Welcome to Twice as Tasty, a food blog that encourages all of us to eat well year-round. This project has its roots in years of preserving food, and it shares experiences, ideas, and recipes developed over that time. It’s also the start of a journey to learn more about home preservation, play with new flavors and ideas, and eventually build a community of people who choose making over buying.

The best way to subscribe to Twice as Tasty is via email, although you can also get post updates by liking the Facebook page. Finally, I’ve started a companion group on Facebook as a forum for asking questions and offering your own ideas about food and preserving; click here to join.

I grew up on home-preserved food, and in recent years my boyfriend and I have filled a freezer and shelves every season with the yield of a large garden. The more we process, the more questions we have. How can we make things taste even better? What can we do with the discards from a recipe? What happens if we roast it? Grill it? Smoke it?

As we tracked down the answers to these questions, what we made, how we made it, and the time it took to do so all improved. We found favorite flavor combinations, and we discovered tips and tricks that made the process more manageable and ultimately more fun. And that brings us to this blog: It’s all about sharing what we learned, and are still learning, about how to eat amazing food all year.

As part of this launch, I’ve created pages that describe the basics of various preserving techniques, along with some basic recipes to get you started. Each week, I plan to add another post that shares a pair of recipes, discusses a technique, or answers a question related to growing, saving, and using food. Subscribers will receive a weekly email announcing new posts and monthly newsletter; I have no plans to flood your inbox. I’ve also created a Facebook group where you can ask your own questions and share your food-preserving experiences. I can’t wait to see this blog and community grow, and I hope you will be a part of it.

Twice as Tasty

The name for this blog comes from an intense desire to use every fruit or vegetable to its fullest. Gardening and preserving take work, and I’m always driven to get the most from every batch. Each recipe post will feature two related recipes, along with some favorite tips and tricks. The recipes might use the same base ingredient, such as for Rhubarb–Rosemary Syrup and Rhubarb–Orange–Ginger Marmalade. They may provide variations on a theme, as with a Basil Pesto Base that can be used with a range of herbs and flavors. Or they might build upon each other to make a meal like Zucchini Pancakes with Fresh Asian Salad. And that’s just this month. Is your mouth watering yet? Then come back next week.