Want to learn preservation basics

[Chaesman]

Now that the weather hear has finally dropped to freezing temps. I want to shift my learning a little bit. I have never canned or pressure canned and do not have the equiptment to do so at the moment. (But Christmas is just around the corner so who knows)

I would however like to know the basics for preserving some veggies in the freezer ( I do have one of them)

If you explain to me that you must do this or that first please try not to use technical terms like blanching seeing as this doesn't tell me much like I said I need to take baby steps and learn as if I have never done this before because I haven't.

Thanks
Jon

[lorax]

Blanching is nothing more than a fancy term for ''cook in steam for 3 minutes or so.''

Basically, cut up your veg, blanch them, let them cool, pop in freezer bags, suck the air out (I use a straw in the corner of the bag: the poor woman's vaccuum sealer), and toss in the freezer.

[cynthia_h]

Any complete cookbook (Joy of Cooking, 1979 and the MOST recent incarnation; avoid like the plague the late '80s "Tapas Joy of Cooking," which omitted canning altogether) will have a good description of basic food-preservation techniques:

blanching
freezing
drying
canning
pickling
and some others

Look through any cookbooks in your house for such information. There is no way to learn without familiarizing yourself with the basic vocabulary of the field, so a printed source is good; no one will know that you're thumbing back and forth to save your life! no cookies to track your movements, just blissful privacy and learning.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Chaesman]

Thank you for the explantion of blanching and the example of poor man/woman vaccum sealing.

And well believe it or not the only cook book I have in my house is our own personal one we have taken notes in to change recipes to fit our likeing never saw the need to buy one when you can find a recipe for any thing and everything with many variations on the net for free!

Guess I will be going to the second hand book store in town and seeing if the have an older cook book with the info I am looking for

as far as no cookies hmmm I kinda like a good cup of coffee and some cookies while reading lol

Thanks

[Chaesman]

Thank you Marilinegardner for the sugjested books. Stopped in at the used book store while in town this morning unfortinatly they did not have either one of the books you recomended. However my second choice for book purchases "ebay" has many copies of both available. So I just have to decide which to get first. Well out of curiousity I check my library's online catalog and supprise the ball complete is available in my branch and the other one is available through the inter branches loan system so now I get to preview the whole book before I decide.

I tried to order the one in and reserve the other online and opps

my library card expired in 2008 Guess I need to go renew it and pick up the one and order the other in

I am still looking for the other recomended cook book sorry don't remember who posted it but thankyou for the info
Thanks again

[Chaesman]

Chaesman, Alibris is an on-line book selling site that has many used book stores participating. I always try [url]https://www.alibris.com[/url] before I purchase a book. They screen their sellers and guarantee the quality of the book to be good or better. I have ordered from them frequently, got great bargains, and have never been disappointed in the quality of the books. You may want to take a look at that site before purchasing.

once again thanks I have never heard of them will check it out

[jal_ut]

https://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

This is a great resource. The recipes you will find here have been tested and approved. (I can't say that for lots of recipes I see on the internet.)
It also covers procedure. Save it to your computer for reference. Also check with your extension for recipes and procedure info.

Most important: Always use tested and approved recipes for canning. You can get these from the Ball Blue Book, the USDA, and your extension. I will not use recipes from any other sources. My family means too much to me to play Russian Roulette with untested recipes.