food preservation/Re: Question for NT homesteaders

[Guest guest]

@@@@@@@@@@ Becky:

Fermenting doesn't work

> for all veggies (like okra!) and my fridge is already full of

pickles

> anyway! I'll try drying some more things, but I'm really wondering

> how I can live like folks in the past did. I know that canning

would

> solve alot of my dilemmas....but I hate to can and it's cooked to

> death anyway. We are in GA and I don't think root cellars work

very

> well down here....but we may try it out one of these days.

@@@@@@@@@@

I think drying (mostly for leave I imagine) is a key technique,

something I need to work on for myself. Drying a ton of greens for

the winter would be a massive space saver and nutritional triumph. I

mean, my logic is that just about any preservation method will kill

most of the vitamins, but preserve all the minerals. Various

phytonutrients might survive depending on the method, but I don't

have any facts about this offhand. I'm assuming there are four

categories of nutrients relevant to preserving veggies:

1. minerals

2. bacteria/lactic acid

3. phytonutrients

4. vitamins

There's only so much bacteria and lactic acid you need, so it's not

like you need to ferment everything as long as you have a little bit

of kimchi or kraut or continue with milk ferments during the winter.

Aside from a quota of bacteria and lactic acid, I'm assuming minerals

and phytonutrients are the most important reason to eat preserved

veggies. Setting aside the topic of phytonutrients due to lack of

knowledge, from this perspective drying and canning would be equally

good, and choosing between the two would depend on convenience and

aesthetic/culinary factors. I'm assuming drying is much easier and

requires less equipment. Okay, now that I'm getting into all this,

I might as well make a chart:

Nutritional Comparison:

<method,criteria>:

<method,<minerals,probiotics,phytonutrients,vitamins>>

<fermenting,<perfect,perfect,?,good>>

<pickling,<perfect,bad,?,bad>>

<freezing,<perfect,bad,?,great>>

<drying,<perfect,bad,?,bad>>

<canning,<perfect,bad,?,bad>>

Extra-Nutritional Comparison:

<method,criteria>:

<method,<initial labor,continued labor,electricity,equipment,space>>

<fermenting,<bad(rc)/great(ow),bad,perfect,great,neutral>>

<pickling,<great,good,perfect,great,neutral>>

<freezing,<great,great,bad,bad,neutral>>

<drying,<great,great,great,great,great>>

<canning,<great,bad,great,good,neutral>>

These charts definitely need some refinement. The nutrition chart

obviously needs info about phytonutrients, but it should be valid for

everyone. The extra-nutrition chart should be different for

different people factoring in their particular home/space/lifestyle

conditions, and since I have no experience with some of the methods,

others may want to dispute my ratings.

Overall, my personal logic runs something like this:

1. For probiotics and a little help with certain vitamins (some B's

and C), do some kimchi/kraut.

2. For minerals, do tons of dried greens.

3. For vitamins, eat organ meats, fresh and frozen meats, sprouts,

possibly milk/eggs, depending on winter availability.

4. For phytonutrients, hopefully some contribution from methods

chosen for other reasons.

I haven't tried fermenting okra, and come to think of it, I haven't

even eaten okra at all since I was a kid, but I have to ask why it

can't be fermented? Couldn't it be mixed in with a kimchi? I have

an image of plain fermented okra as a gooey sauce that might be a

great salad dressing.

You don't need to put fermented or pickled veggies in the fridge as

far as I understand it. This past winter I had my 20 gallons of

kimchi in a barn* covered by a few bales of hay and it worked well,

although by late spring when I still had some left it was much too

sour for most tastes. I had intended to dig a pit in the ground

like the Koreans traditionally did, but by the time I got around to

kimjang the ground was already frozen (beginning of December). Next

year I will dig ahead of time. (*Where I live there is a barn with

horse stables that just get used for storage nowadays, so the

kimchi/hay structure is shielded from sunlight/rain/snow. I imagine

it would be cheap and easy to build a simple shed to do the trick,

although one might as well do some digging a make a root cellar.

That's got to be the key solution for your situation...)

If anyone is wondering about specifics, I used half-gallon mason jars

placed in plastic tubs with lids (typical cheap Walmart ones), and

then placed bales of hay around and on top of the plastic containers.

It was easy to lift the bales off the top and get out a few jars as

needed.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay