Preserving Your May Harvest

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Are you counting the days until your May harvest? For those of you enjoying fresh veggies either from the garden, the farmers market, or inexpensive from your local grocery store, I’ve put together a few of the popular vegetables or fruits you may be picking this month and my favorite ways to preserve them.

A great way to stretch your food dollars is to purchase fruits, vegetables, and even protein in season or to (frugally) grow your own. If you are in an area where you started your garden several weeks or months ago, you may be harvesting now. If you’re in Zone 4b, like me, harvest is still weeks—ahem, months—away. Even so, I’m picking up items in the grocery store when they are at rock-bottom pricing and preserving them for future use.

Asparagus

Asparagus season is peaking in Wyoming. While I love it fresh, roasted with a little oil and salt in the oven, it turns out nicely when frozen, canned, dehydrated, or fermented.

Spinach

Though we won’t have much of a spinach harvest until mid to late June, I’ll be able to start cutting some of the tender leaves for salad before the end of the month—and we’re already enjoying micro-greens as I’ve thinned the plants. I’m looking forward to a full harvest to help fill my pantry with dehydrated green powder.

Rhubarb

We’re still waiting on rhubarb, with the harvest starting at the end of May or more likely June. Finding rhubarb in stores isn’t likely here, but if you’re already harvesting it, here’s a few of my favorite preservation methods.

Radish

Like spinach, we’re enjoying radish microgreens as the plants are thinned, and in a few weeks we’ll start having the spicy bulbs. While we do love radishes raw, either on salads or dipped in salt, we really enjoy roasted radishes. And here’s some great uses for radish greens.

Freeze Radishes
Dehydrate Radishes (and/or their leaves)
Pickled Radishes (stored in the refrigerator, canning is not recommended as they become mushy)
Lacto-Fermented Radishes
Pickled Radish Pods (let some of your radishes go to seed for this tasty treat)

Eggs

With longer days and still coolish temperatures, it’s still egg season in Wyoming. Soon, the layers will slow down, but for now we’re enjoying the abundance. If you need some ideas for using up eggs, check out 20 Egg Dishes Your Whole Family Will Love and 19 Quick & Easy Hard-Boiled Egg Recipes.

Freeze Eggs (in ice cube trays)
Freeze Eggs (in muffin tins)
Preserve in Pickling Lime
Pickled Eggs (stored in the fridge, not at room temp)
Dehydrated Eggs & Polenta (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Preserving Your May Harvest