The winter edible garden

4 season onions

 Sunday, November 9, 2025

The winter garden can provide food all the way to spring.  There are five strategies to having edibles through the winter months.  One is to plant early enough to be at full size by first of November.  The second is to leverage protection like row covers, portable greenhouses, and cold frames.  The third is to choose varieties that are winter hardy.  The fourth is to grow edibles indoors.  The fifth strategy is to grow varieties during the warmer months that you can easily store all winter.  You can do any one of the five or do all of them. 

If your want to ramp up the flavor and nutrient value of your winter meals, consider planting the season’s last garden using quick-growing crops such as greens, cabbage, and radishes. It’s not too late to get plants in the ground for fall and winter harvests as late as early October and definitely if you live where winters are mild. In fact, many plants get sweeter in chilly weather, and some hardy plants can be pulled right out of the snow for fresh eating like carrots and onions.

If the thought of fresh-picked salads and hearty, nutritious sautéed greens on your winter table appeals to you, use the information below to sow your winter garden and enjoy homegrown flavor, nutritious produce this winter.

In late summer and early fall if you haven’t already started seeds for transplanting, seek out transplants from garden centers.  The ornamental kale and cabbage for sale are not only pretty, but also edible!  Check well-stocked local stores for sturdy, healthy-looking plants. 

Get your fall and winter garden growing!

Make sure to add a scoop of finished compost to planting holes and organic fertilizer to add nutrients to soil that may be depleted after the summer harvest and less available due to the chilly temperatures.  Espoma is readily available at most big box and hardware stores.  For greens type veggies, the general vegetable garden fertilizer is a good choice.

Choose the Right Varieties

In addition to choosing the right plants for cold-weather harvests, you can also increase winter harvests by planting specific varieties. Look for varieties marketed as: winter-hardy, frost tolerant, overwintering, for every season, year-round, remarkably cold hardy, etc. 

Because daylight hours are getting shorter in the fall, you will need to add about 2 weeks to the “Days to Harvest” your seed packet gives as the seed packet dates are based on spring planting.  Plants grow slower in fall because the days are getting shorter instead of longer. 

The list below starts with the produce that will be ready for harvesting the quickest.  You will want to get the slowest growers (at the bottom of this list) in the ground in August; you may be able to continue sowing seeds of some of the fastest crops into October or beyond.   If they don't sprout now, there is a good chance they will sprout in the spring when the conditions are right.  Those that are planted as transplants can be ready 2-3 weeks sooner than the dates listed below. 

If sowing seeds, be sure to keep the soil moist.  Seeds sown in the fall have the same needs as seeds sown in the spring.  Outdoor seed starting tips  If you are starting your seeds indoors, you will have to harden the seedlings before planting for the colder temperatures outdoors.  "Hardening off" seedlings 

17 Varieties for Winter Gardening

1-Radishes  Easy to grow crispy, peppery radishes

Ready for harvest in: 3 to 9 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: For small and fast maturing radishes, broadcast seed directly in beds, or use chicken wire as a guide to space seeds 1 inch apart. Harvest after a few weeks in the ground and before the bulb becomes too hot and fibrous. You can sow seeds once a week for continuous harvests.

2-Turnips  All about turnips

Ready for harvest in: 5 to 10 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Harvest when roots are mature, but before they become bitter. A “neck” will begin to form when the root has reached maximum size, and quality will decline as the neck elongates.

3-Spinach and other hardy greens   Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 7 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Transplant seedlings about 6 weeks before first frost. Harvest the leaves around the outside of the plant; always leaving 5 leaves on each plant.  This will let you harvest for weeks from the same plants.  Other hardy greens include miner's lettuce, corn salad, sorrel, arugula, salad burnet.

4-Winter hardy greens  Fall and winter greens

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 7 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Sow seeds directly into the garden or pot.  Harvest the leaves around the outside of the plant; always leaving 5 leaves on each plant.  This will let you harvest for weeks from the same plants.  Winter hardy greens include miner's lettuce, corn salad, sorrel, arugula, salad burnet, cultivated dandelions.

