Ripe (very, very ripe) pears waiting to be peeled and cut. I bought a 25 lb box of Bartlett pears several weeks ago and was surprised to come home from a couple days away to discover just how ripe my pears were (since they had still been green the week before)! I sprang into ...

Ripe (very, very ripe) pears waiting to be peeled and cut. I bought a 25 lb box of Bosch pears several weeks ago and was surprised to come home from a couple days away to discover just how ripe my pears were (since they had still been green the week before)! I sprang into ...

Sadly, my sweet pickles didn't turn out this year. For some very unknown reason, rather than staying wonderfully crisp, then turned soggy. Very soggy. Since the recipe I use is pretty tried-and-true (I've done it before many times without fail), I decided to call my mother-in-law to brainstorm ideas of what went wrong. The ...

Originally Published November 2008(Update: I didn't grow any of my own pumpkins this year, but I still intend to purchase some nice organic ones from my favorite produce market in the beginning of October and go through this same process with them. I was really happy with the pumpkin puree that I made last year ...

For all those who feel as lacking in time as I do these days, here are a few super simple ways that you can preserve some of summer's bounty!Despite my complete and utter lack of attention, my garden continues to produce (it's so forgiving, isn't it?). The other day, I noticed that though my spinach ...

Remember all of my garlic galore? Well, I've just finished preserving it all for this fall and winter! I've now dried all of the bulbs out completely. Just recently I did some sorting into piles: gorgeous and intended for planting this fall, good for storage, and not so good for storage. I set aside any ...

As you may have noticed, I've begun a new series called Preserving Summer's Bounty, where I am creating photo tutorials of some of the different foods that I am preserving this summer, along with a variety of preserving methods. If you missed the first two, they are:Beautiful Blueberries (freezing)Blanching and Freezing VegetablesAlso related are my ...

This year I added a new skill to my food preservation repertoire, and I can't believe how simple it is! Blanching and then freezing veggies is a great way to preserve excess food from the garden or summer markets. The reason for the blanching (and not just simply freezing) is that it kills the enzymes in ...

Blueberries are such a mainstay of our diet! Every summer we put away as many as possible (while trying to be self-disciplined and not eat all the fresh ones in the process). Last summer we bought about 75-80 lbs and we are aiming to do the same again this year!Not only are they just incredibly ...

I've made my own lacto-fermented veggies and condiments and we enjoyed them in the fridge for up to a couple of months.However, I am unsure of what I can do for long-term storage (since they generally need to be kept cool once the fermentation has taken place, so that they don't over-ferment, leading to soggy ...