Preserving:

We need to keep our excess produce for those times of the year when they are in short supply, and here we have listings and instructions on how to preserve our food so that it can still be eaten for many months after it has been produced.

Why Do We Need To Preserve Our Food:

The easiest and the best way and also the most economical way of producing our own food is not produce it so we have to go and harvest a fresh meal every day or week, but to produce our food in bulk so all the planting and harvesting are done at one time and the food can then be processed at one time so making the whole procedure economic in time, cost and labour.

It would be easy just to freeze all our food (or that can be frozen) but then we would miss out on some of the foods which we love like smoked fish, meat and cheese, pickled vegetables and other things like bacon. In the following topics we will tell you how to preserve your food so that you can enjoy what you grow in the same way (or even better) than what is available in your local supermarket.

Forward planning for these procedures has to be done because you cannot harvest your food and have it lying around for a few days because you cannot get certain materials to proceed. The best way to preserve your food is on the day when it was harvest when the food is as fresh as possible, because after your have harvested your food or killed your animals then that food is just going to deteriorate from that second onwards.

In the event of freezing your food all utensils needed for this process will have to be ready and available in the quantities needed for whatever amounts you intend to freeze.

When curing your food all utensils, equipment and materials needed for this process needs to be available at this time.

When pickling your food equipment, materials and the correct amount of storage jars need to be available at this time. If you do not have enough storage facilities on the day then part of your harvest could be wasted.

Of course the same applies with smoking your food as for example it would be ridiculous to run out of wood shavings half way through the smoking process.

The best way to preserve your food is the safest way that will preserve your food with less chance of loss, because loss of your preserved food means starvation or further expense in having to purchase extra food (if it is available?).

Smoking and drying leaves your food open to attract by vermin, insects and bacterial breakdown because it is most likely when stored not in sealed containers and also not in a "static state" where it's environment and circumstances are controlled. For example: Dried food can always have the chance of absorbing moisture which could start a mould growth and render the food useless and smoking food would have the chance of similar if any bacteria was present and the conditions which aid that bacteria present themselves.

Freezing and pickling are usually the best methods of preserving food because the process keeps the food in a state where the food is sealed or in a state where conditions cant affect the food and also can be used to keep for example smoked food in a better state of preservation. But we cant eat pickled food every day throughout the winter months as i don't think that would be particularly healthy, so it all comes down to one process.

A process where the food is sealed from attack from vermin and insects, kept in a state where bacteria is as dormant as possible, and even better kept in separate sealed containers. A process which is cheap and simple to use and simple to recover your stored food .......... There is no better way to preserve your home produced food other than freezing and very little that can go wrong.

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Seed And Grain Drying:

Drying seed & grain for replanting is a way of saving money and also ensuring that you are able to grow the varieties of vegetables and other food stuffs that you prefer or suit you when these seeds may not be available to consumers anymore because they may have fell out of favour with retailers for various reasons.

Dry Seed Processing: Dry your seeds from fresh by placing on absorbent wood like plywood until dry. If you try to use paper or cloths to dry your seed you will get in a mess as the seed will stick to the cloth and paper. They need placing on clean absorbent plywood trays and stored in a place of warmth with dry circulating air even a small electric fan, and turned repeatedly twice every day until dry. There is no rocket science needed here to dry seeds just as long as they aren't exposed to temperatures above 85 degrees F. If you place them on metal trays in sunlight the tray could heat up above that temperature or if you have them inside a box which is heated somehow the temp could also rise too high. The temperature must never rise above 85 degrees as this will kill the germination of the seed and the seed will become useless. Some seeds will take higher temperatures but some will start to die at 85 degrees. To find out if your seed is dry, just test a few seeds from various places in your trays/boxes and cut or break them to see if dry enough. Then get a small vacuum sealer and vacuum bags and vacuum your seed in these bags which will stop moist air from re-hydrating your seed earlier than required and ruining the seed by mould growth or too early germination. Do not put too many seeds in each vacuum bag as they will store better if you have many bags which have fewer seeds, this will increase the vacuum seal and reduce the chance of losing all your seeds due to a mishap. These seed bags must then be stored in a dark, dry, cool place away from any chance of frost or vermin.

Wet Seed Processing: Some seeds like tomatoes have a protective jelly or flesh which contains various substances which will kill off diseases which may attack the seed when it starts to grow. These seeds have to be fermented to activate the protective substances before the seeds can be dried.

So scrape out your seeds and place in an old breakfast or bigger size bowl and just cover seeds with clean warm water then place a piece of cloth over the top sealed with a rubber band. This is important to keep flies out of the bowl which will be attracted by the fermenting seeds. Your seeds will start to ferment which you can see happening and will certainly smell.

When you see the mould which starts to form completely cover your seeds/water mixture after 2 to 3 days, you must stop this fermentation and remove the skin of mould from the top of the seeds and place the seeds in clean water in a jam jar and shake to wash and when the seeds have settled to the bottom of the jar, pour off the water and gunk and only keep the seeds which sank to the bottom of the jar, discard all others. Pour the seeds and mushy mixture into a fine mesh strainer like a flour sieve and wash clean under a tap of fast running cold water. Then place on a paper plate to absorb the water, maybe repeat this two or three times on different paper plates if drying lots of wet seeds, then dry and store as above on plywood trays and store in vacuum sealed bags.

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