Preserving

From the Garden • From the Kitchen • For Later

Preserving Food at Home

Practical ways to save what you grow, cook, and bring home—without feeling like every harvest has to become a shelf full of canning jars.

Preserving can take many forms—from a jar in the refrigerator to food saved for the pantry or freezer.

A Bit More Homemade Approach

Preserving is simply another way to make everyday food last a little longer. Sometimes that means a freezer bag of garden beans. Sometimes it is strawberry jam, a jar of refrigerator dill pickles, dried herbs, fermented cabbage, or a carefully tested canning recipe.

You do not need to learn every method at once. Start with the food you already grow or buy, choose the simplest safe method that fits how you actually cook, and build your preserving skills one batch at a time. If you want to see how that garden-to-kitchen rhythm looks through a real growing season, visit Our Backyard Garden.

Preserving Is More Than Canning

Canning gets a lot of attention, but it is only one part of home food preservation. For an everyday household, the most useful preserving method is often the one you will actually use again: freezing a few peppers, drying a handful of herbs, making one batch of jam, fermenting cabbage, or putting up a tested batch of pickles.

1

Freeze It

One of the easiest ways to save fruits, vegetables, herbs, sauces, and prepared foods for later.

2

Refrigerate It

Refrigerator pickles and other cold-stored foods are approachable first projects when shelf stability is not the goal.

3

Water-Bath Can It

Used with research-tested recipes for high-acid or properly acidified foods such as many fruits, jams, pickles, and acidified tomato products.

4

Pressure Can It

The required canning method for low-acid foods such as plain vegetables, meats, poultry, and many mixed foods.

5

Ferment It

Salt, time, temperature, and naturally occurring microorganisms can transform foods such as cabbage and cucumbers into traditional ferments.

6

Dry It

Herbs are an especially practical place to begin, and dehydrating can also preserve many fruits and vegetables in very little storage space.

Preserving Safety Comes First

Home preserving is a place where “close enough” is not always good enough. For canning, use a current research-tested recipe from a reliable source such as the National Center for Home Food Preservation, USDA, or Cooperative Extension and follow its jar size, ingredient proportions, processing method, processing time, and altitude adjustments.

Water-bath canning and pressure canning are not interchangeable. Low-acid foods require pressure canning because boiling-water temperatures are not high enough to control the botulism hazard in those foods. Tomatoes may also require added acid when a tested recipe calls for it.

A Beginner's Preserving Ladder

If food preservation feels intimidating, this is the order I would use to learn it. Each step adds one new skill without requiring you to master everything at once.

Freeze one thing you already use. Try berries, chopped peppers, herbs, green beans, tomato products, or prepared food that freezes well.

Make a refrigerator preserve. Refrigerator dill pickles are a good introduction to jars, brine, and working with a garden harvest without creating a shelf-stable product.

Try a simple fruit spread. Strawberry jam is an approachable way to learn fruit preparation, consistency, clean jars, and small-batch preserving.

Learn one fermentation. Sauerkraut is built around cabbage, salt, submersion, temperature, and time—a simple ingredient list with important technique.

Learn boiling-water canning from a tested recipe. Start with a high-acid food such as a tested jam, fruit, pickle, or acidified tomato recipe. The Beginner's Canning Guide walks through the equipment, safety basics, and process before your first batch.

Move to pressure canning only when you are ready. This opens the door to safely canning many low-acid vegetables and other foods, but it requires the correct equipment and a tested process.

1. Freezing: The Everyday Preserving Method

Freezing is often the easiest way to preserve a busy garden harvest in useful, meal-sized portions.

Best Beginner Method

1

Use the freezer when simplicity matters most.

Freezing is one of the quickest and least complicated preservation methods. It slows microbial growth and the chemical changes that affect quality, but it does not sterilize food. For best quality, freeze food promptly and keep the freezer at 0°F or below.

• Many vegetables keep better quality when they are blanched before freezing because blanching slows enzyme activity.
• Use freezer-safe packaging and remove as much air as practical to help prevent freezer burn.
• Freeze garden produce close to peak freshness rather than waiting until it is overripe or deteriorating.
• Think about how you will cook the food later: freeze peppers chopped, herbs portioned, berries in usable amounts, and sauces in meal-sized containers.

ABMH Garden Note

Freezing is especially useful when the garden gives you more than you have time to can. A few bags of peppers, green beans, berries, herbs, or prepared tomato products still count as preserving the season.

Safety reference: National Center for Home Food Preservation — Freezing

2. Refrigerator Preserving: Make It Now, Keep It Cold

Refrigerator pickles are a practical first preserving project when shelf-stable storage is not the goal.

