Freezing your excess?

[kiery]

i know I may be a bit early in the year but I like to be prepared;

Can anyone recommend a book on the best way to freeze/store your veg and fruit from the allotment/garden so that they last all year round.

I know you can leave things like leeks and tatties etc in the ground until you are going to eat them but, what about things like blackberries, rasps, rhubarb etc. I don't want them all to go to the birds/waste.

I have found through experience that it is best to blanch or freeze individual portions of certain veg before bagging them in the freezer.
It would be great not to have some edible dishes in the year though.

[red]

How to Freeze: Everything You Need to Know About Freezing and Freezer Managment (Paperback)
by Carolyn Humphries (Author)


is a good one

[QuakerBear]

It's not got anything on freezing but the chaps on this forum recomended Oded Swartz's 'Preserving' to me and I'd highly recomend it to anyone else.

[Peggy Sue]

The best way I found of preserving Rhbarb was as Rhubarb Scnapps, truely lovely

Sorry I sould be more serious, I think I will have this problem soon- I've never had enough to freeze before, but now I have an allotment I will need to have a think!

[eccentric_emma]

try How to Store your Garden Produce by Piers Warren. mostly covers freezing and a few other bits, quite basic but good for beginners and only cost about a fiver when i bought it (a couple of years ago)

[WendyHouse]

I was going to ask the same question. You beat me to it.

[chookwoman]

Raspberries and blackberries you can just put in a bag and feeze as they are.

[ina]

Same with strawberries, currants etc. Cherries and plums are better stoned; apples freeze well as puree.

[kiery]

Thanks for the advice and my library has ordered the books for me

[witch way?]

I have a very small freezer so try to find alternative ways of preserving. We don't eat much jam so the soft fruit is usually turned into a bottled syrup and this year I sliced and dried alot of apple which makes a really yummy snack. Going to try cider and wine this year. Good Luck. W.

[Wotta Wally]

You can freeze soft fruit but don't expect them to defrost into the same form as when they went in - esp rasp and strawb. The frost breaks down the cell walls so when they defrost, they go a bit mushy. If you are going to freeze them tho', try and freeze them individually, ie get a bit tray and spread them on there then so they aren't touching then freeze.

Do have a look at other methods of preserving tho'. I've got two small freezers (for one person!) and it STILL isn't enough and I don't have enough room to store everything. Strawberry wine is rather a good way of preserving your liver *grin* but you might want to have a look at a dehydrator. Had mine for a couple of years now and it is probably one of my better buys.

In additon, have a go at bottling. Not recommended for veg but certainly fruit. There are loads of books on all of these methods available - just have a look on Amazon, find a book you like and see if anyone else can recommend it.

[Peggy Sue]

My heart sinks, I only have ONE small freezer for TWO of us
Whats more it seems to be full already.....I really AM a beginner at this arne't I!

[SarahJane]

It's not got anything on freezing but the chaps on this forum recomended Oded Swartz's 'Preserving' to me and I'd highly recomend it to anyone else.

I am going to have a look at this as I havent got a book on preserving.

Thanks for that!

[frozenthunderbolt]

google "solar food drier" - my damn comp just deleated all 300-500 bookmarks so ive lost 6 years worth of pages and cant direct you to the best sites.

Drying food is great. i especially love fruit leathers but by all accounts you can make perfectly acceptable dehydrated veges in a solar dryer that are great for soups and such.

[oldfella]

If you prepare your fruit and veg ie slice your fruit and cut up your veg, you can then sun dry them and vacuum pack them, you save about 50 percent of space in your freezer, and in some case it is not necessary to put dried fruit in the freezer. If you or the OH is handy with a few tools it is not to hard to build a solar dryer.