PRESERVATION OF FOOD WITHOUT LECTRICITY
Preservation of food without electricity, part A’
March 31st 2020
When I lived at Dassoto L.Nevrokopi (1993-1998), I had seen the women picking wild chicory in the spring and desiccate it for the winter.
Drying in the sun.
The oldest method of food preservation is sun desiccation. Thank God, Greece avails of a long period of sunshine during the year, so that we can take advantage of in many ways. Drying takes place in the summer months, when there is plenty of sunshine and very little rain. In the sun we can desiccate tomatoes, figs, raisins, mushrooms, apples, pears, berries, peppers, eggplants, zucchini etc. Our space has to be fairly airy. We lay on a shallow pan our material and cover it with a fine mesh.
Canning in glass jars
Another popular method is the canning in glass jars. In this way we can conserve vegetables, fruit and meat. Sterilization of the metal or glass containers is an absolutely crucial point here, and it is done with the use of boiling water. After we sterilize the container we add the stuff we want to preserve, taking care not to touch with our hands the inner part of the container, we fill up with water and close the lid. We place the jar in a deep pot with hot water, so that it is fully immersed, and boil it for about 10-15 minutes. Between jars, we place a clean towel to prevent them from cracking. To check the success of our canning, we notice whether the center of the lids is drawn in and does not move when we push it, which means that it is vacuum sealed. Conversely, if the lid bulges, our can is spoiled and we have to repeat the procedure or consume it right away. After opening our can, it is always advisable to boil the food for five minutes before consuming it.
Preservation in alcohol
In this way we can preserve especially fruit. With sugar and alcohol we can also make our own cordials and liqueurs as for example with cranberries:
Take 2 kg of cranberries, ½ kg sugar and 1lt of tsipouro. In a jug or jar we alternate layers of cranberries and sugar, finishing with sugar.
We leave the jug in the sun for about two months shaking it occasionally until the sugar is fully dissolved. Then we fill up the jug with the tsipouro and let it out in the sun for another 15-20 days. We taste it and add, if needed, more sugar or alcohol before we filter and bottle our cranberry cordial.
Preservation of food with salt
This is one more old method of preservation. It usually consists of layers of salt on the items we wish to preserve, as for instance olives.
Wrinkled or raisin-olives
To preserve black olives in this way, we layer olives and coarse salt in a sack made of hemp or in a basket. If we want, we may add savory or oregano along with them. The sack should be placed on a grid placed over a large bowl, so that the liquid from the cure drains in it, and kept in a dark place. Twice a day we turn our sack upside down. Within ten days, our olives are wrinkled. We make a slit to some of them and if we see that the color of the flesh has taken a dark hue, meaning that they are done, we lay them on a sheet for one day to dry and put them in a jar with oil.