Canning & Preserving For Dummies, 2nd Edition

by Karen Ward

  If you put a screen in the center, place the straw over the screen.

  5. Layer your root crops, very gently, into the bin.

  Take care to not dump or toss your vegetables. Bruised food quickly turns to spoiled food.

  6. When the bin is full, layer another couple of inches of straw onto the food.

  7. Place bales of straw across the top of the now-filled bin.

  Your food is now protected from winter in a breathable storage bin.

  To check on or access the food inside, simply remove the top two bales. Replace the bales carefully and evenly to cover the hole each time. In the late spring, or when the straw-bale storage area is empty, simply take the bin apart, and use the straw as mulch for your garden.

  Some people use hay bales for these storage bins, but we don't recommend it. Hay molds rather quickly, sometimes spoiling the produce inside. Hay bales also seem to absorb more moisture than straw bales. If you use hay, check periodically for moisture damage, and remove the offending produce immediately.

  Rubber trash cans

  You can bury these up to their rims in the ground, place your produce inside, put on the lid, and then cover the whole thing with a thick layer of straw for a simple cold storage arrangement. These bins are easy to wash and the tight lids keep the foods fresh and sanitary and keep rodents out.

  Following Simple Storage Rules

  Underground storage is the fastest and possibly easiest way to store foods. There are, however, some rules to follow, no matter what variety of food you want to keep over the winter:

  Be careful about the quality of the food you store: Foods must be in perfect condition — not too ripe or picked too early. Overly ripe fruit is extremely fragile and in the last stage before naturally decaying. Food that's too green doesn't do particularly well, either. These foods may change color or become agreeably soft in storage, but they won't truly ripen and develop their best flavor in these conditions.

  Make sure you pick your food at just the right ripeness, as fresh as possible, and store it immediately. Don't allow it to sit at room temperature while you decide what you are going to do with it.

  Be careful about how you pair foods: Some foods produce gases that make other foods spoil. For instance, apples produce a gas that makes potatoes start to sprout. Put these two together, and you'll end up with potatoes that are soft and inedible. Cabbage is a very strongly scented food that is better stored in an outside area, away from more delicately flavored items.

  You must care for the foods, even while in storage. Weekly checking for bruising, decay, dryness, and mold is essential. The old adage about a rotten apple spoiling the barrel definitely applies here. As the winter progresses, remove any produce that has blemishes. Your remaining foods will continue to last longer.

  Rearrange your produce carefully. If you're like me (Amy), after a month, you may discover that you've used enough of your stored produce to enable you to bring the bottom layer up to the top. Be careful of excess handling though; gently place each food back in place to avoid bruising.

  Pick the right storage container: Choose containers that let you keep things neat and very organized. Some ideas:

  • Rubbermaid-style tubs: These can be stacked when not in use, their covers fit tightly, and they can easily be filled with damp sand for foods needing increased humidity. Use clear bins to avoid colors leaching into foods and so that you can easily see all the produce inside.

  • Wooden bins or boxes: Recycle these from thrift stores and some grocery stores. Even if you have to pay a few dollars each, they will give years of service and allow for neat, tidy stacking. If stacking wooden boxes, place the first row in a line, place a couple of sticks across the boxes for air circulation, and then place the next boxes. You want to let the moisture and gases escape, which allows the food to last longer.

  • Five-gallon pails: You can find these for next to nothing from bakers and other restaurants. You don't need to include the lid; in fact, for cold storage, it is best not to. Fill the clean, dry bucket with produce, layer a damp cloth on the top and you can stack these buckets in a pyramid shape, allowing plenty of airflow between.

  • Old dressers: You can arrange these unconventional pieces against a wall and use the drawers to keep your produce in a dry and safe place. Line the drawers with newspaper for easy cleaning. Keep them slightly ajar for proper air circulation.

  Preparing Foods for Cold Storage

  Foods that store well are generally the less juicy and delicate things, like root vegetables and firm fruits. The following sections list several fruits and vegetables that keep very well in cold storage. They are foods that many families enjoy; they provide a fresh taste when bland winter fare abounds; and they extend your food pantry to include fresh, tasty choices. (Note: You may be able to extend the life of more tender foods, like eggplant or broccoli, but don't count on them lasting for months as the other foods will. You can keep these treats in storage about two weeks, but no longer.)

  As a general rule, harvest root crops as late as you can in the season and don't wash the dirt from the roots. Simply use your hand or a rag to remove some of the loose soil.

  Apples

  Apples store very well. Choose a variety that is known for storage. Kept well, apples can last throughout the entire winter — four to six months! Toward the end of that time, a perfectly good apple may become slightly shriveled. This is simply from the loss of moisture, not nutrition.

  Choose apples that are unblemished and firm (they shouldn't give at all when pressed). Check in bright light for dents and soft spots.

  To store, layer the apples carefully in very cold temperatures (between 30 and 35 degrees), with a high humidity between 80 and 90 percent. (Place a pan of water in the area where they're stored.)

  Try covering your bin of apples with a damp (not dripping) cloth, which remains damp for at least a day. And make it a habit to replace the cloth every couple of days when you check other stored produce.