Low-Pressure First Project

2

Not every jar has to be shelf-stable.

Refrigerator preserving is useful when you want to extend the life of a food but do not need room-temperature storage. The important distinction is simple: a refrigerator pickle is a refrigerated food, not a canned food. It must stay cold.

• Great for small cucumber harvests and first-time preservers.
• No pressure canner or boiling-water processing is required when you are following a refrigerator recipe intended for cold storage.
• Always follow the recipe's refrigeration and storage instructions.

Start here: Crisp Refrigerator Dill Pickles

3. Water-Bath Canning: Start With Acid Foods

Fruit preserves and properly prepared high-acid foods are classic water-bath canning projects.

Shelf-Stable • Tested Recipes Only

3

Learn the method with foods designed for it.

Boiling-water canning is used for high-acid foods and foods that have been safely acidified in a tested recipe. Common examples include many fruits, jams and jellies, pickles, sauerkraut, and properly acidified tomato products.

• Use the exact jar size and processing time in the tested recipe.
• Make altitude adjustments when the recipe requires them.
• Do not reduce vinegar, bottled lemon juice, or other acidifying ingredients in a tested canning recipe.
• After processing, allow jars to cool undisturbed and check seals according to current canning guidance.

Keep the Safety-Critical Parts the Same

With a tested canning recipe, keep the required food and acid proportions, jar size, preparation method, processing method, processing time, and altitude adjustment exactly as directed. Add your own touch only where the tested guidance specifically allows it or at serving time.

New to canning? Start with the ABMH Beginner's Canning Guide. When you are ready for a tomato-and-pepper project, see Homemade Garden Salsa for Canning.

Safety reference: NCHFP — Recommended Canners

Once you have a tested recipe and the right equipment, a simple canning-day workflow helps keep the process organized.

4. Pressure Canning: For Low-Acid Foods

Pressure canning requires the right equipment and a tested process for low-acid foods.

Advanced Beginner Skill

4

Use the right equipment for the food.

Low-acid foods—including plain vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, and many mixtures—must be processed in a pressure canner when home canned. A boiling-water canner does not reach the temperatures needed for safe processing of these foods.

• Use a true pressure canner, not a small pressure saucepan.
• Follow the tested time and pressure for your food, jar size, packing method, and elevation.
• Let the canner depressurize naturally according to the tested process; do not force-cool it.
• If using a dial-gauge canner, follow current manufacturer and Extension guidance for gauge accuracy and maintenance.

Michigan safety resource: Michigan State University Extension — Home Food Preservation

Start with the canning tools your tested recipe actually requires; add specialized equipment only when you need it.

5. Fermentation: Salt, Time, Temperature, and Submersion

Sauerkraut is a simple vegetable fermentation built around the right salt, temperature, time, and submersion.

Traditional Skill

5

Fermentation is simple—but technique matters.

Fermented vegetables rely on a controlled environment in which salt, temperature, and acidity work together over time. Sauerkraut is one of the most approachable examples because the basic process is built around cabbage and the correct amount of salt.

• Keep fermenting vegetables submerged under brine.
• Use the correct salt amount for the tested process.
• Pay attention to fermentation temperature because it affects both speed and quality.
• Do not assume every fermented product is automatically shelf-stable; follow the finished-product storage directions for the recipe.

Start here: Small-Batch Homemade Sauerkraut

Safety reference: NCHFP — General Information on Fermenting

6. Drying and Dehydrating: Small Space, Big Usefulness

Drying garden herbs is a simple way to carry a little of the growing season into the pantry.

Excellent for Herbs

6

Take water out so you can keep flavor longer.

Drying preserves food by removing enough moisture that bacteria, yeast, and molds cannot readily grow. Herbs are an especially practical place to begin because a small garden can produce more basil, oregano, dill, chives, sage, mint, or other herbs than you can use fresh at one time.

• Use low heat, low humidity, and good air circulation.
• Herbs can often be air-dried indoors or dried with a dehydrator, depending on the herb and conditions.
• Cool dried foods before packaging so trapped warmth does not create condensation.
• Store dried food in containers that keep moisture and pests out, preferably in a cool, dark place.

Safety reference: University of Minnesota Extension — Drying Food

What Should I Do With This Harvest?

The “best” preserving method depends on how you want to use the food later. Think first about the meals you actually make, the storage space you have, and which method will make that harvest easiest to use.

