How to Can and Ferment Vegetables and Fruits from Your Garden

Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

Education, How To, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Home & Garden, Leisure

4.8 • 883 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When you grow an edible garden, you likely end up with a surplus of fresh produce at the peak of each growing season. Rather than letting those precious veggies and fruits go to waste, consider preserving them through time-tested techniques like canning and fermenting. These methods allow you to safely store your garden harvest so you can enjoy homemade jams, pickles, sauces, and more throughout the year! In this episode, you'll learn the basics of canning and fermenting from renowned homesteader, canning expert, and author Stephanie Thurow.

In this episode, we learn:

[06:06] How Stephanie got into canning and fermenting
[07:42] What's the strategy behind the timing of canning?
[09:53] Difference between canning and fermenting
[11:53] Is fermentation a shelf-stable process like canning, or does it require refrigeration?
[13:37] Why is it advised to consume a spoonful of fermented food each day, such as sauerkraut?
[14:31] What is the storage setup for Stephanie's canned and fermented goods?
[15:22] Materials you need for water bath canning
[16:43] Why is a rack required when using your 4th burner pot for canning?
[19:00] Where can you find premium, handcrafted wind chimes that are perfect for gifting?
[20:32] Where can you find potting mixes, composts, and fertilizers for indoor and outdoor gardening?
[23:05] Steps to prepare for a canning session
[28:28] Common mistakes beginners make when canning
[31:11] What are the basic requirements for fermenting vegetables?
[32:16] Why "The Cottage Garden" is your ultimate resource for understanding the history, evolution, and stunning modern interpretations of cottage garden design
[33:47] Difference between dry salting and brining in fermentation
[35:44] Are there any precautions or cleanliness practices to follow during fermentation?
[36:25] What do you need to know about fermenting basics?
[38:31] What is the recommended timeline for fermenting different types of foods?
[39:36] Common troubleshooting tips for fermenting to avoid issues like mold?
[40:24] Should you follow recipes?
[41:01] Where can you find trusted online recipes for fermentation and canning recipes?
[42:15] What are Stephanie's favorite fermentation and canning recipes?
[46:12] Unique or unusual items Stephanie has tried pickling
[49:12] Where can you find Stephanie’s books online?
[51:30] How do you break the seal on the tightly sealed jars?
[52:35] Where can you find Stephanie on social media?

Mentioned in our conversation:

For Stephanie's go-to recipes,

check out the full show notes and blog here!

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Wind River Chimes

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Espoma Organic

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Visit espoma.com to find your local Espoma dealer or check my Amazon storefront.

Quarto: The Cottage Garden by Claus Dalby

Explore the history and draw inspiration from different cottage garden design-styles in this organically-written book filled with over 700 full-color photographs. Learn the fundamentals and the principles behind well-design cottage gardens as author Claus Dalby features famous and modern cottage gardeners and gardens from all over the world. This book is your ultimate resource for understanding and interpreting the cottage garden design, so you can create your own! Check out The Cottage Garden at your favorite local bookstore, quarto.com, Barnes and Noble, or amazon.com.

Follow Stephanie:

Follow Maria and Growing Joy:

Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

Join the Bloom and Grow Garden Party Community Platform & App AKA the plantiest and kindest corner of the internet! Get your FREE 2-week trial here!

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Our Sponsors:
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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you are an edible gardener, I'm going to guess that you have a surplus of something you've grown.
0:05.1	Whether it's too many tomatoes to eat in one sitting, zucchini, carrots, or a bumper crop of cucumbers.
0:10.8	And it's horrible to think that we would let any of the precious food
0:13.9	we worked so hard on all summer go to waste right? That's where preserving our
0:18.8	garden harvest comes in. It's a brilliant and old school way to build a reserve of nutritious and fresh homegrown food for you to eat year round
0:27.8	However, there are logistics involved some materials needed in order to successfully can something to make it
0:34.5	shelf stable and not hurt you when you eat it. Plus pickles. Who doesn't love
0:40.0	pickles? No one loves pickles more than today's wonderful guest, who got into the art of canning and it has become a professional canning educator because of her love for pickles and a good bloody Mary.
0:52.0	And today she is going to walk us through an amazing episode all about how to can and
0:57.2	ferment our garden harvests.
0:59.4	At the end of this episode you will be able to make your own savory pickle snack tailored to
1:04.4	your exact tangy preferences with a myriad of things from your gardens.
1:08.0	Get ready for this uncanny episode.
1:11.1	Welcome to the Growing Joy podcast where we not only learn how to
1:15.6	care for plants successfully but how to simply and affordably use our
1:19.6	plant babies to cultivate more joy in our lives.
1:22.8	I'm Maria, author of Growing Joy,
1:24.8	the Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness,
1:27.1	speaker, podcaster, and most importantly,
1:29.7	an epic plant killer turned happy plant lady. On growing joy you'll find conversations
1:34.8	about plant care, plant community, and wellness through the lens of plants.
1:38.8	Plant care is self-care on Growing Joy, the Podcast.
	...

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