What Should I Do With My Glut? A New Zealand Picker

Feijoas, courgettes, plums or eggs: pick the glut and get the tested way to keep it.

Tap the crop you have too much of. Every answer uses a tested method: a boiling water bath instead of overflow bottling, and the freezer for low-acid vegetables.

Tomatoes: Bottle passata in boiling water with bottled lemon juice or citric acid in every jar, freeze them peeled, or make green tomato pickle from a tested recipe when the season turns cold.

Best methods: Bottling & jam · Freezing

Feijoas: Freeze the pulp in measured portions for baking, or slice, dip and dry at 60°C.

Best methods: Freezing · Dehydrating

Courgettes: Blanch slices 3 minutes and freeze, or steam grated courgette 1 to 2 minutes for baking.

Best methods: Freezing · Dehydrating

Beans: Runner or green beans: blanch 3 minutes and freeze. Never bottle them by the overflow method.

Best methods: Freezing

Cabbage: Sauerkraut, in a spot between 16 and 24°C, for 3 to 6 weeks.

Best methods: Fermenting · Freezing

Plums and stone fruit: Bottle in a boiling water bath for the tested time rather than overflow, make jam, or freeze.

Best methods: Bottling & jam · Freezing · Dehydrating

Apples: Apple sauce in a boiling water bath, dried rings, or frozen stewed apple.

Best methods: Bottling & jam · Dehydrating · Freezing

Berries: Open-freeze on a tray, then bag; or jam.

Best methods: Freezing · Bottling & jam

Citrus: Poorman orange or lemon marmalade, processed 5 minutes after filling; freeze juice in cubes.

Best methods: Bottling & jam · Freezing

Herbs: Dehydrate gently (35 to 46°C) in humid weather; hang rosemary, sage and thyme indoors.

Best methods: Dehydrating · Freezing

Chillies: Thread and dry somewhere warm, use the dehydrator, or freeze whole.

Best methods: Dehydrating · Freezing

Silverbeet: Blanch 2 minutes, squeeze and freeze in portions.

Best methods: Freezing

Eggs: Fridge at 2 to 5°C, wiped not washed. Freeze beaten eggs for longer. Waterglassing is not a tested method.

Best methods: Storing eggs

Pumpkin and kūmara: Store cured pumpkins and kūmara somewhere cool and dry; cook and mash to freeze.

Best methods: Freezing

Sources we checked (October 2026): New Zealand Food Safety (MPI); USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and the National Center for Home Food Preservation; Colorado State and Montana State University Extension.

The full method guides: fermenting, dehydrating, freezing, bottling & jam, and storing eggs.

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