The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home

Freeze, dry, can, root cellar, and brine your favorite produce right at home. For those with a bounty of fresh produce but short on time, Janet Chadwick s introduction to the world of preserving provides step-by-step instructions and inspiring easy-to-follow recipes. Preserving tips, hints, and shortcuts, along with guidance on essential time-saving equipment and methods for keeping vegetables, fruits, and herbs at peak freshness until you re ready to work with them give busy home cooks greater flexibility in making the harvest last. Discover the best and quickest techniques for root cellaring, freezing, canning, and drying everything from asparagus to winter squash, from apples to strawberries. Then dip into recipes for pickles, relishes, sauerkraut, sauces, jams, marmalades, and more. A troubleshooting chapter answers frequently asked questions and a selection of recipes for quick harvest dishes serves up stress-free, healthy mealtime inspiration that makes the most of the fresh foods you re already processing. So pick up a crate of inexpensive, less-than-perfect tomatoes at the farmers market and turn them into jars of spicy salsa or buy a few extra peaches and can a delicious batch of jam to serve with breakfast. You ll extend the summer harvest and find yourself serving up delicious, locally grown food all year long.

Janet Chadwick has been growing and preserving food for years. She is the author of The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home and several other cooking and gardening books. Chadwick lives in Hinesburg, Vermont, where she has been growing and preserving food for years.

Enjoy local produce year-round. You don't need a lot of time or years of experience to preserve garden-fresh fruits and vegetables. Simple step-by-step instructions give you the confidence and know-how to freeze, dry, can, root cellar, and brine the abundance from your CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share or summer garden. Grate and freeze excess zucchini; it will be perfect in quick breads and muffins all winter long. Pick up a crate of less-than-perfect tomatoes at the farmers' market and preserve them in jars of spicy salsa. Turn the overflow of green beans from your CSA farm share into tasty dilly beans to eat all winter or give as holiday gifts. These techniques and recipes will have you eating locally all year long.

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