5-Lettuce  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 12 weeks for leaf lettuce; 11 to 13 weeks for head lettuce

Can survive frost: Yes (depending on variety-try Winter Density, Rouge diver, No Name Red Leaf, Arctic King, Continuity, Salad Bowl, Mottistone to name a few.  

Fall planting notes: Keep transplants indoors until soil cools. Lettuce seeds won't germinate in hot soil temperatures, above 75-80F.  You can also broadcast seeds in cool soil every two weeks for a continuous harvest. I like starting my seeds in a pot in a cool area and then transplant into the garden.  Harvest in early morning for best taste and structure.  

6-Chard  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 8 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: I like getting the transplant pots with several colors; then separate and plant into the garden. Harvest sequentially as leaves mature, 1 to 2 outer stalks per plant; be sure to leave at least 5 significant inner stalks per plant for continuous harvesting.

7-Kohlrabi  Another spring veggie-kohlrabi

Ready for harvest in: 7 to 8 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Harvest as soon as leaves begin to become dull/less green and bulbs stop increasing in size.

8-Cabbage  Cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow

Ready for harvest in: 7 to 16 weeks, depending on variety

Can survive frost: Yes (the denser varieties are the most hardy)

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Harvest at peak size and succulence, before leaves begin to yellow and split, and before plants go to seed.

9-Kale  Collards and kale in your garden

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 9 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Harvest sequentially as leaves mature.

10-Broccoli  Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips

Ready for harvest in: 8 to 9 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Heads grow fast. Harvest before flowering begins. May produce secondary heads. Harvest edible leaves, too — they are even more nutritious than the buds.  I love the leaves in salads.

11-Carrots  All you need to know about growing carrots

Ready for harvest in: 8 to 11 weeks

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Carrots don't appreciate being transplanted.  Sow directly in the garden or pot.  You can use the thinnings as tasty baby carrots and salad additions. If you do start in a pot to transplant, handle the transplant carefully and make sure its main root is pointing straight down when transplanted.  Harvest mature roots at maximum diameter while they are still sweet. 

12-Cauliflower  Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips

Ready for harvest in: 8 to 12 weeks

Survive frost: Light

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Cauliflower heads often develops in just a few days. Harvest at full size, before it begins to yellow.  Making sure the head is covered by the leaves keeps the head a nice white.

13-Brussels Sprouts  Growing Brussel sprouts

Ready for harvest in: 11 to 13 weeks

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Grows best in very fertile soil. Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. When a node begins to grow a bulge out of the stalk to form a sprout, remove the leaf just below it to optimize growth. Harvest when sprouts are at maximum plumpness, before outer leaves become fibrous and sprouts becomes bitter.  Sprouts can be harvested well into winter.  

14-Parsley  Self-seeding crops, plant once and forget 'em

Ready for harvest in: 10 to 13 weeks

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Transplant when seedlings are about 3 inches tall or sow directly in the garden. Choose best seedlings (healthy and vibrant green) to transplant. Harvest outer stalks carefully, leaving 3 to 5 large stalks per plant for continuous harvests.

15-Collards  Collards and kale in your garden

Ready for harvest in: 12 weeks

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Harvest outer leaves to leave inner leaves to continue growing.  In mild climates, collards can be harvested all winter long.  Baby leaves are good in salads, larger leaves are great steamed or cooked.

16-Onions and Shallots  Everything to know about growing onions

Ready for harvest in: Next spring for mature onions, 6 weeks for green onions

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Onions, leeks and shallots like loose, rich soil.  Be sure to plant varieties for the length of daylight your zone has in the summer.  It is the number of daylight hours that stimulates the onion to form bulbs.  In our lower Midwest garden, we need intermediate onion types.  Don't be tempted to grow Vidalias in Minnesota; they just won't make bulbs.

17-Overwintering Fava Beans and Peas  Grow a European favorite-the fava or broad bean

Time to plant peas!

