Preserving Fresh Produce
| Freezing fresh produce | Bottling fresh produce (Jams, Pickles, Chutneys) | Drying fresh vegetables & herbs |
Laura's Recipes are committed to encouraging people to eat locally grown seasonal produce, but certain bumper harvesting months sometimes makes it difficult to eat everything that's on offer.
Many of us can get our hands on fresh fruit and vegetables which are out of season locally, but how fresh are they?
Often imported products lack flavour and their full compliment of nutrients, due to the fact that they are picked young so they can be shipped without fear of spoiling before they get to us.
It can be realistically argued that eating produce which has been properly preserved when it was at its best, is not only nutritionally as good (if not better) than eating out of season produce, but also environmentally more friendly.
Yes, there's that carbon footprint again or food miles.
If you are growing/picking your own or just taking advantage of lower the prices of locally grown seasonal vegetables and are getting them in their prime, then it's just as well to preserve any excess.
For most of us, the easiest method is freezing but there are other ways too.
The following pages outline the various methods and contain detailed information on how to preserve your fresh produce by your chosen method.:
| Freezing fresh produce | Bottling fresh produce (Jams, Pickles, Chutneys) | Drying fresh vegetables & herbs | |