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Fall harvests can be dried or frozen to enjoy during colder months

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GARDENING IN OUR AREA

"For all things produced in a garden, whether of salads or fruits, a poor man will eat better that has one of his own, than a rich man that has none." J.C. Loudon

This year, gardens have been very productive for most people. The beginner gardeners are enjoying the wonderful experience of picking fresh vegetables and enjoying them. One question has been, "What can I do to keep vegetables through the winter now that there are so many and I don't can (or don't know how or don't have the equipment now)?"

You can dry many of the fruits and vegetables using your oven or a dehydrator. A good dehydrator is a very good investment as it can be used in so many ways. You can dry fruits, vegetables, and make fruit leather just as a start. Let's go with the oven first. Start with apples since there seems to be quite a lot.

Pour a quarter cup of lemon juice into a large pan of water. Peel, quarter and core the apples. Slice the apples about a quarter-inch thick and drop into the lemon juice and water mixture. This keeps the apple slices from turning brown.

Heat the over to 225 degrees. The original recipe says to place on a wire rack; I place the wire racks on a cookie sheet. This way if the apple slices fall through the. rack as they shrink, they will land on the cookie sheet, not the heating element below. Place the apple slices in the oven, turn occasionally and dry until they are leathery. The time will vary depending on how juicy the apple slices were at the beginning.

Cool and store in an airtight container. I put the dried slices in a freezer bag and insert this into a second freezer bag and put into the freezer just in case there happens to be slight moisture left in the apples. You would not like to have one single slice in a container ruining a whole lot of good dried slices.

Have lots of tomatoes you waht to keep without canning? Stem, wash and dry the tomatoes. Place on a dry cookie sheet and freeze until completely solid. Place the frozen tomatoes into a freezer bag, double bag, date and put back into the freezer. You can use these tomatoes in soups, stews and casseroles. Don't worry about the skins, as they will pop and come off the tomatoes and float to the top where you can skim them from the surface of the soups, stews or casseroles.

Peppers you can clean, cut, chop and either freeze or dry the same way as the apples. You can also stuff sweet peppers, the mildly hot peppers and if you are an adventurist, the hot peppers. Double wrap with clear plastic wrap, then double wrap with aluminum foil, freeze and enjoy fresh stuffed peppers when the snow is flying by the window in the dead of the winter. Have lots of herbs? You can dry or freeze them too. You all have a bountiful harvest.

Comment and questions should be directed to LaVerle at 509-455-7568 or laverle905@gmail.com



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© 2009 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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