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Food for All Seasons

Posted 7/29/2009 11:25pm by Lyndon Hartz.
Fresh Frozen Food
Tips for preserving the harvest by Good Earth Food Alliance grower, Amy Brucker


Participating in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one of the best ways to support local farmers, to minimize your carbon foodprint, and to live a healthful lifestyle.  But, about the time when July starts to run into August, one begins to wonder what to do with all those vegetables.  Stretch your food dollars and lengthen the garden-fresh-eating season by freezing excess produce. 

When faced with an overwhelming amount of any vegetable, I always ask myself, "Can I freeze it?"  Pulling out a frozen bag of garden green onions or sugar snap peas in the middle of winter turns any old meal into one fit for company.  Many of the vegetables coming from central Illinois gardens right now can be frozen so if you find it's a struggle to get through all the vegetables before the next pick up day, help is here.  Let's go through the list of vegetables for Good Earth Food Alliance CSA members this week and see what we can do with them.
  • Beets - leave on tails and 1/2 inch of stem so their juice won't bleed out while boiling.  Boil until tender, about 45 minutes, cool quickly, slip off skins, cut into slices or cubes and freeze.
  • Green beans - cut in 1- or 2- inch pieces, blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes, cool immediately, drain well, and freeze.
  • Sweet corn - blanch in boiling water 4 minutes, cool ears immediately, drain, cut from cob about 2/3 the depth of the kernels and freeze.
  • Summer squash - can be cut into slices, blanched for 3 minutes and frozen.  However, zucchini is best shredded and frozen for use in baking.
  • onions/leeks/green onions - chop and freeze in small quantities for additions to winter soups
  • potatoes - do not freeze well but will keep for quite some time in the refrigerator or in the pantry.
  • kale/swiss chard/beet greens - trim away tough stems, cut large leaves in pieces, wash, blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes, cool immediately, drain and freeze.
  • sweet peppers - no blanching necessary, just chop and freeze.
  • basil - make into pesto and freeze in small quantities.
  • tomatoes - can be frozen whole but will take up a lot of freezer space.  I recommend stewing them by peeling and quartering them into a pot, cook gently in their own juice until tender - 10 - 20 minutes, set the pot in cold water to cool the contents and freeze.
  • cucumber - eat fresh and enjoy.
  • red onions - slice into the cucumber, top with your favorite dressing and dig in.
  • cantaloupe - check out our recipe for Cantaloupe Soup and try something new today.
  • parsley - dry this by hanging, crush and put in an empty spice jar.

Whatever foods you happen to find at the local farmers market or in your CSA share this week, be creative and seek out ways to preserve the harvest.  You'll be thankful you did once January runs into February next year.



Good Earth Food Alliance CSA members: