LET THE ONSLAUGHT BEGIN—of garden-fresh vegetables, I mean. The trick when it does: keeping up with every last one, getting it onto the table or into the freezer, canning jars or dehydrator in time. I’m offering three chances to win my favorite references on canning, preserving, freezing—all the ways to put up the harvest for delicious future reference: “Stocking Up III,” “Putting Foods By,” and the USDA guide to home canning. Meantime, though, a reference guide to my favorite online sources for food-preservation information anytime.
Win one of three, three-book sets that I’ve purchased to share as prizes—no, not my old food-splattered copies, above, but new ones–the latest edition of each book, promise! All you have to do to enter the random drawing is comment below. All the details are at the end of this post.
First, as promised, the resources for canners and would-be canners so you can get started right away stashing those peaches, plums, cukes, tomatoes and more:
USDA
The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning: The tried-and-true resource, revised in 2009. A must destination for all would-be and experienced canners. (You can buy a print copy from the Purdue University online store.)
The Extension Services
Most state Cooperative Extension Services have extensive online resources; your county office may also have classes available. Follow that link to locate the nearest office, or scan this list of 27 state links to find an appropriate one as a start. Some examples of the range of materials you’ll find:
- University of Georgia Canning Fact Sheets and a Self-Study Course: From basics like how to use a pressure or boiling-water canner to recipe-oriented topics like pumpkin butter or making vinegars, pdf’s features on canning, freezing, drying and pickling. Also: register for Georgia’s self-study online course that you can do at your own pace.
- Penn State University “Let’s Preserve” Fact Sheets: Topics covered clearly in pdf format range from preserving individual fruits and vegetables to quick pickles and even sauerkraut. Purdue has an extensive “Let’s Preserve” pdf series, too.
- University of California-Davis Agriculture and Natural Resources fact sheets include basics like preserving fruits and vegetables, but also some distinctive topics like how to pickle olives, or preserve oranges and garlic.
- From North Dakota State University, a thorough look at canning and freezing tomatoes, and making salsa (pdf).
- From the University of Illinois Extension, a roundup of links to some of their favorite resources from extension services around the nation.
Other Sites and Tools
PickYourOwn.org: Learn what’s in season when and where, and locate u-pick farms with their state-by-state tool, then get easy recipes for putting them up.
Weights and measures: Confused by converting weights and measures? Kitchen Math has a simple online calculator. Fill in any value, hit calculate, and all its equivalencies will instantly be computed.
What is pickling spice? I looked it up not long ago; some facts and recipes.
Using Ball jars? Getting Started Guide from the maker of Ball jars.
Using Weck Jars? They work a little differently; the tops don’t screw on, but rather have clips to attach them. Read up on how they work before using them.
Food in Jars website: A favorite resource for those interesting in putting food up. Blogger Marisa McClellan also teaches workshops, near her Philadelphia home and elsewhere. They have a great Facebook group.
Under Edibles–Recipes & Cooking in my site navigation, you can always browse my ideas for everything I put up one way or another.
How to Enter
TO WIN ONE OF THREE SETS OF THREE BOOKS, simply comment below by telling us what’s coming on strong in your garden or at your local farmstand, and any plans to put up any “extra.”
Feeling shy? Simply say, “Count me in” or the equivalent, and you’ll be entered. Entries close at midnight Monday, August 1, with winners to be emailed the next day about claiming their prizes. Good luck!
We have my parents staying with us while my mother undergoes cancer treatments, so my garden is much smaller this year, but today I just picked 3 lbs. of green beans, so tomorrow I will blanch and freeze them. Waiting impatiently for the tomatoes to ripen…
Please count me in. I love the site and the information you share,purchased your book months ago and enjoyed thoroughly.
Corn is ready!!!!!!! Nothing beats fresh, just picked corn……..I will be freezing some again this year.
I wasn’t able to put my garden in this year due to surgery. But normally it would be tomatoes, zucchini and beans. I can’t wait for next year!!
I would love to have these books! Last year we did really well with everything except peaches. Neither the ones we froze or canned were good.
Probably the most prolific crop to date has been the greens – speckled and buttercrunch lettuces, arugula, bok choy, kale.
This is heirloom tomato year. I chose Old German, Mr. Stripey, San Marzano, Tigerella and Speckled Roman varieties. The canning types will be used for tomato sauce, marinara, chutney and ketchup. Yum! Not bad for a city garden! (I am thankful that my voracious groundhog doesn’t like tomato leaves!)
Making a lot of compotes or conserve this year to use in my morning yogurt + granola. To me, compote means a lot less sugar than jam. I use raw blue agave to sweeten the fruits. Transfer to glass jar and freeze. Those fruits taste like sunshine in the middle of February. Orangette has a good example on her July 17 post . http://orangette.blogspot.com/2011/07/you-dont-forget.html#comments
Hi Margaret,
Wish I lived closed so I could come to some of your lectures. Do you ever make it to northern Michigan?
