People have been preserving food forever. Before the invention of fridges, knowing how to preserve your harvest by salting and drying meats or fermenting vegetables was an absolute necessity. These days the need for preserving may seem to have disappeared, but we feel it’s as important as ever. We still see preserving your harvest as a fundamental part of living a full life. It’s in our blood: there is a deep satisfaction in preparing a larder so that you can enjoy foods that are out of season all year round.
There is no better time to learn to preserve than when summer is in full swing. Everything is ‘in’ and no other time of the year feels quite so abundant. Sometimes the late summer harvest can be so abundant that it’s quite overwhelming! Having a few preservation tricks up your sleeve will mean you are ready for anything. And winter will feel that little bit sunnier when you can pull out the summer treats you stored away.
There are loads of ways to preserve, but let’s focus on one of the most ancient: lacto-fermentation, an ancient technique that has kept humans healthy and fed for thousands of years. It preserves by helping the good bacteria (lactobacilli) overpower the bad.