc.  Water bath canning can be done in a special machine or just in a large pan of hot water.

Pressure Canning – This technique is to can all foods, acidic or non-acidic and allows foods to be stored for 3-5yrs.  There are no chances of botulism done proper and if the seal on your can is not broken.  You need a special pressure canner for this, usually ordered from the States (pressure cookers are not advised for this).

Dehydrating – This is a great way to store fruits and veg, by removing the moisture from them.  It can take a long time (24hrs or more sometimes) to do this, however you can then just throw the food in a jar and leave it for a year or more.  You can make things like fruit leathers also which is a great way to make healthier snacks for kids from surplus fruit.  As long as you use the lower temp settings, you’ll retain most of the nutritional value of the food.  You can make your own outdoor dehydrators that work wonders here in Portugal in the summer months.  Or use the back shelf of your car then also?

Freeze-drier – This is on my wish list!  I haven’t used one myself yet but hope to have my own soon.  They are expensive; however, they will store food for 20+ yrs.  You can freeze dry whole meals (soups, stews, eggs, pretty much anything) and then pop them in a jar and rehydrate them with water many years down the line.  They loss very little nutrients this way also, in fact this is the longest lasting and most nutrient way to preserve food there is.  Amazing for any budding preppers!

Fermenting – You can ferment almost anything in one way or another.  It makes foods more nutrient dense and full of probiotics.  Things like fruit won’t keep for very long fermented, but sauerkrauts and kimchi’s will keep from 1 mth to several years, and things like miso will keep for even longer.  There is no chance of botulisms with these items either due to their acidy.  You do want to keep them cool though!

Then of course you can make tinctures, infusions, oxymels and many other things if you are using medicinal herbs/veg etc.  Maybe I’ll write about those options in another post though?