  Beets

  Beets are prolific and inexpensive to grow, meaning you'll end up with plenty for storage if you plant a few rows. Harvest beets late in the season, after the nights become freezing cold. If you're buying beets at a farmer's market, look for fresh, crisp tops. This is the best indication that the beets are just picked.

  To prepare the beets for storage, cut off the tops, leaving the beet itself intact (don't wash them). Then place the beets in your coldest storage, temperatures just above freezing, 32 to 40 degrees, with 90 to 95 percent humidity. To increase humidity naturally, place the beets on moist sand.

  Some gardeners recommend leaving beets in the ground, covered with a thick layer of straw. They say beets and other root crops can be harvested directly from the ground into the coldest part of the winter. Be aware, though, that rodents may destroy root crops before you get a chance to harvest them. So before you follow the advice of the "leave 'em in the ground" crowd, make sure you — and not rodents — will be the benefactors.

  Cabbage

  Cabbage adds bulk and crunch to many winter dishes. Keeping cabbage in storage requires a few extra precautions, however, to ensure that it remains useable throughout the winter and doesn't ruin other food nearby.

  First, cabbage gives off a strong odor while in storage, which is normal (don't confuse this smell with spoilage). The problem with the smell is that apples and other fruits can absorb the flavor of cabbage. The key is to make sure you don't store cabbage too closely to these other types of foods. If you must store cabbage close to other foods, wrap individual heads with newspaper to contain the odor.

  The longer cabbage remains in storage, the stronger the taste when it's cooked. If your family does not like the stronger taste, plan on using up cabbage early in the storage season.

  Second, cabbage needs to be stored in a damp area. If you store cabbage in a place that's too dry, the heads dry out, and the dry, wilted leaves are wasted. Fortunately, you can take care of this tendency with a simple pa
n of water.

  To prepare cabbage for storage, choose unblemished cabbage that has not been picked for long. Remove the tough outer leaves. Wrap each head in newspaper and store it where temperatures are just above freezing, 32 to 40 degrees, and the humidity levels are between 80 to 90 percent. Place a pan of water near the cabbage to provide enough moisture during storage.

  Carrots

  Carrots are another root vegetable that stores well and tastes sweet and crisp throughout the winter months. Just as you do with beets, pick carrots as late as possible in the season. Avoid any that have grown too large and pithy, however, because these carrots have used up their natural sweetness and will taste bitter.

  To prepare carrots for storage, trim off the tops, leaving the carrot itself intact. Don't wash them; simply brush off excess soil if you want to. Place carrots with beets in coldest storage of 32 to 40 degrees with high humidity of 90 to 95 percent. Carrots do especially well in moist sand.

  Garlic

  You can never have enough garlic, especially since garlic is so easy to store. If you're growing your own garlic, simply pull the bulbs once the tops have dried and fallen over. Allow the garlic bulbs to dry thoroughly out of direct sunlight until the outside of the bulbs has become dry and papery. Purchased garlic bulbs have already been dried. Look for the papery outer layer that you always see on a store-bought bulb.

  Dry bulbs on newspaper outside during the warm summer days, but bring them in during the cool nights to prevent condensation. Repeat this process for a few days, until the garlic is completely dry.

  When the garlic is thoroughly dry, tie bunches of tops together, braid in attractive garlic braids. Alternatively, do what I (Amy) do: Trim tops from bulbs and place them in women's stockings, tying a knot between bulbs. You can hang this long chain of bulbs on a nail in a cool and slightly damp area. I have luck placing my garlic in a cool coat room, instead of an actual root cellar. They are in a convenient location for cooking, and let's face it, they make quite a conversation piece! If you do keep them in cold storage, place them in 30 to 45 degrees with a humidity level of 60 to 70 percent.

  Onions

  Most onions keep very well in cold storage. Some varieties, such as the extra sweet onions, however, don't last long. When planting, choose varieties that say they work well for storage (you'll see the term "good keeper"). These onions last throughout the storage season.

  Harvest onions the same as garlic. Pull them when the tops turn brown and fall over. Once pulled, they must also be cured, like garlic: Place them on newspaper to dry during the warm days, bringing them in during the cool night hours to avoid condensation buildup. When storing purchased onions, you don't have to worry about this step. They are already dried for you.

  To store, gently place onions in a crate, loose mesh bag, or ladies' stockings, tying a knot between each onion. To prevent mildew on onion skins, air circulation is vital, so make sure your cold storage has adequate ventilation (see the earlier section "Finding the Perfect Place for Cold Storage"). The ideal storage conditions are temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees and humidity of 60 to 70 percent. If, throughout the season, you find onions with some mildew on them, simply use those onions first. Generally the mildew is on the outer layers, leaving the inside onions fresh.

  Pears

  Pears store very well and make a nice change from apples. In years when apples are affected by blight or scald and are too expensive, pears can be more available.

  Pick pears you plan to store when they're just ripened. (Don't choose pears that are too ripe, or soft; simply leaning against each other can cause them to bruise.) To help protect the fruit, wrap each pear in a sheet of newspaper before storing. Keep temperatures cold, 30 to 35 degrees, with high humidity (80 to 90 percent). Pears can keep for several months in this manner.

