Harvest is one of the best times in the garden. I mean, from November through April, my Florida garden is in full bloom–a veritable smorgasbord of salad fixings and root crop delights. However, if you’re like me, your eyes are “bigger” than your “belly” yielding more from your garden beds than can fit on your food plate. (Some problem, right?) 

No worries! With a little bit of know-how, you can preserve your crops until you’re ready to eat them. 

Refrigeration

Many crops can be stored in a cool place like a basement, garage, or in the refrigerator for weeks/months and still taste freshly-picked. This includes winter squash, onions, beets, carrots, turnips, and more. As a salad lover, I store lettuce in the refrigerator keeping it fresh and delectable for up to a week. 

Canning

Canning will store your produce for up to a year and involves heating jars in boiling water for a specified amount of time to kill bacteria and create a vacuum seal. Properly canned foods are shelf stable and don’t have to be stored in the refrigerator until opened. We prepare our Hungarian Wax Peppers using the water bath canning method. It requires less equipment, but is only suitable for acidic foods such as salsas, jams, and pickled vegetables. Pressure canning uses a pressure cooker, but can safely kill bacteria in less acidic vegetables. Check out this guide to canning if you want to learn more about the process.

Freezing

Freezing is another quick method to preserve your harvest. Fully raw, frozen vegetables like tomatoes do not thaw well, so before you freeze them, you will need to “blanch” them first. “Blanching” means to submerge your produce in boiling water for a few minutes and then dunk them in an ice bath to retain their color and nutrients. 

Vegetables like green peppers and onions can be chopped, then frozen. Simply place in a tightly sealed bag and label for later use.

Quick Pickling

Pickled vegetables have a higher acidity and are suitable for water bath canning. Short on time? Quick pickling provides the same salt and vinegar flavor, but needs to be refrigerated and eaten sooner. Here is a quick recipe that you can use for a variety of vegetables from your Learning Garden.

Dehydrating

Having dehydrator is convenient and helpful, but not necessary to dehydrate foods. If you do not have a dehydrator, you can place your thinly sliced vegetables of choice on a lined sheet pan in the oven at 200°F until they are dried out – usually 4-6 hours. We use this method to create our Sun-Dried Tomatoes. The dehydrated vegetables will plump back up when you add them to a dish with liquid.  It’s also the first step in producing our Dried Carolina Reaper Pepper. Peppers can also be preserved by stringing them together with a needle and thread and hanging until dried.

Fermenting

Fermentation was one of the earliest forms of food preservation, and only requires a few ingredients. It is important to submerge the vegetables in a salty brine and avoid contact with the air to prevent spoilage. Here is a fermentation guide to get you started.

Now you too can grow more produce than you’ll eat in a few months. And why not? Gardening is WAY fun!