If you’ve never canned before, check out Canning 101 by Jessica Sowards at Roots & Refuge.

There are only two approved methods of canning: Water Bath and Pressure. Water bath canning involves submerging a jar full of acidic or sugary foods in water and boiling it long enough to kill any potentially dangerous microbes that may be hiding inside. Pressure canning involves packing low-acid foods like vegetables in jars and cooking them under pressure to achieve the same effect.

Then there are several unapproved methods: open-kettle, oven, microwave, dishwasher, pressure cooker, inversion, etc (source). I will write a post that explains the history and available science behind each so you can make an informed decision for your family. For now, suffice to say that if you are relatively new to canning or you haven’t sat down to thoroughly research what makes a canning practice safe, it’s not worth it to try any of these options yet.

The fall is prime canning season at Eagle Iron Farm, as that is when the majority of our harvest comes in. We can everything from fruit juice and pie filling to green beans and soup.

Freezing food is one of the quickest forms of preservation in the short term. The vast majority of foods can be frozen, but that doesn’t mean everything should be shoved in your freezer. For example: dairy. Thawed dairy products have a strange, unpleasant texture, and anyone with nerve endings on their tongue is going to notice.

That being said, having a little of everything else in the freezer is a good plan. Our freezers are mostly full of meat, but we regularly freeze corn-on-the-cob and diced vegetables. Also, I am quite guilty of using the freezer as a stop gap between harvest and pantry when the harvest season is in full swing. Even the foods that should be blanched first (looking at you green beans) are easier to freeze than can. Lastly, we freeze almost all the fruit we plan to use for mead or wine.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not an expert on dehydrating. That title goes to the wonderful Darcy at The Purposeful Pantry. I must direct you to her absolutely beautiful website. She has it all: directions, tips, tricks, tutorials, recipes, anecdotes, the whole nine yards. I have never had a bad experience with anything I learned from Darcy.

As for what we dehydrate on the farm…mostly herbs and fully cooked vegetables. I try to keep a supply of just-add-hot-water convenience meals in the pantry.

We finally ordered our freeze dryer in August 2023, so we have not yet had any experience using it. As we experiment over the next few years, I will share what we learn. Until then, take a look over at Homesteading Family. They have been successfully using their freeze dryer for over a year.

The kids requested that we freeze dry candy and marshmallows. We adults plan to freeze dry plenty of vegetable varieties for long-term storage.

Quick Pickling

Also called vinegar pickling and commonly used for “fridge pickles,” quick pickling refers to immersing a food in a brine of vinegar, water, and salt. Store the jar (or whatever container you use, I don’t judge) in the fridge for a few weeks or canned in a water bath to become shelf stable. Our favorites are pickled red onions, pickled eggs, pickled asparagus, and cowboy candy. Technically speaking, quick pickles do not actually ferment, but the result is similar enough to put them in the same category.

Lactic Acid Pickling

One of the oldest forms of food preservation, this method of pickling uses lactic acid bacteria to create an environment where most pathogens effectively cannot grow. Little or no heat is required and the food retains the majority of it’s nutritional value. Kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, soy sauce, yogurt, some sourdoughs, and even cheeses are fermented this way. Also, the flavors created with lactic acid fermentation simply cannot be made any other way.

Brewing

Alcohol is fermented with yeast. Mix some sort of fruit, vegetable, juice, or grain in water, sometimes add heat, usually add a sweetener like sugar or honey, then inoculated it with yeast. The yeast eat the sugars and starches to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. At first, the product will be carbonated and can be consumed as such (like some wines and beers), but eventually the carbon dioxide will escape, leaving a flat wine or ale. At that point, the liquid may be distilled into liquor.

Baking

Baking with yeast is a fermentation. Add yeast to a bread dough and allow it to sit for a while. After an hour or so at or a little higher than room temperature, the dough will have increased in size. The yeast ate the sugars and gave off alcohol and carbon dioxide. Unlike in brewing, however, the dough traps the carbon dioxide and baking removes the alcohol. It is possible to use the same strains of yeast in both brewing and baking, but the results are rather undesirable. Baking yeasts are specially bred varieties to create less alcohol and more carbon dioxide, whereas brewer’s yeasts have been bred to make better alcohol flavors.

My kitchen sees all of these options. Will dedicated an entire shelf in the “beer fridge” to pickles of various varieties. More than half of the jalapeno harvest goes into jars of vinegar and sugar. When it comes to red onions, we actually prefer them lacto-fermented, but we do not turn our noses up at fridge pickled. The smell of baking bread permeates the house weekly, and we try to make a new brew each month. Fermentation has been around for thousands of years. We humans thoroughly enjoy it.