Ready for harvest in: 4 weeks-Next spring

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Inoculate the seeds to get the nitrogen nodules that support more vigorous growth and nitrogen in the soil.  There are snow peas that are ready to harvest in just 30 days.

Now, don't forget you can harvest many Mediterranean herbs all winter as they are perennials.  Start a kitchen herb garden! 

How Low Can You Go?

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get a decent vegetable harvest even through winter with protection.  Many folks grow edibles through the winter in Zone 3 with some type of cover.  Several varieties will grow well into the snowy months, and a good frost sweetens many by forcing the plants to make more frost-protecting sugars.

Can Survive Hard Freeze with No Protection/Cover

• Broccoli

• Brussels sprouts

• Cabbage, regular

• Carrots

• Chard

• Collards

• Fava beans

• Kale

• Kohlrabi

• Lettuce (depending on variety-look for winter hardy) 

• Onions, leeks, and shallots

• Overwintering peas

• Parsley

• Radishes

• Spinach

• Turnips

• Winter hardy and perennial greens  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter

Harvest Longer

In fall, promote faster growth by packing plants a bit more tightly than you might normally do. You can extend your growing season by adding thick layers of mulch around plants, or by using season-extending techniques such as row covers. When nights get chilly, protect plants by covering them with a cloth or blanket, portable greenhouse or cold frame.  Extend the season with protection for plants

If you aren't interested in outdoor cold season gardening, you can still grow some of your food indoors.  What edibles can you grow indoors? 

In late fall when the first freeze is forecast, I bring in my citrus, potted hot pepper plants, my bay tree, moringa tree, potted basil plants and Red Malabar spinach to overwinter.  I also harvest from them until spring when I take them back outside.  You can grow other herbs and sprouts from seed, too.

The fifth strategy is to grow edibles that can be easily canned, frozen or stored.  For those that don't have freezer space, here is a list of crops that can be stored without an appliance.  If you didn't include these in this season's gardening season, add them to the list for next year.  24 No Tech Storage Fruits and Vegetables 

How to prepare for a hard freeze

Fall sunrise

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Tomorrow we are having a cold front move through with the low temperatures forecasted in the upper 20's.  When a hard freeze is in the forecast, it is time to pick the last of the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, dig the last of the sweet potatoes and clean the plants from the garden, bring the tropicals inside for the winter and give your cold crops a nice warm"coat" to protect them all winter!

You can compost any plant debris that was disease free, but dispose af any diseased plants in the garbage.  Only high sustained temperatures will destroy the spores and it is not worth the risk of spreading disease into next year’s garden through your homemade compost.  Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors

Peppers will do well indoors if put in a sunny area.  They will continue to flower and fruit for weeks.  Their flowers and red fruits are pretty, too.  Come spring, they will have a one to two month head start on the season.

This is the time of year to put a coat over your potted plants left outdoors planted with cold loving crops.  The best place to locate your plants and greenhouse is close to a wall and on the south side of the house in full sun.  Putting the greenhouse against the house or other structure will help keep the temperatures warmer for your plants.  Extend the season with protection for plants

I will put my mini portable greenhouse covers over my pots and Earthoxes that contain kale, celery, French dandelion, lettuce, sorrel, sprouting broccoli, parsley, chard and arugula.  I also put inside the greenhouse along the outside edge, one gallon jugs filled with water and spray painted black.  These will help moderate the temperature inside the greenhouse.  Spray painting the jugs protects the plastic from sun degradation.

Mini portable greenhouse

I added a larger portable greenhouse for the other self-watering pots I have a few winters ago. It has worked very well and allows me to have more winter greens and start greens, carrots, broccoli and cabbage in the early spring.  I have a 6' x 8' walk in, portable greenhouse we just got and assembled to be able to give the native flowers I have transplanted a boost for establishing their roots over the winter and to get an earlier start on tomato plants.  I went with clear plastic to maximize the rays that get to the plants.  

