Are you drowning in courgettes? Are the tomatoes getting on top of you? Lots of people have more veg than they know what to do with at the moment, but we have a few helpful tips to share with you to keep on top of gluts!
Courgettes
- Keep harvesting your courgettes even if you have too many. That way the plant will still keep flowering and producing more until early autumn.
- Courgettes make a good crudite – chop them up as you would cucumbers and dip into houmous.
- Grate them up and use them for baking cakes. It’s too tasty for words and uses them up pretty quickly!
- Add to pasta sauces along with a glut of tomatoes and freeze for the winter.
Beans
- Again, keep picking even if you don’t want to eat them all right now. They’re better off on the compost heap than on the plant.
- Make a batch of runner bean chutney. It makes a lovely gift and will keep well.
- Boil beans quickly, drain and put into cold water. Once cool, you can put the beans in the fridge and use in salads for a few days.
- You can dry beans out, pod them and store the dried beans (not the pods) in a kilner jar. You’ll need to soak them before cooking. These are great for hearty stews when it’s cold.
- Freeze them – blanche first if you like or just go for it and pop them in a freezer bag.
Tomatoes
- Dry tomatoes out in the oven. Halve the tomatoes, squeeze out the seeds, and drain on kitchen paper before transferring to a cooling rack/grill placed over a baking dish. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and pop in an oven at 175 degrees for about 6-8 hours until they are the right texture. Store in olive oil in sterilised, lidded jars.
- Make homemade pasta sauces and freeze.
- Or make homemade pizza sauce and freeze.
Chillies
- Chillies actually freeze really well whole, so you can bung them in the freezer and bring them out at will!
- Dry them out and store that way.
Leaves & Lettuces
- If you need to store these for a few days it’s best to wash them and then pop them in an unsealed freezer bag in the fridge.
- If you can’t keep on top of leaves, harvest them anyway and add them to the compost pile. In a few days there will be more leaves coming through that you can harvest to eat when you’re ready for more!
Potatoes
- Potatoes will keep under the ground for about a month if you cut the foliage off.
- When you dig them up, store the in a paper bag or hessian sack in a cool, airy, dark place.
- You can freeze par-boiled potatoes ready for roasting from frozen when you’re doing a roast dinner.
