The Fall Effect
It's official. I have a problem. It's the best problem in the world to have when you have a lot of space (which I will explain momentarily), but when you are a college student living in a tiny apartment, all you end up doing is getting teased by your roommates about how nerdy you are.
So here we go. Here's my confession: I love fall. The reasons for this are many, and I could fill an entire novel about it, but the greatest reason I love fall is because it means harvest season. Which means farmer's markets and fruit trees. Which means Megan ends up spending her entire weekend covered in dirt and vegetable peelings because she gets overly and embarrassingly excited about these things.
But I haven't even got to the best part yet--you can preserve many of these abundant fruits and vegetables to last the ENTIRE WINTER. You buy them now, when they are inexpensive, and you are eating gloriously even in the middle of January when hardly any of the same delicious things are in season.
This is what I have been doing this past week. I feel like a bear getting ready for hibernation. My roommates came home to a tub full of winter squash in our hall closet, a freezer with 32 oz mason jars filled with applesauce, two giant pumpkins sitting on our front porch, and a fruit dehydrator just doing its thing. I like to claim that everybody who makes fun of me for it will rue the day when in December I am eating deliciously fresh spaghetti squash that I bought for $2 three months ago, but I really don't think anybody cares about this except me.
The point of this post is not just to tell you how much I love fall, but to provide some tips for you to preserve fruits and vegetables while they are not only at the peak of freshness, but also at the peak of cheapness. My fingers are shaking because my thoughts of excitement are going faster than my fingers can type, and I am just so pumped to share all of my ideas with you.
I'm sure that by now it is no secret that I love squash. I would eat it every single day of the year if it was in season for all twelve months. Which is why I came up with the wonderful idea of preserving it. The beautiful thing about squash is that the rinds are so thick that it protects it from rotting for months on end. As long as you store it in a cool dark place (i.e. a box in your basement or a tub inside of the closet you share with two other people with a blanket draped over it), it will last for months. This alone will keep it fresh for 3-4 months. But if you want it to last even longer if you take a rag dipped in a mild bleach solution and wipe the outside of the rind. This kills all of the bacteria on the outside of the squash, which makes the rind last longer. These will last up to 6-7 months in a cool and dark space. So will I continue stocking up on squash until the farmer's market closes in three weeks? You bet I will.
Another fall delicacy I've been stocking up on is apples. I found an apple tree on my apartment complex's property, so I've been picking apples (or making my tall friends pick apples) for a couple of weeks now. I think they just like the to make fun of me. As the crazed look on my face looks more and more like Jack Nicholson from the Shining. Or like Golem from Lord of the Rings, "My Precioussss!!!" as I pick more and more apples.
Have I mentioned that I have a problem? Or that I am ridiculously excited? Or perhaps that this may be the happiest I have been in a long time?
Anyways, if you have some freezer space, or have the ability to can, then I highly recommend you use apples why they are cheap. I've been making applesauce in my crockpot for the last week and now have 32 oz mason jars full of applesauce in my freezer for the next year or so. But it's so good that there's not way it's going to last that long. The next step is to start making apple butter, which is basically applesauce on steroids.
Another easy way to preserve apples is to dehydrate them. Now, there are a couple of ways to do this. I'm probably the only 21 year-old in the world who owns a food dehydrator, which is the easiest option, though it is more time consuming. You cut the apples as thing as you can, then leave them in the dehydrator for 8-12 hours. But you literally don't have to do anything during that time.
You can also dehydrate apples in the oven at a low temperature for 4-5 hours, but this requires you to flip them halfway through, stay home since you are keeping the oven on, etc. It's not something you can do overnight. But since dehydrators are not cheap (least expensive go for around $60), this is a great low-cost option.
The last farmer's market find I've been working on is pumpkin. Store bought pumpkin puree is expensive, and it has a weird dark color, and I don't really like it. So I make my own and freeze it (I swear the first thing I'm going to do when I get my own home is buy a giant deep freezer to keep all of this stuff in). The method is very simple. The best way to open a pumpkin is to put it in a garbage bag and throw it off a high place. I like to use my roof, but that's just because I have easy access to that. Kitchen chairs work just fine. You can even throw it as far away from you as you can and it will open up.
Once open, take a knife or spoon and get rid of all the membranes. Then roast the pumpkin until a fork can easily pierce through the rind. At this point, the flesh should easily separate from the rind and you an blend or process. I like to use a hand blender for this portion. But that's probably because I don't have an actual blender that will do it for me. You then have your pumpkin puree that you can immediately use, or you can store it in the freezer for a few months.
A great thing about pumpkins is that they also have pumpkin seeds. These can be tossed with a number of different spices and seasonings and roasted until golden brown. I personally like cinnamon and sugar roasted pumpkin seeds. SO good. And just like squash, roasted pumpkin seeds will last for months (but once again, they probably will be gone long before then).
What I love most about all of these methods is that they don't require a lot of effort or time on your part. You wipe down the squash and leave them until you need them, you leave the apples in the dehydrator or crockpot for hours, or you take 40 minutes out of your day to make some pumpkin puree. It's so simple! And this way you can enjoy fall produce and flavors all year round.
