August 27, 2020

The Best of August

Do you know what I think is the absolutely best thing about the month of August?

Summer vegetables.

The best thing about summer veggies is that, if you want to, you can enjoy them all winter long!

How?

Freeze them, can them, even pickle them!

I can remember in the dog days of summer, my mom would be stuffed in our tiny kitchen boiling jars, snapping peas, shucking corn, blanching tomatoes. The heat would be unbearable. We didn’t have the luxury of central air. But, with a family of 7, she had quite a few mouths to feed and there was nothing like hearing the pop of a sealed jar or pulling out some tasty peaches in February for dessert!

Now is the time to stockpile that delicious summer goodness of fruits and veggies! It may seem daunting, but it really doesn’t need to be. You can Google just about anything on or visit YouTube and learn how to do it. Start small. Maybe make some jam out of all those blackberries.

You can freeze or can all sorts of things. My dad loved tomatoes, so my mom would can whole tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, stewed tomatoes and she’d always make several jars of tomato juice. She also canned peaches and pears. She froze corn, blueberries, blackberries, peas; if it grew in our garden, it was on our pantry shelves in the winter.

At my house, my husband is a master pickler. I’m not sure if that’s a real term but we have an entire shelf in the fridge devoted to pickled things – asparagus, beans, cucumbers, jalapenos, carrots, onions and cauliflower.

And in the end, not only do you have the taste of summer all winter long, you’ve saved a LOT of money at the grocery store.

So if you don’t have your own garden, be sure to hit up your local farmer’s market and grab some of the goodness that August has to offer. My neighbor just brought me down some zucchini and I’ve got zucchini bread in the oven. My house smells delicious!

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