Let's face it folks,
planting your family garden is like going shopping when your hungry, in your
mind you can taste everything you see. You have been waiting since last
October for some good old home grown fruits and vegetables, weather is getting
right, and you are ready to get started.
You hit the local farm and garden store like the U.S. Marines hit Normandy
Beach on D-Day, you buy the seeds that you want and head home to prepare the
soil. Once planted you tend to it like a new born babe, fertilize it,
water it, and before you know it you have fresh fruit and vegetables for the
family's dinner table. Then you realize that you have planted too
much. You pull out the recipe book and try to keep up with the
harvest, (been there, done that, it doesn't work). You start
giving some to neighbors and relatives and the like but soon they have had
all the zucchini bread and fresh tomatoes they can handle.
So, what to do with the rest of this bountiful harvest? In a word, PRESERVE.
That brings to mind three main ways of accomplishing this, freezing, canning or
dehydrating.
In the next few blogs and "hot off the shelf" postings I will look at
the items that you will need to accomplish these methods in a safe and sanitary
atmosphere. If done under the wrong conditions bacteria will thrive and
people can get very sick. Rest assured that all materials and apparatus
are available from your friendly service rep at the J.E.S. Kitchen Emporium
web-site or at the retail store.
Stay tuned for the
rest of this series...
Chef Phil
