Vegetable Gardening

HOW TO STORE DRIED VEGETABLES

Keeping out air and moisture is the secret to good dried foods. To maintain the quality and safety of your dried vegetables, you’ll need to take special care when packaging and storing them. Even when you’re using an oven or an electric dehydrator, you’ll have to watch out for the effects of humidity on drying […]

HOW TO USE DRIED VEGETABLES

To use dried vegetables, you have to reverse the drying or dehydration process to rehydrate them. This is accomplished in water or other liquid. If you soak dried vegetables before using them, they’ll cook much faster. To rehydrate, add two cups of water for each cup of dried vegetables; boiling water will shorten the soaking […]

BASIC DRYING TECHNIQUES (Vegetable Gardening)

Although the techniques for drying vegetables aren’t as precise as those for freezing or canning.

BASIC INGREDIENTS (Vegetable Gardening)

You can sprout all kinds of seeds, legumes, and grains. Try wheat, rye, alfalfa, mung beans, chick peas, soybeans, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, or any of the other sprouting seeds, grains, and vegetables suggested in “Directions for Sprouting,” later in this topic. Only one thing is essential — when buying seeds for sprouting, always check […]

BASIC DRYING EQUIPMENT (Vegetable Gardening)

Unless you decide to buy an electric dryer or dehydrator, you’ve probably already got everything necessary for home drying vegetables. In addition to an oven or a box food dryer, you’ll need: • A scale to weigh food before and after drying. • An oven thermometer that will read as low as 100°F for maintaining […]

FOOD DRYING METHODS (Vegetable Gardening)

The sun, of course, Is the food dryer our ancestors used. If you live where Old Sol shines long, you too can dry fruits and vegetables outdoors. But those in less sunny regions will want a little help from a kitchen oven (gas, electric, convection, or microwave) or one of the new electric dryers or […]

BASIC FREEZING STEPS (Vegetable Gardening)

By now you can see that preparing vegetables for the freezer isn’t too different from preparing them for dinner. However, you must always follow the freezing recipes exactly. The recipes in the next section give you specific instructions for each vegetable, but here is a summary of the basic steps: 1. Check your freezer’s size […]

STOPPING THE SPOILERS (Vegetable Gardening)

Extreme cold — and that means temperatures of 0°F or lower — is what stops the growth of the microorganisms In or around food that can cause spoilage. Zero temperatures also slow down enzyme activity and oxidation, which are chemical changes affecting the color, flavor, and texture of food. Although cold doesn’t kill off these […]

How to Freeze Vegetables

another area in the freezer for storage. Then you can add another batch to be frozen. Your freezer can only freeze a limited amount of food at a time, usually two to three pounds of food for each cubic foot of freezer space. Don’t try to freeze any more than that or the food will […]

BASIC FREEZING TECHNIQUES (Vegetable Gardening)

Although freezing food is one of the easiest methods for putting food by, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to it. If you approach the project carefully and scientifically, you’ll be able to get the best frozen food possible and to use energy wisely.Most vegetables take well to freezing, and, when you serve them at a […]

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