In my experience, leafy greens are among the easiest kinds of veggies to grow. But they don’t keep for very long and after you’ve given basketfuls of them to your friends and eaten stir-fried leafy greens, leafy greens in soups, in stews, and added to salads, and they’re still coming, what do you do with them next?
Below is a basket of produce from our modular veggie garden. I’ve lost count of how many of these I’ve brought to the kitchen or given as return gifts to friends in exchange for music lessons, fruit, preserves, and general good-will.
But lately I’m finding that I even have more green leaves than I can reasonably give away. Here are two ideas for preserving leafy greens when this happens to you. The first is a bit of an experiment. The second is a tried and true favourite in my kitchen.
The experiment: can you make sauerkraut with green cabbages that haven’t formed heads?
There are quite a number of cabbages like this one in the garden that haven’t had time to form heads yet and are starting to get a bit chewed by caterpillars. We’ve been eating the outer leaves from them for a while but yesterday I decided to harvest some whole cabbages and use them to make ‘kraut, even though they haven’t headed yet.
Because:
- I’m not certain they will head at all; our hot, dry weather is approaching and they may not have time to form heads before they think about going to seed.
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If they ever had to turn to their food preps out of a pure emergency, many preppers would find it extremely tough to make it through on rice, beans, and canned goods alone. Getting the right nutrient mix and maintaining that through an extended disaster is of vital importance. When it comes to protein, flavor, vitamins, and nutrients, meat has to be a part of the equation. Hunting protein sources may not be a possibility. Stored jerky has a short shelf life and can be hard to chew and process. Freeze-dried meats are ideal, but they’re also expensive.
In this blog, I’m going to give you the ultimate crash course in pickling. It is likely you’ll never buy a store-bought lifeless can of sliced jalapenos or a limp dill pickle again after watching this. I will also share with you my recipe for Prepper Pickled Pepper Purslane. In just a few minutes, you’ll know what you need to do for your first pickling project. I went a little pickling crazy and pickled Jalapenos, Classic Dill slices and spears, Green Tomatoes, Bird Peppers, and garlic and onions, which are amazing in Bloody Mary’s, cocktails, or just for cooking. I wanted to give you a broad range of examples. I even use Purslane and Broadleaf Plantain I foraged from my yard. I’ll give you the simple formula upfront, go into a little more detail of what you need to know to be successful, then I’ll tell you what can go wrong, how to fix it or when to toss it, and what to look for when you’ve got it right. 
