Quick Tomato Preserving

Quick Tomato Preserving

Preserving food is a wonderful, satisfying activity that makes me look forward to the winter and feel good about my level of self-sufficiency. However, it is an activity that you can’t plan for- nature decides when the harvest will explode and then you have to react. But with our busy lives, you can’t always drop everything and can your large harvest on a moment’s notice. This is where freezers save the day. Follow these few steps for a quick way to process your tomatoes and save the majority of the time-intensive steps for another day.

Blanching and Freezing your Tomatoes

After your tomatoes are frozen, you can thaw them for cooking or canning, on a day you have more time.

1.     Rinse off your tomatoes and cut off any stems or blemishes

2.     Boil a large pot of water and drop the tomatoes into the water

3.     Wait for the water to return to a boil, then let the tomatoes remain in the water for 5 minutes

4.     Remove the tomatoes and submerge them in a large bowl of ice water for 5 minutes

5.     Remove the tomatoes and easily peel off the skin

6.     Place the tomatoes in a freezer bag, squeeze out excessive water

7.     Tomatoes can be frozen for about a year

Different Ways to Preserve Tomatoes

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t feel like eating any more gazpacho, or salsa, or tomato sauce. And I don’t know about you, but I have trouble buying tomatoes in the off season, knowing they aren’t as fresh and have little flavor (I know, I’m spoiled from being a vegetable farmer. . . ) So, I often try to preserve some of my tomato harvest for later use. Canning is a classic way to preserve your tomatoes, but it takes a great deal of both time and attention to detail. So, here are a few other interesting ways to save your tomatoes.

Freezing

I was skeptical of this tomato preservation method, but apprentice Danielle tried it last season with great success. She would just cut her tomatoes into quarters, stick them in a freezer bag, and freeze—later, when making tomato sauce or other recipes that call for cooked tomatoes, she would just dethaw and use the frozen tomatoes. This is not recommended for dethawing and trying to eat the tomatoes fresh- the consistency is a little off. However, it works really well for cooked tomatoes in recipes.

Fermentation
The following recipes all come from Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning, one of my favorite books. The next recipe is for fermented tomatoes. Some of you know that fermenting foods is a slight obsession of mine.
Tomato Balls

Ripe tomatoes
Salt
Oil
Herbs
A fine strainer
A finely woven cloth
A screen
Canning jars and lids

Pick a good amount of tomatoes that have ripened well in the sun. Cut them in half, squeezing lightly to release any water, and put them in a jar. Set the jar outside in the sun (bring them in at night) until they begin to foam and smell a bit fermented.
Pass the tomatoes through a very fine strainer, rubbing it through with your fingers. Collect the strained portion; place it in a clean, finely woven cloth; hang it ouside in the sin until you get a paste dry enough to be shaped into balls. Let the balls dry on a screen in the sun. Then add salt, and put them in a canning jar. Cover them with oil, season with herbs to your taste, and close the jar.
-Jennifer Rocchia, Beaurecueil

Preserving with salt

Whole tomatoes preserved in brine

Tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
A saucepan
Glass jars and lids

Make a brine (one-quarter cup salt to one quart of water), and bring it to a boil. Allow to cool. Choose firm tomatoes, preferably (Editor’s note: paste tomatoes are great for this), wash and dry them carefully, and put them in glass jars. Pour in the cooled brine, up to one and a quarter inches below the rim, and fill in the remaining space with olive oil to cover. Close the jars airtight and store them in a cool place.
These tomatoes will keep for nine to ten months; use them for sauces.
-Jean-Yves Cousseau, Millau.

Tomato Chutney

2 lbs. tomatoes, scalded, peeled, and chopped
2 medium-sized onions, thinly slices
3 apples, peeled and diced
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup raisins
2 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cayenne peppers, dried and finely chopped
6 cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
An enamel or stainless steel saucepan
Canning jars and lids

Prepare all the ingredients and put them in an enamel or stainless steel pan. Slowly bring to a boil and continue simmering over low heat, uncovered. Stir from time to time. The mixture will gradually thicken; when done, it should resemble a thick jam. This could take up to three hours or more.
Put the chutney into jars. Close and store in a cool, dry, place.
-Jeannette Busiaux, L’Etang-la-Ville

CARROT TOP PARSLEY

Cut off your green carrot tops. Lay them in a warm, dry, dark place, all spread out. When completely dry, collect and crumble into flakes. Use as a parsley replacement in cooking.

