Preserving Fruits and Vegetables: Freezing and Drying

Two Easy Ways to Preserve the Harvest: Freezing and Drying

It's that time of the year again: the garden is producing beyond your wildest dreams, more than enough to eat fresh and to have some left over. Two ways to preserve those garden riches are freezing and drying.

Freezing

Freezing is a great option for many fruits and vegetables, especially if you can pick them at the peak of flavor: in a home garden, this should be easy enough. For vegetables, I cut them up, as necessary, blanch them, and then lay them out on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once the vegetable pieces are frozen, I transfer them to freezer bags. Colorado State University offers an excellent guide in choosing the best vegetables for freezing.

I treat fruit similarly, when I dry pack them, except for the blanching: instead, for those that are prone to browning, I dip them in lemon juice before placing them on the cookie sheet. Another option is the syrup pack or sugar pack, depending on the fruit. For a more extensive guide in freezing various types of fruit, it's hard to beat the National Center for Home Food Preservation's document Preserving Food: Freezing Fruit.

By Tiefkuehlfan (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Drying

Another easy option for preserving fruits and vegetables (as well as herbs and seeds) is drying. This method needs no refrigeration and is especially handy in preparation for the aftermath of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane or tornado, or in preparation for a zombie apocalypse.

While I am a fan of my Nesco dehydrator, other variations exist. sun drying is possible for many fruits, especially if you are blessed to live in an area with plenty of sun and low humidity. Oven drying is another option for most fruits and vegetables. For additional tips in drying fruits and vegetables, be sure to consult the Virginia Cooperative Extension's page Using Dehydration to Preserve Fruits, Vegetables, and Meats.


Do you have any favorite practices when it comes to freezing or drying produce? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. Bon appetit!