Harvesting Canning and Curing, Pickling and Preserving Vegetables, Fruits, and Meats

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Introduction

With almost any harvest, whether from the garden, raised livestock, hunting, fishing, or even wildcrafting, food preservation has virtually always been a part of the end process. From ancient times to the modern day, the techniques developed for preserving one’s harvest are still being practiced, both in the home and in the commercial market.

Food preservation is in your life every day, even if you have never canned a vegetable or frozen a piece of meat in your life. If you have purchased food in a tin can you have purchased preserved food? Enjoyed any beef jerky lately? Have you bought jelly or jam? Have you prepared a box of pasta or frozen pizza? Every one of these examples employs a time-tested method of preserved food. Most people do not even give a thought as to the many ways that keeping food affects their lives every day, and this is mainly because they did not preserve the food themselves.

However, with the rising return of home gardens, urban farms, homesteads, small farms, and even farmers’ markets and roadside stands, this trend is changing. More and more

households are turning once more to home preserving for their excess meat and produce.
In this book, we will begin by exploring a bit of the history of preserving food, and the ancient origins of some of the most common methods still being used today. Presented in an easy-to-understand and non-intimidating way, this book is your guide to rediscovering your roots through traditional, albeit updated, preservation techniques. Depending on what you plan on producing, you may want to try one, two, or all of the methods discussed.

The first step is to go through the methods. Decide which process is right for you or the particular food you are preserving, and dive in. Food preservation takes some time; but during the dead of winter, when the roads are covered in snow, and the last thing you want to do is head out to the store, you’ll appreciate the foods that you “put up” from your harvest.

This book is meant to serve as a basic primer for those just beginning to keep and preserve their harvests. It is a short but concise book that will touch on all of the essential methods available to new homesteaders to significantly extend the use and shelf life of their produce. So find a comfy seat, consider your harvest plans for the coming seasons, and start making your preservation plans.

Download or Read Online - 7.68 MB