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The end of Summer is the perfect time to harvest your garden or allotment crops and to consider what could be saved to be enjoyed later.
This year, as well as growing produce that can be enjoyed seasonally, I made the decision to plant a few things that can be preserved and used later on in the year.
Here is what I did and planned uses.
Beans and Peas
Not a first for me as it is well documented here how I preserve legumes as I find blanching and freezing peas and beans in their pods the perfect way to conserve the taste of summer for when they are ready to eat later in the year.
I try to blanche them on the day of harvest. I blanche on a rolling boil for a couple of minutes, dunk in ice water to stop the cooking process. Then I lay the beans out on greaseproof paper on a tray which I then pop into the freezer for an hour or so, so that they don’t freeze in clumps, then I bag them up for the freezer for longer-term storage.
Calendula Flowers
Calendula or pot marigolds are a great addition to your skin care kit. It is an ingredient commonly found in expensive creams and is apparently excellent as an emollient to help with skin-healing.
This year, I incorporated the flower in my vegetable beds, cut and dried some hung upside down on my fridge. Once dried, I submerged in sweet almond oil for some weeks, strained and the oil is ready to be used topically.
Chillies
In this house, dried chilli flakes are a cooking staple that we use next to salt and cracked black pepper than we use to season EVERYTHING so this year I decided to attempt to make my own from homegrown chillies.
I made a garland for some of the chillies to air dry. The rest of them will be spread out on my drying rack for a few weeks.
Once dry, I will chop them up into flakes, store in an airtight container and use as seasoning.
Homemade vegetable boullion stock cubes
As it so good to have the taste of Summer-fresh vegetables during the Winter, this year, I wanted to dedicate a proportion of the vegetables grown to conserving for winter to make fresh vegetable stock cubes as a way to add vitamins and flavour to soups, stews, sauces and other dishes throughout the year.
For my vegetable stock cubes, I used:
5 leaks
5 small carrots
1 large onion
2 small chillies
Garlic powder
Salt & Pepper
I rough chopped the veg
Fried the veg in a little olive oil with salt, pepper and garlic powder until tender
Blitzed in a blender, spread on a baking sheet and left to harden in the freezer overnight.
I then cut into small cubes, wrapped individually in foil and stored in a bag in the freezer to be used as you would shop-bought stock cubes.
Please let me know what you love to preserve to enjoy later in the year.
All Homesteading 
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