Things we should have learnt in school

Climate change and its effects have become extremely prominent in the past decade. There are plenty of documentaries around this, but today we want to cover what you can do at home for our children to learn from us. 

Here are some of the topics we will be covering: 

• Food preservation
• Composting
• How to grow food
• Seed saving
• Fermentation
• Native plants
• Medicinal Herbs
• Basics of permaculture
• Water filtration

This week, we will discuss food preservation. Organic produce is notoriously known for its easy perishability. If you don’t consume them within a week or so, they get soft, develop moulds and slowly wither. This is where food preservation can help! Food preservation is the idea of creating a long lasting environment that slows down food rancidity with the use of science. The protocols are designed to kill or inhibit the growth of microbes and harmful bacteria. There are both physical and chemical methods to food preservation.

Some common physical methods of food preservation include refrigeration, freezing, dehydration, vacuum packaging, controlled atmosphere storage, modified atmosphere packaging and various forms of heat treatment. Chemical methods typically use the properties of propionates, sorbates, and benzoates to inhibit rancidity.

So how can you preserve food at home? Other than freezing and refrigerating, fermentation (controlled atmosphere storage) is an easy method you can implement at home. Some common ingredients used include oil, vinegar, salt, alcohol and even yeast. Below is a recipe, typical from Provence, that you may enjoy. My mum makes the best one in the world! 😉

Preserving in Oil: Marinated Capsicums

You will need: ⁠

• 4 capsicum (mix all the colours⁠ you like!)
• Basil leaves⁠ (as many as you like)
• 2 garlic cloves
• Organic olive oil⁠ (buy here)⁠

1.  ♨️  Preheat the oven at 200 °C.
2. ⁠???? Lay the capsicums on a baking tray and roast them in the oven until the skin gets dark.
3. ????????‍???? Place them in a salad bowl and cover with a lid. Let it cool⁠.
4. ⁠Meanwhile, crush the basil leaves with the garlic, add olive oil, salt and pepper⁠.
5. Once the capsicums are cold, peel them and cut them into long strips⁠.
6. Mix well with the seasoned Oil and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours⁠.

Enjoy on toast or add to your favourite salad. You can keep them in an airtight jar for 1 week in the fridge.⁠

Same same but different: Try how to preserve Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil

You will need ⁠:

• ½ cup of sun dried tomatoes
• 2 cups of red wine vinegar
• 1 tea spoon of dried oregano
• 1 pinch of chili flakes
• Organic olive oil⁠ (buy here)

Steps:

1. ???? Simmer ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes in a large pot with 2 cups of hot water and 2 cups of red wine vinegar until  plump up, about 5 to 10 minutes. 
2. ????????‍???? Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes. Then drain and dry with paper towels. 
3. ???? Transfer the tomatoes to a glass jar, add 1 teaspoon dried oregano and a pinch of chilli flakes, then fill the jar with olive oil. Be sure to completely cover the tomatoes in the oil. 
4. ???? Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

You can also do vegetable stock and freeze it to use it as you need. Here we share a fantastic recipe to do vegetable stock from kitchen scraps (as they are organic, you can totally eat them). Click here for the vegetable stock recipe.  

Do share with us your preservation recipes, we will share them on our web site or on our Facebook page for everyone to be able to preserve their food better.