Types
of Preserving
Now
that you understand, from Part 1 of this article, some of the reasons to
preserve and priorities in preserving correctly, let’s consider which
preserving methods you may want to use. Preserving methods include multi-step
processes, like soaking, skimming, rinsing, hanging to dry, freezing, canning
(in mason jars), smoking, and sucking air out of bags, containers, and buckets.
Your choice of which method to use is governed by the food. For example, you
would usually freeze berries but dehydrate and vacuum seal tomatoes and strips
of meat (jerky). You could can (in glass jars) green beans, though you could
easily freeze green beans. Of course you can try anything you want; who’s to
say only one way is right. I have tasted dehydrated green beans, salted and
spiced, and they were great, but this is unusual. Below is a description of
each major type of preserving method.
Dehydrating
For
each description below, cut the slices (fruit, vegetables, meat) in equal
thickness for each batch, so that each batch will dry uniformly. Lay the slices
with a little space between each one, to allow air to circulate well, and
follow the directions for operating the dehydrator. Some inferior dehydrators
will have items closest to the heat source dehydrate faster, so those pieces
have to be taken out earlier.
Meats
–
Meats can be marinated after being sliced before you put them in the
dehydrator, but pat very dry before placing them on the dehydrator tray. There
are marinade recipes for beef jerky, or you can make up your own. A good method
for carving a roast into strips is to first freeze the whole roast half way
before carving it. This makes it very firm, and it is much easier to hold onto
so you can cut long thin strips. There is also a very easy method to dehydrate
meat in the sun. You drape the meat over a stick suspended between two props.
Under it you keep a small, slow, smoldering smoking pit. This keeps the flies
away. When it’s dry and crispy, you’re done. (This takes 8-16 hours or more,
depending on how much you have and how sunny it is.) Fat is the enemy of
dehydrated meat. It will cause your meat to go rancid, so trim off all the fat
possible before dehydrating, or make sure it is completed dehydrated into a
hard, crisp texture.
Fruits
and Vegetables
– Vegetables are to be washed thoroughly, sliced evenly, and patted dry before
dehydrating. Make sure the pieces are not too thin. Due to high water content,
fruits and vegetables can become as thin as a feather and shrink to an inch
square in size after being dehydrated. So, make sure you slice them in good
size pieces and about ¼ to ½ inch thick.
Herbs – Grow your
favorite herbs yourself. Herbs are really too easy to grow to be a major
preserving item. To dehydrate herbs, tear off the leaves and lay out on coffee
filters until completely dry. (You don’t need to use the dehydrating machine,
unless you want to.) Then grind them in a coffee bean grinder, and store the
ground up herb in jars to use as needed. Do not vacuum seal ground up
herbs in bags; the ground up herb will just get sucked up into your “vacuum”!
For long-term storage, put the ground up herb in zip lock bags, with a small
oxygen absorber in each to prevent them from getting musty. By the way, “fresh”
herbs are used at three times the quantity. For example, if a recipe calls for
a teaspoon of basil you’d buy from the store, use three teaspoons of fresh
basil.
Vacuum
Sealing
You
can vacuum seal food that has been placed inside a plastic bag by removing the
air and sealing it shut with a vacuum sealer machine. Vacuum sealing can be
used to preserve meat, fruits, and vegetables only if they have been already
dehydrated or to preserve bulk grains, like oatmeal, rice, and beans that are
already dried.
A
hose connects from the machine and is placed into the opening of the bag
(plastic or Mylar) after it’s been filled with food. The open edges of the bag
are inserted into the machine at the beginning of this process. The hose draws
the air out of the bag and then seals it tightly. Vacuum
Sealer Machines
(VSM) are only used if the food has been fully dehydrated first or if the food
product is a dry grain.
Using
a VSM with Mylar Bags
Vacuum
sealing using Mylar
bags
is preferred since these bags block sunlight and are available in different
thicknesses, called mils, i.e. 3 mil, 4 mil, 5 mil, et cetera. They come in all
sizes and are used with oxygen
absorbers
(O’s) to eliminate all traces of oxygen. This leaves the food in a preserved
atmosphere. To know how many oxygen absorbers to add, use 300 cc’s per gallon
size bag; so a 5-gallon bag uses 1500 cc’s of O. Os work so well by themselves
that you really don’t have to use the VSM, but it always helps to vacuum seal
the bags to remove as much air as possible, so it never hurts to use the VSM.
Fill the Mylar bag with food, but leave
4-5 inches along the top to give you enough to seal with an iron. (Ironing is
the method used to seal or glue together the open parts of the bag together).
