This category is a wide range of tutorials on preserving food, whether it comes from your garden, the farmers’ market or the grocery store.
It covers freezing, dehydrating, pickling, and making herbal compound butters or herbal salts
It also includes methods of preserving fruit to use as shrub syrups (aka drinking vinegars) for craft cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.
Videos are included with some of the tutorials.
Heirloom Tomato Relish makes a perfect accompaniment to brats, burgers, steaks, pulled pork, carnitas and much more
Fresh Tomato Relish for Burgers and Brats (Bruschetta Style) Read Post »
Quick Summary: Sun-dried tomato butter is a compound butter made by blending rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes with softened butter, garlic, herbs, and lemon juice. Use it as a spread, a pasta sauce enhancer, a topping for fish or vegetables, or freeze it in logs for year-round use. Prep: 20 min | Makes: 8 servings Jump to:
Ideas for Using Sundried Tomatoes + Sundried Tomato Butter Recipe Read Post »
Quick Summary: A robust, tangy BBQ sauce made with fresh or frozen blueberries, bourbon, balsamic vinegar, and warm spices. Perfect on burgers, pork chops, salmon, or grilled chicken. Makes about 2 cups. Prep: 10 min | Cook: 25 min | Serves: 16 Jump to:Â RECIPE | Proteins That Go With Blueberry Sauce | Ingredients |
Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce Recipe for Burgers, Pork Chops or Salmon Read Post »
Freezing tomatoes is a great way to preserve both the nutrition and the flavor of fresh heirloom tomatoes to use in Winter dishes
Easy Freezer Basil Pesto: Tips for the Freshest Winter Flavor Read Post »
Quick Summary: Spruce tips are the tender new growth on spruce trees, harvested in spring. They’re citrusy, resinous, and high in vitamin C. Harvest from healthy, mature trees away from roads, taking no more than 25% of tips per tree. Never pick the terminal tip. Use fresh, dried, or frozen for tea, syrup, jelly, infused
Foraging Spruce Tips: How to Harvest and Use Them for Tea, Syrup, and More Read Post »
Quick Summary: A blueberry farmer’s guide to preserving your harvest before it goes bad. Covers freezing, canning, dehydrating, making jam, drink syrups, hot sauce, rumtopf, and freezing muffins. Plus a refreshing blueberry mojito recipe. Prep varies by method. Jump to: Canning | Freezing | Dehydrating | BBQ Sauce | Drink Syrup | Frozen Muffins |
This guide covers four drying methods, proper storage, and a refreshing iced chamomile tea recipe to try with your harvest. Quick Summary: Drying your own herbs is simple and gives you a year-round tea supply. This guide covers four methods: air drying, dehydrator, oven, and microwave, plus how to store dried herbs and a iced
How to Dry Herbs for Tea: 4 Methods That Work Read Post »
Quick Summary: Rumtopf is a German technique of preserving fruit in rum and sugar, layered throughout summer and steeped until winter. Use most fruit, including strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, plums, pears, and blueberries. Avoid apples (brown), bananas (mushy), and melons (watery). Use overproof rum or mix dark rum with 151. Store 6-9 weeks minimum in
German Fruit Preserves in Rum (Rumtopf) Read Post »
There is no better Fall breakfast (in my humble opinion!) than rich, velvety pumpkin butter slathered on toast with a cup of coffee. This homemade pumpkin butter is made with apple cider, aromatic spices, sliced ginger and a bit of orange liqueur. It is simple to make a big batch in a slow roaster and
Homemade Pumpkin Butter Recipe Read Post »
Quick Summary: Green tomato kimchi combines unripe tomatoes with napa cabbage, chile peppers, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce, then ferments for 3-5 days. The result is a spicy, tangy condiment that keeps for months refrigerated. A great way to use end-of-season tomatoes. Prep: 10 min + 1.5 hr salting | Ferment: 3-5 days | Makes:
Green Tomato Kimchi: How to Ferment End-of-Season Tomatoes Read Post »
Quick Summary: A complete guide to preserving fresh fruits and vegetables from your garden or farmers’ market. Covers freezing, dehydrating, pickling, canning, salt preservation, root cellaring, shrub syrups, fermenting, air drying, and compound butters. Each method includes when to use it, basic technique, and links to detailed recipes. From a farmer who preserves the harvest
