Preserving Your August Harvest

This page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn on qualifying purchases. Please see our disclaimer for more information.

August is prime harvest time! Even in Wyoming, we’re finding ripe garden items each day. I struggled with choosing what to highlight. I’ve chosen my five favorite foods that are ready to harvest in August and a few of my favorite ways to preserve what’s fresh this month.

Not only will you save money by buying produce in-season, but if you can grow your own or find it locally, the bonus is amazing flavor. And although the calendar may say August, those of us with shorter growing seasons are likely still harvesting items that were seasonal in June or July. Be sure to check my previous posts: Preserving Your May Harvest, Preserving Your June Harvest, and Preserving Your July Harvest for my top five picks for those months. (Picks! Get it? LOL)

Tomatoes

Is there anything that says summer like vine-ripened tomatoes? I’ll admit, when the season is at its peak, a fair amount of my garden tomatoes don’t make it out of the garden! I eat them right there. While my Wyoming garden has yet to produce a tomato harvest that allows me to preserve the surplus (maybe this year!), I’ve found great case sales for freezing, canning, and dehydrating.

Tomatoes are a borderline high-acid food, meaning you have a choice of pressure canning or water bath canning. That said, most recipes add lemon juice or another acid to ensure the acidity is at the correct level. And remember, if you’re canning spaghetti sauce with meat added (link below) this must be pressure canned.

Fermented salsa is one of my favorite ways to preserve tomatoes. Fermenting tomatoes doesn’t result in a super long shelf life, since they do continue to ferment even when in cold storage and get a little too much tang. I’ll often freeze tomatoes and then ferment them at a later time for summer-fresh flavor in the middle of winter. I also love this fresh Texas Style Salsa. While not a recipe for preserving, it tastes amazing, and I’ve used my frozen (thawed) tomatoes in it with fine results.

Cucumbers

I’m not going to lie, the idea of preserving cucumber—beyond pickles—sounds odd to me. Freezing cucumbers? That sounds so strange, but it does work well.

Before we move on to preserving cucumbers, I have to share a few of my favorite recipes for fresh-from-the-garden cukes. My very favorite…cucumber, cheese, and tomato sandwich. Oh, mercy. Just typing out the words makes me want to head to the kitchen! I keep it simple with only mayonnaise and (usually) on sourdough bread or biscuits. Another seasonal favorite is Cucumber Yogurt Salad, which is a refreshing summer treat, a little like a cold soup.

Sweet Corn

Each summer, I count the days until a local farmer begins selling their sweet corn. They have a big wooden box they fill daily, and we go down and buy it by the dozen. They rotate through different varieties that ripen at different rates, giving us corn season for a month or so. While we, of course, love fresh corn, it’s always nice to preserve some corn for later.

Watermelon

Does any fruit signify summer quite like the watermelon? Juicy and delicious, it’s the perfect ending to a barbecue or picnic. But do you ever consider extending the season by preserving watermelon? Even making watermelon popsicles or sorbet can give you a treat for later. Give these ideas a try, and experience summer flavors year-round.

Blackberries

When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, each August we’d venture into the national forest to harvest wild blackberries. While wild blackberries aren’t as abundant in Wyoming as they were there, I still love them. Once picked, blackberries have a very short shelf life, so preserving them is imperative to extend the season.

Preserving Your August Harvest