Canning: Hot Cherry Peppers

Monday, August 30, 2010

It’s no secret that I love hot pepper. And pickles. Pickled hot peppers? Yes, please. I bought some lovely hot cherry peppers on the side of the road in New Jersey, and then got a big bag in my CSA last week, so I decided to give them all the pickling treatment so that I can enjoy them with cheese, and all kinds of other things, later this winter. I’ve been using this recipe from Martha Stewart, and I have to say, it’s just about perfect.

Canning: Pickled Carrots

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Carrots are just fine, but sometimes they feel a little boring to me. Pickled carrots to the rescue! They’ve got more kick than fresh, are easy to make (especially when you have a bag of baby carrots hanging around) and a delicious snack with hummus. You can make these pickles over night in the refrigerator, or can them, like I did above. I love them at picnics!  I started with this recipe originally published in Gourmet magazine. I cut the sugar a bit, and used dried hot thai peppers for extra kick. Adjust the garlic, dill and hot peppers to your liking!

Canning: Jalepeno Salsa

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Often when I make salsa, I don’t really use a recipe. I glance at a few in trusty canning cookbooks, and then just use what I have. The above salsa is about two parts tomatoes, one part fresh chopped jalepenos, one part diced red onions, a generous splash of cider vinegar, 3 chopped garlic cloves, a dash of salt, and the juice of half a lime. And let me tell you, it’s kicking. I cooked it down on the stove for about 20 minutes just to reduce some of the water, and made two quick pint jars of salsa.

Canning: Gold Tomato Sauce

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My CSA arrived on Monday, but on Tuesday I was leaving for Alaska for 10 days. What to do? Blanch and freeze the greens and can everything else. Much like Marissa from the local canning blog “Food in Jars,” I enjoy small batch canning. It’s an easy evening project and lets you use up all kinds of odds and ends before they pass their ripeness. This golden tomato sauce is based on a recipe I saw recently on 101 recipes, but I added just a few red cherry tomatoes, languishing on the counter, for a little variation.

Learn to Can to August Tomatoes!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Does the thought of hot-water bath canning make you nervous? But you still want to preserve your harvest bounty (or the bounty of your local CSA or farmers market) for the winter? Sign-up for this quick workshop, learn what you need to know, and go home with your first jar of canned tomatoes!

Canning Workshop 2: Learn how to preserve your food
Saturday, September 11, 11am-1pm
The Restaurant School, 4100 Walnut Street (entrance on 41st Street)

Learn how to capture the flavor of late summer in this free introductory workshop on canning tomatoes. Join local food blogger Audra Wolfe (Doris and Jilly Cook) for an introduction to water-bath canning. Suitable for beginners as well as more experienced canners looking for a safety check-up, this class will cover the range of choices available for preserving tomatoes. All participants will leave with instructional hand-outs and the confidence to go forth and can. Jars of freshly preserved tomatoes will also be given away as door prizes. Space is limited and our first Canning Workshop sold out in less than 24 hours, so RSVP soon to reserve your spot! RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (215) 243-0555.

DIY Sauerkraut

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Hello!  My name is Erica and I’m excited to join the Farm to Philly team!  I’m a community garden organizer and local food lover from West Philadelphia, check out my bio for more info on the gardens I tend in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.

For my first post I decided to go with a tried-and-true recipe that I am constantly making in my kitchen; sauerkraut.  Cabbage is a great winter staple, I get mine at Mariposa Food Co-op where they’ve recently been selling small cabbages that are perfect for a mini batch of kraut.

The first step is to assemble your equipment:  a ceramic crock or (food-grade) plastic bucket and a dish that fits snugly into it.  I found my crock at a second-hand store, but you can sometimes buy them at housewares stores.  You’ll also need a cutting board, a glass mason jar with lid, a knife, a dish cloth and a large bowl.

Your ingredients are one small cabbage, sea salt, and water.  The amounts depend on the size of your crock, but I use one small head of cabbage, ½ cup of water, and 3 or 4 Tbs of salt in my ½ gallon crock.

