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Preserving Your Garden Harvest

Created January 10, 2017
Taste a little of summer all year long when preserving, pickling, canning and freezing what you’ve grown becomes part of your cooking repertoire.
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What to do? Those dozen tomato plants or hills of squash planted with such enthusiasm earlier this spring have produced abundance beyond belief.  Or that drive in the country meant you came home with a big bag of apples from a farmer’s roadside stand.  The saying ‘turn lemons into lemonade’ applies right now.  See our bounty of tips, guides and recipes for saving this season’s harvest for another day.

Fabulous From the Freezer

  • Start your oven. Quick breads, muffins and bundt pan-type cakes hold cups of apples, zucchini and carrots, can be baked in a variety of pans and freeze successfully for several months.
  • Consult our charts and guides for more tips and inspiration.
  • Learn how to freeze a baked pie for later!
  • Make and freeze batches of applesauce, cooked winter squash or pumpkin in recipe-size portions, such as 1 ¾ to 2 cups to use when recipe calls for 15- to 16-ounce can.
  • Make and freeze batches of your own ‘tomato pasta sauce’ and use in recipes that use that ingredient.

Favorite ‘Use It Up’ Recipes

Apples 
Apple Coffee Cake
Fresh Apple Pie
Harvest Pound Cake
"Healthified" Fresh Apple Cake

Carrots 
Carrot Cake
Carrot-Nut Bread
"Healthified" Carrot Cake
Pineapple-Carrot Cake

Tomatoes 
Fresh Tomato Sauce
Green Tomato Pie

Summer and Winter Squash, Pumpkin 
"Healthified" Pumpkin Bread
Mini Pumpkin-Date Breads
Squash Cloverleaf Rolls
Star Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread
Zucchini-Devil's Food Snack Cake

Last-of-Garden Veggies 
Slow Cooker Fresh Vegetable-Beef-Barley Soup

Fridge Sweets/Recipes

  • Small-batch spreads, jams and preserves store in refrigerator or freezer, making them treats on tea-time scones or slices of toast on frosty mornings.
Recipes
Apple-Pepper Jelly 
Blueberry Freezer Jam 
Mixed Berry Jam 
Pear-Orange Conserve 
Pineapple-Apricot Jam 
Raspberry Jam 
Rhubarb-Strawberry Conserve 
Spirited Apple Butter See recipe’s pumpkin variation, too!
Strawberry Freezer Jam
Strawberry-Orange Spread
Strawberry Orange Jam

Pickled Perfection

  • Small-batch pickles and relish store in the refrigerator and add a savory punch to meals and recipes using them. Find plenty of meal ideas with a recipe search!

Recipes 
Black Bean Relish
Carrot and Celery Relish 
Corn Relish 
Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Summer Refrigerator Relish 

Canning Cues