Home preserving is having a renaissance. Everyone, including our neighbors and friends, seems to be preserving these days and sharing their creations and the stories behind them. To extend their enjoyment of the season’s bounty in a variety of ways, some use pickling; others opt for fermenting, dehydrating, and storing in olive oil. Some replicate cherished flavors and textures; others create new ones.

One year, when our backyard plants yielded lots of tomatoes, we used the oldest preserving method. Following a recipe in a cookbook of classic dishes of Italy’s Campania region that we bought in Naples, we sun-dried much of the harvest on our roof. This process took several days, and we had to bring the tomatoes indoors every evening to prevent night-time moisture from spoiling them. We use

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