Larger portable greenhouse

The biggest risk with a greenhouse?  Overheating!  The sun’s rays are quite hot on a cloudless day.  I open the vent on my greenhouses when it is sunny and in the 30’s.  I will unzip the front door flap when it gets into the 40’s.   In the 50’s, the cold crops really don’t need any protection.  

The crops that do well in early spring are the ones that do well over the winter in a greenhouse.  Cold crops I like to grow under cover are arugula, broccoli, cabbage, celery, chard, cilantro, corn salad, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, parsley, peas, sorrel, spinach, cultivated dandelions.  Cold season crops for your edible garden

What to plant in the edible November garden

Portable row cover 
Sunday, November 2, 2025

You can still plant for the edible garden in November.  Plant seeds of cold loving crops.  Many cold season crops have much better germination success when it is cooler.  Even if they don't grow rapidly during fall and winter, they will start growing quickly at the end of January.  For those seeds that don't germinate now, they will come late winter, early spring when conditions are right.  Cover can be used for all the harvestable edibles to extend the harvest all the way through to spring.  

What is a four season garden?
You can garden year round in small space
Planning for a four season garden

This month you can sow more greens, carrots, beets and herbs in the portable greenhouse or under cover.  You can also transplant perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Don't forget garlic if you haven't already planted yours, you still have time!   Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Here are the crops you can start in the November Midwest edible garden:

November seeds outdoors
Austrian winter peas

Fava beans

Garlic

Rutabaga

Lettuce-winter hardy varieties

Snow peas

Spring bulbs

November seeds under cover

Arugula

Broccoli and Sprouting Broccoli

Celery
Corn salad

Endive
Escarole

Frisee

Lettuce, Winter Hardy types

Mustard and Mustard Greens

Parsley and Parsley Root

Radicchio

Rutabaga

Scallions

Sorrel
Spinach

Swiss Chard

November transplants
Asparagus

Cabbage, Oxheart

Winter and Perennial Onions

Trees and bushes

Transplants for winter and overwintering

Portable greenhouse

Look for cold hardy varieties when planting for winter harvests.  You will be surprised to harvest all through the winter months things like greens, onions, Austrian peas, carrots, sprouting broccoli, and cabbage.  You can also extend the harvest by looking for the same crop with different days to harvest timing so that they mature at different times and those that are advertised as winter hardy.  

 Fall planted crops take longer to come to harvest size than they do in the spring.  Rule of thumb is to add 2 weeks.  It's because the days are getting shorter rather than longer and the temperatures are falling.  Sowing in November, some crops may not sprout until spring.

The south side gets much more sun during the winter than does the north side.  More sunshine also gives the ground more warmth so planting or moving pots to the south side will help the plants grow faster and produce longer.  You can create an even warmer microclimate by placing pots against the house.  

Covering plants when there is a cold snap in the fall will keep them warmer and growing quicker, too.  I cover my edibles with the portable greenhouse or row coverings once daily highs are no longer getting into the 50's and night time temperatures are dipping down into the 20's.  If your portable greenhouse or row cover has vents, you can cover crops now with the vents open.  You can use cover to help your crops grow faster and to extend the harvest all the way to next spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants  Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter 

November 2025 Edible Garden Planner

Late November edible garden
Saturday, November 1, 2025

November is the time of year we, and Mother Nature, burrow in for the cold months ahead.  It is also a beautiful time of year with the kaleidoscope of fall foliage colors and crisp, clear days.  Late fall chores should include cleaning up your garden beds, reflecting on the gardening season completed, and preparing your fall and winter edibles for the frosty days ahead.

Garden bed clean up

To prepare your garden for its winter nap, remove gardening debris from your beds.  For any diseased vegetation, be sure to throw these away and not compost.  You don't want to propagate and spread any diseases to other parts of the garden.  A really hot compost pile will kill them but it isn't worth the risk going into winter.  I leave most seed heads on the flowers in the garden for food for the birds over the winter and for reseeding of annuals that the birds miss.

