In a Pickle, In a Good Way

If you’re like me, you often think of preserving all of the delicious fresh fruits and vegetables that currently are overflowing at farmer’s markets and in your garden. This is the year I’m going to do it, so in the middle of next winter, I can get a taste of summertime in a basil tomato sauce or bread and butter pickle.

As I have no idea how to really preserve foods, I started researching. Here’s a book that boosts my confidence: Sherri Brooks Vinton’s new primer, Put ‘Em Up!, A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling. The book covers all types of food preservation, and is cross-indexed by techniques and ingredients, offering more than 150 ways to extend the longevity of anything, from berries to cauliflower.

Each chapter is organized by produce items, and within each are a number of recipes that vary in time commitment, from the quick and easy to what one might consider “project cooking.” The recipes offer a variety of preserving methods—from fresh storage, extended preservation in the refrigerator and freezer, infusions to extract or preserve flavor, drying techniques and canning, step-by-step instructions for creating shelf-stable foods using the boiling water method. Vinton limits the amount of special equipment or ingredients needed so even urban dwellers can preserve. For the visually minded, each technique has a step-by-step explanation along with illustrations that make it simple to duplicate.

Vinton, who is the founder of FarmFriendly LLC, which helps chefs, restaurateurs and food organizations support local agriculture, believes preserving food has overarching benefits for not only ourselves and our families, but our community of local farmers. She says in her introduction, “We want food that’s good for the farmer, the environment and ourselves. Putting up food is part of this passion. It’s part of coveting the harvest so much that you can’t let it slip through your fingers so fleetingly. It’s part of cherishing the work of local growers or your own toil in the backyard and wanting to hold on to some aspect of that even when fields lie fallow. –Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.