Onion Storage

Late season onions are built for long season storage in cold dry conditions. A garage or proch that doesn’t freeze will keep them for months. The chiller drawer in the fridge will do well too if you keep them in a bag as well. Beware Aware the strong flavor of onions will flavor things stored around them. Potatoes, carrots, etc. will taste like onions if you keep them together without a barrier (plastic bag).

Root Crop Storage

Carrots, parsnips, potatoes and beets all do well stored in your refrigerator. Pack them tightly in a plastic bag. If you are not going to be pulling a few out every week don’t seal the bag tightly (they need a little fresh air occasionally). The back of your fridge down low or in the crisper drawers are generally a good spot.

Winter Squash Storage

Keep your squash somewhere cool (55-60 degrees) and dry  where there isnt alot of airflow. A heated foyer, closet on an exterior wall or very dry basement are all good spots.

Winter squash can be divived into two storage groups:

-Short term varieties (enjoy before the New Year):

  • Delicata, acorn, sweet dumpling

-Long term varieties (can be kept until March):

  • Butternut
  • Kabocha (turban style)
  • Red Kuri

Making and Freezing Roasted Peppers

Peppers can be roasted whole or halved, on an open flame or oven. Brush them with olive oil and lay them on the grill or on a cookie sheet in a 500 degree oven until the skin begins to darken and pull away from the flesh of the pepper. At this point turn them and repeat the blackening on another side. Once the pepper is roasted all around put it immediately into a paper bag for 10 minutes, this steams the pepper further and make removing the blackened skin easier. Remove from the bag to a bowl of very cold water and remove the skin.
Roasted peppers can be laid out flat and stacked with waxed paper between each layer. Once you have 5-10 peppers slide them into a zip lock and freeze for the winter.

Honey Lemon Refridgerator Pickles

6 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
2 cups thinly sliced onions
¾ cup honey
1 cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon mustard seed
½ teaspoon celery seed

Place cucumbers and onions in large glass bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook and stir until honey is dissolved. Pour hot liquid over cucumbers and onions, toss well, and let cool. The cucumbers will give off some of their juices; keep them submerged in the liquid while they cool. Transfer pickles to 3 pint jars, cover tightly, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving. They will keep for a week or so. Makes 3 pints.

Dilly Beans

1 and one half cups water
2 cups green beans (purple and yellow work too)
2 Tablespoons chopped dill
2 large garlic cloves
quarter teaspoon red pepper flakes
third cup cider vinegar
half teaspoon sugar or honey
half teaspoon olive oil (optional)

Boil water in a small pot with a good lid. Add the beans and cook until bright green add barely tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain the beans and toss them with the dill while they are still hot. Combine garlic, red pepper, vinegar, sugar/honeyin a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes

Freezing Tomatoes

First, think about how you would like to use your tomatoes over the winter and how much room you have to keep them in the freezer. This will guide you in the best way to freeze them.

• Freezing whole toms gives you the most options as they can be used one at a time to make chunky style soups or sauces. The downside is whole tomatoes take up a lot of freezer space.
• Making a sauce or puree is space efficient when freezer space is limited but doesn’t allow for much in the way of “texture”. You are also forced to thaw a whole ziplock at a time.

Freezing whole:

Boil 2 quarts of water. Core tomatoes and cut a small ‘X’ on the bottom of each one, just piercing the skin. Plunge the toms in the boiling water a few at a time for 1 minute. Pull them out and run them under cold water or place them in an ice-water bath until all the heat has left them. Starting at the ‘X,’ use a fingernail or a butter knife to peel back the skin.

Place tomatoes on a cooking sheet so that they are not touching and freeze. Pull them out in a few hours and pack them in ziplocks. Use them one by one all winter.

Freezing sauce/puree:

Boil 2 quarts of water. Core tomatoes and cut a small ‘X’ on the bottom of each one, just piercing the skin. Plunge the toms in the boiling water a few at a time for 1 minute. Pull them out and run them under cold water or place them in an ice-water bath until all the heat has left them. Starting at the ‘X’, use a fingernail or a butter knife to peel back the skin.

After the skins are gone you can roast them in the oven -6 hours at 200 with the seeds removed, or cook them down on the stove starting with onions, garlic, etc.

Seeding and pureeing them is also an easy option that provides a good base for lots of stuff.

To freeze, fill your ziplock, jar or tub no more than ¾ in from the top of the container, this will allow room for the contents to expand a bit. Try to place bags on a flat surface in the freezer. This makes the ziplocks more modular for moving around with your other frozen stuff.