Summer harvest is here — the tomatoes are ripening, squash is in endless supply, and you’re wondering what you’re going to do to keep up with the hoard of fresh vegetables that are growing in your garden. Preserve the bounty that you put so much time and effort into! That’s what you’re going to do. Rather than sending highly nutritional food (that you’ve worked so hard to produce) to the compost pile simply because you have too much to eat, you can devote a little bit more time to preserve your harvest, and enjoy what you’ve grown for months to come. Growing a surplus of food in the summer and preserving it creates food security for the winter months. Doing it yourself creates the feeling of accomplishment, and the assurance of safety and quality. Preserving food is a tradition that dates back centuries, but in the last half century has lost its appeal and necessity as modernized commerce and global food availability have made eating much easier (imagine trying to find a banana in January in Buffalo, 300 years ago…) Canning, freezing, and dehydrating are excellent ways to preserve food — as well as the nutrients and flavor it holds.
Freezing Vegetables
Freezing your harvest (or part of your harvest, unless you have a really big freezer) is a very easy and effective way to preserve food. A common preparation to freeze vegetables is blanching, but vegetables can be prepared to freeze in many ways (depends on the recipe). Blanching works well for most vegetables, and is a technique used for canning as well. Blanching removes bacteria and dirt, etc. from the surface of your veggies, and more importantly, stops the process of enzymes inside the vegetable that would cause it to toughen, lose flavor and nutrients, and change color. Blanching is done by putting fresh, prepared vegetables into boiling water for a short amount of time (amount of time varies from vegetable to vegetable), and then immediately moving the produce to ice-cold water to stop the cooking process. Typically, vegetables should be cooled in ice-water for the same amount of time that they were cooked in hot water, unless a recipe notes otherwise. Guidelines for freezing and blanching are easily accessible online, and can also be found in cookbooks and books on preserving food. Here are some guidelines for freezing beets, tomatoes, and zucchini:
Beets
Select young, tender beets, 2 – 3 inches across. Wash carefully. Cook in boiling water until tender, from 60 – 90 minutes. Cool in cold water, skins peel off easily. Slice. When cool, transfer to containers. Label. Freeze. Keeps for 6 months.
Zucchini
Slice into 1-inch pieces, do not peel. Saute in melted butter until barely tender. Cool, pack into plastic containers, leaving headspace at the top. Label. Freeze. Keeps for 3 months.
Tomatoes
Dip into boiling water 1 minute. Remove, and dip into cold water for 1 minute. Remove and peel. Place on a tray and freeze for 30 minutes. Place in plastic bags, remove air, seal and label. Keeps up to 6 months.
There are many resources and guides for freezing vegetables from A to Z, whether online, or in a book. Check out GardenGuides and PickYourOwn for online guides to preserving vegetables. Extend your season, and eat your home-grown foods until they start growing again next year. Please join us, as we are holding a Tomato Canning Workshop on September 1st @ 3pm in our gardens @ 320 Northampton. If it rains, we will hold the workshop indoors @ 158 Eaton St.
Come out this Saturday, the 23rd and creep up the stairs of the ReSource, sneak past the ghouls and goblins and grab a seat for our final movie of the season. We plan on starting the movie at 7pm so come a little early to get situated and get ready to be scared! 
Grassroots Gardens has put out the call for volunteers to help at a few community gardens around Buffalo — now is your chance to get involved and get your hands dirty! Join us on the following workdays to make these community gardens more wonderful than they already are: