Preserving vegetables

Freshly picked and eaten as soon as you enjoy your garden vegetables the most. But some harvests can't wait, and you can sometimes be overwhelmed with delicious vegetables. Take advantage of this abundance of vegetables to "store" them and return to them in winter. Here are several vegetable preservation methods to adapt to your needs.

Freezing

Freezing is the simplest method for preserving a large number of vegetables while maintaining their flavor and nutritional qualities. It requires low temperatures, below -24°C. Most vegetables (green beans, peas, spinach, zucchini, eggplant, cauliflower, tomatoes, etc.) can be frozen either raw or cooked in the form of ratatouille, soups, or ready-made meals.

Drying

This very simple method mainly concerns aromatic plants as well as seed vegetables (dried beans, broad beans, etc.). For aromatic plants (rosemary, thyme, savory, common sage, marjoram, mint, lemon balm, etc.), pick them and then dry them in a ventilated, dark and warm place (20-21 °C). You can either spread them out or hang them in small bouquets. Once the plants are dried, store them away from humidity to prevent the development of mold. As for seed vegetables, place the harvests, in sunny weather, under windows or under a glass frame in the vegetable garden. Once dehydrated, store the seeds in containers away from humidity.

Sterilization

Heat sterilization was the most widely used method before freezing became available to the general public. This technique requires a temperature above 112°C to destroy bacteria. This temperature must be maintained for more than half an hour in a high-pressure pressure cooker and more than two hours in atmospheric pressure sterilization.

In oil

In the past, oil was used to preserve certain vegetables (eggplant, artichoke, zucchini, cucumber, pepper, tomato, etc.) for several months, while giving off a delicious aroma of the oilseed plant (olive, walnut, or grape seed oil, for example). Today, this method is used to create oils flavored with aromatic herbs that can be used to season raw vegetables, salads, or grilled meats. Place a few fresh sprigs of the chosen "fine herb" in a liter of oil, previously washed and dried. Let stand for 15 days, then remove the sprigs and filter if necessary.

In vinegar

Vinegar can be used to preserve many vegetables: gherkins of course, but also small white onions, carrots, small green or ripe tomatoes, small heads of cauliflower, peas, green beans, young sweetcorn, asparagus tips... Choose firm vegetables, wash them. Place them in a glass jar. Add a good spirit vinegar, at least 7% alcohol, which you have flavored with a clove, peppercorns, thyme, bay leaf, tarragon... Let macerate for 2 months before enjoying these delicious little vegetables.