Let's Preserve
Also available in Spanish, our "Let's Preserve" fact sheets provide detailed methods for processing fruits, vegetables and meats. Penn State Extension offers the latest research to ensure safe, quality products. Learn the details of how to can, freeze, and dry food, plus learn tips for success and troubleshooting.
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ArticlesLet's Preserve: Apples
A quick-reference guide on how to properly preserve apples, including tips on preparation, freezing, canning, and more. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Meat and Poultry
Meat and poultry can be preserved for longer-term storage through canning, drying, or freezing. Learn the preservation techniques that provide the opportunity to safely consume these products well beyond the time they were harvested. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Snap Beans
Learn the proper techniques for canning and freezing snap beans. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Root Vegetables - Beets, Carrots, Turnips, and Rutabagas
Root vegetables must be processed in a pressure canner. They cannot be safely canned in a boiling water bath or atmospheric steam canner. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Jelly, Jam, Spreads
Learn the procedures and find recipes for canning jellies, jams, and spreads. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Quick Process Pickles
Learn detailed canning methods for pickles, and find recipes for sweet gherkins, bread and butter pickles, quick sweet pickles, relish, pickled beets, and more. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Fruit Pie Fillings
The following fruit fillings are excellent and safe products. Each canned quart makes one 8- to 9-inch pie. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Tomatoes
Find detailed information on various topics related to preserving tomatoes, including selecting tomatoes for canning, recommended varieties for making juice, acidification, making salsa, and more. -
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ArticlesLet's Preserve: Strawberries
Learn the proper techniques for freezing or canning fresh strawberries. For best quality, strawberries should be preserved on the day they are harvested. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Squash and Pumpkins
Learn the proper techniques for canning, drying and freezing squash and pumpkin. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Peppers
Provides detailed information on types of peppers, freezing procedures, and how to properly process them in a canner. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Soup
Detailed information on how to properly prepare soup, along with in-depth instructions on canning and freezing procedures. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Pears
Learn the proper procedures for freezing or canning pears and the recommended varieties of pears for preservation. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Freezing Vegetables
A quick-reference guide on how to properly freeze, pack, and prepare various types of vegetables, including asparagus, cabbage, carrots, and more. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Sweet Corn
Learn the proper techniques for freezing or canning fresh corn. Most sweet corn varieties work well for preservation. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Freeze-Drying
This article explains the freeze-drying process and how it can extend the shelf life of food. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Fermentation - Sauerkraut and Pickles
Details how to safely can and preserve sauerkraut and fermented pickles. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Freezing Fruits
This article explains how to freeze foods successfully and provides details on freezing specific fruits. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Cherries
Freezing and canning methods for sweet or sour cherries are explained. Select freshly harvested cherries with deep, uniform color and ideal maturity for eating fresh. Don't delay preserving them, with or without seeds. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Blueberries
Freezing and canning methods are covered, along with preparation techniques for successful preservation. Select berries that are plump, firm, and have a light-blue to blue-black color. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Peaches, Apricots, Nectarines
Find the best varieties of fruit to choose when canning or freezing, plus learn the proper techniques for successful preservation. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Drying Fruits and Vegetables (Dehydration)
Learn the best practices and find recipes for drying fruits and vegetables. Dried foods are tasty, nutritious, lightweight, and easy to store and use. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Basics of Home Canning
Canning can be a fun and economical way to make fresh foods available year-round. Here you will learn procedures that have been scientifically tested to ensure safe and high-quality canned products and optimized for prolonged storage. -
ArticlesLet's Preserve: Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
For canning potatoes, select the "waxy" or "boiling" kinds. Most red-skin potatoes are suitable, and many white or gold round new potatoes with thin skins work well, too.