Summertime gives us many “delicacies” and above all the possibility of choosing fresh legumes: beans, green beans, strawberries, peas that we can patiently preserve and use out of season.

Preserving legumes allows us to help the environment (because we do not have a packaging to throw in the trash), to know the origin of the food we eat, to eat less salty food and therefore healthier.

In general, legumes are stored, fresh or cooked, in a freezer for about three months after collected. In all cases legumes must be washed in water for a few minutes, after having opened them and pulled out of the pods.

COOKED – after washing the legumes, let them boil in salt water for as long as necessary. Once cooked we can store them in special jars with the non-reusable stopper, in a freezer. It is good to have an insipided product and no particular aromas so as it can be used for a variety of different recipes.

DRIED – legumes can also be stored dry. In such a case, after washing them, we expose them to sunshine wrapped in a clean, linen cloth, to dry them for three or four days. It is important to put the legumes in the dark at night, protected from moisture, and mix them well in the morning before exposing them to the sun again. Once the drying is finished, we can store them in simple, freezer-sealed bags.

FRESH – we can put the fresh legumes in glass jars or freezer bags, after having them “blanched” – in salted water first and then immersed in water with ice.

Preserving legumes means having them all year round ….. just like we do with jams and pickles.