I have been preserving my excess produce for the last 2 years by freezing, dehydrating and bottling (canning) and wonder do any other members preserve their surplus fruit and veg and if so, by which method. Also what type of fruit and veg you preserve and what type of preserving equipment and jars you use as well as labelling methods. It would also be interesting to hear your experiences with preserving - both successes and failures (I've had some of those).
- For freezing I place my fruit or veg in sandwich sized Ziploc bags.
- For dehydrating I have a simple Sunbeam dehydrator which has 5 drying trays and 4 roll-up trays.
- For canning I use Ball Mason jars which are much easier to work with than Fowler jars or Vacola jars.
Below is a list of some of the fruit and vegetables that I have preserved as well as some homemade edible gifts.
Freezing:
- Peas, beans, corn, carrots, paprika, capsicum, chillies, rhubarb and strawberries etc.
Dehydrating:
- Celery powder - great for adding to casseroles and stir fry's
- Tomato powder - great for adding to casseroles or to make tomato paste for pizza bases or spaghetti bolognaise etc.
- Strawberries and other fruits for healthy snacks
- Fruit roll-ups
- Dried figs
- Dried parsley and other herbs
Canning:
- Tomato chutney
- Tomato relish
- Pickled cucumbers
- Pickled zucchini
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Blackberry syrup
- Strawberry syrup
- Plum sauce
- Watermelon Rind Pickles
- Passata
- Apples
- Apple puree (to later use as fruit roll-ups)
- Various jams - rhubarb, blackberry, apple
- Corn Syrup (homemade) to use in various recipes
- Marshmallow Fluff (homemade)
- Ice Magic (homemade)
- Coconut Butter (homemade)
- Salted caramel sauce (homemade)
As well as having this bounty year round for our personal use I also create labels for the "canned" goods and add them to Christmas and Birthday gift hampers for friends and family. To make the hampers extra special I also create nice gift boxes and packaging and surround the hamper with heat shrink wrap topped off with a nice bow to add a professional touch. For the last 2 years I have given these gift hampers in place of store bought gifts which has saved me considerable money and at the same time given something which all my friends and family love and appreciate.
