In the late summer and early fall when elderberries are in season, it’s the perfect time to make some homemade elderberry syrup! This syrup is not only delicious, but has powerful medicinal benefits as well. Elderberry Syrup Benefits Elderberries are highly medicinal, and elderberry syrup is probably one of the best homemade herbal remedies that…
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Foraging for Elderberries & Elderflowers: Identification, Look-alikes, & Uses
Well, the season is now upon us… what season, do you ask? Elderberry season! This extremely important wild edible and medicinal plant starts getting ripe berries any time from July to September, depending on your specific location and elevation. Here in southern Oregon elderberries are perfect from mid August to early September. Before the berries,…
Fig Honey Butter: Homemade Preserves
If you have a fig tree in your backyard, then you know how prolific they can be! This is not a bad thing, as figs are delicious, but they don’t last long once they are ripe. They also tend to all be ripe at once! It’s inevitable that they will need to be preserved somehow,…
15+ Ways to Preserve Zucchini: Freeze, Can, Ferment, and Dehydrate
Some summers are zucchini summers, and we are in the midst of one right now! Preserving zucchini to last through the winter is actually easy to do. There are four main methods for how to preserve zucchini: freezing, canning, fermenting, and dehydrating or drying. How to Preserve Zucchini Zucchini can sometimes grow a little bit…
No Sugar Peach Jam: Canning Recipe (Low Sugar or Honey Option)
Peaches are the epitome of summer fruit! At the peak of summer, peaches are so sweet and delicious, but they don’t last long. Preserving peaches into a jam is the perfect way to experience that flavor through the fall and winter! Many recipes for jam and other preserves call for so much sugar, which isn’t…
Foraging Plantain: Identification and Uses
Even if you don’t know this plant by name, you’ve almost definitely seen plantain growing in the wild before! Typically dismissed as a weed, plantain has a long history of use as a healing plant, often called “nature’s band-aid.” From varieties of plantain to its edible and medicinal uses, here’s everything you need to know…
How to Make a Gallon of Mead: A Simple Mead Recipe
You may have heard of mead before or maybe you haven’t, but one image that always seems to come to mind when mead is mentioned is Vikings drinking their grog. I don’t know a whole lot about Vikings, but I do know a bit about mead! Mead is a fermented honey and water mixture, some…
How to Cook Dried Beans: Easy, Healthy, and Cheap
In this tutorial you will find out everything you need to know to learn how to cook dried beans from scratch. With so many methods, you’ll find the one that is right for you, from the pros and cons of soaking vs not soaking, the varieties of beans to use, and how to use them,…
Fermented Jalapeño Hot Sauce
{This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving} Fermenting is one of the best ways to naturally preserve foods, and is a great way to use up a bumper crop of veggies from your garden. If you’ve never had fermented jalapeño hot sauce before, you’re in for a treat! It is a little spicy without…
How to Make Kimchi: Simple Fermented Recipe
{This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving} Kimchi is a spicy Korean side dish that is traditionally fermented, similar to sauerkraut. It is usually made with napa cabbage along with other vegetables like carrots, onions, ginger, and garlic. Korean chili flakes give it a spicy kick! Kimchi is surprisingly easy to make and so…