Gently iron the bag closed by leaning
the open ends of the bag over a table’s edge. Iron closed except for about
three inches down one side longwise, so you can insert Os. The point of the
iron can puncture the bag, so be careful.
Place your O’s in through the opening
you left on the side. At this point, you can choose to use a VSM or not. If you
use the VSM to draw air out before sealing with an iron, go to step #4 below.
If you want to seal the bag without using the VSM, go to step #5 below.
To use the vacuum sealer first, maneuver
the tube down the opening where you just put in the Os, and turn on the
machine. Draw out as much air as possible.
Press out as much air as possible (or at
the moment you shut the VSM off) quickly press down to close the bag the best
you can, pushing out any excess air.
Iron the bag closed with as much air
removed from the bag as possible. In a few hours (or less) you will see the bag
start to draw inward showing that the Os are working. The bag will become very
firm and stiff. The Mylar will hug the food completely with absolutely no loose
movement of the food. If this is not the case, then you need to reseal it.
A
good practice for using Os is to keep them completely sealed up until they are
used. You may prepare all the bags at once to get them ready for the last step
where you would put the Os in.
Using
a VSM with Plastic (clear) Bags
Vacuum
sealing with clear plastic bags is normally done for smaller quantities of
food, such as a few handfuls at a time of dehydrated food (per bag), or a dozen
or so of beef jerky pieces (per bag) for example.
Lay the bag flat on the table and put
your food in it. Do Not pack it tightly.
Attach your VSM’s tube to your machine
and slip the other end of the tube into the bag’s opening, and pull the bag
into the machine. Close the lid. Follow the manufacturer instructions. Each
type of machine is a little different. (In the description for using Mylar, you
did not use the sealing feature so you did not insert the bag into the
machine.)
When you are done, the vacuum sealed
food will be very firm and stiff, with the plastic hugging the food completely
so that there is absolutely no loose movement of the food. If this is not the
case, then you need to reseal it. There is no need to use oxygen absorbers with
this method since the food quantity is so small.
Canning
Canning
is a method using glass jars, generally either Mason
or Ball brand jars.
The tops for the jars are made of two pieces– the flat round circles that lay
on the jars’ openings called “lids” and the
“bands” that have threads that screw down around the circumference of the tops
to secure the lids down. Jars are given a “bath” in boiling water for a set
amount of time according to a recipe. During cooling the lids snap shut tightly
with a pop sound. (“Canning” can also refer to the commercial practice of
putting food in large #10 cans, but we will not be covering that.)
Supplies – There are
special tools to use in canning, such as tongs specially designed to lift the
jars out of the hot bath, funnels with wide openings instead of the narrow
openings so you can easily fill jars with food, and other canning gadgets to
make the job easier. These are all available online and at local retailers.
Handling
Jars
– There are special ways to handle jars during canning, such as how to properly
“cool” the jars so the glass does not crack, and checking that lids “snap down”
as a reaction to pressure changes when the jar cools. Bands are supposed to be
snug but not tight when jars are boiled in their bath. These descriptions and
other things are described in your recipe books.
Recipes – All the
particulars about how to actually can are easily found in canning books. Some
recipes direct you to make brine (spices and salt boiled in water) to use for
pickles or cabbage. Using brine may not require the jars to have a bath, since
for this method you just fill up the jars with the brine and add food, like
cucumbers or cabbage. There are so many variations and tricks to the trade,
such as the practice of submerging your cucumbers in ice water just before
putting them in the canning jars to make them turn into crispy pickles. Your
recipe books will be invaluable during canning.
The
“County Extension Office” where you live has literature and holds classes that
teach you how to adhere to safety standards. In canning meat, for example, the
“baths” involve literally locking down a large metal lid on your pot to create
great pressure. In pressure canning, safety is essential, so a class and hands
on experience to learn this type of canning is advised. You have to decide what
type of canning will be best for you and what you are willing to take the time
to learn.
Freezing
Meats,
Fruits, and Vegetables – It’s a good practice to cut out imperfections and
wash and blanch fruits and vegetables before freezing. Blanching is the act of
submerging the food in rapidly boiling water for about 10 seconds to purify its
surface. Some fruits may discolor over time and will benefit from a little
lemon juice lightly sprayed on it before putting it in the freezer bags. Meats,
of course, can be frozen uncooked or after they have been dehydrated.
Use a zip lock bag made for the freezer,
or wrap several times in clear plastic wrap, to eliminate as much air as
possible.
When you want to freeze small, wet
items, like berries, lay them out on a flat pan first to freeze before putting
them into a zip lock bag. This will protect them from getting mushy or sticking
together while freezing.
