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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nPreserves typically refers to cooking something with sugar, usually fruit, so that it will last. I can\u2019t think of anyone I know personally in my adult life who has made fruit preserves. They\u2019re more likely to have frozen, dried, or in rare cases, pickled something. Not being great at freezing, cooking is a better option for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a busy week, making a cobbler or pie may seem daunting. But preserving berries doesn\u2019t have to involve rolling a crust, mixing biscuits, or locating gluten-free oats for a crumble topping. All you need to do is cook the berries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you know you\u2019re going to make a pie or cobbler later, add sugar or brown sugar, water, a little corn starch, and a squeeze or lemon or lime and cook briefly. Once the mixture cooks down, you\u2019ll have a compote you can use for your pie or cobbler. It can also be used to top pancakes or bake into a breakfast bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t always use refined sugar. Sometimes, I substitute honey or a mixture of honey and maple syrup. And I like to mix blackberries and blueberries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But berries aren\u2019t the only item I have in spades. Arugula is also abundant. I love a peppery salad, but I can\u2019t consume it fast enough. Cooking works for arugula as well. Not only can it be saut\u00e9ed, it makes a great addition to potato soup. If you want a hearty stew, add cabbage and chicken to arugula potato soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s fun to cook new assortments of greens together \u2013 chard, bok choi, dandelion, spinach, kale \u2013 in varying proportions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cucumbers are also prolific producers. I love to use them in cold soups, pico de gallo, popsicles, and to line the bottom of a glass of Hendricks gin in addition to the more traditional salad treatments. I also dip them in hummus or ranch dressing and eat them all by themselves. With so many options, I don\u2019t need to pickle, freeze, dry, or ferment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fresh vegetables and fruits will last longer than those trucked to your local grocery, but if they\u2019re approaching the end of freshness and time is short or energy low, it\u2019s okay to let go of a dream day of baking in favor of a quickly cooked compote. Or throw some greens in a frittata if they start looking wilted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve done all the cooking you can, give your neighbors a treat. My garden gifts often result in a hot meal unexpectedly delivered to my door a few days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m always amazed how much food can be grown in a small space. My garden often yields enough excess for garden preserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising<\/em>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the garden delivers its bounty, you may need to make garden preserves. Even though many of the seeds I planted this year didn\u2019t germinate, I have an abundance of some things. If you\u2019re more successful than I am, you may need a way to preserve the bounty. Preserves typically refers to cooking something with … Continue reading “Garden Preserves”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[4053,4054,793,4051,4052],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6183,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176\/revisions\/6183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"ad\"](\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/STC_ad_22_OL-9.png\")
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