Preserving food -- 3 ways to make summer's bounty last

Long summer days leave you with extra time to enjoy summer produce at its peak. But why not preserve fruits and vegetables so you can carry a little bit of warmth into the darkest days of winter? Canning, freezing and drying allow you to do just that.

Anita Stewart, author of Anita Stewart's Canada (Harper Collins, 2008) is not only an avid preserver and a passionate promoter of Canadian food, she's also a mother of four sons. "I had to preserve the harvest and learn how to use it out of pure economic necessity," she explains. She shares her preserving experiences along with a few tips and tricks. When preserving food, remember to start with the highest quality produce at its peak when it's ripe and doesn't have any bruises.

1. Canning
Imagine opening your pantry door on a blustery winter afternoon and pulling out a jar of juicy local plums. Now imagine a whole array of canned summer goods lining your shelves. It's possible! "You can pretty much can anything from apples in sauce to stewed rhubarb to fresh beans," says Stewart. "I've always done tomatoes and, quite often, pears and peaches."

Canning is the simple method of applying heat to food that's packed in a closed glass jar. This interrupts the normal decaying process, allowing you to keep the food much longer than you regularly could. By using proper jars and letting them cool sufficiently, the lids form a strong vacuum seal.

Of course, it's important to follow accurate instructions. Stewart trusts the Bernardin website (Homecanning.com) for up-to-date information, but also relies on her instincts in certain situations. "I believe in using new lids every season." She also recommends using a thick-bottomed kettle to avoid scorching and having a "good, long wood spoon" on hand.

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2. Freezing
Not only does Stewart declare freezing the fastest way to save those fruits and veggies, she also puts it at the top of her list. "This is my preferred method of preservation, because it's so very, very easy." The only supplies needed are freezer-weight plastic bags to protect from freezer burn or sturdy, stackable food containers. "Remember to leave some room for expansion," Stewart cautions for either method. So don't fill your containers to the brim.There are various ways to freeze different fruits and vegetables, so be sure to use a reputable source such as pickyourown.org for specific directions.

Tossing fresh berries into containers or freezer bags can leave you with large frozen lumps of fruit later on, so it's best to spread them out on a cookie sheet and freeze them singularly. Once they're frozen, then you can combine them. "This works really well when you're going to use them in smoothies or wherever you have to measure them."

Many vegetables freeze better when they're blanched first, to kill any bacteria and stop the enzymes that can destroy nutrients. Boiling vegetables in water for a few minutes followed by a soak in ice-cold water for a few more minutes does the trick.

You may also want to prepare the produce as you'd like to serve it. "I freeze tomatoes whole or in chunks with the skins on," says Stewart, who uses the tomatoes directly from frozen in soups, stews and sauces. "I puree apricots and peaches with a bit of ascorbic acid to make the base for salad dressings."

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3. Drying
If you're short on freezer space and don't have any canning equipment, drying your fruits and vegetables is a great option. The idea is to remove moisture from food as quickly as possible to keep food from spoiling and to maintain its texture, colour, flavour and nutritional value.

This is accomplished by circulating air at 130F to 140F around the food. There are commercial dehydrators available, but Stewart uses what she has on hand. "I have a special rack that I use with the dehydrating cycle on my oven." Stewart dries tomatoes, apples and pears, but drying works to preserve a variety of produce. The key is to prepare foods as you want them to be served before beginning the process, such as cutting apples into rings or pureeing peaches to make a sheet of fruit leather. If you slice produce into pieces, keep the pieces uniform in size to promote even drying.

Because fruit has a higher natural water content than vegetables, it needs conditioning time after you've dried it and before you store it. This process equalizes the moisture among the pieces of food and reduces the chance of developing mold.

By piling dried fruit loosely in a sealed glass or plastic jar for seven to 10 days, the drier pieces absorb extra moisture from other pieces. Give the jar a shake every day, to mix it all up. If condensation starts to build on the jar, dry the fruit out further before continuing.

So fill your bags at the farmer's market while the local harvest is still plentiful and then pick your favourite method of preservation. And in a few months when the February blahs take hold, bake some fresh fruit cobbler to remind you that spring will come again.

Don't forget to set some of your garden fresh vegetables aside to use immediately for salads, soups and other ripe dishes while they're in season.

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