1.
Preserve Your Harvest
Freezing, Drying & Canning

2.
Freezing
Blanch First! Blanching is a must for all veg prior
to freezing. Blanching stops enzyme actions which
can cause loss of flavor, color & texture. It also
cleanses the surface of dirt & organisms,
brightens the color and helps retard loss of
vitamins. Blanching time is crucial & varies with
vegetable and size.

3.
Under blanching stimulates the activity of
enzymes & is WORSE than NO blanching.
Over blanching causes loss of flavor, color,
vitamins & minerals.

4.
There are 2 types of
Blanching
Water Blanching & Steam Blanching
Water Blanching-for home freezing, the most
satisfactory way to heat all veg is in boiling water. Put
veg in a strainer or basket, after adding veg to water,
water should return to boiling within a minute, if it
doesn't you may have too much veg in the basket.
Start counting blanching time as soon as the water
returns to a boil.

5.
Steam Blanching-Heating in steam is
recommended for a few veggies, broccoli,
pumpkin, sweet potatoes & winter squash. Steam
blanching takes 1 1/2 times longer, so adjust
accordingly.When steaming, hold the veg at least
3” from bottom of pot, put 1” to 2” of water in
pot.There should only be one layer of veg for
steaming.

6.
Cooling after Blanching
Cooling after blanching is VERY important, it stops the
cooking process. Cool time should be the same as the
blanching time, which varies depending on the veg.
Plunge veg into a bowl of ice water immediately after
blanching.
Allow food to completely dry before freezing. Freeze on
cookie sheet first, then transfer to container (bag or
hard sided), this prevents having a clumped end
product.This also allows you to take out as much veg as
you need for each meal.

7.
Back to Freezing…
Foods must have proper packing
after the blanching is complete.
After you have frozen the items
on a cookie tray (try lowering your
freezer temporarily for this) place
them in a hard sided container or
a freezer baggie. Regular glass jars
break easily at freezer temps, so
avoid glass unless tempered.Try
removing air from your plastic
bag with a straw, removing air
helps prevent oxidation which
leads to off flavors, or better yet…

8.
Vacuum/Food Sealers
Vacuum sealers are great for
freezing veg, fruit, meats,
soups, or anything you want
to keep dry (think of white
water rafting and securing
your phone)
This is another option to
protect the veg you have
worked so hard to grow,
then blanched and froze for
a future meal

9.
Dehydrating Veg
(still have to blanch first)

10.
Drying is pretty too!
Drying food is simple,
safe & easy

11.
Drying removes the moisture so bacteria, yeasts &
molds cannot grow. It slows down the action of
enzymes but does not inactivate them. Blanching
also helps to inactivate enzymes too!
There are 4 ways to dehydrate food; Sun Drying,
Vine Drying, Food Dehydrators & Oven Drying

12.
Sun or Solar Drying
High sugar & acid fruits
are good for this method
Conditions must be
favorable, hot, dry,
breezy days of 85
degrees of higher and
low humidity, 60% or
below, takes several days.

13.
Vine Drying
To dry beans leave bean
pods on the vine until
the rattle when shaken.
Pick them and shell
them, if some are still
moist, they must be
dried before you put
them up, they can be
dried in the sun of
dehydrator.

14.
Pasteurization- if you are going to sun dry or vine
dry you need an additional step to ensure no
insects or insect eggs have survived.They can be
put in the freezer for 48 hours or placed in the
oven, on a cookie sheet, for 30 minutes @ 160
degrees.

15.
Food Dehydrators
This method dries food
at 140 degrees, uses a
fan to circulate the air,
compact-fits on your
counter, has a timer so
no babysitting the food
as with the oven
method (this is my
personal favorite)

16.
Oven Drying
This method is slower
than electric food
dehydrators (2 X as
long) To dry your veg or
fruit in the oven, temp.
must be @ 140 F, leave
door slightly open (a
wooden spoon works
good for this)

17.
To Dry fruit is a little different than drying veg,
fruit must be pretreated. Consult UGA’s website
for pretreating fruit. http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/
dry.html
See handout for drying times

18.
Canning
Canning Bath & Pressure Canning

19.
Ok, so why do they call it
canning when you use a jar?

20.
Commercial food preservation began shortly after
Francois Appert developed the boiling water
method. Although glass jars were often used
initially, they were difficult to seal and expensive
to ship.The first tin canister was developed in
1810, commercial canning became common, the
name was shortened to ‘can’ from canister and
even after John L. Mason’s invention of a jar with
a threaded screw and lid brought about home use
of food preserving, the phrase ‘canning’ had
stuck.

21.
Canning Bath
This method works with high acid foods, foods
that use a lot of sugar or vinegar.
This method is easier somewhat than pressure
canning, (see handout for specifics) it is best for
jam, jelly, butters, tomatoes and pickles. Ball
Canning has some great recipes,
freshpreserving.com

22.
Pressure Canning
See handout
Special equipment needed.
Concern about botulism if done improperly
I highly recommend Lyn Deardorff @ Preserving
Now, located in Atlanta. Lyn has classes that cover
the basics and advanced pressure canning.

23.
Storing Food

24.
Storing Your Stuff
To Wash or Not to Wash…
Don’t wash if its going in the frig, leave in original
packaging except for mushrooms (place in a paper
bag) and herbs (wrap the bunch in a damp paper
towel before bagging). Do wash greens if visibly
dirty or sandy.

25.
To frig or not to frig, that
is the question
Placing items in the frig reduces its respiration,
moisture loss (if stored correctly) and
carbohydrate transformation (think corn, turns
starchy with time so frig ok, but not good to frig
sweet potatoes b/c you want them to sweeten after
harvesting)

26.
Climatic Fruit
Fruit that will ripen after harvest if picked when
mature.
Apple,Tomato, Banana, Avocado, Honey Dew, Paw
paw

27.
Ethylene Producing Fruit
and Veg
Ethylene is a gas that promotes ripening and
other post-harvest changes
Apple, Avocado, Banana, Fig, Mango Papaya,
Peach, Nectarine, Pears, Plums, Persimmons,
Cantaloupes, Honeydew, Hot Peppers,chiles,
Tomato,ripe

28.
Ethylene Sensitive Veg
Don’t store these veg with the ethylene producing
veg
Arugula, Asparagus, Beans,snap, Broccoli, Brussel
Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Chili
Pepper, Cucumber, Eggplant, Greens, Green
Onion, Herbs, Kale, Lettuce, Parsnip, Parsley, Peas,
Pumpkin, Southern Peas, Squash,Tomatillo,
Watermelon

29.
Harvest when produce is cool, but after dew has
dried off,
Get produce out of the sun as soon as possible,
Cool and refrigerate as soon as possible

30.
UGA Cooperative Extension website, great for all
topics covered here today
UGA has a So Easy to Preserve book, I highly
recommend this book for all your preserving
questions
I used the Journeyman Farmer Certificate
Program Teaching Resource for some of this info.

31.
Thank-You
Janis Sims