Remove stakes, trellises, and tomato cages and store for the winter.  Clean and oil all garden tools.  Clay pots will crack if allowed to hold water when they freeze.  Either empty, cover or bring under cover for the winter to protect from breaking.  Make sure your hoses are drained, your watering cans are emptied, your water barrels are emptied and disconnected from gathering water for the winter and your outdoor faucets are insulated for the winter. 

This is a good time to make sure your compost and composter are ready for cold weather.  Compost provides nutrients, beneficial microbes, fertilizer and overall improves your soil’s condition.  Outdoor compost piles go slowly in the fall and winter, but speed up as temps rise in the spring.  I use an insulated stainless steel tumbler type composter with 2 bins.  This time of year, I fill up one side with garden waste goodies from tidying the garden and empty the other side of its finished compost so it is ready for the winter adds.  I also cover my tumbler composter with a grill cover when it rains or snows to keep the compost from getting soaked.  If doing compost piles, it is a good idea to cover them for the winter.  Super wet compost will not decompose; compost needs to just be damp.

It is critical to keep the greens and browns in the right ratio to keep the compost cooking in the winter.  You want to add 1 part "browns" to 3 parts "greens" to keep the microbes in balance.  I find that I need to add shredded newspaper to mine in the winter because there aren't many "browns" coming from the garden or kitchen.  We have chickens so I'll use their used bedding for my browns.   Here are some tips if your composter/compost pile starts having issues  Troubleshooting your compost pile

After your garden clean up, look to give your garden a nutritional boost for the winter months.  Doing a nice layer of compost and organic fertilizer, topped with mulch, will allow the nutrients to seep into the garden soil, ready to give your spring plants a boost.  The mulch will keep the soil more temperate during the winter months for your winter edibles and keep weed seeds from sprouting.  Organic fertilizers take a long time to release their nutrients.  Using in the fall will give the spring garden a running start.  It is best to get a soil test done to make sure you are keeping the nutrients in the right balance.  You may need only nitrogen.  If a soil test shows you need to make major changes, fall is the best time to do this to give the soil the winter to equilibrate.  Local Extension Offices will analyze your soil for a nominal fee or for free.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

Reflection on the past garden season

While the past gardening season is still fresh in your mind, now is a great time to jot down some notes on what went well, what didn’t, and what you would like to research over the winter.  Make a list of the varieties that did great that you want to replant, which plants you want to be sure to have more, or less, of next year.  Also make note of how many plants make sense to plant for next year.  Here are my reflections last fall for the edible garden.  Reflections on the 2024 edible garden and the 2025 plan

Keep track of what you eat over the winter to give you a good idea of what and how much to plant come spring.  This year, I am writing down what I have in the pantry and freezer so I can see come spring how much is left to adjust what I plant.  How much to plant?  Use this winter to figure out what to grow in the spring!

Even if you have a small area, you can grow most of what you eat.  How to decide what to plant for small spaces?

Fall is a fabulous time to make new garden beds.  It is super easy, too.  Just use a hose to outline your new bed, fertilize, put down a layer of cardboard (earthworms love cardboard!), a layer of compost, and cover with mulch.  By spring, the new garden bed will be ready for planting.  We have added one on the south side so far this fall and I am going to add another small one in the back for berry bushes.  Easy ways to make a new vegetable garden bed

Gardening after the first frost

For western Kentucky, the average first frost date is end of October.  We haven't had a frost yet but it looks to be coming soon.  When the lows start getting 28 degrees F or below, this is a killing frost for the summer veggies.  Be sure to harvest the remaining tomatoes, peppers, okra, basil, eggplant, cucumbers and squash before your first hard freeze.

Green tomatoes and peppers can be brought indoors to ripen on the counter.  Green peppers are great as they are.  You can let tomatoes turn red or eat as green tomatoes.  I remember my grandmother making fried green tomatoes every fall.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!  Many make them into relish, too.

