Best Electric Smokers for Beginners: 6 Picks (2026)
Six electric smokers for beginners compared by capacity, controls, wood feed and cold-weather performance, plus electric vs pellet and the food safety rules that matter most.
Best Food Mills for Canning Applesauce and Tomato Sauce: 5 Picks (2026)
Five food mills and crank strainers for home canners, compared by type, discs, batch size and cleaning, with a step-by-step guide to milling applesauce and tomato sauce.
How to Make Sauerkraut: A Beginner Fermentation Guide
Make crock-style sauerkraut with measured cabbage and pickling salt, submerged cabbage, temperature guidance, clear spoilage warnings and refrigerated storage.
How to Store Potatoes Without a Root Cellar
Store potatoes without a root cellar using a suitable household location, breathable containers, a homegrown curing routine, and regular spoilage checks.
Dehydrating Apples: Slices, Dryness Checks, and Storage
Dry apple slices or rings with a measured pretreatment, cooled-piece dryness checks, and a conditioning step before packing them for storage.
Canning Applesauce: A Tested Beginner Method
Can homemade applesauce with a tested NCHFP method, altitude-adjusted processing times, clear jar-filling steps, and practical storage checks.
How to Freeze Zucchini (Shredded, Sliced, and Blanched)
Freeze zucchini in useful portions for soup, bread, and muffins, with separate blanching methods for slices and shreds.
Which Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Should You Buy? Small vs Medium vs Large
Four sizes, roughly $1,700 to $5,000, and no obvious way to choose. Here are the batch capacities, footprints and running costs, plus the arithmetic that tells you which size matches how much food you actually process.
Homemade Peach Jam (No Pectin, Small Batch)
The tested no-pectin peach jam ratio exists, it is just buried in a table almost nobody finds. Here it is, with the temperature to cook to, the pectin version for comparison, and why jam and preserves are not the same thing.
Canning Jalapenos: Pickled Rings, Step by Step
There are two tested recipes for canning jalapenos and they cost you different work: an 18-hour lime soak, or blistering and peeling. Both recipes, the processing times, and the no-canning version.
