Blog

Garden-to-Table Meals: Savor the Bounty, Right Now!

There’s nothing like the simplicity of meals made from just-picked produce straight from the garden. Pick, chop, and enjoy. Bruschetta on a fresh baguette, caprese salad, BLTs, spicy salsa with salty chips for an afternoon snack…eating never gets easier or tastier than with just-harvested produce.

Or, if you prefer, fire up the grill and roast kebabs and sweet corn. Fire-roasted tomatoes and peppers add a smoky, savory flavor to pasta and pizza, so skewer some of these yummy fruits, brush with a bit of olive oil, and add healthy flavor to your favorite recipes.

But while you’re doing your best to enjoy daily harvests from the garden, sometimes you just can’t keep up.

What’s a gardener to do if the produce outpaces the dinner demand? Celebrate, of course! Congratulations! You’ve created a fabulous, prolific garden.

And lucky you—with a little effort, you’ll enjoy summery goodness even during dark, cold winter days.

Here’s how to extend the season for year-long garden-to-table meals by preserving your produce…

1. Freeze Your Garden Harvest

2. Dry Your Garden Harvest

3. Pickle the Produce

4. Can Your Harvest

5. Share the Bounty

1. Freeze Your Garden Harvest

If you’re looking for a simple solution to preserve your homegrown harvests, you can’t beat freezing. Frozen veggies, fruit, and herbs retain their fantastic flavors long after the garden is tucked in for a winter’s rest. Plus, freezing keeps your produce looking good and tasting great: it’s the best option for preserving the food’s quality, color, and even nutrients. And it’s a fast, easy way to save your harvest without expensive equipment.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Containers or freezer bags.
• Permanent marker for labeling bags. (Make sure to add the date.)
• Ice cube trays. (Ideal for freezing herbs in water or olive oil, or for freezing individual portions, like pesto or tomato paste, to add directly to a recipe.)
• Large pot filled with boiling water and a large bowl, plus ice water for blanching.
• Large, slotted spoon or tongs, depending on the produce.

Start with the freshest produce. Because peak ripeness lasts about 6 to 12 hours after harvest, try to freeze produce within the window. Rinse and dry the items before freezing.

Does your garden produce need to be blanched before freezing?

Blanching is the process of submerging vegetables in hot water for a brief period, then plunging them into ice water to stop the cooking process. Blanching helps halt the enzymes that cause decay, plus it slows vitamin loss and preserves the food’s color. Most vegetables and some herbs require blanching, but the amount of time the produce needs to cook varies. You can find detailed information on the time needed for each type of food on the University of Georgia’s National Center for Home Food Preservation website.

It’s important to follow all food preservation instructions carefully.

Food that is not blanched properly before freezing may begin to decay or may not retain its fresh flavor and color. Keep your harvest looking and tasting great—and yourself healthy—by following instructions for each type of vegetable, fruit, and herb you preserve from the garden.

What are some garden harvest produce that doesn’t need blanching?

Tomatoes, peppers, and onions don’t require blanching. Likewise, fruit such as strawberries and blueberries can be washed and frozen immediately. (Pat dry before freezing.) Freeze tomatoes with skins on. (When you’re ready to use them, remove tomatoes from the freezer, and the skins will slip off easily as they thaw. So much easier than peeling them by hand!)

If there’s a recipe you make often, portion the produce into the exact amount you need. For instance, if you often make blueberry muffins and the recipe calls for 2 cups of blueberries, add 2 cups of the berries into individual freezer bags for convenience, which also helps you avoid thawing more produce than you’ll need.

Herbs also make great candidates for freezing. Homegrown herbs last up to a year in the freezer and add the perfect splash of flavor to your favorite meals. Plus, they’re so much nicer and less expensive than sad, wilted grocery store herbs.

Homegrown herbs last up to a year in the freezer and add the perfect splash of flavor to your favorite meals. Plus, they’re so much nicer and less expensive than sad, wilted grocery store herbs.

