Garden Journal

Beans

It is peak bean season and there is an abundant bean harvest now. There are more beans we want to consume, so I have decided to preserve them.

Drying with dehydrator

I initially thought drying would be a great way to preserve the food, so I took extra laborious steps to dry my beans.

Wash the beans and cut them.
Put the beans in boiling water for about 3 minutes.
Remove the beans from the boiling water and put them into ice-cold water to stop the cooking process.
Put the beans in the dehydrator at 125°F degrees for several hours.

I am happy with the end result, but I think it involved too much work and too many steps. The point of beans is that they are casual, simple, and easy to grow vegetables. If I have to go through 7 steps to preserve them, it defeats the purpose of these casual ingredients.

Freezing

I was looking for ways to freeze-dry beans, but the options are either expensive or too cumbersome. These are two things I do not like: expensive and cumbersome. After some research, I came to the conclusion that I will just freeze them without blanching. Here are the steps:

Wash and clean the beans.
Dry them. I place the washed beans in a mesh container over an air purifier for quick drying.
Snap them into small-ish pieces by hand.
Vacuum pack them and toss them in the freezer after writing the date on the bag.

This freezing process is infinitely simpler and easier than the drying process. Also, the drying process uses a lot of electricity for my tastes. I think drying would have been a great process if I lived 200 years ago when the only cheap and abundant source of energy was the sun’s rays. Our chest freezer can maintain temperatures below 14°F, which will slow the enzyme action that deteriorates the quality. While I am aware that blanching will stop enzyme activity, I am not certain if the overall average quality of the food is superior. It is very easy to overcook while blanching, and the food can become mushy. I also do not plan to keep the food frozen that long anyway.

Watermelon

To my surprise, the watermelon I started from seed grew very well and now has produced several baby watermelons. I always thought I had to start these plants from seed very early and transplant them, but it appears that may not necessarily be the case. It probably depends on the plant and purpose. If you want to harvest tomatoes as early as possible, starting from seed makes sense. But provided with the right conditions, simply starting from the seed once the weather becomes warm enough seems to be sufficient for many plants. I was doubtful if I could grow watermelon as it was already May or June when Sufian wanted Yellow Watermelon seeds (the record shows I bought watermelon seeds on 5/20, so I must have planted around that time. It would have taken several days for the seeds to arrive as I had to order online, as yellow watermelon is not a common seed in stock in local stores. So I planted it at the end of May or early June). Watermelon matures in 30-40 days, so I expect to harvest watermelon at the end of August. I am a bit concerned that since I planted watermelon in our front yard with foot traffic, some people might be tempted to steal or break the watermelon. It would break Sufian’s heart. Perhaps next year, I should plant watermelon somewhere more protected, such as our balcony.

I think the fact that I set up irrigation must have helped various seeds sprout in our front yard container.