It is Cucumber Pickle Time!

By Nicole Sugerman

The cucumbers have been producing at full capacity for about a week, and they show no signs of slowing down. We farmers have been harvesting those cucumbers every single day; we have bins and bins of cucumbers in the cooler. That means that you all need to use up a lot of cucumbers! I have included a number of cucumber recipes in this share letter, but one of the most tried, true, and delicious ways to use a lot of cucumbers all at once is to make a batch of pickles.

Pickling means different things to different people. I used to be a pickle purist; when I said or made ‘pickles’, I meant the lacto-fermented kind, soured in a salt brine on my kitchen counter over the span of a week or two. I am still partial to this kind of pickle, partly for the politics of it, partly for the health benefits, and partly for the taste. But I have come around to the fact that the ‘other’ kind of pickle, the one you put in vinegar and stick right in your refrigerator, tastes pretty good itself.

A word on the politics of the pickle to which I refer: Fermented pickles came first. Most, if not all, traditional cuisines of the world have fermented foods as integral parts of their food cultures. Fermenting food not only preserves it for later use, but makes it more nutritious, using wild microbacteria to pre-digest the food and make the nutrients more available to our bodies, as well as adding nutrients not originally available in the food. The ‘problem’ with fermented foods, in a modern context, is that, because they make use of the wild bacteria present in any particular micro-region, a fermented food will always taste different depending on when and where it is made. This was not conducive to industrialized food production and distribution, which wanted a standardized product for widespread shipping, long term storage, and brand development.

Fermented foods are made in the home and stored in a cool place, like a root cellar; they have no longevity on a supermarket shelf and no potential for homogenization of taste and culture.

Enter the vinegar pickle. Vinegar can be mass-produced and, poured on the cucumber, will preserve it in such a way that the taste will be the same each time the pickle is made. Vinegar is a preservation agent, and, when canned, the pasteurization process can preserve it for indefinite storage. Still, vinegar pickles are easy to make and can be stored in your refrigerator like fermented pickles. Make a batch of both!

For these recipes, I recommend that you use pickling cucumbers. Pickling cucumbers are bred to grow slightly smaller and with a thicker skin than slicing cucumbers, keeping them crispy in pickling recipes. You can, however, also eat pickling cucumbers raw. For making pickles, try to select pickling cucumbers that are roughly the same size.

Lacto-fermented Cucumber Pickles
Timeframe: 1-4 weeks

Special Equipment:
• Ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket
• Plate that fits inside crock or bucket
• 1-gallon/4-liter jug filled with water, or other weight
• Cloth cover

Ingredients (for 1 gallon/4 liters):
• 3 to 4 pounds/1.5 to 2 kilograms unwaxed
• cucumbers (small to medium size)
• 3⁄8 cup (6 tablespoons)/90 milliliters sea salt
• 3 to 4 heads fresh flowering dill, or 3 to 4
• tablespoons/45 to 60 milliliters of any form of dill (fresh or dried leaf or seeds)• 2 to 3 heads garlic, peeled
• 1 handful fresh grape, cherry, oak, and/or
• horseradish leaves (if available)
• 1 pinch black peppercorns

Process:
1. Rinse cucumbers, taking care to not bruise them, and making sure their blossoms are removed. Scrape off any remains at the blossom end. If you’re using cucumbers that aren’t fresh off the vine that day, soak them for a couple of hours in very cold water to freshen them.
2. Dissolve sea salt in ½gallon (2 liters) of water to create brine solution. Stir until salt is thoroughly dissolved.
3. 3. Clean the crock, then place at the bottom of it dill, garlic, fresh grape leaves, and a pinch of black peppercorns.
4. Place cucumbers in the crock.
5. Pour brine over the cucumbers, place the (clean) plate over them, then weigh it down with a jug filled with water or a boiled rock. If the brine doesn’t cover the weighed-down plate, add more brine mixed at the same ratio of just under 1 tablespoon of salt to each cup of water.
6. Cover the crock with a cloth to keep out dust and flies and store it in a cool place.
7. Check the crock every day. Skim any mold from the surface, but don’t worry if you can’t get it all. If there’s mold, be sure to rinse the plate and weight. Taste the pickles after a few days.
8. Enjoy the pickles as they continue to ferment. Continue to check the crock every day.
9. Eventually, after one to four weeks (depending on the temperature), the pickles will be fully sour. Continue to enjoy them, moving them to the fridge to slow down fermentation.

