Keeping the Goodness – Freezing Vegetables

Vegetable gardening can have many advantages, not least an abundance of fresh vegetables to eat. However, sometimes there can be too many vegetables to handle at one time. Once your neighbors and friends have been given as many vegetables as they can handle, you need a way to store your produce. Canning or freezing vegetables can keep them fresh and accessible all year around.

With the advent of modern supermarkets and a decrease in growing vegetables at home, freezing or canning vegetables is becoming a lost art. However, both methods of preserving vegetables are very easy. If vegetables are frozen six to 12 hours after being harvested, they will keep their nutrients and taste.

Many vegetables will benefit from being blanched (boiled quickly for a short time) before being frozen. This method best suits vegetables such as beans and peas.

There’s Also Canning

Canning is a method that means you can keep your vegetables for a very long time. It is also a great way of preparing vegetables from your garden if you plan to transport them. The most important thing when preparing canned vegetables is hygiene, and it is recommended that you use pressure canning to avoid Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism food poisoning.

The equipment you will need is a pressure canner (often available from hardware or garden stores), canning jars and lids that are sterilized. While the set-up may cost a little, you will save costs on the vegetables that you would have had to throw out. It is important to clean your vegetables before canning, but do not soak them, as they can lose their flavor.

Different vegetables will require different canning process times – check the instructions on your canning machine. Vegetables that are particularly suited to canning are beans, peas and carrots.

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