Preserving Local Produce

First of all, a huge shout out to the Peachtree Road Farmers Market – they do an amazing job with providing an avenue for local Georgia farmers to sell their products to people like me

I’ve begun the process of following in my Grandmama’s footsteps – I canned strawberry jam and froze green beans!  Some EXCELLENT resources that helped me along the way:

• Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More – Read this first! It’s a GREAT canning how-to.
• Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry - This has some fantastic canning recipes, including the one I used for the strawberry jam below.
• So Easy To Preserve New & Revised Edition - This book has been around since before I was born – it’s created by the fine folks at the University of Georgia and will fill in the gaps for any home preservation questions you may have (including how long to blanch your green beans).

So my first venture was the jam.  I purchased some beautiful strawberries from Burge Farms at the farmers market and was pretty darn proud of how it turned out!  I made some shortbread to go with the jam and oh my goodness, why didn’t I ever do this before?

Fresh Strawberries from the Market

My very first strawberry jam! So tasty!

So then, a couple weeks later, I purchased some green beans from Planted Rock Farm – they we so flavorful and the texture so spot on that the next week I went back for 3 lbs. to freeze.  My favorite part of putting up beans and peas is how darn green they get once you blanch them.  Truly beautiful!

Fresh Green Beans

Blanched Green Beans Cooling

I can’t wait for peaches to come into season!