Winter brings a completely different vibe to a preserver's kitchen. Contrary to popular belief, there are a wide range of preserves that can be made over winter. And, you'll find that those winter preserves provide a whole different dimension of flavour to your pantry.

I love preserving over winter, it's a bit more chilled and my focus is different. I switch to thinking about meals, stock powders, herbs and ingredient basics at this time of year.

To inspire you with your winter preserving, here are some ideas based on the most common crops you'll see over these winter months. A side note here though, if there's any produce stored in your freezer from summer, now is a wonderful time to preserve that as you'll be needing that freezer space very soon.

Ideas for preserving broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages

Winter is the perfect time to be growing broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages.

If you have an abundance of broccoli, this can be blanched then frozen or dehydrated.

Cauliflower can also be blanched and frozen or dehydrated. Another option is to rice the cauliflower and then freeze it in suitable portion sizes - when freezing riced cauliflower, it doesn't need to be blanched first but you'll find it has a shorter shelf life in the freezer (4-6 months compared to 10-12 months).

Cabbage can also be frozen - whilst you can freeze it raw, you'll get a better result and longer storage life if you blanch it first. Other options for cabbage are dehydrating or making sauerkraut or another ferment.

Ideas for preserving leafy greens

Lots of silverbeet, kale and other leafy greens in your garden? These too can be blanched and frozen but pressure canning is another option which leaves more space in your freezer. Lastly, you can dehydrate greens and leave them as is or blend them to made greens powders. These can then be added to smoothies or into meals for a nutrient boost.

Ideas for preserving apples

We love winter for its abundance of apples. You should find them to be much cheaper this time of year so stock up now to make your apple based preserves. Our favourite options are slicing and dehydrating (hard to stop eating these!) or stewing and water bath canning them (you could use the traditional open kettle / overflow method if you preferred otherwise freezing is also an option). Apples are a great base for many chutneys too!

Lastly, I love making a few apple crumbles and cakes and popping those in the freezer.

Ideas for preserving citrus

Oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins and grapefruit are commonplace in so many backyards. If your trees are large (or you have friends or family with plenty to share), great options for citrus are juicing and freezing or water bath canning (remember to save the zest and freeze that too!) or making preserves such as marmalades or chutneys. Curds are another option which are can be preserved and left on the shelf or frozen - freezing gives a much longer shelf life. Citrus can also be dehydrated making a lovely snack or addition to hot drinks - experiment with whether you prefer the peel left on or off.

Another very easy option is preserved lemons (lemons preserved in salt) - these add beautiful flavour and are common in Moroccan, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and North African cuisines.

Ideas for preserving kiwifruit

Dehydrated kiwifruit is favourite in our household but you can also make jams and chutneys from these. You might even want to freeze the pulp.

Ideas for root cellared vegetables

At this time of year, you may find that your stored potatoes, pumpkins and other vegetables are starting to turn. Be sure to check these over and look to other methods for anything that isn't holding up. Potatoes and pumpkins are both suitable for pressure canning or freezing. You could also consider making soups or other meals and freezing those.

Ideas for preserving herbs

Check your gardens for excess herbs - I find my parsley and rosemary to always be amazing at this time of year and mint is starting to take off now too. Dehydrating is a great option for herbs but you can also consider freezing them in oil too. My favourite option for parsley is to make a pesto and freeze it - pesto recipe here.

Ideas for other winter preserves

I love using this time of year to pressure can chickpeas, baked beans, meats and meals. We use a lot of our pressure canned meat and meals at this time so it's good to be conscious of replenishing those stored too.

I hope this helps you to take advantage of these slower winter months to fill your shelves. Small batches of preserves done from time to time add up and make a big difference across 3, 6 or 12 months. This is also a great time to learn to preserve or improve the skills you have without the abundance of summer produce which can make for a stressful time. Hopefully the list above has prompted some further ideas too! 

If you are preserving over these winter months, be sure to share with me as I always love seeing what others are making. The best place to share with me is over on Instagram @patch_to_pantry, inside our private members community for The Preserver's Kitchen or send me an email.