Preserving Your Garden Harvest

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

• Taking the step to doing home canning and preserving is an investment in time and equipment that needs thinking about before jumping in. Learn all you need to know from these experts.