There are so many posts and articles out there on preserving your harvest (homegrown or from a friend/market). So I won’t bore you with every nook and cranny of skill and advice needed for canning, etc. But, here is what we do! And I have included green beans as well as zucchini in this post. Eat up!

ZUCCHINI

I like to eat zucchini fresh, sautéed, baked, or roasted. It’s also yum in baked goods! But, we do try to preserve some for the year ahead. My two go-to ways: shred and freeze & dehydrate.

For shredding, I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with large shred attachment. Some people drain and squeeze all of the liquid out first. I do not. My vacuum sealer has a moist vac option that I have learned to use! I make 2 cup servings, seal, label, and freeze!

My 10 year old helped me label these. We ended up with 8 bags this go round.

GREEN BEANS

I have frozen and canned green beans and like them both ways. We often love veggies roasted so frozen comes in handy for that! However, with 48 chickens in the freezer, I am running low of freezer space. The past two years I have canned all of our green beans.

Our local hardware store had this canner on sale and Sweet Husband got it for me. It is very handy and works great! I love the stacking feature (only for pressure canning)! Also, this canner can be used for water bath canning as well. Saves valuable cupboard space. Please be sure to follow USDA canning guidelines! Did you know these regulations began at the time of WWII for America’s home victory gardens? Melissa K Norris has some excellent info on that on her blog.

What’s your favorite zucchini recipe?

We are up to 43 pints of green beans so far this year! (One did not seal, unfortunately).