🧂 Keeping Food

Salt, smoke, sourness, and cool dark places make the good harvest days feed the empty winter days.

Dry food in sun and wind Slice food thin and let moving air take out the water that rot needs to live. easytwo days Smoke fish and meat Salt-cure fish and meat, then hang them in cool smoke for two days until they dry hard and keep for weeks. takes patiencetwo days Make salt Boil seawater or salty spring water down and down until white salt crystals are left in the pot. takes patiencetwo days Ferment vegetables in brine Pack vegetables with salt under their own juice and let a friendly sourness keep them safe all winter. takes patiencetwo weeks, mostly waiting Make vinegar Let fruit juice ferment and then sour in open air into vinegar for keeping food and cleaning. takes patiencea month, mostly waiting Render and store fat Melt fat down slow and clean so it keeps for cooking, for lamps, and for soap later. takes patiencehalf a day Dig a cool food store Store roots, fruits, and jars in the cool steady earth so they last for months instead of days. takes patiencea week