How to Store Your Garden ProduceThe Key to Self-Sufficiency


The ultimate guide to storing and preserving your garden produce.

Even half-acre plots can grow enough to feed a family of four for an entire year, yet with most produce ready to harvest in the summer and autumn, many gardeners struggle to use all of their fresh fruit and vegetables before it spoils. With proper storage techniques, there’s no need for any of your hard work to go to waste, and you can enjoy home-grown goodness all year-round while saving money, lowering your food miles and avoiding the plastic packaging of a typical supermarket shop.

Jam-packed with creative storage techniques and 92 delicious recipes, How to Store Your Garden Produce is beautifully organised to showcase the best ways to preserve your produce, including dehydrating, freezing, fermenting and pickling. Illustrated with aspirational photographs throughout, this book features a useful A–Z of garden produce, with each entry detailing up-to-date recommended varieties, improved storage methods and vegan alternatives in recipes to make the most of your harvests.

From strawberry wine and peach chutney to mushroom ketchup and celeriac soup, learn simple and enjoyable techniques for preserving your produce with this handy guide.

Piers Warren grows all manner of fruit and vegetables in his garden and greenhouse. As well as being an author of several books and many magazine articles, he also teaches wildlife film-making. He is very experienced in running a smallholding and is keen to promote organic principles, sustainability and green thinking. He lives near Norwich.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: The Methods

General guidelines

Basic storage

Clamping

Freezing

Drying

Vacuum packing

Salting

Bottling

Pickles and chutneys

Relishes, ketchups and sauces

Jams and jellies

Fruit butters and cheeses

Fermenting

Part Two: The Produce

Useful resources

Acknowledgements

Photo credits

Main index

Index of recipes