Home Food Preservation: Preserving Apples, Tomatoes and Corn

Image Gallery You can savor summer's harvest all year long with a few easy home food preservation methods: freezing, drying and canning. PHOTO: DAVID CAVAGNARO

I want three things from my food: I want to know what's in it; I want rich, home-grown flavor; and I want to feel some measure of self-reliance. The global supermarket can't give me any of these things. Home food preservation can.

No factory worker can seal up the tender, sweet taste of fresh-from-the-garden corn better than you can. Commercially grown apples can never offer anything like applesauce made from Grandma's June apples. Store-bought pasta sauces will never give you the peace of mind and sense of satisfaction you get from making your own sauce with pesticide- and herbicide-free, organic tomatoes.

Home food preservation is about flavor, quality and purity. It also can be about economics and getting the most out of your garden. Most gardens easily produce more than a family can eat fresh: Even one cherry tomato plant can be hard to keep up with. Preserving the surplus allows you to enjoy the benefits of your summer's labor over a whole year.

Even if you don't have garden surplus, buying and preserving produce from a farmer's market or from a neighbor will save money. Top-quality frozen or canned vegetables often cost more than a dollar a pound, and organically grown frozen produce can be close to $4 a pound.

Besides, food preservation is fun. The work lends itself well to collective efforts, so it is a good opportunity to enlist the kids or have a work party with friends or family. There is nothing difficult about the process, just a series of little jobs. With a few helpers, you can set up an assembly line and enjoy a day of conversation and company while the larder gets stocked for winter. 

A Year's Supply

Putting up a year's supply of tomatoes, corn and apples is a good start on a basic food store and a great start on some good eating. These three crops are available cheaply at harvest time and are versatile in the kitchen all year long. How much should you preserve? Here's an idea of what a bushel of each crop will provide:

• Tomatoes: A bushel of tomatoes weighs around 53 pounds, which yields 15 to 20 quarts of whole or stewed tomatoes or juice, and half that amount cooked down into salsa. Those 53 pounds yield about 13 pounds dried.
• Apples: A 48-pound bushel of apples yields 16 to 20 quarts of sauce or around 32 quarts of slices for pie. 1 pound of apples yields a little less than ¼ pound dried.
• Corn: Ears of corn in a 35-pound bushel transform into 14 to 18 pints of frozen kernels or 11 pounds of dried corn.

Getting Started

The first thing you need is fresh produce. If your own garden isn't big enough to grow extra, check out nearby pick-your-own farms or bulk buying from a local grower. Bulk prices at produce stands and farmer's markets are usually very reasonable as well. Growers may have tomatoes too ripe for shipping that they'll sell for very little, and orchards do the same with windfall apples.