LH 106: Preserving with Dry Storage & Dehydration

Simple Methods for Long Term Food Preservation

If you want to eat in-season all year long, you need to have some produce saved up for the winter months.

But how do you do that?

Sure, you can get out the canning jars and put up a good portion of your extra produce.

But…there are other methods to consider.

Today, we focus on dry storage and dehydration – two food preservation methods that allow you to put up a lot of produce with very little effort.

I brought on garden author, Barbara Pleasant, to share some of her tips with us.

You will learn:

• Which produce is best for cold and dry storage
• Different ways to save foods in a dormant state
• What it means to cure a pumpkin
• The best pumpkin for flesh AND seed
• How to prevent powdery mildew
• Which tomatoes are best for drying
• Should you steam veggies before drying
• How to store things after dehydrating

Barbara Pleasant:

Barbara Pleasant has been covering organic gardening and self-sufficient living for more than 30 years. A contributing editor to Mother Earth News, Pleasant has garnered multiple awards from the Garden Writers Association and the American Nursery and Landscape Association.

She has written books on topics ranging from compost to weeds, including Starter Vegetable Gardens, The Complete Compost Gardening Guide (with Deborah L. Martin), The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual, The Gardener’s Bug Book, The Gardener’s Weed Book, The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Diseases, and Garden Stone.

Her columns and articles appear regularly in Mother Earth Living magazine and on many websites, including GrowVeg.com. Pleasant lives in Virginia, where she grows vegetables, herbs, and fruits along with a few chickens, who all have names.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

Barbara’s Website

Home Grown Pantry* – by Barbara Pleasant

The Complete Compost Gardening Guide* – co-written by Barbara Pleasant

Tomato Powder – Theresa’s blog post

Source for Long Island Cheese Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) – Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Transcript:

Click here for the full transcript for Episode #106

*denotes an affiliate link