Rinse your just-picked herbs, pat dry, and then choose your favorite freezing method:

• Place whole or chopped leaves on a tray lined with parchment paper. Freeze for 24 hours, then pack loosely in freezer bags. (Don’t forget to label the bags!) This works well for herbs like rosemary, dill, and thyme.
• For more delicate herbs like basil and oregano, mix leaves in a food processor or blender with a bit of olive oil. Pour the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Or add the leaves to ice cube trays, then fill the trays with water and freeze. It’s easy to remove the cubes as needed for sauces and soups—just toss the herby-ice cube into the pot!
• Mint leaves frozen whole in ice cube trays make a pretty addition to your favorite beverages.
• For herbs like parsley, sage, cilantro, tarragon, or chives, create a frozen herb roll. Place the leaves in the bottom of a freezer bag, then roll it up, removing the air. Keep the roll tight by securing it with a rubber band. When you’re ready to add flavor to your favorite recipe, slice the needed quantity from the end of the frozen roll, then place the roll back in the freezer for future culinary creations.

Freezing is easy peasy. The biggest challenge? Finding enough freezer space!

Use the freshest produce possible.

Wash it, remove any small blemishes, and ensure that there are no hitchhikers, like aphids, on the produce before processing.

2. Dry Your Garden Harvest

If you’ve packed your freezer so full of goodies that it’s like playing Tetris, no worries: drying is an excellent method to preserve food. In fact, it’s one of the oldest food preservation methods. Removing the moisture from produce prevents decay. It’s an easy process, plus the food retains most of its nutritional value, apart from vitamin C, when dried properly.

From asparagus to green beans to peas and peppers, there’s a wide array of produce to preserve by drying. Before you begin, a few tools will make the task easier:

• An electric dehydrator, or an oven with a dehydration setting.
• Oven thermometer.
• Screen or cheesecloth.
• Citric acid, stock pot, and mesh bag for blanching vegetables.

Herbs also make great candidates for freezing. Homegrown herbs last up to a year in the freezer and add the perfect splash of flavor to your favorite meals. Plus, they’re so much nicer and less expensive than sad, wilted grocery store herbs.

Some garden items, like rosemary or lavender, can simply be tied in a bundle and hung upside down in a dark space, like a pantry, to dry. This simple method is known as air drying. Other produce, though, requires a bit more effort.

Most fruits and vegetables need to be blanched in a solution of citric acid and water before drying to halt microbial activity and prevent color changes. Pat produce dry, then choose from the following drying options to preserve your produce:

Sun Drying

If sun-dried tomatoes are a staple in your recipes, this may be a great option for you. Only fruits with high acid and sugar content, including some tomatoes, are safe to dry in the sun. Food is sliced thinly and laid on screens, then placed outdoors for several days in hot, dry, breezy conditions with low humidity.

Oven Drying

Check your oven’s control panel. Do you see a dehydrate setting? If so, lucky you! If you don’t see it as an option, you can still use your oven to dry produce if the temperature setting can go as low as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. (Use an oven thermometer for exact measurement.)

Set your oven to dehydrate (or 140 degrees). Thinly slice fruit or vegetables and place them in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheets. Keep an eye on the produce to prevent burning. If your oven heats unevenly, move trays around every 30 minutes to ensure even drying.

NOTE: Some produce, like mushrooms and hot peppers, produce an eye-watering odor when dehydrating. Open the windows or turn on the exhaust fan—otherwise, you may be tempted to give up midway through the drying process!

Electric Dehydrating

Even if your oven doesn’t offer a dehydrate option, you can still dry produce with an electric dehydrator. Electric dehydrators range greatly in price and style, from simple dehydrators that process a few fruits and veggies at a time to elaborate, multi-layered machines that look pretty enough to earn a permanent place in the kitchen. Depending on your homesteading goals, you may want to invest in a larger dehydrator to save time drying your ample harvests. No matter what type of dehydrator you prefer, select one with a thermostat to control the temperature, as well as a fan that circulates warm air for even drying.

Much like oven drying, herbs, vegetables, and fruit dry beautifully in electric dehydrators. Slice fruits and veggies thinly, then place in a single layer on the trays. Follow the instructions for your electric dehydrator to ensure the food dries thoroughly.

Proper Storing is Essential!

Store dried food in a cool, dry, dark place, like a pantry or basement. Use airtight storage containers, as dried foods absorb moisture from the air. Plastic containers, vacuum packing, glass jars, food storage bags—all work well to keep moisture out. As with freezing, store dried food in individual portions for use to limit the food’s exposure to air. Place individually wrapped portions within a larger container to avoid air exposure for the entire batch.

Make sure food is fully dry before storing.

Vegetables typically require 6 to 16 hours to dry completely and should be crispy. Fruit usually needs 12 to 48 hours to fully dry and should be pliable—but not sticky. To rehydrate dried foods, follow your recipe’s directions. Dried food is perfect for soups, stews, casseroles, or sauces. Most dried produce lasts about a year, but check suggested storage times for the specific produce you’re drying.

