A grid of the cover of a 1978 print of something called Home Freezing of Fruits and Vegetables by the USDA - a round fruit is seen in sequence slowly turning into a snowflake

Review: Home Freezing of Fruits and Vegetables by the USDA Science and Education Administration, 1978

Pokey the Pigeon By
Published on | Consumer Reports

One of our unpaid interns found this pamphlet from 1978 underneath the office kitchen fridge while cleaning the drip pan after they spilled one of those paper trays of to-go coffees all over the floor. In exchange for class credit and office redemption we had them sterilize and photograph it for our consumer report and review series.

A distressed but gracefully-aged copy of the USDA’s 10th issue of Home and Garden Bulletin shows us what the time between 1978 and now has done to it’s paper cover

Issue 10 of the USDA’s Home and Garden Bulletin series, a public-facing publication meant to “present in a popular style information on home and garden subjects” that ran from 1951 to 2003, informed people how to properly freeze fruits and vegetables. This particular edition is dated 1978 but the original run was likely printed much earlier according to the inside flap and additional research.

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Faded but recognizable black and white photos from the USDA's 10th issue of Home and Garden Bulletin
Faded but recognizable black and white photos from the USDA’s 10th issue of Home and Garden Bulletin

The cover is surprisingly minimal graphically and quite nice compared to similar publications of the era (designer unknown). Beyond the beautiful cover, the interior leans on a more traditional, conservative pamphlet design style of the era. The text and photographs are not particularly interesting, other than from a historical perspective.

A fully justified column of text explains to the reader the finite ways that freezing tomato juice must be approached differently than freezing stewed tomatoes, information that did not exist before the USDA released it in print through a series of home and garden bulletins

While the layout and typesetting may be unsurprisingly dated and a bit disappointing, the recipes and instructions themselves are remarkably relevant and accurate. Technically speaking, this is still a useful pamphlet in the year 2025.

A black and white spread from the USDA's 1978 pamphlet on freezing fruits and vegetables shows someone freezing fruits and vegetables
A dramatic spread from the USDA’s 1978 pamphlet on freezing fruits and vegetables shows someone freezing fruits and vegetables

This is a colorless, no-frills, down-to-business instruction manual on home freezing fruits and vegetables. Considering it’s nearly 50 years old and mostly still accurate and easy on the eyes, we give this pamphlet high marks in the category of obscure mid-20th-century Department of Agriculture sub-department publications.

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The inside cover page from the USDA's pamphlet on home freezing fruits and vegetables from 1978 looks ragged and worn
The inside cover page from the USDA’s pamphlet on home freezing fruits and vegetables from 1978 shows ragged wear and blemishes

This copy is not for sale, as our intern seems to have ‘misplaced’ it. However, you can find these—including rare inverted white cover copies—on various internet black markets.

A black and white page reads US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1978
U.S. Government Printing Office: 1978. Does this still exist?

We recommend picking up a copy for its sheer aesthetic value and charm, even if you aren’t actively harvesting fields worth of fruits and vegetables and needing immediate knowledge on how to freeze them properly.

Addenda:

Catalog Number: DOI000038

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