From: http://www.wildfermentation.com/ resources.php?page=pickles

Refrigerator Pickles

• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 cups white sugar
• 6 cups sliced cucumbers
• 1 cup sliced onions or scallions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil. Boil until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes.
Place the cucumbers and onions in a large bowl. Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables. Transfer to sterile containers and store in the refrigerator.

Freezing Parsnips

1 1/4 lb To 1-1/2 lb (without tops)- Makes 1 pint

Choose small to medium, tender, not woody, parsnips.

2. Remove tops, wash, pare, and cut in 1/2-inch cubes or slices.
3. Blanch 3 minutes. Cool; drain well.
4. Pack in containers, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Seal, label, and freeze.
5. Cook frozen parsnips about 10 to 12 minutes.

Souce: http://www.justvegetablerecipes.com/veg-0047049.html

Daikon Pickle (Takuwan)

Ingredients:
1 to 2 medium sized daikons
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 cup salt, or less
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 and 3/4 cup sugar, or less

Mix last four ingredients into a paste.
Wash daikons, do not dry or peel skin. Slice daikons into 1/4 inch-thick rounds or french-fry-size sticks, about 2 inches long. Put into bowl.
Pour paste over daikons and mix well.
Cover and let sit for three days.
Place mixture into jar, cover, and refrigerate. Pickles will last indefinitely in refrigerator (I still have some delicious ones from last season. . . )

From: Satchiyo, Weavers Way Co-op member (this is her mother's recipe!)

Lacto-fermented Kimchi

Ingredients for one quart:
1 pound bok choy
1 daikon radish or several small radishes (or turnips, or any root vegetable)
1 or 2 carrots
1 or 2 onions, or leeks, or a handful of scallions
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
3 to 4 hot peppers, to taste
3 tablespoons ginger root

1. Mix a brine of 4 cups filtered water and 4 tablespoons non-iodized salt. Mix to thoroughly dissolve salt.
2. Coarsely chop bok choy, slice radishes and carrots, and let vegetables sit in brine, covered with a plate to keep vegetables submerged, for a few hours or overnight.
3. Grate ginger, chop garlic and onion, chop or crush peppers. Mix spices into a paste.
4. Drain brine off vegetables, saving brine.
5. Mix vegetables with spice paste. Pack tightly into clean quart jar until liquid rises above vegetables. If vegetables are not submerged, add a little of reserved brine to cover. Weight down vegetables with a smaller jar or a ziplock bag filled with water. Cover entire thing with a cloth to keep out dust and insects.
6. Ferment in a dry, clean, protected from dust place, like a high shelf in your kitchen. Taste every day or so to see if desired sourness is reached, usually after a week or longer.
When it tastes how you want it, move into refrigerator to stop fermentation. Kimchi will last indefinitely in the fridge.

(from: Sandor Ellix Katz, Wild Fermentation)

Preserving Your Hot Peppers

Harisa (Hot Pepper Puree)
About 20 hot peppers (they can store well week to week in your refrigerator—save them up!)
6 cloves garlic
2 pearl onions
1 or more tomatoes if desired to make mixture less spicy
Salt
Oil
Canning jars with lids
Mince peppers, garlic, and onions. Cook half of the mixture along with the tomatoes, reducing until it begins to thicken. Let cool. Add remaining peppers, garlic, and onions, along with a large pinch of salt. Pour the mixture into jars, and add oil to cover. Store in a dark cool place.
Traditionally, this sauce accompanies couscous, meat, fish, soups, and other North African dishes.
from: Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning

Drying Hot Peppers on a String
I know that this works very well with cayennes, and does not work with jalepenos or habaneros. I have not yet tried to dry fish peppers. You can either knot a string around the end of each pepper, or sew a thread through each pepper. Hang string in a dry, warm place out of direct sunlight, until peppers are dry. Leave up as decoration, or take down and store in a dark, airtight container. Or crush peppers and use as hot pepper flakes.

