Susan McClure - Preserving Summers Bounty: A Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, Preserving, and Drying What You Grow: A Cookbook

To everyone who loves garden-fresh food. We hope this book inspires you to enjoy the pleasures of summers bounty throughout the year.

W HAT FUN its been to organize Preserving Summers Bounty! Ive enjoyed working with these great recipes and hustling up these helpful harvest hints. Part of the fun has been working with the talented people whove contributed to this book. I want to thank Ellen Phillips, Rodale Garden Books editor; JoAnn Brader, Rodale Test Kitchen manager; Nancy Zelko, food researcher for the Rodale Test Kitchen; Anita Hirsch, Rodale Food Center nutritionist; Dr. Kenneth Hall, professor of Nutritional Sciences and extension food scientist for the University of Connecticut; Sharron Coplin, food and nutrition specialist with the Ohio State University Extension Service; and Dr. Judy Harrison, Cooperative Extension food agent at the University of Georgia. Im also extending a special thanks to Donna Agan, editor of Cooking with Herb Scents, and to all of the members of the Western Reserve Herb Society who contributed herb tea recipes. Thank you one and all!

Susan McClure

W HEN YOUR HARVEST comes in, turn to Preserving Summers Bounty for all the answers about what to do with all those ripe, delicious fruits and vegetables. Look in , Using What You Grow, for easy-to-follow explanations of preserving processes and techniques. We will take you step-by-step through the more complex projects, such as canning, with no-fail details. For simpler jobs, such as making dried zucchini chips, youll learn how and why different methods work, along with plenty of time-saving tips.

In , youll find each vegetable and fruit listed alphabetically for easy reference. Each entry provides keys to ripeness, how to harvest, how to store produce until youre ready to use it, plus at-a-glance guides to how to preserve it. There are also harvest hints, recommended cultivars, creative cooking ideaseven safety tips.

tell you how to freeze, can, preserve, pickle, dry, juice, and store crops in a root cellar. Each chapter works this way: First, it explains how a particular preservation process like canning works. Then it lists the supplies and equipment youll need so you can gather everything together before you dive headlong into a task. Next, youll find information on general proceduresthe kind of background details that often are missing in recipes but are essential for success. Finally, youll get the specifics, such as step-by-step instructions, timetables, and conversion charts.

, Recipes from the Garden, presents over 200 health-conscious recipes to help you use what youve grown and stored away. Refer to it for ideas about how to make wholesome, delicious vegetable and fruit dishes or fast, crowd-pleasing salads, casseroles, herb mixes, desserts, and teas. You may be surprised by all the delicious ways you can use homegrown produce.

I F THERES ANYTHING BETTER than growing harvest-fresh produce, its storing some away for a cold or rainy day. The delicious flavors of sun-ripened fruits and additive-free vegetables will delight you while the garden is in full productionand much, much later, when it is safely put to bed. While others are settling for store-bought, youll be savoring your gardens bounty.

Storing what you harvest takes a little time while the garden is producing heavily, but it saves you time later. Then your jars, freezer containers, and dried mixes will be right where you need themat your fingertips. And putting up your harvest isnt complicatednot with the clear, step-by-step instructions in this book. Freezing, canning, preserving, pickling, drying, juicing, and root cellaringits all here in Preserving Summers Bounty, along with hundreds of wholesome, mouthwatering recipes featuring your stored fruits and vegetables.

If you dont have the leisure time to linger in the kitchendont worry. Weve made Preserving Summers Bounty user-friendly. We have plenty of quick recipes (along with a few that take a little longer but are really delicious for those days when you have a little extra time). Look for new, faster, and better ways to deal with old cumbersome jobs like making tomato sauce and cooking down fruit butter plus convenient methods for pickling and root cellaring.

Many recipes are tailored for smaller families, who may not have the room to stockpile mountains of canned goods but would like to enjoy the full flavor of homegrown herbal mixes or the savory pungency of herb mustard. And throughout the book, we use surefire procedures, natural ingredients, and delightful recipes, all approved by the Rodale Food Center.

With Preserving Summers Bounty, you also can use extras from your garden to produce gourmet combinations, convenience foods, extra-nutritious dishes, money-saving staples, and special diet optionswith just a whirr of your food processor and hum of a microwave. Youll find that your homemade sauces, soups, and salads are so tempting that you wont have any trouble eating the minimum five servings of fruits and vegetables a day recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Its a great way to eat well without worrying about extra pounds.

So, dont wonder what to do with the bushels of beans, towers of tomatoes, and zillions of zucchini your garden produces one minute longer. Save it and savor itwith help from Preserving Summers Bounty.