CSA News Letters
The Long Hungry Current 8/20/07
Preserve your food! When we get food in abundance, there are several ways to preserve your food for future consumption. The only method I had ever tried was drying, which for years I used exclusively for making oven-dried tomatoes (mmm!). As I confronted the issue of how to use up all my CSA extras, I started exploring other methods.
Freezing is probably the easiest method. Depending on the veggie or fruit, freezing raw, blanched, or fully cooked will get you results. Freezing has a few drawbacks, including ice crystals penetrating cell walls, which accounts for why a frozen berry loses its firmness after thawing. Freezer burn is always a concern, and some loss of nutrients is inevitable. That said, I did just make and freeze a triple batch of marinara sauce (recipe in last week’s newsletter).
Dehydrating, or drying, works great for many fruits and veggies. I did just buy a dehydrator, and while it wasn’t dirt cheap, I will certainly get plenty of use out of it. It is a simple device that blows warm air across your fresh food evaporating most of the water out to allow long-term storage. Using proper temperatures allows the live enzymes to go dormant instead of dying, plus it concentrates flavors. I have been dehydrating watermelon and cantaloupe and I can tell you it tastes great! Store in airtight jars in a cool dark place. Dried foods can be re-hydrated or eaten as-is.
Canning is an old favorite, where sterile jars are filled with food and boiled to assure the food’s ability to stay fresh for long periods of time. Certain foods need to be pressure canned because of low acidity. Some special equipment is needed. The good part of water bath canning is the long shelf life without refrigeration. The down side, foods often get mushy in the process.
Fermentation has been around for millennia. This process uses the natural microorganisms from healthy soil to surround the food, fighting off bad bacteria and actually enhancing nutrition. These little guys are the same as probiotics. The downside here is that fermented foods can have strong flavors that not everyone likes. I have been using Jeff’s cabbage to make sauerkraut and Kimchi for the last few years. As cabbages start to come in, I will include the recipe for making your own kraut.
Potluck- The next potluck will be on Sunday, August 26th at noon.
Annual biodynamic conference will be September 28-30, Women in Agriculture is the theme.
Slow Food Dinner- is on September 17th at Margot in East Nashville. For details see link below.
--Alan
Here are a few links that may interest you:
Like to savor fresh, local food, checkout Slow Food Nashville - http://www.slowfoodnashville.org/
Learn about fermenting foods- http://wildfermentation.com/
A primer on drying- http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative-Energy/2003-06-01/Choosing-a-Food-Dehydrator.aspx
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The Harvest
Acorn Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Watermelon, Peppers, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Garlic, Parsley, Basil
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