Storing food

Guide to drying, canning, and freezing.

Drying:

This is the oldest way to save herbs, meats, fruits, and vegetables. As the name suggests, this method involves removing all or most of the moisture from the food. Because it does not involve cooking the food, the nutrients remain in tact. Dried foods can either be rehydrated before consuming or simply eaten as is (think raisins or beef jerky). Methods of drying food include dehydrating, sun drying, smoking, oven drying, and air drying. Whatever method you use, be sure to store dried goods in air-tight containers in cool, dark places. If you do choose to rehydrate food, be sure to only use what you will eat right away.

Canning:

This can seem like the most complicated way to preserve food, as it involves different temperatures, recipes, and equipment, but it can also be one of the most flavorful ways of keeping produce (think cucumbers into pickles, fruit into jam, etc). The final step of canning can also be tricky when the jars are sealed. If the seal isn’t tight, you might end up with blueberry syrup instead of blueberry jam (clearly not the end of the world!). Canning preserves produce by lots of boiling, which, while it assures no bacteria will live, also removes some of the natural nutrients of the fruits and vegetables. That being said, canned goods can last up to a year, so if you make your jams now, you can happily give them away as holiday gifts this winter.

Freezing:

I mentioned in a blog post how I froze some blueberries after picking more than I could eat at once. This is a great way to preserve not only fruit and vegetables, but also meat and prepared foods. Be sure to use freezer safe containers—Tupperware that has a tight seal or Ziplock freezer bags—and label what everything is along with the date you put it in the freezer. As a general rule, you should not freeze anything with dairy (butter aside), raw potatoes, lettuce, or eggs in their shells.