A Beginner's Guide to Winter Food Preservation: Storing What You Have Grown

A Beginner’s Guide to Winter Food Preservation - Storing What You Have Grown

Table of Contents
Introduction
Sauerkraut
Kimchi-or Fermented Radish/Cabbage
Salting Beans
Preparing The Beans for Preserving
Using Preserved Salted Beans
Preserving Tomatoes in Purée
Spiced Fruits
Spiced Crabapples.
Spiced Peaches
Traditional Red/Green Tomato Chutney
Fruit Cheeses and Butters
Rules for Making Fruit Cheeses and Butters
Potting
Apple Cheese
Herbal Butters
Apple and Plum Butter
Fruit Syrups
Soft fruit Juice Extraction
Hard Fruit Juice Extraction
Making a Jelly after Juice Extraction
Soft Berry Syrups
Elderflower syrup
Rose Hip Syrup
Conclusion
Author Bio
Publisher

Introduction

Millenniums ago, human beings began to evolve from hunters into settlers. That is when they began to grow food, instead of searching for it and handing it down. Then came the knowledge and understanding of the seasons, which would appear periodically, as a natural part of life and nature. So after spring, summer and autumn, came the harsh winter, when they might have found them snowbound, depending on the area in which they lived.

And so the irresponsible and elders of the tribe, decided that there should be some method in which the food collected during the spring and summer could be preserved for use in the winter. And so down the ages, many processes, including using salt to preserve food came into existence.

Apart from making jams, jellies, and chutneys, preserving fruit and vegetables, fresh from the garden in salt, or in brine or in vinegars, syrups and oil became a tradition of everyday life. Up to the 19th century, a housewife – who was only interested in caring about her family and household, instead of getting sidetracked with careers and trying to juggle both of them at the same time – could concentrate on preserving the harvest. So, East or West, here are some traditional ways and means in which you can preserve food for winter use.