Preserving the local bounty

Preserving food for winter is an old trick. Squirrels ferret
away acorns to a tree hollow; the wolf buries its bone. The ant and
the grasshopper—well, that’s just a children’s tale, but you get
the point.
Today, humans don’t need to put away food for the winter.
Grocery stores carry summer produce year round, and commercial
canned tomatoes don’t require slaving over a hot stove. Is it worth
it, then, to make the effort to preserve the bounty of summer?
If your backyard garden is bursting at the seams, your neighbors
flee from you at the sight of your zucchini, and you find yourself
tossing perfectly good produce on the compost pile, the obvious
answer is yes. But even locals lacking green thumbs are hitting up
farmers markets and putting up produce for the winter.
Sebastopol local and farming and gardening instructor Wendy
Krupnick has been preserving her own produce since 1985. Farmer Lee
James of Tierra Vegetables preserves hundreds of pounds of fresh
produce each year in a commercial kitchen. But you don’t need 25
years of experience or 600 pounds of tomatoes to start preserving
this season; the supplies are all around Sonoma County and the
process is simple.
“People can can at home never having done it before,” James
noted. “Just look it up and follow the directions.”
Mason jars are available at local grocery and hardware stores.
You’ll find pectin there too; the package includes safe recipes and
techniques for making and canning jams and jellies.
Start up costs are minimal, because you don’t need an official
canning apparatus or a commercial kitchen to can food—you just need
a soup pot large enough to fit a few jars. (Place an old, clean
towel in the bottom of the pot to prevent rattling, and invest in
proper tongs to allow for safe placement and removal of the
jars.)
If you hurry, you might be able to catch the last of the wild
blackberries growing in public parks and along the roads. Other
fresh, local produce can be found for a reasonable price at farmers
markets and farm stands. While most farmers don’t appreciate
customers who try to negotiate cheap prices for perfect produce,
they often have a hidden stash of sub-par fruit and vegetables that
they’d let go for a reduced price.
“At this time of year, especially if you get to know various
growers and let them know that you want to preserve, ask them to
bring in their seconds,” Krupnick said. “They’re often very happy
to sell you a box of seconds with blemishes.”
Krupnick pointed out that imperfect produce is perfect for
canning. “For preserving, you should be using the stuff that’s
irregular or slightly blemished. It won’t keep as well fresh but
it’s fabulous quality food and shouldn’t be wasted. It’s part of
the whole efficiency idea, and part of eating seasonally.”
Food preservation requires faith: faith that the hours you spend
canning tomatoes won’t result in moldy, rotten tomatoes midway
through winter. But the reasons food preservation works – if done
correctly – are purely scientific.
The majority of preservation techniques are based around
acidity. Bring the pH of any food low enough, and you create an
environment that prohibits mold and bacterial growth – the things
that cause food to rot.
In canning, this is done through naturally occurring acidity of
fruit and the addition of lemon juice or citric acid. Hot pickling
introduces an artificial acid (vinegar), while the process of
fermentation generates lactic acid as a natural byproduct.
The only processes that don’t rely on acidity are drying and
freezing. Drying is often accompanied by salting or sugaring (think
beef jerky or candied ginger), and works around the principle that
all life requires water. Remove the water from a food, and you’ll
minimize the potential for mold or bacteria to grow on it.
Given these options, how does a person decide what method to
use? “You could use any technique for any type of produce, but the
main consideration is what’s going to give you the best quality,”
Krupnick said. “Other concerns are energy and convenience.” This
leads Krupnick to can most fruit (including tomatoes), but freeze
more delicate foods like green beans. She dries tomatoes, fruit,
and some vegetables using a dehydrator—and, because adding
vegetables to tomato soup raises the pH, she keeps vegetable stews
safely stored in the freezer.
Others look at the health benefits and flavor balance to
determine method of preservation. David Ehreth is the owner and
founder of Alexander Valley Gourmet, a local company that produces
high-end fermented pickles and food products. He believes that
natural fermentation results in a better tasting product compared
to hot pickling, and that the good bacteria present in the process
provide health benefits.
“Lactic acid bacteria will produce predominantly lactic acid
which is much smoother on the tongue, a much easier going
flavor—more complimentary to whatever item was used to produce it,”
Ehreth said. “The harsher distilled vinegars can overpower the
flavor.”
He recommends cabbage for the first-time fermenter, which
results in sauerkraut. Tomatoes and apple sauce are good choices
for the first time canner, and any type of produce can easily be
bagged and frozen.
So what are you waiting for? Santa Rosa Recreations & Parks
is offering a “Preserving the Harvest” class on Thursday, Sept. 17
at 6 p.m. Tierra Vegetables will host a community canning day on
Sunday, Sept. 27 at their commercial kitchen. (Drop by the farm
stand to inquire further.) David Ehreth is teaching two
fermentation classes at Relish Culinary on October 11 and November
22.
And if you’re more of a do it yourself type, drop by a local
hardware store to pick up preserving supplies and pick the brains
of the knowledgeable staff—Harmony Farm Supply has several diehard
canners.
For some people, preservation is a natural part of the change of
seasons. “I can’t see going into winter without canned tomatoes,”
Lee James said. Or, as singer-songwriter Greg Brown put it, “Taste
a little of the summer, Grandma put it all in jars…. She puts the
sun and rain in with her beans.”
In Sonoma County, your pickled beans shouldn’t taste like rain.
But if you fill your pantry with preserved September produce, you
may be able to taste the lingering rays of the summer sun through
the long rainy season ahead.