Summer Veggie Harvest

Get to grips with your summer veggie harvest and learns ways to preserve and store for maximum use.

Summer, the promise of spring sowing is coming to fruition. The summer veggie harvest is an exciting and rewarding time, with bush beans, beetroot and baby marrows being first off the blocks. Not to forget the ever-abundant Swiss chard and crunchy sweet carrots. Tomatoes and cucumbers too are offering up their first fruits. They will be followed in the new year by brinjals, sweet peppers and chillies. Sweet corn is also a treat to look forward too with your veggie harvest.

What’s most important with your veggie harvest is to harvest at the right time. Vegetables picked too early may lack flavour, but if left too long can become woody, stringy, or tough. Tomatoes are an exception; the riper they get on the plant, the sweeter they are. If you are unsure whether it’s time to harvest or not, sacrifice one or two fruits that you think are ripe or ready. If they are not, then you know to wait a bit longer and you’ve only lost a tiny part of the veggie harvest.

The best way to enjoy your veggie harvest is straight from garden to table. But that’s not always possible. Most veggies can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week, but not much longer. Preserving your veggies by blanching and freezing or making sauces and pastes for freezing is a wonderful way to extend your enjoyment of summer vegetables deep into winter.

Tips for harvesting, storing and preserving

Green beans (bush and runner)

Pick before the seeds in the pods start to swell. If left on the bush they become stringy. The timing is especially critical for this crop. Pick every other day, and the more you pick the longer they produce.

Good to know: When picking, hold the stem with one hand and pick with the other. Yanking the pods can break the bean stems and damage the plants.

Storing and preserving: Fresh beans stored in a zip-lock bag will last for about a week in the refrigerator. Preserve beans for longer by blanching and freezing them. Blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute and then quickly cool them in ice water. They will stay bright green and crisp.

Tomatoes

To extend the crop, pick tomatoes as they are turning from orange to red. They are one of the few vegetables that will ripen off the bush. At the same time leave a few on to become completely ripe because vine ripened tomatoes have the best flavour.

Good to know: Use kitchen scissors or garden clippers to cut off the fruit. Do not pull them off.

Storing and preserving: Store picked tomatoes at room temperature indoors, not on a sunny windowsill or in the refrigerator because the low refrigerator temperatures below break down the flavour compounds leading to tasteless tomatoes. An easy way to freeze tomatoes is to chop or pulse them in a food processor and freeze the pulp in containers. Alternatively, make batches of tomato sauce and freeze.

Cucumbers

Cut cucumbers when they are big enough to use and still deep green. Yellowing at the base indicates that the fruit is over-ripe and it will be bitter. The more you pick the more the vine produces.

Good to know: Use a knife or clippers to cut the stem above the fruit. Do not pull off.

Storing and preserving: Cucumbers can be stored in the refrigerator for a week to 10 days. Wrap the cucumber in plastic wrap or store in a zip-lock plastic bag. Cucumber is not suitable for freezing.

Baby Marrows (Zucchini)

The size is critical. The longer they stay on the plant, the bigger they become and this sends a signal to the plant to produce seed and stop producing fruit. Pick them as small as you can so that they are sweet and crunchy. At the height of the season baby marrows are so prolific that fruit can be picked daily.

Good to know: Cut the fruit off the stem with kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. Don’t twist and pull it off as you could damage the stem.

Storing and preserving: Store baby marrows in a zip-lock plastic bag for a few days, but no longer as the quality deteriorates. To preserve, wash and trim the ends, cut into 12mm thick slices, blanch, cool, drain and dry. Pack in containers or plastic bags. They freeze well if cooked as part of a larger dish, such as ratatouille.

Carrots

Depending on the variety, the longer they are left the bigger they will grow but there is also a cut-off point when they get too tough. By regularly thinning out the carrots they can be harvested at different stages, which also helps you to judge how long to leave them for a final mature crop.

Good to know: Carrots are ready for harvesting within 10 to 12 weeks. If the shoulders of the carrot are green, they are past their best and will be woody and bitter.

Storing and preserving: Cut off the green leafy tops before storing them, as the leaves draw moisture from the roots. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Store them apart from apples, pears, potatoes or other veggies and fruit that produce ethylene gas which makes the carrots bitter. Young carrots are best for freezing. Top and trim, blanch whole, cool, drain, dry and freeze in plastic bags.

Beetroot

Like carrots they can be harvested very small as baby beets or left in the ground until the swollen root is 5 – 8cm in diameter.

Good to know: Once the leaves are 10 – 15cm long one can start harvesting the baby beet which should be about 2 – 3cm in diameter.

Storing and preserving: To store, cut off the tops leaving 2 – 3cm long stems. Leave the long root intact. Store leaves and roots separately in the fridge. Use leaves within days. Roots will keep for 2 – 3 weeks. Young small beets are best for freezing. Wash, without breaking the skin, boil until tender, cool and remove the skin by rubbing it off under cold water. Slice or dice and freeze.

Swiss chard and loose-leaf lettuce

The more the leaves are harvested the longer they produce. Harvest two to three of the outer leaves from a plant. This applies to loose-leaf lettuce which could still be a viable crop in the Western Cape. Loose-leaf lettuce also doesn’t bolt as quickly as crisp head lettuce.

Good to know: Cut or twist off the leaves at the base of the plant. Alternatively, leave the outer ring of leaves, as protection against the sun, and harvest the second tier making sure that you don’t affect the crown.

Storing and preserving: If there is a delay between picking and cooking, put the leaves in a bucket of water to keep them fresh. Raw spinach doesn’t freeze well; rather chop the leaves, blanch, drain, dry and freeze.

Eggplant (Brinjals)

Best for eating when the fruit is glossy and dark. Dull, faded fruit will be bitter. Immature fruit is also bitter and the seeds inside are white.

Good to know: Cut of the fruit with clippers with a short stub of the stem intact. The fruits do not pull free by hand.

Storing and preserving: Wipe and dry fruit and store in the veggie compartment of the refrigerator for a few days. To freeze, peel and cut into thick slices. Blanch, cool, dry and freeze in layers separated by wax paper. Cook from frozen or freeze prepared dishes containing brinjals.

Peppers and chillies

Can be harvested while still green or sit on the plant and turn red or yellow. The longer they are on the plant, the sweeter (peppers) or hotter (chillies) become. Like most other veggies the more regularly you pick, the more they produce.

Good to know: Cut off the fruit with clippers or a sharp knife with a short stub of stem. Pulling off by hand can break off the branch.

Storing and preserving: Rinse and dry the peppers or chillies and store them in a plastic bag for about a week, but not much longer as they can go soggy. To preserve chillies for longer, pop whole chillies into a plastic bag or container and freeze. To use, chop the frozen chilli and add to soups, sauces, etc. Chillies can also be dried, pickled or made into a paste or sauce to freeze.

When freezing sweet peppers, keep the colours separate. Cut off the tops, remove seeds and membranes. Cut in half for stuffing or in strips. Blanch, cool and dry. Pack into containers and separate the sliced layers with wax paper.