Jalepeno Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
20 fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup minced onion
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
In a medium glass or enamel lined sauce pan over high heat, combine oil, peppers, garlic, onion and salt; saute for 4 minutes. Add the water and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. With the processor running, slowly add the vinegar.
Pour into a sterilized jar with a tight lid. This sauce will keep for 6 months when stored in the refrigerator. (www.hotsauceaddicts.com)

Agent Orange Sauce (very hot!)
2 large carrots (1 1/2 cups) peeled & chopped)
1/2 medium red onion (1 cup) peeled & chopped)
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup water
6 cloves garlic (2 tablespoons minced)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup coarse grain or Creole mustard
12 to 14 habanero chiles, seeds and stems removed (3/4 cup minced)
Combine the carrots, onion, vinegar, water, garlic, lime juice, salt, pepper and mustard in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft. Remove from heat. Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree the mixture. Add the habaneros and continue to puree until smooth. Pour into sterilized jars or bottles and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.
Yield: About 2 to 3 cups
Recipe courtesy of Michael Stines, Ph.B., Fiery Foods & BBQ, www.CapeCodBBQ.com

Preserving Cherry Tomatoes in Vinegar

2 lbs. cherry tomatoes, 6 tarragon leaves, 4 cloves, 6 white peppercorns, 6 coriander seeds, 2 pinches sea salt, 1 quart vinegar, a thin needle, A large canning jar or two.

Wash the tomatoes, without removing the steams, if possible. Dry them carefully with a cloth, and pierce them in two or three spots with a thin needle. Wash and blot dry the tarragon leaves. Put the tomatoes in a large jar, or two small ones, along with the tarragon, cloves, peppercorns, and coriander seeds. Add the salt and pour in the vinegar. Seal the jars airtight and store in a cool, dark, dry place.

Wait approximately six weeks before eating.

Patrick Eude, Le Havre from Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning

Preserving Basil in Vinegar

Ingredients: Basil, Cider vinegar, small jars with lids.

Chop the basil, place in a jar with some good cider vinegar over it. Store the jar in a cool place.

Jacqueline Clossett, Belgium from Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning

How to Freeze Eggplant

Wash and peel; slice, dice or cut in strips, depending on how you plan to use it. There's no need to peel very young eggplant.

Blanching Time:
Steam to blanch. Steam 2 minutes for diced eggplant and thin slices, and up to 5 minutes for thick slices.

Have a cold water/lemon juice mixture ready (1 teaspoon lemon juice to each quart of water).

Chill eggplants in the cold water-lemon juice mixture; drain and pat dry.

Pack:
Leave 1/2 inch of headspace in bags.

Yield:
2 medium eggplants = approximately 2 pint frozen.

Pickled Beets

What to do with all those beets? Try this canning recipe. Its one of my all-time favorites. Nicole, Megan and I just made a batch last week!

Clean 7 lbs of beets. Trim off tops, leaving 1 inch of stems and roots to prevent nutrient loss. Cover with boiling water and cook until tender (25 to 30 minutes). Drain and run under cold water to cool. Trim off roots and stems and slip off skins. Slice into ¼ inch slices.

Combine 4 cups vinegar, 1 ½ teaspoon salt, 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water. Put cinnamon sticks and 12 cloves in a spice bag and add vinegar to vinegar mixture. Bring to a boil.

Add beets, simmer 5 minutes. Remove spice bag. Using a sterilized ladle and or funnel, fill sterilized jars with hot beets and vinegar, leaving ½ inch head space. Make sure to keep lip of jar free of splashes or drops. Wipe lip with clean towel if necessary. Screw on lids lightly. Submerge jars in boiling water (on a rack so as to prevent them from touching the pot) for 30 minutes.

Remove jars and cover with towel to allow for a slow cooling. Check in 12 hours to make sure a seal has been formed

How to Can Tomatoes

I know this article seems like it’s jumping the gun a bit—we haven’t even eaten fresh tomatoes yet, so who is thinking about putting them up—but the paste tomatoes are nearly ready, and they are the best for canning. Paste tomatoes are generally smaller and have less water than other tomatoes, so they cook down really well and make good sauces or pastes. This article is included this week to give you time to get your canning supplies ready. . .

