Peter Horrocks on preserving the Dig In veg
Post categories: basil,Ìýcarrot,Ìýcourgette,Ìýfrench bean,Ìýsalad leaves
| 09:10 UK time, Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Now you've grown all the produce as part of the Dig In campaign, you might like to think about storing some of the surplus if you haven't already devoured the loot!
Carrots need to be cleaned, either scraped or scrubbed before either blanching or cooking. In either case, cut into slices before processing and remember that blanching is preferable to cooking when it comes to tasting the final product. If you have some room, you can simply lift the carrots before laying them in a stiff cardboard box of either dryish sand or potting compost on their sides in layers separated by more sand or compost (so they don't touch in storage). That way, they'll be as fresh as the day you picked them for at least four months.
Basil - there are many possible ways of preserving the herby taste and flavour of fresh basil, none of course as good as the real thing. To dry basil leaves, strip the leaves off the stems and layer between two sheets of newspaper then leave to dry somewhere airy. When they reach the crumbly stage, simply crush them to small pieces and store in an airtight jar. The other popular method involves tearing the leaves into small pieces and putting them into ice cube moulds with enough water to cover them. When frozen, put the cubes into the freezer in a sealed bag then remove one cube at a time as you need it!
Courgettes should be blanched as half-inch thick slices for no more than ten seconds, otherwise the structure will deteriorate. It is possible to freeze the fruit whole, but as you will probably be freezing a huge surplus of fruit it may be a good idea to chop them in half after wiping over with a damp cloth. Don't let them defrost completely if you want to slice them later for frying, they do go a bit soft!
French beans should have both ends trimmed off first, then cut into one inch pieces and blanch for a minute before draining and bagging for the freezer. They'll keep in the freezer for 12 months but the flavour does lose something when compared to fresh. It's also possible if you have a huge amount to dry the beans indoors and pod the dried beans for use in soups and stews, if taking this course, leave the beans on the plant as long as possible to get the biggest beans!
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