Harvest	Easy First Choice	Other Useful Paths
Strawberries	Freeze	Strawberry jam and other fruit spreads
Pickling cucumbers	Refrigerator dill pickles	Tested canned pickles or fermented pickles
Tomatoes	Freeze for cooked dishes	Tested canned salsa or other tested acidified tomato products
Bell peppers & jalapeños	Freeze	Garden salsa for canning or another tested pickled product
Green beans	Blanch and freeze	Pressure can using a tested process
Cabbage	Small-batch sauerkraut	Freeze for cooked uses when appropriate
Herbs	Dry or freeze	Pesto or herb blends prepared for freezer storage
Zucchini & summer squash	Freeze for cooked uses	Freeze shredded portions for zucchini bread

Use It Now or Save It for Later

Preserving is only one option. If dinner needs the harvest today, use ripe tomatoes in Fresh Homemade Salsa or Homemade Spaghetti Sauce, turn cabbage into Eggroll in a Bowl, or cook summer squash in Buttery Skillet Zucchini & Summer Squash. The goal is to waste less and use what you have—not to preserve everything.

One harvest can become several different things—choose the preserving method that fits how you will actually use the food.

The ABMH Preserving Workflow

• Start with the food. What do you actually have too much of?
• Start with the way you cook. Preserve it in a form you will realistically use later.
• Choose the method. Refrigerator, freezer, drying, fermentation, water-bath canning, or pressure canning.
• Find the tested guidance when safety depends on the process. Especially for shelf-stable canning and fermentation.
• Prepare only the batch you can manage. A few jars or freezer bags are still worthwhile.
• Label everything. Include the food and the date; add method or batch notes when they will help later.
• Use what you preserved. The goal is not a beautiful pantry shelf. The goal is food that makes everyday life easier later.

Useful Preserving Tools—Without Buying Everything at Once

For freezingFreezer-safe bags or containers, labels, permanent marker, sheet pans for tray-freezing when useful.

For refrigerator preservingClean jars or food-safe containers, measuring tools, and refrigerator space.

For water-bath canningA boiling-water canner, or a deep pot that meets the tested method's requirements and keeps jars covered by at least 1 inch of boiling water, plus a rack, canning jars, new lids, bands, jar lifter, funnel, and tested recipe.

For pressure canningA true pressure canner in good condition plus the jars, lids, bands, lifter, and recipe-specific equipment you need.

For fermentationFood-safe container, accurate measuring or weighing tools, and a way to keep vegetables submerged.

For dryingA dehydrator is convenient, but some foods—including many herbs—can be dried safely using other research-based methods.

Buy This / Skip This / Buy It Later

You do not need a fully stocked preserving kitchen before you begin. Start with the equipment required for the method you are actually using. If you are freezing peppers this weekend, you do not need to buy a pressure canner today.

Preserving Recipes & Guides on A Bit More Homemade

Beginner Canning

Beginner's Canning Guide

Start with equipment, terminology, safety rules, jar basics, and the difference between water-bath and pressure canning.

Read the guide →

Refrigerator Preserving

Crisp Refrigerator Dill Pickles

A beginner-friendly way to turn fresh cucumbers into crisp, garlicky pickles that stay refrigerated.

Read the recipe →

Fruit Preserving

Easy Strawberry Jam Without Pectin

A simple strawberry preserve and one of the projects that helped shape the garden-to-kitchen side of ABMH.

Read the recipe →

Fermentation

Small-Batch Homemade Sauerkraut

A research-based small batch built around cabbage, salt, time, submersion, and the right fermentation conditions.

Read the guide →

Water-Bath Canning

Homemade Garden Salsa for Canning

A tomato-forward garden salsa built around research-tested canning proportions and a clearly defined shelf-stable process.

Read the recipe →

Trusted Sources for Home Food Preservation

For current, research-based home food-preservation guidance, these are reliable places to start. They are especially useful when you are checking a canning method, fermentation process, processing time, altitude adjustment, or other safety-critical step.

• National Center for Home Food Preservation
• Michigan State University Extension — Home Food Preservation
• University of Minnesota Extension — Food Preservation

Start With One Thing

You Don't Need a Pantry Full of Jars to Preserve Food

Freeze a handful of peppers. Dry the herbs you grew. Make one jar of refrigerator pickles. Learn one safe canning method when you are ready. Preserving is not about doing everything—it is about keeping a little more of what you already have.

Start Here Garden to Table Browse Recipes Simple Homemade Swaps

Food-preservation guidance can change as research and recommendations are updated. Always verify a canning or fermentation process against a current, research-based source before preparing a shelf-stable product. ABMH preserving content is educational and does not replace guidance from USDA, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, Cooperative Extension, or another qualified food-safety authority.