3. Pickle the Produce

There’s more to pickling than just preserving cucumbers in a briny solution to top your burgers. From artichokes to zucchini, beans to Brussels sprouts, peppers to tomatoes, okra to onions—there’s a slew of garden goodness that makes great pickles.

Pickling preserves food in a high-acid solution. By adding vinegar and/or salt to produce, you’ll create a solution that preserves your homegrown harvest. Processed pickled veggies can be stored in the pantry and taste best after curing for 8 weeks. Easy-to-make refrigerator pickles require a short fermenting period, but they must be stored in the refrigerator.

Choose your process: dry salt pickling, brining, or vinegar pickling.

• Dry salt pickling combines produce with salt, which extracts the liquid from the food.
• Brining creates a solution of salt and water—and sometimes whey—then fully submerge the vegetables in it for a specified time, so that no air enters the container while the vegetables ferment.
• Vinegar pickling involves soaking vegetables in a brine solution of vinegar and salt to enhance flavor and crispness. After brining, the food is drained and rinsed. Depending on the recipe, the food may be cooked in a vinegar and spice solution, packed into jars, and covered with a hot vinegar solution. Finally, a boiling water canning method is used to process the jars. (NOTE: select a vinegar with 5 percent acidity.)

Before you begin, gather some tools:

• Canning jars, lids, and screw bands.
• Boiling water canner. (Needed for some recipes.)
• Glass, ceramic, or stainless-steel bowl—for brining. (Do not use non-stainless-steel metal bowls or pots. Salt and vinegar can react with other metals, like iron, aluminum, and copper.)
• 1-gallon glass, stoneware, or food-grade plastic crock—for dry salt pickling.

Tips to remember:

• Always use fresh, crisp produce. No one wants mushy pickles, and if you start with mushy produce, no magic vinegar and salt solution will make them crisp.
• For cucumbers, remove a 1/16-inch slice from the blossom end of the fruit, as it contains an enzyme that softens pickles.
• Avoid salt with iodide. Use canning, pickling, or kosher salt. Make sure salt dissolves completely in the brine before adding it to the produce.
• Keep the food submerged in the solution. Place a food-grade resealable bag filled with extra brine on top of the vegetables to weigh them down.

Pickling may be easy, but it’s important to follow recipes carefully to avoid food spoilage. You can find some terrific pickling recipes on the Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities Extension website.

4. Can Your Harvest

When the tomatoes ripen fast and furiously, are you ready to don your apron, wield your spatula, and make jars of your Nonna’s famous sauce? Or maybe spring strawberries sing to your sweet tooth, beckoning you to preserve pints of jam? Whatever your favorite abundant produce, canning wins the award for the most often thought-of way to preserve great harvests.

If your kitchen sports more pantry real estate than freezer space, canning makes a terrific option for preserving food. Canning lets you enjoy the delicious flavors of your garden harvests while slicing your grocery bill. And it’s not difficult: it’s just important to follow instructions. Don’t wing it. Find trusted recipes with good instructions for the food you’re preserving, and soon your pantry will overflow with an abundance of deliciously preserved homegrown food. And you’ll get to see the lovely efforts of your labor every time you reach into the pantry for a pretty glass jar filled with goodness.

Start with the easiest method – Boiling Water Method or Hot Water Bath

As you become comfortable with canning, you can try other methods, like pressure canning.

What you’ll need:

• A wide-mouth funnel is great for filling jars easily.
• Plastic spatula.
• Canning jars, screw bands, and lids.
• Permanent marker.
• Boiling water canner and lid, with a rack on the bottom. (Do not let the jar sit directly on the bottom of the pot.)
• Jar lifter.
• Dish towel.

So, what produce works well for the Hot Water Bath Method?

Stick with high-acid foods, like tomatoes, salsas, jellies, jams, relishes, and pickles. If you’re interested in canning low-acid foods, like most veggies and meats, you’ll need to use a steam pressure canner.

Just like with other methods of preserving food, start with the freshest produce. Follow the recipe carefully. If, for instance, you want to make tomato sauce, make sure to look for a recipe for canning tomato sauce. The ingredients may vary slightly for canning sauce, as opposed to making fresh sauce to use immediately.

It’s important to follow recipes precisely when canning food to ensure quality and safety.

