You might have to adapt your food preservation approach this year

It’s been anything but a typical Maine summer.

An unusual amount of rain and lack of sunny days have thrown some garden crops off schedule. Produce is ripening early, late or more sporadically, which means those looking to put up food have to adjust and adapt how they preserve this year’s harvests.

But food preservation experts are confident there will be plenty of homegrown produce to put up this year — as long as you make some adjustments to how you do it.

“I believe we have a robust production of Maine foods,” said Kathy Savoie, professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension. “People here used all sorts of growing methods and now we are getting the hot, sunny days we need.”

Here’s what you need to know.

A few tomatoes at a time: If your tomatoes are only ripening on their vines a few at a time, it’s hard to make a large batch of salsa or sauce. Savoie suggests freezing tomatoes as they ripen until you have enough to process.

“Core them and just keep adding them to a freezer bag in your freezer,” she said. “When you have enough to make a sauce or whatever you want to make, just take them out and thaw them.”

An added bonus is that once the tomatoes thaw, the skins will slip right off.

Make a half-batch when you can: If your overall harvest is small but you still want to make a sauce or salsa out of tomatoes, try making a small batch. There are recipes that can be cut in half when you don’t have enough produce for a full batch.

“Make sure you are using a validated U.S. Department of Agriculture or National Center for Home Food Preservation recipe,” Savoie said. “Those can be cut in half to make smaller batches.”

Cutting jam and jelly recipes in half is a bit more difficult, she said. It depends on what kind of pectin you are using. Make sure to check the recipe on the pectin’s packaging to see if there are instructions for using less.

So much humidity: While home canning isn’t affected by humidity, dehydration is, Savoie said.

“When you are dehydrating food, you are working to remove the moisture in the food,” she said. “With high humidity, you are then working against the elements with a lot of moisture in the air.”

Savoie encourages people to use a commercial home dehydrator as it is much more efficient and dependable than drying things out in a low-temperature oven. But once it’s done, you aren’t.

Store your dehydrated food in an airtight container or bag and then watch it for two or three days if conditions are humid, she said.

“Be mindful even if you think it’s done drying,” Savoie said. “Keep an eye on it to see if condensation is forming in the jar or in the bag.”

If it does, it needs to be placed back in the dehydrator for more time to pull additional moisture out of the food.

“With canning and preservation, you are always in the vibe with the season,” Savoie said. “You are always working with what is available.”

Julia Bayly is a reporter at the Bangor Daily News with a regular bi-weekly column. Julia has been a freelance travel writer/photographer since 2000. More by Julia Bayly