Fruits and vegetables picked from a fresh summer garden are nature’s sweetest treat, but what about those cold winter months? If you want to enjoy fruits and vegetables from your garden all year long, you should consider canning, pickling, or freezing. Here are the best vegetables to plant this summer if you intend on saving some for winter.
Tomatoes
Ah, good old tomatoes! Tomatoes are easy to grow and easy to save. Tomatoes are also super versatile when it comes to saving them for the winter months. An easy way is to can them, of course, or you can stew them and freeze them. Make your own tomato sauce that you can keep frozen until you need it, or you can make salsa or pico de gallo and freeze it. Tomato relish is yummy year round. There are lots of options when you grow tomatoes.
Green Beans
Green beans are delicious fresh, pickled, or frozen. If you want to can your crop of green beans, wash them thoroughly, remove the stems, and break them into bite-sized pieces. You can also get creative with green beans and add small pieces of potato, tomato, or even turnip. If you can them correctly, green beans have a shelf life of five years, so they are a great choice for your garden.
Okra
Okra is a southern favorite, seeing how it thrives in the hottest of weather. It is best when pickled, and you can pickle it whole, halved, or in small bites. If you plan on frying it, then it is best canned in slices. Okra is a very slimy vegetable, but canning actually cuts down on some of the liquid because of the high salt and vinegar content. It is better to can okra than than to freeze it. That way you can enjoy summer okra even in the winter months.
Cabbage
Cabbage may seem like an odd vegetable to choose for preservation, but it’s so easy to pickle, can, and freeze! You can make sauerkraut, chow chow, or you can cook a huge a batch of cabbage soup and freeze it. It’s best to freeze in smaller batches so you can eat it all winter long. Chow chow is delicious with beans and is a great addition to any winter meal.
Berries
Berries are also a versatile crop for winter. The easiest way to preserve berries is simply to freeze them, but you can also make jams and jellies. Frozen berries (when thawed) definitely bring back the taste of summer, but jams and jellies have a longer shelf life and don’t run the risk of becoming freezer burned.
