What is the best way to preserve fruits and vegetables without using preservatives?!
What is the best way to preserve fruits and vegetables without using preservatives?
Answers: I pickle olives and lemons. What I do is get a glass jar and sterilize it. I take the olives and wash them and make a little slit on the sides. I put the olives in the jar and add some room temperature water and some salt. I tightly close the jar and shake well. Let it sit a few weeks. Be sure to shake the jar every now and then. The process is the same for the lemons but I sometimes add a few whole cloves to the salt water. When you are ready to use them, wash the ones you'll need to remove some of the salt. I live in Morocco and people still tend to make many things "home made." Pickled olives and lemons are used in tradtional foods here. I have preserved fruits like strawberries, peaches and plums by making them into jellies and jams. If you are interested, I can give you the how to dos. Email me. can them Freezing or canning. Freezing preserves nutrients, such as vitamins, while canning cooks the food, and heat can destroy vitamins such as C. might sound silly but can we put them in the fridge put them in water For short term storage, the crisper drawer in your fridge is best, but only certain types of produce take well to this. Tomatoes, for example are best left in the fruit bowl and eaten as soon as they are ripe, while apples and most stone fruits are best kept in the fridge. Mushrooms keep better when unwashed and in a dry paper bag in a dark area of the fridge.
I have left a link for more produce storage information below.
I hope that helps. The old farmers' way is to dig a 4-5 foot deep hole in the shade and line it with hay. Place your lettuce, onions, cabbage, potatoes, and whatever else in the hole and cover them with a good layer of hay. Then put the dirt back in the hole. It works best with the red clay dirt.
I know it may sound crazy, but you can go out once a week to dig out what you need and all of you veggies will last through the winter. freez it Ice wash them then put them in great ziplock bags or do the canning process.