In this edition of Practical Skills for a Changing Climate, we’re sharing some of our favorite recipes for preserving the bounty of summer harvests for months – or years! – to come.

Bring the flavors of summer with you into winter!

Pickles

Most pickle recipes start with a brine base of vinegar, water, salt and a small amount of sugar. From that base, the possibilities are endless! Try these combinations:

Escabeche

Escabeche is a delicious, crunchy, and tangy Mexican pickle featuring carrots, cauliflower radishes, onions, and jalapeño. The jalapeño adds spice, but the pickling process mellows the heat.

Try adding the pickled veggies to tacos and salads, or just eat them straight from the jar!

  • Brine recipe: For each 1 cup of water, add ⅔ tsp salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and ½ cup vinegar. Bring to a boil & simmer until sugar is dissolved.
  • To pickle: cut carrots, cauliflower, and onions into bite-sized pieces – they should be relatively chunky! Thinly slice radishes and jalapeños. Peel garlic cloves – use 2-3 per jar. Layer vegetables, garlic, bay leaves, and 1stp of peppercorn in each jar, then pour the boiled brine over the escabeche.

This method is a quick pickle recipe, so should be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Follow the same recipe but use a water bath canning process to preserve for longer.

Watermelon Rind Pickles

Wait! Don’t throw your watermelon rinds into the compost – pickle them instead!

This delicious recipe is adapted from Edna Lewis’ classic book on Southern cooking and eating seasonally, The Taste of Country Cooking. These pickles are tangy from the vinegar, but are balanced with sugar and warming spices like ginger and cloves. Enjoy as a side dish to a summer picnic, on top of ice cream, alongside a charcuterie spread, or as a side to barbeque or roasted lamb.

To make:

Prepare the watermelon:

  • Trim away the tough outer skin of the watermelon and remove any remaining red/pink/yellow fruit to leave only the white rind.
  • Next, you’ll soak the rinds overnight in a solution of 3 cups water to 1 cup pickling salt. (Scale the brine up if you’re using the rinds from more than one watermelon).
  • After soaking the rinds overnight, rinse the rinds well in cold water.

Make a vinegar syrup:

  • Use cheesecloth or a tea strainer to make a spice bundle with: 1-2 sticks cinnamon, 5 cloves, and 1-2” piece of peeled fresh ginger. (Other spices to try: 1 star anise pod; 2-3 allspice berries, and other similar, warming spices).
  • In a saucepan, dissolve 1 ⅛ cup sugar into 2 cups apple cider vinegar. Add the spice bundle and 3-4 slices of lemon, seeds removed, from about ⅓ of a lemon. Bring the syrup to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Add the rinsed rinds to the syrup, and simmer at a gentle boil for 30 minutes.

To make the pickles last all year, use a water bath canning process and sterilized jars to store the pickles. Otherwise, store in your refrigerator and enjoy within a few weeks!

Simple Syrups

Another easy way to preserve the flavors of summer is to make herb or fruit-infused simple syrups.

A simple syrup is a one-to-one ratio of sugar and water boiled together to dissolve the sugar; the longer the syrup is boiled, the more “syrupy” or thick it gets. Try this combination:

Rosemary Simple Syrup:

  • In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 2 large sprigs of rosemary leaves (removed from the stem).  You can also replace some of the sugar with local honey for a more complex flavor & a more sustainable ingredient list.
  • Bring to a boil & dissolve the sugar.
  • Remove from the heat and allow the syrup to cool & further infuse for 30-60 minutes, then strain out the rosemary.

This syrup is delicious mixed with lemonade or – for a boozier beverage – in a gin & tonic.

Simple syrups can last for several weeks in your refrigerator.

Pestos & Sauces

“Pesto” means “crushed” or “ground” in Genoese Italian – while the most common pesto in the US is a basil pesto, really any combination of ground fresh herbs and flavorings can count as a pesto.

Pesto freezes & thaws wonderfully, and there’s no better joy on a cold January night than enjoying your summer pesto in a comforting dinner.

Basil Pesto

Basil Pesto is an infinitely customizable dish, and a delicious way to preserve your herb garden for the winter.

Try this base recipe, and experiment with using garlic scapes instead of basil, or other greens entirely, like kale. You can also remove the parmesan for a vegan version (try substituting nutritional yeast for part of the parmesan to retain some of the savory, umami flavor).

  • Combine 4 cups of fresh basil leaves, 1 cup of parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of olive oil in a food processor or blender, and blend until combined.

  • Add ⅔ cup pine nuts (or other type of nut like almonds or walnuts), 6 garlic cloves (or more to taste), and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.

  • Other optional additions: lemon zest; red pepper flakes

Parsley and Garlic Yogurt Sauce

In my house, we just call this “green sauce,” and use it for basically everything: as a dipping sauce for veggies and chips; as a salad dressing; mixed with chickpeas and feta cheese for an easy dinner; as a marinade for chicken skewers  – it’s good no matter how you use it.

To prepare the herb base: In a food processor or blender, combine:

  • 2 cups parsley, 1 cup dill, 1 cup basil, ½ cup cilantro, 4-5 garlic cloves, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until the herbs form a smooth paste, adding more oil as needed.

To make the sauce:

  • Mix together 2 cups Greek yogurt, 1 cup of hummus (store bought or homemade), the herb base, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

  • Adjust the sauce to taste, increasing salt or lemon juice as needed.

When herbs are abundant in summer, you can prepare the herb blend base as a “concentrate” and freeze it, to later defrost and mix with the remaining ingredients!

Let us know your favorite recipes for preserving the summer harvest!