The Real Food Lifestyle:
Growing and Preserving Food

In our last newsletter, we did a blog on real food for our children: https://blog.beewild.buzz/real-food-for-kids/. In this post we mention that growing some of your own food and preserving a portion of that harvest is the original way Americans lived, even in the cities. So, I thought you might like to see how I’m growing and preserving food for our family this summer.

Growing and Preserving Food: Serrano Peppers

In the feature image for this post, you can see that we have a container garden on our deck. The picture is a barrel filled with serrano pepper plants. I’m using about half the peppers I pick for cooking, give some to friends, and then preserve the rest by freezing. Here’s how I did that:

(1) I picked the peppers, soaked them for a few minutes in Veggie Wash water, and started to clean the seeds and ribs from the peppers.

Growing and Preserving Food: Cleaning Peppers

(2) Then, I placed the cleaned peppers on a non-stick baking sheet to let them air dry.

Growing and Preserving Food: Air Drying Peppers

(3) Then, I chopped the peppers coarsely, put the chopped peppers on the non-stick baking sheet, and put them in the freezer over night. When the peppers were frozen the next morning, I put them in a freezer bag in the freezer.

Growing and Preserving Food: Freezing Peppers

(4) When I make soups, chilis, stews, and other dishes, I will take about 1 tbsp. of the chilis from the freezer bag and add them. They give a depth of flavor and punch of heat to any dish.

Believe it or not, the pepper plants are filled with luscious fruit this week. So, I’ll freeze some more peppers and add them to the bag I already have stored.