Recipe: Preserving food allows you to capture the season's bounty

"Home preserving is having a renaissance. Everyone, including our neighbors and friends, seems to be preserving these days and sharing their creations and the stories behind them. To extend their enjoyment of the season's bounty in a variety of ways, some use pickling; others opt for fermenting, dehydrating, and storing in olive oil. Some replicate cherished flavors and textures; others create new ones."

"One year, when our backyard plants yielded lots of tomatoes, we used the oldest preserving method. Following a recipe in a cookbook of classic dishes of Italy's Campania region that we bought in Naples, we sun-dried much of the harvest on our roof. This process took several days, and we had to bring the tomatoes indoors every evening to prevent night-time moisture from spoiling them. We used the tasty, umami-rich sun-dried tomatoes to enhance our stews, soups and salad dressings."

Home preserving is experiencing renewed popularity, with neighbors and friends preserving and sharing creations and stories. Methods include pickling, fermenting, dehydrating, and storing produce in olive oil, allowing replication of cherished flavors or creation of new ones. Sun-drying tomatoes on a roof, following a Campania recipe, required several days and bringing tomatoes indoors each night to avoid moisture, producing umami-rich additions for stews, soups and dressings. Oven-dehydrating offers an easier alternative, with dried tomatoes stored in the pantry or packed in extra virgin olive oil and refrigerated. Salt, sugar, vinegar and oil form the main preserving ingredients, and safety requires following reliable recipes carefully. Preserves add savory and sweet flavors that elevate simple meals.

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