I’m freezing broccoli, cauliflower, and green beens. The corn is almost ripe. We are also patiently waiting for the melons. Thank you!
Drying out the cippolini onions, and the new york early giants. They are wonderful!
Gathering lots of Little Leaf pickling cukes-cute! Can’t wait for the okra! My husband loves the slimy beasts. Tiffen Menonites are big and green.
Thanks for your website!
Since I retired last year and now have the time, I decided to make my own tomato juice (V-8) style this year. I’m growing almost all the ingredients I’ll need!! I’m really excited about this project. My tomatoes are starting to ripen and the peppers are almost there, too!
I’ll have raspberries soon if the Japanese beetles leave any for me.
Green Beans and Pickling Cukes. Then Tomatoes and Peppers.
Lts of peaches to freeze or can.
Waste not, want not, thank goodness for all the various ways to preserve our harvests!! I could definitely use some new receipes for pickling my bountiful harvest of cucumbers and putting up tomatoes, applesauce and all the delectables to savor in the “off months”. I am so-0-0-0-0-0 disappointed because I was not granted my work weekend off of 8/20 and here I have a delicious replica cupcake I was going to bring you of the frog boys!! He will just have to go into the freezer until……
I’m just starting to get a steady supply of cucumbers. I can’t wait until I’m overflowing with them so that I can start making pickles.
Count me in. We’re growing pickling cucumbers, enough basil to can gallons of pesto, sauce tomatoes, zucchini, slicing cucumbers, broccoli by the bushel (which I’ve blanched and put up some of the summer crop, but we have another 40 plants in for the fall).
Oh, thank you thank you for posting these resources. This is our first garden and we went HUGE. We’ve learned so many great things, but now we’re running into abundance. My Husband just tried his hand at blanching and freezing, soon we’ll try pickling, but then we will hopefully be brave and try canning when all the San Marzanos turn ripe!
Thanks for all the great things you post on your blog for newbies to learn fun. Plus, I just love seeing what is happening in other peoples gardens! =)
Happy Gardening!
Dawn
Hi, Dawn. Glad to help. So much good info out there, especially from our state extensions and such. Nice to hear from you.
I just told a friend that I would like to try canning some tomatoes this year. If I win a book, I’ll send you a jar!
ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED. Winners have been chosen by random drawing using the tool an random {dot} org, and will be notified by email.
The wackiest thing: All three random choices had names starting with MARY. What are the odds of that?
You are welcome to continue to join in the conversation, however — comments remain open, even though no more prizes are at stake.
Thanks to all for so many great ideas. Delicious and inspiring!
Just got a copy last year of “Putting Food By” from my mother-in-law… it has come in very handy in getting me through winter and stashing away my jewel-toned veggie treasures.
Our fig tree is in early bloom with huge figs. I am letting the birds feast on these but in sept when the real sweet figs appear those birds better beware.
I am looking forward to preserving some too..your book should be vey helpful.thanks.
The Hungarian Wax Peppers are amazing this year, we may try to pickle some??/
Peaches are everywhere, so lots have gone into my freezer!
Nice to see you, Lynn, and to hear you are getting all stocked up. I wonder what we do when we run out of room in the freezer…. :)
Just put up a couple of jars of tomatoes for the freezer; about to blanch and freeze some wonderful Mirai corn. Fall arrived this morning, so I’m doubly glad to have a little summer to enjoy when the snow flies.
This weekend, I put up 5 quarts (in freezer bags) of blanched sweet corn with cream and butter. I also took advantage of the bountiful basil harvest and made 3 large batches of pesto that I froze in small cube trays and then transferred all of the cubes into a freezer bag. Have also made one batch of ketchup with my heirloom tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Amish Paste, and San Marzano) with plans of making a second batch tonight. Colorado peaches are also coming in quite well and have been canning quarts of those along with many fresh peach pies that have been making backyard appearances at August and September picnics.
I love canning….most of all I love to grow and learn about new things to do with garden extras and canning. This year, sandwich peppers, black blean and corn salsa, garlic,,,,check out my site I have started a food blog with the gardening and canning I do.
It’s been a few years but I want to start canning again. One of the main reasons is to show my grandchildren how. (Not to mention daughter-in-laws). I never new you could freeze in glass jars. Count me in! I need those jars and the books to get going again. Thanks a lot for rekindling my interest.
Please count me in, I know anything posted here is trustworthy and all information is ‘good to go’.
Please count me in. My garden season is over, but picking local apples and canning apple butter.