Preserving the Harvest….Cucumbers

Canning pickles is not the only way to preserve cucumbers. You can also ferment, dehydrate and even freeze them.

It seems to be feast or famine with cucumbers at our little homestead. Some years I just cannot get them to produce at all and other years I’m wondering what in the world we’re going to do with them all. We’re in a feasting year this year. Normally that would be a good thing but …

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Preserving the Harvest…..Herbs

Preserving herbs is easy and way cheaper than buying herbs and spices already preserved. Herbs can be preserved by drying or freezing them, putting them in salt and making extracts.

One of our goals this year was to add more herbs to our garden for both culinary and medicinal uses. Many times those uses overlap. The thing with herbs is that they do not grow year round outside (even in zone 9) and they are not always ready at the same time complimentary vegetables are …

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Preserving the Harvest….Green Beans

Preserving green beans doesn't have to be hard or boring. Learn how to can, freeze, ferment and dehydrate green beans to enjoy now and later.

Welcome to week one of Preserving the Harvest which will be a twelve week series on preserving fruits, vegetables and herbs to use throughout the year. My goals isn’t to teach you everything you need to know about every preservation method or every fruit or vegetable. My goal is to encourage you to not see …

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Fermented cabbage, beet and carrots (rainbow sauerkraut recipe)

Three jars of vibrant Rainbow Kraut rest on a wooden surface, each topped with a metal lid and airlock. This delightful fermented cabbage, showcased by SchneiderPeeps.com, bursts with color and flavor.

I love playing around with different ferments. My family thinks it’s weird but that’s okay. I have a slaw recipe that I learned from a friend from Kenya and I wondered what it would taste like as lacto-fermented sauerkraut. It’s tastes great. My family isn’t big slaw or sauerkraut. When I make this slaw I …

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Fermented (naturally pickled) peppers – a step by step guide

Three glass jars filled with sliced fermented peppers in a light brine sit on a wooden surface. The peppers, in yellow, green, and red hues, add a vibrant touch to the scene.

Fermented peppers easy to make and are fantastic for someone just beginning the fermenting journey. Sauerkraut. Isn’t that where everyone begins with fermented vegetables? I think it must be as there are many, many sauerkraut articles all over the place I think one of the reasons sauerkraut is such a great place to begin is …

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Beginner’s Guide to Fermentation

Fermentation is an old way of preserving food, before refrigeration or canning. Fermented foods include common items such as yogurt, cheese, and sauerkraut, plus less common items such as kefir, kvass, and kimchi. Learn why and how to make homemade fermented vegetables for optimum gut health.

Fermentation is an old way of preserving food – really old, as in before refrigeration and before canning. Back in the day, you either dehydrated or fermented food to keep it from spoiling. Fermented foods include common items such as yogurt, cheese, and sauerkraut plus less common items such as kefir, kvass, and kimchi. Years …

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Canning Tomatoes in the No-Waste Kitchen

Preserving tomatoes is like preserving summer! Learn how to get the most out of your tomato harvest by using up every bit of the tomato, including the extra juice and peels.

My absolute favorite thing to grow is tomatoes. I love that there are literally thousands of varieties to try. I love the flavor of homegrown tomatoes – store bought tomatoes just cannot compare. I even love the smell of tomato plants – which don’t really smell very good, but I love them anyway. So, for canning …

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Canning Corn with the raw pack or hot pack method

Several glass jars filled with yellow canned corn are lined up on a countertop, each sealed with a metal lid. The jars appear to be prepared for canning or storage.

I love keeping home canned corn on hand. Although canning corn takes a little bit longer than canning other vegetables does, it’s totally worth it. There’s nothing like the flavor of locally grown sweet corn during summer, and when you can your own corn you can enjoy that bit of summer all year long. This …

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Making and Freezing Pesto Sauce in Canning Jars

Making and freezing basil pesto right in the jar allows me to easily preserve basil all summer long. There are no safe canning methods for pesto so freezing pesto is the way to go.

Every spring one of the first herb seeds I sow are basil seeds. I liberally scatter them in several places in the garden. I do this for one reason…pesto! We love pesto so very much and I refuse to pay $5 for a small jar of basil pesto. So each summer you’ll find me making …

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Canning Beef Stew for Convenience and Emergencies

Home canned beef stew is a wonderful way to prepare for emergencies - big or small. Your family is sure to love this recipe for canning beef stew in a pressure canner.

Canning beef stew is a great way to have meals-in-a-jar for lunches, quick dinners, and even emergencies. You can even use venison, lamb, pork, or other wild game in this home canned beef stew recipe. Every summer I find myself spending a few days canning beef stew, I make other canned soups and stews also …

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How to Preserve Lemons by Fermenting

A jar of fermented lemons rests on a wooden table, sealed with plastic wrap and a metal lid. In the background, citrus fruits and a knife are visible. Text reads: "Preserve Lemons with fermentation - SchneiderPeeps.com.

I used to think it was silly to preserve lemons because they were available year round at the store whenever I happened to need one. Then I tried my first Meyer lemon and preserving lemons became a necessity. We have an amazing lemon tree that gives us several hundred pounds of lemons each year. So, …

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Can You Freeze Lemons? The Ultimate Guide

Close-up of several fresh lemons cut in half, showing their juicy, bright yellow interior and textured rind. The image is well-lit, highlighting the details and freshness—perfect for freezing lemons or enjoying as frozen lemons.

Can you freeze lemons? Absolutely! In fact, freezing lemons is a great way to ensure you have that bright, fresh lemon flavor even when lemons aren’t in season. We have an amazing Meyer lemon tree that came with our house. Each year we try to freeze lemons to last the year. I like to use …

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An Easy Dewberry Jam Recipe for Canning or Freezing

mason jars being filled with dewberry jam

Every year we forage dewberries which are a wild blackberry that grows in our area. We try to pick enough to last the entire year. We freeze some of the berries and we make a super easy dewberry jam recipe to give as gifts and to enjoy ourselves. This same method can be used to …

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Canning Beans: How to can dry beans at home

Canning dried beans at home can save you time and money. Learn how to make canned black beans, pinto beans, and other canned dried beans with this tutorial.

I love the convenience of having canned black beans and other dried beans on hand. However, I don’t like the price of buying canned black beans. So one of the first things I learned to can in my pressure canner was how to can dried beans. Every year I buy dried beans in bulk at …

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Mustang Grape Jelly Recipe (Wild Mustang and Muscadine Grapes)

jars of home canned grape jelly and grape juice with text overlay that says, make jelly and juice from wild grapes.

All along the rural roads in Texas there are wild mustang grapes and muscadine grapes that grow. Every summer we go grape hunting and pick enough grapes to make grape jelly and grape juice. Mustang grapes and muscadine grapes are not the same plant, although most of us use the terms interchangeably, but they and other …

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in the kitchen…dehydrating tomatoes

Image of sliced tomatoes on a dehydrator tray. Text overlay reads, "How to Dehydrate Tomatoes" with "SchneiderPeeps.com" written at the bottom.

A friend surprised me with a lot of grape tomatoes. Usually when I have too many tomatoes I can them, but grape tomatoes would give me lots of skins in the tomatoes. So, I thought I’d dehydrate them. I love sun dried tomatoes. And while these aren’t quite “sun dried” I think they’ll do nicely. …

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in my kitchen… roasting pumpkin seeds

Last week a friend offered us some pumpkins that were left over from her school. I was so excited, especially after our dismal pumpkin harvest this year. So we spent the day cooking, pureeing and freezing pumpkin… and roasting the seeds. (We should have been unpacking but we seem to have lost our momentum) We had …

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