  Potatoes

  Potatoes are the easiest of all fruits and vegetables to store. To prepare for storage, harvest late in the season. Don't wash the potatoes; instead remove excess soil with your hand or a soft rag. Inspect them carefully for bruising or nicks in the skin (fresh potatoes have a more delicate skin than those that have been harvested for a few days). If you find any bruising or nicks, keep these potatoes out of storage and use them within a few days.

  Store potatoes in complete darkness at 32 to 40 degrees and 80 to 90 percent humidity. Every week, check them for damage. At least once a month, turn and rearrange them. Finally, don't let them freeze. A frozen potato is a ruined potato; it can't be saved.

  The most important rule for storing potatoes is to store them in complete darkness. First, the darkness signals dormancy for the potato, and it won't sprout. Second, potatoes subjected to light become bitter over time. Other than perfect darkness, potatoes really do well in almost all storage conditions.

  Turnips

  Turnips are an underappreciated root crop. They are easy to grow: You simply plant them early in the season, weed them a few times, and harvest them late in the season, after the nights become freezing cold, sometime in November.

  To prepare turnips for storage, don't wash them. Simply brush off any excess soil with your hand or a rag, and trim off the turnip tops.

  Store them in your coldest storage area; just above freezing is ideal (temperatures of 30 to 40 degrees). The humidity should be high; between 90 to 95 percent is optimal. Turnips are another food that stores well in damp sand.

  Consider turnips a crop that provides two separate foods: the greens and the root. So, after you trim the tops to prepare the root for cold storage, don't throw away the greens. You can dry them for use later. To see how to keep turnip tops, head to Chapter 10 for instructions for canning greens and Chapter 18 for info on drying greens.

  Tomatoes

  You may be surprised to see tomatoes, which are both fragile and juicy, in this list of good cold-storage vegetables. Tomatoes can, however, be kept for a limited period of time in cold storage.

  When you store tomatoes, you store the whole plant, not just the individual tomatoes. So at the end of the growing season, select any tomato plants that have fruit with the slightest hint of ripening (any color change, from slight yellow to orange) and follow these steps:

  1. Remove any fruits from the plant that are still fully green or too small to ever ripen.

  2. Pull the entire plant out of the ground and hang it upside down in temperatures between 55 and 70 degrees, with moderate humidity of 60 to 70 percent.

  An unheated garage or cellar stairwell works great for this.

  The tomatoes will ripen slowly over time, right on the vine. You will be amazed at the vine-fresh flavor.

  Part VI

  The Part of Tens

  In this part . . .

  If you wonder where you can find all the things for food preservation that you need, Part VI provides the answer. Here you'll also find a handy top-ten list that helps you troubleshoot and solving canning problems.

  Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Troubleshooting Tips for Your Home-Canned Creations

  In This Chapter

  Jarring results from your processed foods

  Understanding your imperfect jelly

  Explaining less-than-perfect pickles

  Comprehending changes in your fruit and vegetables

  Canning and preserving is a science and, like any science, you must be precise when working in your lab, which in this case, is your kitchen. Although you follow your recipe instructions to the letter, accurately measure your ingredients, and properly process your filled jars, you aren't guaranteed a perfect product.

  This chapter fills you in on some problems you may encounter in canning and what you can do to remedy the situation and avoid these troubles in the future.

  Jars That Don't Seal Properly

  There may be several reasons your jar didn't seal after processing: Maybe you didn't follow the manufacturer's instructions for using the jars and two-piece caps; maybe a particle of food was left on the jar rim; maybe a piece of food was forced out of the jar duri
ng processing; maybe the processing timing was calculated incorrectly; or maybe your filled jars weren't covered by 1 to 2 inches of water in your water-bath canner.

  Eliminate these problems by reviewing and following the manufacturer's instructions for preparing and using your jars and two-piece caps, cleaning the rims after filling your jars, leaving the proper headspace in the jar, timing your processing after reaching a boil or the correct pressure, and covering your filled jars with 1 to 2 inches of water in your water-bath canner.

  But what if your jar seals and then comes open? If this happens, check for hairline cracks in the jar. If you find a crack in the jar, discard the food (just in case there's a piece of glass in it) and the jar. If your food wasn't processed correctly, microorganisms may be active. They'll produce a gas in the jar that expands and forces the seal to break loose. Because this indicates food spoilage, don't taste the food or use it; dispose of it properly (refer to Chapter 9 for instructions).

  Jars That Lose Liquid During Processing

  Starchy food absorbs liquid — this is normal, and there's no way to correct it. Raw, unheated food also absorbs liquid during processing. Eliminate liquid absorption by using the hot-pack method.

  Trapped air bubbles released during processing increase the air space in the jar while lowering the liquid level. Always release air bubbles before sealing and processing your jars (refer to Chapter 3).

  Longer-than-suggested processing times cause a loss of liquid in your jars. If you're water-bath canning, prevent this by covering your jars with 1 to 2 inches of water for processing. If you're pressure canning, keep the pressure constant during processing; then let the pressure drop to 0 and wait 10 minutes before opening the canner.