Preserving our produce

SEE

I don’t think there’s anything better than eating what we freshly harvest but what are your best ways to preserve what you have grown?

Last year I made a huge maslin pan worth of mashed potato and froze it in plastic containers. All it needed was microwaving for 5 mins to give fresh tasty mash, and I also used it to top cottage pie and to make quick cheese and potato pie.

My chillies produced a huge harvest and I soaked them in salt water overnight to kill any bugs then pricked each one with a needle and put them in white wine vinegar in a preserving jar. I use the chillies for cooking with, but the vinegar is delicious on fish and chips and in salad dressings.

I put chopped mixed herbs in ice cube trays and freeze them, then bag them.

This year I want to try freezing my own roast potatoes. I’ve been told to parboil them and roll them in goose fat and leave to go cold, and then to bag and freeze them. Does anyone have experience of trying this?

Lotus-eater

Chillies I freeze whole, straight into a bag of all the same ones, you then just pick what you want and chop straight from frozen, no messing.

When I have too many potatoes, I often chop them into chips, blanche for a couple of minutes, cool fast, dry properly, chuck in a bag with a small bit of olive oil, shake and cover the chips with the oil and freeze, homemade oven chips.
So I presume your roasties would be the same. It works very well.

elliep_2

I make huge batches of carrot and parsnip soup in my slow cooker, just peel then cut up small, add a tiny bit of water and let it simmer. then I whizz it with the stick blender and put into portion sized trays. When I want to eat it I defrost it overnight or faster in the microwave and add whatever herbs and spices I feel like on the day while I'm warming it in a pan.

arkonite_babe

I'll move this post to the old style board where you should get some more help on preserving your lovely home grown produce