Preserving Garden Bounty

Rightly so, the Organic Gardening e-newsletter recently ran a great series of articles on harvesting and preserving foods from the garden. Covering everything from when to harvest, to canning, to freezing, this issue offers some great ideas that should not be missed.

Local food preservation resources include:

Preserving Traditions - A local group that gets together to can, make pies (that alone should get you out the door, for heaven's sake!), and figure out ways to keep the harvest while having fun.

Eat Close to Home - Emily has a great series of posts about preserving food that offer practical solutions and ideas that are also fun and innovative. Here's a list of the posts tagged with food preservation, but her whole blog is worth a gander. (BTW, she also heads up Preserving Traditions, mentioned above.)

Ann Arbor Home Canning Group - A group, existing both electronically and literally, in Ann Arbor to learn and talk about home canning and food preservation. The page also includes a good list of resources along with interesting conversation.

Good reads include:

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader

Storey Publishing, 1997.

Recipes for drying, freezing, and canning with simple diagrams and easy to follow instructions.

Preserving Summer's Bounty: A Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, Drying and Preserving What You Grow edited by Susan McClure, 1998. Rodale Press.

Step-by-step instructions for preserving fruits, herbs, and vegetables in a variety of ways. Another great book for beginners.