If using zip lock bags, push out as much
air as possible before closing. It’s possible to zip it almost shut and then
use your VSM tube to suck out air before zipping it closed. You can also freeze
food vacuum sealed in plastic bags, as described earlier, but you don’t have to
vacuum seal foods to freeze them.
Lay your food flat in the freezer. Watch
that the bag does not droop down in-between the slats of the freezer shelf and
get stuck.
Consume within six months.
Smoking
You
can smoke fish and meat, as a way to preserve. In order to smoke fish and meat
if you’re camping, you will need to build a device in which to hang meat or
fish that will retain both heat and smoke– a smoker. The description below
describes how to create a smoker, if you’re camping. If you use a
commercially-made smoker, it will work the same way.
Making
a Smoker
First, dig a fire pit approximately two
by two feet in size and about one foot deep in the ground. Next, create the
device on which the food will be placed– either a spit or a cooking grate set
two to three feet above the top of your fire pit.
A “smoker” will be constructed by
building a tee-pee style structure of branches a few inches in diameter, tied together
at the top using vine, rope or even a shoelace. The gaps between the branches
can be filled using moss, tree boughs, or a wet piece of canvas or even wet
cloth. Leave a small area open so you can tend to the fire and turn the food
when needed.
You can also make a log cabin-type box
that has only three sides and a top. Whatever you do, the idea is to trap smoke
and heat while allowing some air to get in to produce smoke.
Collect firewood. Hardwoods or fruit
woods are best for smoking fish and meats. Oak, maple, hickory, cherry, and
apple wood make smoked foods taste great. Get a variety of wood sizes so you
can control the temperature and the amount of needed smoke much easier.
After placing the fish or meat to be
cooked on the spit or cooking grate, start a small fire. The trick is to keep
the fire small, adding wood a little at a time. Let the fire burn down and add
some small twigs to the hot coals to help create smoke. After two to three
hours, your fish and meat should be ready to eat. However, to preserve it for
long term use, smoke it continually until it is leathery and resembles jerky
with no moisture and no soft fatty parts at all. Then you can vacuum seal it.
Remember you must use indirect heat and not direct heat where the meat
is over the flames.
Tools
of the Trade
Following
is a list of common kitchen items to have on hand as you get started
preserving:
Coffee bean grinder. Since you will need
electricity to use these machines, you will need to prepare for the possibility
of not having electricity. You can erect alternative 110 electric power made
from a 12-Volt solar battery system. To do this, you will need an inverter that
changes 12-Volt to 110. You could then plug your machine into the inverter.
Otherwise, you can use a “pistol and mortar”, which people used to use to grind
things on great grandma’s farm!
Coffee filters. There are 1,001 uses for
these. They can be used to lie out and organize things on the counter. You can
write on them, and separate and dry foods, while keeping everything sanitary.
Vacuum Sealing Machine (VSM). As in the
first item above, have an inverter from 12V to 110, in case you have no
electricity.
Three feet of clear tubing per VSM
machine.
Plastic food bags. Keep these sanitary
while stored.
Mylar bags. They come in different sizes
(1–5 gallons) and different grades in mils, (3-8 mil, with the higher the mil
being the thicker). It does not hurt to fold the bags for storage. Make sure
they are not pierced when food is in them while moving them into storage.
Canning equipment for “baths”. This
includes jars, lids, bands, jar holder, funnel, large pots, et cetera.
Buckets and lids that are food grade.
Even if food is sealed in bags, you can place them in buckets with O’s for
extra protection.
A well-stocked library. This would
include charts, recipe books, calendars (dates stuff grow), and so forth.
Kitchen food staples, based on your
favorite recipes. This might include vinegars, allspice, pickling spice,
canning salt, spices, marinades, et cetera.
Basic Kitchen equipment. Most kitchens
have these most of these items, but there are some items here you may need to
add, if you don’t have it already. You may want to have cheese cloth (used to
strain fluids to take out particles), labels and magic markers, colander
(strainer), wooden spoon(s) (suggested to use to stir food around in hot jars
to get rid of air bubbles before you give the jars a bath), large stainless
steel bowls, stainless steel anything (utensils and bowls of various sizes),
cutting boards, and sharp knives.
A “plan”. Plan to grow, preserve, store,
and rotate only what you are going to eat. (Comfort foods and barter foods are
additional types of foods to store.)
Controlled environments. A green house,
seed area, a large cool storage place, outdoor kitchen, indoor kitchen, library
area, a way to organize kitchen tools, and/or another area that might make your
food preservation and storage efforts successful for you and your family.
From the Survival Blog
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