North Shore Hwy 61

You’ve grown a wonderful garden, maybe the best in years—now what? In addition to enjoying fresh flavors in the coming weeks, you can also store vegetables and fruits for the winter.

Preserving food is a great way to extend the harvest and feed your family, said Diane Booth, of the Cook County Extension Office. There’s nothing quite like opening a jar of jam you made yourself, or making a winter soup from homegrown vegetables while the wind howls outside.

“Canning, drying and freezing are the three methods I use,” Booth said. “If you don’t have a root cellar, these are what you can do to preserve many of the foods you grow in your garden.”

But there are rules to follow to ensure your safety as well as a get a good quality, nutritious product.

“You have to start thinking about the pH of food -- low acid or high acid,” she said. “That’s the biggest piece you have to remember.”

If low-acid foods, like beans, for example, aren’t processed at 240 degrees in a pressure canner, the botulism bacterium could grow in the jars. It’s odorless and colorless and can be deadly.

“You can’t tell when you open the jar that you have it,” Booth said.

Cook County Extension has handouts on how to can and preserve foods, and the USDA has a Web site with extensive information and recipes about how to safely can a variety of different fruits and vegetables. Booth recommends that these methods be used by everyone.

High acid foods like pickles and tomatoes ( you might have to add lemon juice to low-acid varieties) as well as jellies, preserves and fruits can safely be canned in a water bath canner --- with the lid on, Booth said.

Freezing is a great way to get tasty homegrown vegetables in the winter months, she said. But here again, it’s important to follow established rules. Most vegetables are low-acid and need to be blanched or placed in boiling water for so many minutes to stop enzyme activity. They should be frozen quickly, too. Booth recommends freezing them in single layers on trays before transferring them to containers.

Booth said she just loves freezing small chunks of golden beets. “The golden ones are sweeter,” she said. “They’re like candy.”

For best quality, the produce should be kept at 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. If the power goes out, the USDA recommends that any food which no longer has ice crystals in it be discarded.

Drying apples is a fall activity at the Booth household. They have lots of trees and snack on the dried apples all year long. Drying is simple, safe and easy to learn. It removes moisture from foods so that bacteria, yeasts and molds can’t grow.

Booth recommends getting a food dehydrator, preferably one which has a horizontal air flow. Fruits, fruit leathers, onions, beans, carrots--all kinds of foods can be successfully dried, she said. It can be time-consuming because the process can’t be hurried and home dehydrators have a limited capacity, but the result is definitely worth it.

Root cellars are a great way to store many vegetables, but the bottom drawer of a refrigerator can work for limited storage. Carrots and beets, for example, keep well in the cool, moist environment. Winter squash and potatoes can be stored in a cool room, although temps nearer to freezing are better.

And not to forget--pick your best produce for preserving, and process it (either by freezing, canning or drying) as soon as possible after it is picked. Foods continue to mature even if they’re no longer in the ground or on the vine.