We aren’t homesteaders by any measure – but we have an avid interest in learning about the past and more importantly not letting things we put effort into go to waste. While our garden was less than spectacular this year – we have quite a few thing’s that we want to keep. We both remember our grandmothers baking, freezing, canning, and doing what they could to “set-up for winter.”
Like making wine – food preservation isn’t as hard as it seems. There are a number of myths out there on what you can and can’t do or what you should and must do. Some literature makes food preservation sound like you must spend hours laboriously making sure nothing goes wrong and of course, you need a metric ton of “whatever” in order to preserve food.
Nothing is further from the truth – you can do small batches and it’s pretty simple. Some tools are necessary depending on what you want to do. The biggest thing – pay attention to sanitation. If you do this – all is good!
We think that so much from our grandmothers day is lost to us – but in reality, it’s just that food is more convenient and easier to just buy. In some cases making it yourself if more expensive that going to the store – case in point, butter. Bridge made butter from heavy cream, it’s fantastic – but the cost of the cream doesn’t make it economical when butter is cheap. However, making it yourself is the point even if it takes more work and sometimes isn’t economically sound.
Bridge made Mozarella cheese, we were able to find whole unhomogenized milk (pasteurized) at our local store – this makes the curd easier to produce. It takes about an hour to make and does take a special ingredient (rennet, but you can order that online or from a brewers supply shop). Herbs can be dried or you can infuse alcohol or vinegar. My mother gave me a recipe for chive blossom vinegar. We have a massive herb garden and the chives have been blooming all summer. Just some white vinegar a few chive blossoms and two weeks and this is very tasty stuff mixed with a little olive oil for salad dressing.
Canning –
Last year we “put-up” tomatoes and some salsa verde from the tomatillos that we couldn’t keep up with. This year’s canning has been limited. I made some blackberry jam and we will probably get some corn and beans from the farmers market and give that a try before too long.
Dehydrating –
We have several fruit trees – pear, plum, and apple. Last year we did some dried fruit in an old dehydrator we got as a gift when we were young. We bought a bigger more efficient dehydrator from Cabella’s when it was on sale a few weeks ago. We’ve dried apples, pears, peaches, plums, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs so far. A co-worker of Bridge’s brought in some wild-harvested chanterelle mushrooms we couldn’t use in time, so into the dehydrator they went.
This thing is amazing and low effort. Slice it up, put it in trays, and turn it on and give it some time. What you end up with is dry food that is shelf-stable for months (We still have some prunes from last year).
Have you noticed how much jerky costs? $8.00 for a ¼ pound?! Make your own, It’s one of those things where it really is cheaper. We picked up 20 pounds of special cut beef from Cash and Carry for $60.00 and another $3.00 for seasoning/cure ingredients. I use the Trager as I like the flavor that the smoke infuses, but I’ve used the dehydrator and it works fine. We ended up with roughly 10 pounds of jerky. Given the cost of pellets and power – maybe we paid $3.00 per ¼ pound. Vacuum pack it and refrigerate and this stuff lasts quite a while (unless you keep eating it).
Freezing –
Super easy if you have a freezer, but a bit boring, after all, doesn’t everyone freeze stuff? Well yes – but you can do more than pizza If you can get beef/hog from a butcher in bulk (half a beef/hog type of bulk) you can save quite a bit over the long run. Other things we freeze: zucchini bread, tomatoes, hops (for beer!), cheese, bread – the list is endless. The only issue is things getting lost in the freezer – only to get freezer burned. Be sure to vacuum seal, wrap and label.
Fermenting –
Ok – this is where it gets interesting and very cool. Just like making alcohol – fermenting is an excellent and ancient way of preserving food. You can combine fermenting with canning as well if you want longer unrefrigerated shelf life.
Last year Bridge found a crock and she has made sauerkraut a couple of times. We bought a bigger crock and made more this summer with cabbage from the garden. If you have never had homemade crock fermented sauerkraut – it is amazing. Store-bought can’t hold a candle to it! We also made pickles in the crock rather than hot pack canned pickles and they are far crisper and crunchier! We have plans for other fermented goods – stay tuned for those!
Fruit press for cider –
We haven’t done this yet – but we did get a small press to try and get cider from the apples and pears. Maybe make some hard cider/peary and figure out what to do with the rest. I’ve heard it’s possible to home-can apple cider.