10 Tested Ways to Preserve Herbs, Fruit or Vegetables Read Post »
Quick Summary: Quick pickled green tomatoes are refrigerator pickles that don’t require canning. Use firm green tomatoes, either unripe red varieties or heirloom greens like Aunt Ruby’s or Green Zebra. Despite myths, unripe green tomatoes are safe to eat. The pickle is ready in 24 hours and keeps refrigerated for one month. Prep: 30 min
Quick Pickled Green Tomatoes: Varieties, Safety, and Recipe Read Post »
Quick Summary: Concentrated summer tomato flavor, captured for year-round use. Dehydrate fresh heirloom tomatoes and grind them into a powder that adds more depth than a can of tomatoes ever could. Includes 18 ways to use tomato powder, conversion ratios for paste and sauce, and storage tips. Prep: 10 min | Dry time: 8-24 hours
Dehydrated Tomato Powder: How to Make It and How to Use It Read Post »
Summer offers an abundance and variety of fresh herbs that are so much better to cook with than the dried herbs of Winter. There are many ways to preserve fresh herbs for year-round cooking, and making herbal salts is one of the easiest preservation methods. Keep these salts by your stove for a burst of
How to Make Herb-Infused Salts Read Post »
Quick Summary: The best way to preserve fresh herbs with full flavor. Mix minced herbs with softened butter, roll into logs, and freeze for 4-6 months. Better than drying for herbs like rosemary, parsley, cilantro, and tarragon. Includes four blend recipes: Fines Herbes, Mediterranean, Seafood, and Mexican. Slice off coins as needed for sauces, meats,
Herb Butter (Compound Butter): 4 Blends for Preserving Fresh Herbs Read Post »
Ajvar is a red pepper eggplant spread popular in the Balkan region. This recipe is a particularly robust version enhanced with a Peruvian hot spice. The video that accompanies the recipe also demonstrates a quick and easy way to roast and peel peppers. This is a perfect low carb spread and is fantastic with salmon
Red Bell Pepper & Eggplant Spread: Kosovar Ajvar Read Post »
Quick Summary: A floral, honey-like jelly made from foraged dandelion petals, infused with elderflower liqueur. Tastes like spring captured in a jar. Includes tips for harvesting dandelions efficiently and variations using lavender or citrus. Prep: 30 min + 24 hr steep | Cook: 15 min | Makes: 8 jars Jump to: RECIPE | Nutrition in
Homemade Dandelion Jelly with Elderflower Liqueur Read Post »
Quick Summary: Crispy, tangy cucumber chips dried in a dehydrator, a low oven or an air dryer with salt and vinegar flavors. Makes a great low carb snack that keeps for a long time. Prep: 10 min | Dry time: 12 hrs (dehydrator) or 3-4 hrs (oven) | Makes: about 2 cups Jump to: RECIPE
Salt and Vinegar Cucumber Chips: Dehydrated, Oven-Baked or Air Fryer Read Post »
Quick Summary: Quick-pickled red onions that add tangy crunch to carnitas, fish tacos, and nearly any Mexican dish. Five minutes to prep, 30 minutes to marinate, keeps for weeks in the refrigerator. Essential condiment for your Mexican cooking. Note: This post is by my daughter, Tesla Jump to: RECIPE | Uses for Pickled Onions |
30-Minute Pickled Onions for Mexican Cooking Read Post »
Quick Summary: Homemade beet chips are crunchy, nutritious, and addictive. Made with just beets and salt in a dehydrator (8-10 hours at 135°F). Healthier than store-bought chips with no additives. Not low carb due to beet’s natural sugars, but a nutrient-dense snack. From Tesla Stainbrook. Prep: 5 min | Dehydrate: 8-10 hours | Serves: 4
Dehydrated Beet Chips Recipe: A Nutritious Snack Read Post »
Low carb freezer tomato sauce made with end of the season fresh tomatoes can enhance low carb meals (like spaghetti & meatballs) all winter
Freezer Tomato Sauce with Sumac (Fresh Tomato Recipe) Read Post »
Low Carb Sauces like Harissa, Romesco and Chimichurri can enhance proteins, fats and vegetables on a low carb or ketogenic diet
Homemade Harissa Sauce: A North African Chile Paste Read Post »
Skillet pizza with sun dried tomatoes is an easy way to have an intensely flavorfull pizza on any night of the week
Skillet Pizza with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Beer Crust Read Post »
How to dry tomatoes, heirloom or hybrid, at home with a dehydrator or oven or in the sun. How best to use dried tomatoes in cooking.
Best Tomatoes for Drying: How to Dry Your Own (Oven vs Dehydrator) Read Post »