Be sure to check and carefully follow directions from a reliable source, such as the Ball Blue Book to Preserving.

Before you begin:

Sterilizing jars is an important first step for food that will be processed less than 10 minutes. Fill empty jars with water and place them in the canner rack. Add water to the canner so that it covers the jars, with the water an inch above the lids. Bring the water to a boil. Boil the jars for 10 minutes at altitudes less than 1,000 feet. (For higher elevations, add a minute for each 1,000 feet increase in altitude.)

Because glass can break if you ladle hot food into cold glass, try to sterilize the jars right before you’re ready to can. But if the timing is off—no worries. Just fill the jars with boiling water to warm them, then rinse and dry prior to filling.

What Is Hot Packing?

If you want to produce top-quality canned food, try hot packing. To keep food tasting and looking its best, it’s important to remove as much air from the jar as possible. Hot packing—canning food that is still hot—is a great option for water bath canning. Boil the food, let it simmer for 2 to 5 minutes, then immediately fill the jars loosely with the food. If you’re adding juice, syrup, or water to the foods, also heat the liquid to a boil before adding it to the jars. Hot packing helps remove oxygen from food tissues, shrinks food so you can fit more in the jar, reduces food floating in the jars, improves vacuum in sealed jars, and extends shelf life.

Always inspect jars before use.

While heirlooms are lovely, you want safe, stable jars for preserving food. Check them carefully for any chips or cracks. And while you can reuse jars and screw rings—never reuse the lids, as they won’t reseal properly a second time. (You want to enjoy the fruits of your labor throughout the year—not toss out improperly sealed jars of food!)

How to Can Using a Hot Water Bath:

1. Prepare jars as noted.
2. Fill the canner with water and heat it. Make sure there’s enough water to cover the top of submerged jars by an inch or two.
3. Heat jar lids according to the manufacturer’s instructions, but don’t boil—it can cause the seals to fail.
4. Carefully follow your chosen recipe, then place the food into hot jars. Check the recipe to note how much space to leave at the top of the jar. (Many recipes call for ¼ inch.)
5. Remove bubbles from the jar using a plastic spatula.
6. Clean jar rims with a damp rag or paper towel to remove any drips and ensure seals form correctly.
7. Place lids on filled jars.
8. Slide screw bands onto jars, loosely tightening. Over-tightening can prevent proper sealing.
9. Carefully place filled jars into the canner using the jar lifter.
10. Make sure jars are covered with an inch or two of boiling water.
11. Place the lid on the canner. Increase the heat. Once the water begins vigorously boiling, start the timer for processing, according to the recipe’s instructions. Make sure the water boils constantly while timed.
12. When the timer dings, turn off the heat, take off the canner lid, and remove the jars per the recipe instructions. Use the jar lifter to remove the jars.
13. Place the jars on a dishtowel, spaced about an inch apart, for cooling.
14. Let jars cool to room temperature for 12 to 24 hours.
15. After 24 hours, test each jar’s seal by pressing on the lid. If the lid is properly sealed, it will be concave and won’t give.
16. Once the jars are cool, use the permanent marker to label the lid with the produce and date.
17. Store jars in a cool, dark space, like a pantry or basement. Place them where temperatures are between 50 to 70 degrees.
18. Enjoy your delicious meals made with the ingredients from your hard work!

While you’ll eat well from your pantry for months when you preserve your harvest, you might consider pickling or canning a few extra jars of goodies. Who wouldn’t love a gift of homemade strawberry preserves or pickled peppers? Get a jump on your holiday gift-giving by making delicious treats to share. (Plus, your neighbors will be so much happier with sweet preserves or salty pickles than the piles of zucchini you normally sneak on their porch.)

Get Ready for the Holidays

Who wouldn’t love a gift of homemade strawberry preserves or pickled peppers? Get a jump on your holiday gift-giving by making delicious treats to share. (Plus, your neighbors will be so much happier with sweet preserves or salty pickles than the piles of zucchini you normally sneak on their porch.)

5. Share the Bounty

There’s nothing nicer than sharing your excess harvest with neighbors in need. Many food pantries appreciate the gift of fresh, homegrown produce. Maybe you have a food pantry down the road. Twelve Baskets Food Pantry will take homegrown produce. They server the communities of Portage, Schoolcraft, Three Rivers and Vicksburg. 

Article from the National Garden Bureau with edits from Wedel's