As much as I love the fall — it’s my favorite season of the year — I will be sad to see the fresh fruits and veggies, which are so abundant in the summertime, be scaled back to what’s available in the produce section of the grocery store. I’ll miss my two little tomato plants and the farmer’s market stands set up on front yards along country roads or in parking lots on Saturday mornings.
Bounty from Your Neighbor's Garden
My favorite (and newly discovered) farmer’s market, Your Neighbor’s Garden, is having a surplus sale today. I plan to stop there before going to church and see what I can stock up on. I’m not a great cook and the thought of canning and preserving a variety of food sounds like too much work to me. But, thanks to an article in the July/August issue of Indiana Living Green, I know that there are several fruits and veggies that can be frozen now for delicious enjoyment later. Freezing I can do!
Foods that I plan to buy at their fresh and juicy best now to freeze for later include:
- Berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are my faves)
- Asparagus
- Broccoli (a favorite of 2 of my kids, believe it or not!)
- Corn (can be frozen on the cob or off)
- Peppers
- Green beans
Some of these need to be blanched — immersed in boiling water for a few minutes — before freezing to retain nutrition and keep them from spoiling. Check out the Indiana Living Green article for tips.
I look forward to a freezer full of tasty goodness! Later this fall and winter, when all the gardens have been plowed under, it will be great to give my family locally grown, real fruit — bought in-season when the prices are lower — instead of sugary fruit snacks or pricey, bland, trucked-in-from-out-of-state off-season fare offered at the grocery store.
Do you freeze summer produce for later use? Do you can or preserve? And if so, what?
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I’m not the canning and preserving type of girl either, Amy. Thanks for the freezing idea — I think I can manage that.
Great ideas, Amy. I’ve been told to freeze everyone on a cookie sheet first, so your cut up veggies don’t become one big frozen blob in the freezer.
Canning scares me. I don’t want to be the person who makes my whole family sick because I only boiled the jars for 9 minutes, rather than the recommended 10. I’d much rather freeze.
Jennifer and Lori – I was expecting to come here and find people telling me that canning and preserving really isn’t that hard, yada yada yada. So glad to know I’m not alone. Great tip about the cookie sheet, Lori.
This is a great advice. Simple, yet things that you don’t always think of.