One vegetable that surprises me with how long it stays good just sitting on the counter are cucumbers.  I have kept cucumbers through February.  I just found a hidden one in the garden yesterday.  I'll likely make it into dill relish.  Quick tip-make homemade pickle relish

There are many edible crops that can still be planted in November.  You really can eat fresh out of the garden year round, even if you live in Zone 3.  Greens, asparagus, herbs, winter onions, broccoli, rutabaga, fruit bushes and trees and perennial flowers are a few of the crops that can be planted this month.  It is not too late to plant your garlic.  Growth does slow down from end of November to mid January as daylight hours dip below 10 hours.  For more on planting in November,  What to plant in the November edible garden 2023

I cover my greens with a portable green house to keep salads coming all winter when it calls for the temperatures to dip down around 20.  When I grow other cold season crops like broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, I use a floating row cover to keep them warmer and improving growth.  For cold climates, using cover is the key.  You can garden year round in small space

I have lettuce starts that are getting to a good size to plant into their winter pots.  When I move my outdoor pots into their sunny spot for the season, I will finish transplanting the lettuce seedlings into them.  It is likely too late to start seed for plants that you can harvest this winter, but it will give a boost for spring harvests.  I use gallon jugs of water inside the portable greenhouse to keep the temperature more moderate, too.

If you have a cold frame or greenhouse, you can sow spinach, lettuce, carrots, beets, cold hardy herbs, kale and mustard this month.

If you are using uncovered pots, putting the pots on the south side, in a sunny local and close to the house will keep them from getting frost bit into November or even December for cold season crops.  It seems to extend the season for 2-4 weeks.  Prepare for hard freeze

Late November potted lettuce

For the herbs you cut back earlier in the season to dry, November is a great time to now strip the stems of the harvested leaves and put into jars for winter cooking.  You can make your own “Herbes De Provence”.  Thyme, oregano, rosemary, savory, basil, tarragon and lavender are common herbs used in this famous French seasoning, but any combination is tasty.  I mix them up in about equal amounts and store in a sealed Mason jar.  It is great to add to just about anything-sauces, chicken, fish, potatoes, garlic bread.  Makes wonderful Christmas presents, too.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence".

For those that keep on going into the winter like thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary, chives and tarragon, I would prune back the plants by about two thirds and strip the leaves from the cut stems.  Do so when there are warm temps forecasted for a few days to allow the plants cut ends to heal.  Otherwise a cold snap can kill the plant.

Use your herbs for your Thanksgiving meal Use your own herbs for your Thanksgiving dinner   More than likely you will have some edibles still growing in the garden.  Take a look and plan your meal around them.  Some winter hardy edibles include kale, broccoli, cabbage, chives, sage, thyme, corn salad, sorrel, cultivated dandelions, plantain greens, celery, mustards, even some hardy lettuces. 

Fall is the time I can

Tomato sauce in Weck's glass canning jars

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Canning is a great way to preserve your own harvest.  You can also buy organic produce that is on sale from your local grocer or from your local farmers market.  When the produce is in peak season, it is the most healthful and the least expensive of the year.  I freeze all my extra tomatoes, then come fall, I can all the frozen tomatoes from last year. 

When you can, you have to follow the recipe exactly to make sure it is safe to eat.  When canning acidic foods like fruit or tomatoes or anything using vinegar or sugar, you can likely use only a water bath.  All other canning requires a pressure canner to get to high enough temperatures to kill off the bacteria that cause botulism.

Here are some web pages and resources to use:

Mother Earth News canning tips

Mother Earth News “How to Can” app

National center for home food preservation  http://nchfp.uga.edu

USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning http://goo.gl/pwrxd

“Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving” book

“The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving” book

This week I canned all the extra frozen tomatoes from last year and canned deer stew meat.  Tomatoes can be preserved with a water bath while any type of meat requires pressure canning for food safety.  All you really need when canning high acid foods like tomatoes is a tall stock pot with lid, tongs, a stainless steel spoon, a towel to put the hot jars on, a cutting board to stage the hot jars, and your canning jars.

