Tips and Advice - Canning and Preserving Food

Over the last year I have been working learning the old fashion art of "putting food by" or using the freshest seasonal foods and putting up or canning. Here is a list of month by month recipes of what to can & preserve for the upcoming year.

I did indeed find that pickled garlic is a good time in February, along with fresh artichokes.

March is a good time to do young fresh pickled asparagus and you can even find young tender beets to make pickled beets.

April is strawberry month for me. I know most places have strawberries in May, and way up North, in early June, but by mid-June, my Strawberry crop is history. I plan to share my tips for drying strawberries, and how I freeze mine for later use in smoothies and frozen drinks. I also have two different strawberry preserves recipes, including a Strawberry-Orange Marmalade. Let's not forget that strawberry fruit leather rocks and is so easy to make.

May is green tomato and chow-chow month. Hot chow-chow, Green Tomato Pickles, Green Tomato Chow-Chow round out the list. Who could forget Fried Green Tomatoes, but how about Green Tomato Relish and Chutney?

June is when I start picking and freezing blackberries, as well as making blackberry preserves, and strawberry-blackberry fruit leather, string beans, dilled string beans and other dilled cucumber pickles.

Peaches are the next local item I love in June and July. By August, the ending of Peach crop is coming in, and we make pickled spiced peaches. Peach fruit leather is a great way to preserve some yummy peaches during the long hot days of summer.

July is all sorts of pickles and relishes.

August is great time for dried figs and fig preserves and making fig newtons.  Its also for making homemade hot sauce, as a well as watermelon rind pickles time. Drying and harvesting sunflower seeds is lots of fun with the kids.

September is apple and pear season to me. Apple-pear butter tops my list. Pear preserves and canned apples are also on my list this year. Of course, if you have extra apples, you can make dried apple slices, and how easy is making applesauce in a food processor and crock-pot?

October seems to come earlier and earlier each year, but sweet potatoes make a come back. We enjoy sweet potato butter and other yummy recipes such pumpkin chips.

November comes along with cranberry jelly and relish. Pumpkin spice jam is one I missed last year.

December is when marmalade season comes along with gingerbread. I also plan to share my Christmas Jam with you, made with dried figs, dates, prunes, and candies orange and lemon peel and candied cherries. It is just yummy!

Watch for these linked recipes as they come out this year.  I also plan to start teaching about pressure canning.