It’s the season of bounty here in the Kawarthas and it is time to preserve all that goodness for the colder seasons to come.
Learn more about what is in season when, so you can help get prepared!
If you are a gardener, you may have lots of home grown goodness coming out of your garden, but if you want to purchase some locally, visit local Farmers’ Markets and farm stands to stock up! Follow us on social media @localfoodptbo for constantly updated suggestions on where to source!
There are lots of great ways to preserve the abundance of harvest season. Most do not require much special equipment or extreme skills.
One of the simplest ways to preserve fresh food is to freeze it. This can be done with most fruits & vegetables quite easily. Here are some great resources from Peterborough Public Health to easily freeze your harvests and purchased local goods!
Another simple way to preserve fresh harvests is drying. This works great for herbs, and if you have a dehydrater (or oven on very low heat for 12 hours plus!) you can also dry fruit and vegetables for the winter! Here are some great tips from Earth Easy.
Another way to preserve fresh local foods is canning. This does require some basic skills and equipment, but well worth taking the time to learn, here are some basic steps and recipes from Nourish Project, they often offer canning classes during preserving season too!
Other great resources include Bernardin and Ball for both canning techniques and recipes!
What are your favourite ways to can & preserve? Currently as we write this, tomatoes are in abundance, learn some great ways to preserve tomatoes in many ways from our friends at Nourish project
Where do you source local produce for preserving?
Do you have any favourite recipes?