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Those leafy greens that many of us start harvesting in early spring can be quite productive. They’re also delicious and nutritious. We eat them in salads, toss them in soups, blend them in smoothies and more. These greens can produce rapidly and often at a pace, along with everything else in a garden, that can be hard to keep up with before spoilage sets in. Rather than tossing them into the compost pile save them for later by learning how to preserve leafy greens with these easy methods.
Canning
Leafy greens like collards, chard, and spinach can be canned. This is a very personal thing but I don’t find this to be a tasty option. Still, it can be done by first washing then blanching the greens in boiling water for 3-5 minutes (or until wilted). Drain and coarsely chop. Pack hot greens into jars and cover with boiling water, add salt if desired, leave 1″ headspace. Process pints 70 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes in a pressure canner (no water bath canning here) at the appropriate PSI for your elevation and type of canner.
Freezing
Rinse and trim off stems and ribs. Blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Stir a bit to keep it from clumping. Drain and cool. Chop if desired. Pack into freezer containers. Use a steamer basket or pasta pot to do multiple batches quickly by keeping the water hot.
Dehydrating
Rinse and dry the leaves. Trim off stems and ribs. Lay flat on dehydrator trays and dry until crisp. Store in airtight container.
How to Use Preserved Leafy Greens
Canned greens can be drained and tossed into soups or quiches.
Frozen greens make for lovely and delicious smoothies when fresh greens might not be available. They’re also good in soups, casseroles, and more.
Green powders are quite expensive but it’s simply a blend of dried greens that have been ground. Run dried greens through a blender to turn into a fine powder. Use that powder in soup broths, smoothies, even toss a spoon full into hot cereals, baked goods and more.
When preserving greens, don’t be afraid to mix up the varieties. I often mix whatever is ready: orach, spinach, kale, chard, dandelion, purslane, and more in my frozen smoothie green packets.
As the greens and weeds (these methods will work with dandelion greens, too) start producing be sure to preserve some for the seasons ahead.
Excellent reminders! I tend to think of leafy greens for *only fresh eating but have recently begun blending them up with a bit of water and freezing them in muffin tins for smoothies! It makes life so much easier come smoothie making time :-)
I also purée and freeze, but in ice cube trays. Perfect for adding to smoothies, soups, all kinds of things.
I’m with you about canning them. I think my family would revolt. I do dehydrate them and love having green powder available. I also sprinkle it on eggs, rice, and anything else I can get away with. Thanks for the great ideas!
Thanks for the clear descriptions and ideas. Leafy greens are tough to save, but I definitely prefer the blanching and freezing method. I have made some into powder, but between you and me I have yet to use it. I think I need to grind it up better (since it was mostly kale). I like the idea of adding a fine green powder to baked goods!
@Sarah Koontz {Grounded & Surrounded}, I use dried dandelion and beet top greens in my oatmeal cookies. Its a great way to add more nutrition. I dont even notice a different taste on the cookies
I haven’t done it as an adult, but when I was a kid my grandmother canned greens all the time. The trick was that she prepped them in the traditional low-and-slow Southern style before canning. Instead of using ham or bacon as a flavor booster she would use dry vermouth. They always came out of the can delicious.
Great tips on drying greens here! I’m going to try that one this weekend.
Huh. I might have to give that a try. Thanks for the tip!
Because of dental problems, i can’t eat fresh Kale. I dehydrate it. I don’t grind it into powder, however, I eat small pieces of it for snacking. When I toss some into soups, I can then eat it with no problems and it doesn’t turn into mush. (neither does zucchinni, for that matter)
I dry a lot of greens and find them very good in through the year for soups, stews, or sprinkled in salads. They can be added to pasta sauce or sprinkled on pizza. They are a great way to add some extra nutrition without those picky children knowing it.
I hadn’t thought of putting the dried greens on pizza – I’m for sure gonna try that. Thanks for the tip!
What is the reason for blanching before freezing? Can I just blend with water and freeze in ice cube trays? I would be using them for smoothies. Also how much longer do the greens stay fresh for after freezing them? I can never use the whole package of greens before the good by date.
Blanching helps release water, for smoothies it might not matter so much but for cooking it’s important. I would use them up within a year.
Kale is actually better for you if cooked. It releases whatever is good for you, can’t remember the mineral…damevwth tomatoes BTW. Is go for cooking kale a little and freezing. Same with garlic, smashing it releases the stuff that’s good for you.
This is a super great post. I’ve been trying to eat the greens from the CSA every week and I wind up throwing a lot of it out. This is GREAT! Thanks for the ideas. I like the dehydrator idea, but I also like the blanching and freezing. That would work great for my family. :)
An older neighbor always has the BEST canned greens! Her method was to blanch the greens 3 TIMES before packing into the jars, then add fresh hot water, salt & pressure can appropriate time. They are always wonderful!
I might have to try that little trick – thanks for sharing!
It is not necessary to blanch greens before freezing. I always used to exhaust the time in doing this step however was told otherwise that your neither saving or releasing any nutrients. It’s all goodness, especially when they are all used for soups stews smoothies anyhow!
Toasted sandwiches/jaffles can hide a huge amount of wild greens in one meal. They steam down beautifully!
Swiss chard is my favorite to preserve…I freeze the extras for winter. But I think I need to get the dehydrator out and try making my own powdered greens for smoothies!
Does anyone have experience with juicing (carrots, celery, spinach, kale) and then canning using presser cooker due to most of these veggies being low acidity? We love our daily juicing and have an abundance of leafy greens. I would love to figure out a way to preserve to then enjoy in the winter months.
You would definitely have to pressure can it but I would guess it’s going to get quite bitter after all that heating. Freezing the juice would likely be better but, of course, not shelf stable.
You could also use lacto-fermentation.
i am trying to find if i could preserve collard greens rolled into bunches and put in jars with olive oil. i found i can use them like grape leaves to roll into dolmatas. thought i might blanch first and add salt and garlic to jars. the question is do they have to be pressure canned, water bath or frozen? i have cut up small and canned in past with water.
There is no way to can in oil safely that I know of… usually grape leaves are fermented or pickled before being canned or used at least in the methods I’m most familiar.