When you’re a successful gardener, you’re most likely gonna end up with more crops than you can eat – at least for the time being. You’re gonna want to store some of those veggies for later consumption. If you’re serious about becoming self reliant, then you need to know which veggies you should be canning and stocking away for a later time.
Problem with canning veggies is that too often, what you end up with is a darn sight less appetizing than what you started out with. See, not all veggies are good for canning or freezing. Some will just turn to a sloppy mush when you go to eat them or will get freezer burn, or both. You don’t wanna waste you’re time canning the wrong items. You want to open up that jar of whatever it is, a year or three down the road and enjoy what you’re eating!
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So, for my money, the best veggies for canning or freezing can be found below:
Green Beans
When your first harvest of green beans comes in, you see right quick that you’ve got a lot beans! Even though the amount of each harvest drops a little, by the end of the season, I’ve green beans all over the fridge if I’m not careful.
Now some folks will do nothing but freeze green beans, which you can do. But I prefer to can them ‘cause they last a lot longer. Also, I can add another veggie –like a small new potato – to the jar so I have a starch and a veggie when I open it up again. Plus, canned green beans will last up to five years, while frozen green beans will get freezer burn long before that. Finally, canned beans don’t need electricity to stay fresh.
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Tomatoes
Just like green beans, I usually get a huge crop of tomatoes, whether I want that many or not. Their growing season is long and they’re a hardy breed of veggie. The thing about tomatoes is that they add such great taste to all kinds of foods; the trick is finding the right way to not just preserve the tomato, but to preserve its taste, too.
To cut to the chase, canning tomatoes is by far the best way to do both. Frozen tomatoes have never worked well for me. Not sayin’ you can’t freeze tomatoes; I just ain’t much of a fan of doing so. One of the best advantages to canning tomatoes is that you not only preserve the taste, you can add to the taste by adding spice to the canning process. That means you can have tomatoes pre-spiced and ready and use for Mexican salsa, Italian marinara sauce or English stews right from the canning jar. It’s just a downright cinch to do that and they always taste great. Now it’s also true that tomatoes don’t last as long as most canned veggies – about two years is as long as you want keep them. But with bumper crops most years, it shouldn’t matter.
Cucumbers – or homemade pickles
Cucumbers are no brainer for canning, aren’t they? All you gotta do is can them in brine and you got pickles! The best part about canning cucumbers into pickles is that you can eat pickles anytime! Just make sure they’re firm and fresh when you put them in the jar, it’s that easy.
A couple other points to think about are that cucumbers don’t do well in the freezer, so canning is really your only option. Also, you can slice your cucumber or leave whole in the jar; both will be fine. You can use either “salad” cucumbers or “pickle” cucumbers; either will work. The only difference is that pickle cucumbers are smaller and so the preserving process will be slightly quicker. And, like tomatoes, you can pre-spice them to your liking, with garlic or other spices.
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Carrots
Carrots are a terrific canning veggie. As long as the carrots are firm and clean, they will last several years in the jar without losing their snap. Like other veggie crops, you can sure get a lot of them at the same time to where you don’t wanna lay eyes on another carrot ‘til next year.
Canning them solves that problem in two shakes of a lamb’s tale. Like tomatoes and cucumbers, adding spices like garlic and pepper to the canning brings out a nice flavor. Canned carrots will last years in your pantry.
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Potatoes
As I mentioned in the green bean section, I like to add small, new potatoes to my green bean canning. It kills two birds with one stone. But I also like to can potatoes on their own. It don’t matter if they’re new potatoes or peeled and sliced baking potatoes, they can easily and well and will keep for years. I tend to add a clove or two of garlic in every jar.
Of course, what you decide to can is up to you. Red beets, peppers, asparagus and quite a few other veggies do well with canning. These are just my favorites. I’ve always had good luck with them in particular, and not-so-good-luck with other veggies.
Again, I’m not saying you gotta do things my way. This is just my experience. I know a friend who’s great at canning rhubarb, for instance. She does a great job of it, and that’s fine. I never enjoyed the rhubarb I canned – probably my mistake somewhere along the line. But when it comes to food, I’m all about ease and effectiveness of the operation. I like to go with the odds and not waste precious resources. SM
