The garden is coming in faster than you can eat it.

The eight methods

What each one is for — and never for

• Freezing

  The fastest route and the one that keeps flavour best.

  You need

  Freezer bags or boxes, a tray, a pot for blanching.

  Good for

  Berries, blanched beans, peas, corn, broccoli, kale; whole tomatoes; roasted peppers; pesto; squash purée.

  Never

  Cucumbers, lettuce, radishes or raw potatoes — they go to mush — and never leave garlic or herbs in oil at room temperature.

  Recipes · 8

  • Frozen sweet corn
  • Frozen green beans and peas
  • Whole tomatoes
  • Roasted peppers
  • Roasted squash and pumpkin purée
  • Basil pesto cubes
  • Tray-frozen berries: raspberries
  • Haskap freezer jam (no cooking

• Water-bath canning

  Jars boiled in a big pot — for high-acid food only.

  You need

  A deep pot with a rack, canning jars and new lids, a jar lifter.

  Good for

  Tomatoes with added acid, fruit, jams, pickles and relishes, salsa from a tested recipe.

  Never

  Plain vegetables, meat, soups, squash purée or anything low-acid — those need a pressure canner, whatever a grandmother did.

  Recipes · 12

  • Crushed tomatoes
  • Whole or halved tomatoes in juice
  • Plain tomato sauce
  • Choice salsa
  • Tomato juice
  • Green tomato salsa verde
  • Applesauce
  • Apple butter
  • Pear halves in light syrup or juice
  • Strawberry jam with Original Fruit Pectin
  • Raspberry jam with liquid pectin
  • Strawberry rhubarb jam with Original Fruit Pectin

• Pickling

  Vinegar does the preserving; the canner just seals the jar.

  You need

  5% vinegar, pickling salt, fresh produce, a water-bath canner.

  Good for

  Cucumbers, beans, beets, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, relishes, chutneys.

  Never

  Weakening the vinegar, adding more vegetables than the recipe, or using leftover brine — the acid ratio is the safety.

  Recipes · 8

  • Quick fresh-pack dill pickles
  • Bread-and-butter pickles
  • Dilly beans (pickled green beans)
  • Pickled beets
  • Home-style pickled jalapeños
  • Zucchini relish
  • Pickled carrots
  • Refrigerator pickled garlic (garlic in vinegar)

• Pressure canning

  Jars heated above boiling under pressure — the only safe way to can plain vegetables.

  You need

  A pressure canner (not a pressure cooker), tested yearly if it has a dial gauge.

  Good for

  Green beans, carrots, potatoes, corn, peas, beets, squash cubes, dry beans.

  Never

  Thickened or puréed food — pumpkin butter, mashed squash, refried beans — because heat cannot reach the centre of a thick jar.

  Recipes · 5

  • Green beans
  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Pumpkin and winter squash cubes
  • Dry beans

• Fermenting

  Salt and time; the bacteria make the acid for you.

  You need

  A crock or wide jar, a weight, pickling salt, a cool corner (15–21 °C).

  Good for

  Sauerkraut, brined dill pickles, hot sauce, kimchi-style vegetables.

  Never

  Guessing the salt — 2–2.5% by weight for kraut, 3.5–5% brine for pickles — or ignoring a pink, slimy or soft batch.

  Recipes · 3

  • Sauerkraut
  • Brine-fermented dill pickles
  • Fermented hot sauce (refrigerator only)

• Drying

  A dehydrator or a low oven; light, keeps for a year.

  You need

  A dehydrator or an oven that holds 55–60 °C, airtight jars.

  Good for

  Apple rings, fruit leather, herbs, hot peppers, cherry and paste tomatoes, dry beans.

  Never

  Storing dried tomatoes or herbs in oil on the shelf; and basil, which dries black and tasteless.

  Recipes · 5

  • Dried apple rings
  • Fruit leather
  • Dried herbs
  • Dried hot peppers and chili flakes
  • Dried cherry and paste tomatoes

• Cold storage

  The oldest method: the right cold, the right damp, and darkness.

  You need

  A cold room, root cellar, unheated porch, garage or fridge crisper — and a thermometer.

  Good for

  Carrots, beets, potatoes, cabbage, apples, squash (warm and dry), onions and garlic (cold and dry).

  Never

  Apples beside potatoes or carrots — the ethylene sprouts the one and makes the other bitter.

• Curing

  Two weeks of warmth and air that turn a fresh crop into a keeper.

  You need

  A warm, airy, dry spot out of the sun — a porch, a greenhouse bench, the garage with the door open.

  Good for

  Winter squash and pumpkins, onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes.

  Never

  Curing in the sun or in a damp basement, or washing anything before it goes into storage.

The rules under the recipes

Eight things that keep a jar safe

• Acid decides the method

  Below pH 4.6 (fruit, pickles, jam, tomatoes with added acid) a boiling-water bath is enough. Above it (every plain vegetable, beans, corn, squash, meat) only a pressure canner reaches the 116 °C that kills Clostridium botulinum spores. There is no third option, however a grandmother did it.

• Tested recipes, exactly

  A processing time belongs to one recipe: its jar size, pack, acid and thickness. Change the vegetables, add oil or flour, or halve the vinegar and the time no longer applies. Season at the table instead.

• Headspace and new lids

  The gap at the top is what lets a vacuum form; too little and food pushes under the lid, too much and it may not seal. Two-piece lids, the flat part new every time, fingertip-tight.

• The clock starts at a full boil

  In a water bath the jars sit under 3–5 cm of water at a rolling boil; the time starts when it returns to the boil, not when the jars go in. In a pressure canner it starts when the gauge reaches pressure after a 10-minute vent.

• Altitude adds time

  Water boils cooler higher up, so canning takes longer. Most of southern Canada is under 300 m and needs no change; Calgary (1,045 m) and Denver (1,609 m) do. The table is below.

• Oil, garlic and herbs

  Garlic or herbs in oil at room temperature is the classic home botulism case. Refrigerate for four days at most, or freeze. Pesto freezes; it is never canned.

• When in doubt, throw it out

  A lid that flexes, a jar that leaks, spurts, is cloudy when it should not be, or smells wrong — out, without tasting. Botulism toxin has no taste. Dried, frozen and fermented food that has gone soft, pink, slimy or mouldy is likewise finished.

• A child at the stove

  Washing, snapping, shelling, packing jars and writing labels are all theirs. The canner, the hot syrup and the pressure gauge are not. A stool at the far end of the counter is the right distance.

All the recipes

41 tested recipes, by what you have