Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Liz <liz@allslash.org>]

At 08:13 AM 1/27/2008, you wrote:
> I've been thinking
> about drying and then vacuum sealing.  That would do the trick,
> wouldn't it?
>  

That's what I do for a lot of things. Others I just put in canning jars
and seal with either rubber ring and bail tops, or standard canning lids
and rings (but without heat, just turn them down tight). Some things,
like apples and other fruits, seem to take up more moisture, given the
opportunity, so I do vacuum seal those.

I have one of the manual Vac 'n' Seal devices, which I heartily
recommend. Its only drawback is that it's fiddly and fussy to use with
plastic bags, but since I'd rather not use those anyway, I vacuum seal
the glass jars with canning lid tops. I use a lot of half-gallon jars,
which are easily available around here.

A friend just brought me another big bag of sweet potatoes, so it's time
to get out the dehydrator. I leave the skins on (another advantage of
drying over canning or freezing), slice them about 1/8" thick
(thinnest setting on my mandoline), and dry them at about 110 deg
overnight. Then I layer them in a wide-mouth canning jar, vacuum seal it,
and put it away. They can be reconstituted with water and prepared like
mashed sweet potatoes, or used in any kind of casserole where you want
some color, vitamin A and carbohydrates.

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com