So here we go. Here's my confession: I love fall. The reasons for this are many, and I could fill an entire novel about it, but the greatest reason I love fall is because it means harvest season. Which means farmer's markets and fruit trees. Which means Megan ends up spending her entire weekend covered in dirt and vegetable peelings because she gets overly and embarrassingly excited about these things.
But I haven't even got to the best part yet--you can preserve many of these abundant fruits and vegetables to last the ENTIRE WINTER. You buy them now, when they are inexpensive, and you are eating gloriously even in the middle of January when hardly any of the same delicious things are in season.
This is what I have been doing this past week. I feel like a bear getting ready for hibernation. My roommates came home to a tub full of winter squash in our hall closet, a freezer with 32 oz mason jars filled with applesauce, two giant pumpkins sitting on our front porch, and a fruit dehydrator just doing its thing. I like to claim that everybody who makes fun of me for it will rue the day when in December I am eating deliciously fresh spaghetti squash that I bought for $2 three months ago, but I really don't think anybody cares about this except me.
The point of this post is not just to tell you how much I love fall, but to provide some tips for you to preserve fruits and vegetables while they are not only at the peak of freshness, but also at the peak of cheapness. My fingers are shaking because my thoughts of excitement are going faster than my fingers can type, and I am just so pumped to share all of my ideas with you.
I'm sure that by now it is no secret that I love squash. I would eat it every single day of the year if it was in season for all twelve months. Which is why I came up with the wonderful idea of preserving it. The beautiful thing about squash is that the rinds are so thick that it protects it from rotting for months on end. As long as you store it in a cool dark place (i.e. a box in your basement or a tub inside of the closet you share with two other people with a blanket draped over it), it will last for months. This alone will keep it fresh for 3-4 months. But if you want it to last even longer if you take a rag dipped in a mild bleach solution and wipe the outside of the rind. This kills all of the bacteria on the outside of the squash, which makes the rind last longer. These will last up to 6-7 months in a cool and dark space. So will I continue stocking up on squash until the farmer's market closes in three weeks? You bet I will.
Another fall delicacy I've been stocking up on is apples. I found an apple tree on my apartment complex's property, so I've been picking apples (or making my tall friends pick apples) for a couple of weeks now. I think they just like the to make fun of me. As the crazed look on my face looks more and more like Jack Nicholson from the Shining. Or like Golem from Lord of the Rings, "My Precioussss!!!" as I pick more and more apples.Have I mentioned that I have a problem? Or that I am ridiculously excited? Or perhaps that this may be the happiest I have been in a long time?
Anyways, if you have some freezer space, or have the ability to can, then I highly recommend you use apples why they are cheap. I've been making applesauce in my crockpot for the last week and now have 32 oz mason jars full of applesauce in my freezer for the next year or so. But it's so good that there's not way it's going to last that long. The next step is to start making apple butter, which is basically applesauce on steroids.
Another easy way to preserve apples is to dehydrate them. Now, there are a couple of ways to do this. I'm probably the only 21 year-old in the world who owns a food dehydrator, which is the easiest option, though it is more time consuming. You cut the apples as thing as you can, then leave them in the dehydrator for 8-12 hours. But you literally don't have to do anything during that time.
You can also dehydrate apples in the oven at a low temperature for 4-5 hours, but this requires you to flip them halfway through, stay home since you are keeping the oven on, etc. It's not something you can do overnight. But since dehydrators are not cheap (least expensive go for around $60), this is a great low-cost option.
The last farmer's market find I've been working on is pumpkin. Store bought pumpkin puree is expensive, and it has a weird dark color, and I don't really like it. So I make my own and freeze it (I swear the first thing I'm going to do when I get my own home is buy a giant deep freezer to keep all of this stuff in). The method is very simple. The best way to open a pumpkin is to put it in a garbage bag and throw it off a high place. I like to use my roof, but that's just because I have easy access to that. Kitchen chairs work just fine. You can even throw it as far away from you as you can and it will open up.
Once open, take a knife or spoon and get rid of all the membranes. Then roast the pumpkin until a fork can easily pierce through the rind. At this point, the flesh should easily separate from the rind and you an blend or process. I like to use a hand blender for this portion. But that's probably because I don't have an actual blender that will do it for me. You then have your pumpkin puree that you can immediately use, or you can store it in the freezer for a few months.
A great thing about pumpkins is that they also have pumpkin seeds. These can be tossed with a number of different spices and seasonings and roasted until golden brown. I personally like cinnamon and sugar roasted pumpkin seeds. SO good. And just like squash, roasted pumpkin seeds will last for months (but once again, they probably will be gone long before then). What I love most about all of these methods is that they don't require a lot of effort or time on your part. You wipe down the squash and leave them until you need them, you leave the apples in the dehydrator or crockpot for hours, or you take 40 minutes out of your day to make some pumpkin puree. It's so simple! And this way you can enjoy fall produce and flavors all year round.
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