Freezers must be in almost every kitchen these days, or at least a freezer compartment in a fridge, but it was only when Clarence Birdseye understood the concept of quick freezing of food and had the technology to do it, that they became so much part of everyday life. People have been using ice to keep things fresh for thousands of years, but even in my youth it was not common to have a freezer – in fact we didn’t have a fridge until quite late on!
So to preserve foods, either as stores for the winter, or to save and keep abundant products from the garden people would pickle them, or slat them or dry them or smoke them. When we have a good crop of raspberries, some go in the freezer, but I also make jam with them, delicious jam I do have to say! Extra vegetables I make into chutney, but we do also freeze some which is lovely in the winter to have our own home-grown produce!
One thing which I have tried and which was totally unsuccessful was salting; I tried salting runner beans… the ‘product’ was like something a mad scientist in a horror movie might make in his lab… In Round-the-Clock Cookery there is a recipe for salting beans… I shan’t follow it, but there is also another salting recipe for cauliflower. I’m not sure preserved cauliflower would be at all nice, even if I didn’t have my mad scientist result with it. The recipe instructs that you need a large crock; having read through the recipe you need a huge crock as you salt the whole heads of cauliflowers, several cauliflowers. The amount of salt needed would make for a very heavy crock of preserved cauli!
Round-the-Clock also offers a way of preserving fruit – without cooking, it adds:
Sterilise some fruit bottling jars by holding them mouth downwards over half a teaspoon of burning flowers of sulphur (in an old shovel)
When the jars are filled with fumes stand them on the table still upside down.
Fill up the jars with cold water, then pack the fruit such as plums, etc., in tightly, taking care that it is well covered and free from air bubbles.
Fill to overflowing with a little more water and put on the rubber bands and lids. Screw them down tightly, then turn upside down, and leave till the next day. If the jars are dry outside next day they are airtight, but if not refill and repeat the process. Fruit preserved in this way will keep for two years if stored in a cool place.
Lois Elsden 