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Home › Articles › Grandparent Home and Garden › Summer Harvest

Summer Harvest

Preserving Homegrown Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs

By Suzy Feine

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There are a variety of methods and products on the market for the home gardener looking to preserve their summer harvest. Here are just a few:

Vacuum Packaging
Tilia, Inc. is the market leader in home vacuum packing with the FoodSaver Home Vacuum Packaging System®. When foods are vacuum packaged, they last longer in the refrigerator, freezer or pantry by removing air from the package.

While some prefer to use storage or freezer bags for food preservation, vacuum packaging has four distinct advantages over these products, according to Stephanie Huff, marketing and communications manager for Tilia. "First, FoodSaver bags are designed to withstand a commercial-strength vacuum, so your food can be stored without exposure to oxygen, and it will stay fresh three to five times longer," she says. "Second, vacuum packing better preserves flavor and texture. Third, vacuum packing provides significantly better protection against freezer burn, because it stores food airtight. Fourth, FoodSaver bags are more versatile and convenient because they're microwaveable, boilable, freezable and resealable."

The technology behind the FoodSaver bags is the key: They are five-ply, extremely sturdy and feature a patented system of air channels that remove air completely from the bag. "For those who love great food and want to enjoy peak flavor and freshness, home vacuum packing is ideal," says Huff. "Use it to preserve your summer harvest or to cook ahead to stock your freezer with delicious home-cooked meals."

Tilia offers a chart on vacuum packaging garden vegetables on their Web site.

Canning
An age-old preservation method practiced by many of our grandmothers, canning is resurfacing as a respectable way of saving summer's bounty. "I was raised in an era when canning was very important," says Hayes. "I still love to can and usually can tomato products and preserves each year."

Advances in technology have made canning a safer alternative compared to the way our grandmothers did it. The main benefit of canning produce is heat sterilization – microorganisms are killed during the canning process, allowing foods to remain stable on the shelf instead of the refrigerator or freezer. Which leads to the second benefit: storage. Once fruits and vegetables go through the canning process, they can remain on shelves and still retain the quality and freshness they had the day they were canned.

Water-bath canning is ideal for many fruits and vegetables. "A few things, such as tomatoes, are much better canned, and most households are likely to have use for enough tomato products that it is worth having a canning day or two and have shelves of home-canned pasta sauce, salsa, tomato juice or seasoned stewed tomatoes on hand," says Hayes. "If your family uses a lot of preserves or you would like to give preserves as gifts, that is definitely the way to go with a portion of your fruit harvest."

Freezing
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