Saving the tastes of summer
Words: Mary Berry
What joy each season brings in the garden, especially now so many of us are ‘growing our own’, supplying our kitchens with a feast of fruit and vegetables.
During the past few years, many British gardeners have become more aware of ‘food miles’, the benefit of buying locally and the pleasure that can be brought when producing, eating and sharing home-grown produce.
Methods of preserving produce have, over the years, changed. For example, in hot climates such as Morocco or Mexico, drying was the natural way of preservation for beans, chillies, sultanas and apricots – and, in more recent years, sun-dried tomatoes. Yet in Britain, drying is not practical in the climate, except for some herbs and mushrooms. Here we were more likely to bottle fruit, pickle vegetables or make chutneys and jams as a way of preservation.
Read more about:
» Freezing: lessons to be learned
» Jams and chutneys: store cupboard preserves
» Pickling: selective choices
Mary Berry is a cookery writer and passionate gardener. This article is taken from The Garden October 2009.