Materials:
-Tomatoes - about 7 to 8 lbs to make 3 quarts (7 large tomatoes will fill one quart jar.)
-lemon juice - fresh or bottled, about ¼ cup
-1 quart tomato juice (or plain water)
-1 Water bath Canner- this is a huge pot to sterilize the jars after filling (it costs about $30 to $35 at mall kitchen stores and local "big box" stores). You can also just use your biggest soup pot, if it can submerge a whole ball jar. . . Tomatoes are on the border between the high-acid fruits that can be preserved in a boiling-water bath and the low-acid fruits, vegetables and meats that need pressure canning
-1 large pot (to scald the tomatoes, step 3) and 1 medium sized pot to heat the tomato juice or water to add to the jars (step 6) and 1 small pot to sterilize the lids.
-Pint or quart canning jars (Ball or Kerr jars can be found at Publix, Kroger, Safeway and local "big box" stores - about $8 per dozen jars including the lids and rings)
-Lids - thin, flat, round metal lids with a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar. They may only be used once.
-Rings - metal bands that secure the lids to the jars. They may be reused many times.
-Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)
-Lid lifter- (optional- can fish them out with tongs) has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sterilize them. ($2 at mall kitchen stores)
-Jar funnel (optional- can use regular funnel, or pour very carefully) ($3-Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger and Safeway and local "big box" stores; sometimes even hardware stores)
-Large spoons and ladles
Canning!
1. Sterilize jars and lids
Jars can be sterilized in dishwasher without soap. Lids should be placed in pot of boiling water for several minutes.
2. Start boiling one quart of water in small saucepan (about one quart—you will use it to fill in air space after you fill your jars with tomatoes)
3. Fill the canner one-half full of water and heat on high, with lid on, to get water boiling.
4. Remove tomato skins
Put the tomatoes, a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for no more than 1 minute (30 - 45 seconds is usually enough). Then, plunge them into a waiting bowl of ice water. The skins will slide right off.
5. Fill the jars with whole or cut tomatoes, to within ¼ inch of the jar’s top.
6. Wipe off contact surfaces (top and threads of jar) with a clean rag to ensure a good seal.
7. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to each jar. This is very important, because creating an acidic environment is what prevents botchilism, a toxic bacteria that can grow in canned goods if they do not contain enough acid (NOTE: botchilism is very uncommon, and way overhyped. If done according to these directions, canning will not give you botchilism).
8. Fill each jar to ½ inch from the top with water.
9. Using a flat plastic or wood utensil (like a plastic spoon, up side down) free trapped air
bubbles by gently sliding it up and down around the inside edge.
9. Screw on tops and rings.
10. Slowly place jars into water bath. Make sure there is at least an inch of water covering them. Boil cans for at least 45 minutes—a little longer if you are above sea level.
11. Lift cans out with can grabber. Do not bump them. Let them cool. If you sit around while they are cooling, you can sometimes hear them self-seal with a pop. After they are cool, test the lids to make sure they have formed a seal—the center of the lid should be down, and should not make a popping noise when pressed. Sometimes, one or two will not seal. Put these in your refrigerator and use as you would any other opened jar. Store in a cool, dry place.

Canning is not very hard! It is fun!
These directions were mostly copied verbatim from: http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_tomatoes.

Basic Sauerkraut

Quart-size glass jar
1 tablespoon Sea Salt
Filtered water
One medium cabbage
--------------------------
+ Finely chop or grate cabbage. Place into large bowl as you chop.
+ Sprinkle salt on cabbage as you go.
+ If you want, you can add other vegetables; try garlic, onions, carrots, turnips, kohlrabi, anything.
+ Massage/pummel ingredients with your hands a little to get the juices flowing. Salt will bring out the juice of the cabbage as you work with it.
+ Pack vegetables and their juice very tightly into your jar. If you pack it tightly enough, the whole cabbage should fit in the jar.
+ Press down on cabbage throughout day to force water out. Brine should rise above surface of cabbage. If it does not after a day, add filtered water until cabbage is covered in brine.
+ Place lid on jar, but do not screw tightly. Unscrew lid often to release pressure.
+ Taste daily until sauerkraut reaches desired sourness. Try to keep cabbage below surface of brine. If white mold forms on top, scrape off with a spoon.

Once you have reached your desired sour-level, sauerkraut can be stored for months in a cool, dry basement or the refrigerator.

Adapted From: "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz

Preserving Turnips

As we embark on the third week of turnips in your CSA share, I thought I would share some interesting methods of preservation in case you are turnipped-out for the time being. All of these ideas come from a wonderful book Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning, by the Gardeners and Farmers of Terre Vivant.

