Preserving & Freezing

The process of preserving food was developed out of necessity as one of the first culinary skills of the human race, to ensure survival through the winter months. The natural preserving agents were sun, sand, salt, smoke and wind. Fruit and vegetables were laid in the sun or buried in the sand to dry; meat and fish were rubbed with salt or packed in brine, or hung in the smoke from peat fires; salted fish and meat could also be dried in the wind.

Modern technology has made food preserving one of the world's most important industries, but many of the traditional techniques developed over the centuries are still useful in the home kitchen. There is great satisfaction to be had out of turning a surplus of home-grown produce into jams and pickles, freezing young vegetables, or smoking a freshly caught trout. Home preserving is economical, and the flavor is incomparable.