Here is the recipe from Ball’s “Complete Book of Home Preserving” for tomato paste:

9 cups of pureed tomatoes, 1½ cups of chopped sweet bell peppers, 2 bay leaves, 1 teas salt, 1 clove of garlic.  I'll also toss in some of my dried mixed herbs for flavor.  About a tablespoon or two per batch.

 

I put it all into a large pot and let simmer until it is the consistency and taste I like, about 2.5 hours.  Remove the bay leaves and garlic.  Boil the jars, lids, and seals as the sauce is close to done.

 

Add 3 teas of lemon juice to each hot pint jar, fill with the hot tomato sauce to within ½ inch of the top, and seal the lid, following the instructions for the type of jar you are using.  Place all the filled jars in a large pot, insuring they are fully covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 45 minutes.  Remove from canner.  Let cool.  Test the seal after the jar is completely cool.  It should not lift off.  That’s it!

I also use water bath canning for pickled garlic, pickles and pickle relish.

Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!

Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix

Make pickle relish

A concern many of us have nowadays are all the chemicals in our food.  Read on for my quest and answers to non toxic canning.

Many of the lids in today's canning jars contain BPA or other chemicals.  BPA is a chemical that studies show act like estrogen in the body and babies and young children are especially susceptible to its effects.  In 2012, BPA was been removed from baby bottles banned by the FDA, but is still found in many products including conventionally canned foods.  Even those that advertise BPA free can contain other substances that are just as harmful.

My Granny canned during the summers I spent with her when I was little.  We were growing tomatoes in our little flower/veggie garden and my husband loves those big slice pickles on his burgers.  I wanted to learn how to put away our extras like she did. 

My handy Ball canning book revealed that tomatoes, fruits, and pickles are high acid so they do not require a Pressure Canner; only a water bath was needed.  Makes it an inexpensive experiment.

I read that many canning lids also contain BPA.  So, what other options were there?  I found these beautiful glass lids in an antique store.  I also bought the jars with the wire closure.  All I needed now were the rubber seals and some directions!

Old fashioned canning jars, 1946 canning pamphlet, Weck's glass canning jar

I searched the web to see if I could find any instructions on how to use old fashioned canning jars.  No luck.  Then I went to Amazon to see if there were any books on it.  I found a 1946 pamphlet “Steamliner Pressure Cooker-Instructions for Cooking and Canning.”  Success!  It was great fun browsing the pamphlet.  It was also very thorough in its instructions on how to use the old fashioned canning jars.

I went on line and ordered a variety of seals, sticking with ones that were not made in China and were natural rubber.  I wasn’t able to find any that fit well with my cool, old fashioned jars.  I also learned that the glass lids needed very tall rings to seal properly to modern Mason jars.  The modern rings you can get today were just too short to close properly.

I went antiquing again to get tall rings.  I found some in antique stores and on eBay.  The rings are harder to find than the lids as they do rust.  I probably have twice as many glass lids as I do tall rings.  They can be used on any regular mouth sized jar.  Wide mouth jars were not being made at that time so I haven't found any wide mouth glass lids..

Then, I ran across an advertisement for these beautiful glass jar with glass lid made in Germany-Weck’s (it is the second from the right in the pic).  Finally, a modern non-toxic canning jar!  They come in a variety of sizes.  I have pint (half liter) and quart (liter) size jars.

Later I discovered a plastic lid that is also BPA free that can be used with modern jars made by Tattler, made in the USA since 1976.  They are a seamless replacement for the metal lids with today's canning jars and shorter rings.  I stick with the glass lids.

The Weck’s work great.  Easy to use, easy to know that the seal is good, and beautiful to look at.  I highly recommend them.  Since I started using these glass jars, I have seen other European makers of all glass jars and lids available, like Terrina Ermetico and Bormioli Rocco.

The antique glass lids with tall rings work well but are a little more finicky in the proper way to tighten and loosen the seal before and after canning.  I use both the antique glass lids and Weck glass jars since I have so many of the antique lids.

Happy canning!