Lacto-fermented Turnips

Ingredients:
• Turnips
• Salt (kosher or other non-iodized)
• Filtered water (with a brita is fine, or boiled and let sit to dissolve the chlorine)
• Clean glass jar with a lid (cleaned with vinegar to sterilize)
Slice or dice turnips. Place in jar and pack down with clean hand. Add salt brine made with two tablespoons of salt to one quart of water. Place lid on jar loosely, so air can escape (otherwise mixture can explode). Pack down mixture with hand each day to keep turnips below waters surface; if a mold forms on the surface, simply scrape off with a spoon. Turnips are done when they have reached desired sourness. Can keep in a refridgerator indefinitely, or in a cool basement for several months.
(note: can be made with any combination of root vegetables, including radishes, kohlrabi, beets, etc.)

Vegetables Preserved in Oil

Ingredients and Supplies:
• Fresh young vegetables, including turnips and can also include zucchini, cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.
• Fresh herbs (oregano, bay leaves, tarragon, etc.)
• Dill seeds, coriander seeds, and juniper seeds, if desired
• Vinegar
• Salt
• Oil
• Enamel or stainless steel saucepan
• Canning jars and lids
Slice the vegetables in ¼-inch rounds, or dice. Chop and mix the herbs and seeds
Pour enough vinegar into the saucepan to cover the vegetables. Heat the vinegar until it just starts to boil. Immerse the vegetables in the boiling vinegar for one to three minutes, simmering gently.
Drain quickly, and place vegetables into jars, alternating with the herb-seed mixture and a pinch of coarse (non-iodized) salt. Do not pack jars too tightly. Pour oil over vegetables, covering with a layer ¼ to ½ inch thick, but allowing 1 and ½ inches air space below the jar’s rim. Seal with a screw-on lid and store in a cool place (50-59 degrees F). The vegetables will be ready in one or two months and will keep for about a year.

String-dried Turnips

Ingredients and Supplies:
• Turnips
• Cotton thread or kitchen string
• Pie tin or cookie sheet
• Airtight box
Cut turnips into 1/8-inch-thick slices. String them on string, leaving space between slices. Hang the strings in a dry place and let dry for one or two weeks, depending on room’s humidity.
Once turnips are very dry, unstring them and put them in a single layer on the pie tin or cookie sheet. Place the sheet in an oven on very low temperature (140 degrees F) for five minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight box. May keep for several years!
Turnips preserved this way are very good for soup.

Spotlight On Greens

In the spring, any CSA, and, for that matter, any farmers market in our part of the country is inevitably dominated by greens. It works out this way due to timing. Crops in the brassica family (broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, and kale) can tolerate frost, meaning we can plant them early, but the leaf crops mature much more quickly than the slower growing crops that form a head, like cauliflower and cabbage. Then there are the asian greens and lettuce crops, which are less frost tolerant but grow quite quickly, meaning they, too, are ready to harvest before many of the other vegetables.
I often find that people are intimidated by greens. My mother is a formidable cook, but just this winter I bought a bunch of collard greens while visiting her and was surprised to find, in my farmer-bubble sort of way, that she had never cooked them and had no idea what to do with them.
In fact, greens are easy, delicious, and healthy. I have included several easy recipes for greens to give you some ideas of their possibilities. In addition to the recipes I’ve found, greens can be added to any brothy soup, right before the end, so they wilt in the heat right as the soup is done cooking. I add greens to my scrambled eggs in the morning, and used to sell kale to a coffee shop that added it to their banana-orange smoothies for a drink that was startilingly green and very delicious.
Should you tire of eating fresh greens or find yourself with an overwhelming amount, they are also easily preserved for later use.

Freezing greens: Cut up your greens and blanch them in boiling water for about two minutes. Dry lightly, put into freezer bags, press out the air, and freeze.

Lacto-fermenting greens (Gundru): Note: I tried this last year. It worked, for sure, but the greens do taste very unusual. Try this if you have an adventurous palate. According to Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation, the book in which I found this recipe, this is a traditional Nepalese ferment.
• Set greens in the sun for a few hours until they wilt.
• Using a rolling pin and a cutting board, smash and crush the greens to encourage the juices out. Do not lose the juice.
• Stuff the leaves and any juice coming out into a glass jar. Use pressure to fill the jar to capacity, forcing out more juice. Fill until jar is completely full of smashed greens covered in green juice. Screw a lid onto the jar.
• Place jar in sunny place for two to three weeks. At the end, greens should be pungent.
• You can serve them as is, or dry them on a line or spread in the sun. In Nepal, the dried gundru is used as soup stock.