We bless God for the rains. Now the crops are harvested, what next?
The farmer’s next worry would be to sell off his crops before they get spoilt or rotten. And so we present four natural ways to preserve your crops to present spoilage and wastage. As for our consumers, the natural preservation methods listed below would help you eat fresh, natural foods all year round – for those of you that buy in bulk.
Drying
Fresh produce contains up to 95% water and can therefore sustain both the activity of the enzymes and the growth of micro-organisms. The purpose of drying is to reduce the water content of the product to a degree that becomes inadequate for the operation of the enzymes or for the growth of micro-organisms. Depending on the product, the critical level is around 10-15 percent moisture. The product becomes brittle and is easily shattered if too much water is removed. By using solar or artificial heat, produce can be dried. Solar (sun) drying is inexpensive but is not as easily managed unlike more sophisticated means of dehydration/ drying. Heat from the combustion of agricultural waste is used for drying in some countries, as in copra dryers, which have also been used for drying root crops.
Freezing
he simplest, most effective, and least time-consuming way of preserving foods is freezing. Except for products with high water content, cream-based goods, and cooked starchy foods such as cooked noodles and rice, most foods freeze well. There are enzymes in all fresh produce, compounds that help the plant ripen and mature. The activity of enzymes during freezing is slowed but not halted. These enzymes, if not inactivated, can cause changes in color and taste and nutrient loss during freezer storage. So, you want to make sure that you do not freeze your foods or fruits for a long time.
Fermentation
ou can regulate spoilage using the science of fermentation. In other words, scientifically, the foods you protect by fermenting them will still rot, “age” or “ripen,” but they will do so with friendly, even beneficial microbes rather than aggressive ones. Lucky for us the road has been paved by millions of people before us and their secrets are still low-tech. To turn some of its components into alcohols or acids, fermented foods are produced by allowing one form of a microbe to act upon a food material. Alcohols are fermented by yeast, while lactic acid bacteria ferment most foods. For example; the transformation of cassava to garri shows the value of conventional fermentation. There is a wide range of traditional fermented foods produced in Nigeria, apart from “garri”. Others include; pap, condiments such as locust beans (iru), ogiri and alcoholic drinks such as shekete, agadagidi and kai-kai, palm wine, are among these. Some of the world’s greatest culinary wonders, including bread, cheese, pickles, sauerkraut, chocolate, beer, coffee, wine and a whole host of cured meats, to name just a few, are part of this family of preserved foods.
Acidification
Though not practiced in Nigeria, acidification, or pickling as it is also called, is a preservation method where foods usually vegetables are soaked into vinegar acid. Vinegar, which can contain flavorings, is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace chemicals gotten from the fermentation of sugars or ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Turnips, beets, radishes, carrots, leeks, kale, garlic scapes, Swiss chard, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini, peppers, asparagus, cantaloupe, and green tomatoes are only some of the choices that are delicious when pickled. The most popular vinegar-preserved foods are cucumbers (although some cucumber pickles are fermented), but many other foods are delicious in vinegar too. A wide world of vinegar flavors awaits, from balsamic and apple cider to rice and champagne. The above recipe offers a super simple way of using acidification to preserve fresh cucumbers.