The rest of this week, we'll be talking about ways to preserve the fruits and vegetables that are so abundant in the summer. With the harvest nearing its peak, fruits and vegetables are at their best prices, the best variety, and the best flavor. With modern methods of transportation and agriculture, you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables year-round, but they won't have the same price and freshness and flavor — and moving them will require much more energy to transport them to market.

So, how do you make the most of summer's bounty while you can?

One of the simplest ways is by freezing. I have to admit that I don't do much freezing, mostly because I only have the small freezer on top of my fridge. I don't have room for a larger freezer elsewhere in my house. But, if you have the freezr space, you can take advantage of it.

Here are some hints on freezing some popular fruits and veggies:

I'm not a huge fan of freezing fruit. Unless you can quick-freeze it like the big processors, I find that freezing fruits compromises their quality. In my experience, they get mushy. But if you do want to freeze some fruit, here are some ideas. If you want to freeze berries, wash them well and let them dry completely. Then freeze them as quickly as possible, making sure that they don't get squashed. Fo stone fruits, make sure you pit them first. It's likely best to peel them as well. Just dip the fruit quickly into boiling water and the peel should come off easily. Let the fruit dry a bit and then freeze it.

Fresh corn can be frozen on the cob (but without the husk) or you can cut the kernels off the cob and freeze it in plastic freezer bags.

Trim green beans and blanch them quickly in salty water and then stop the cooking in an ice water bath. Dry the beans and then freeze them in plastic freezer bags.

Unfortunately, you can't really freeze uncooked tomatoes. The texture just won't hold. But you can make tomato sauce and then package it in bags or small plastic containers.

What fruits and veggies do you like to freeze? How do you do it?