Thinly shred the cabbage.  I find that the best way to do this is to cut it in half and slice thinly from the cut side.  When you’ve cut off a handful of cabbage, put it in the bowl and sprinkle it with salt.  Keep doing this until you’ve shredded the entire cabbage, layering the cabbage and salt as you go.  Put the cabbage in the crock and mash it down with your fist to get it tightly packed.  Mix together one teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and pour it over the cabbage until the cabbage is submerged.  Put the dish into the crock and put it down so the cabbage is under the salt water.  Fill the mason jar with water and use it to weigh the plate down.  Cover the entire thing with a dish cloth to keep away flies and dust, and place it in a dark corner of your kitchen.

Taste the sauerkraut daily to observe the fermentation process.  When it has reached the perfect amount of “sourness,” take it out of the crock and place it in a mason jar in the fridge.  For me, it takes between 1.5 and 2.5 weeks in the winter to reach the perfect point (less time in the summer).  To see the original recipe I used and more fermented food recipes, check out wildfermentation.com.  Enjoy!

CSA Report:  Blooming Glen Farm

Thursday, September 17, 2009

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names/quantities of share.)

The Blooming Glen Farm farmers gifted us with green tomatoes, tomatillos, arugula and butternut squash this week.  More potatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and greens were also waiting for us.  The weather may be cooling down, but we still had fresh herbs to pick, and even managed to put together a wild flower bouquet.

I’m excited to make a batch of Nanny’s (our farmer Tricia’s grandmother) green tomato relish with those tomatoes.  I’ve used this recipe for the last couple years and just love it. The quantities are to produce a big batch for canning (about 10 to 12 pint jars), so adjust as needed.

Nanny’s Green Tomato Relish

Put through chopper (or chop by hand), and drain:
1 peck green tomatoes (roughly 20apple size)
6 large onions
6 green peppers
6 red peppers

Make syrup:
3/4 pint sugar
2 pints vinegar
1 T whole cloves, in cloth or tea ball
1 stick cinnamon
Boil about 20 minutes, until sugar is dissolved, remove cinnamon stick and cloves.

In a big pot, pour syrup over over relish and add:
1 T Salt
1 T celery seed
1 T mustard seed
Boil 15 minutes, then process in boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

It’s always a treat to open a can of this sweet, crunchy and colorful relish in the dark days of winter!

I Can Can!  Now What?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Despite my recent success in canning, I realize that I am not content.  I know how to can, but I don’t know how it’s going to taste.  I’ve grasped the specific techniques of canning, so the food will not (or, at least, should not) spoil, but how will it taste months from now?  Will I open a jar of pickled onions in December and smile – or grimace?

At this point, I’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t much to be done.  First, I suspect that I am overreacting, and that everything I’ve canned will be “good” if not “fantastic.”  Second, this is the first time I’ve attempted to comprehensively preserve food for the winter, so I should allow some room for improvement.  Thus, with the intention of noting (on this blog, no less), the results and with an eye to improving things next year,  I look at this as “Canning: Phase One,” mastering technique.  Next year, it will be “Canning: Phase Two,” enhancing flavor. 

Having said that, I am not entirely content to simply “preserve.” As we’ve canned, we’ve tried to appropriately flavor the fruits and vegetables, but that wasn’t the main focus.  With the following recipe, however, we were much more conscious of that.  I suppose this makes sense: as you grasp the basics of technique, you turn your attention to the more subtle – and difficult – task of taste.
 
For these pickles, we made some changes to the original, and the results are as follows.

Canned Pickles

6 pint jars, rings, and lids
6 medium cucumbers
1 bunch of dill, separated into individual fronds
4 cloves garlic, sliced into slivers
5 cups water
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
dried chilies (optional)

1.  Cut the cucumbers into spears.  Be sure to cut them short enough to fit into the jars.  (Once I trimmed the ends, I found that cutting the cucumbers in half, crosswise, created the appropriate length.)
Fill a large bowl with cold water and 2 teaspoons salt, stir to dissolve the salt, and add the cucumbers.  Allow to sit for at least one hour.
2.  In large stock pot or canning pot (We used a stockpot with the pasta insert), cover the jars, lids, and rings in cold water and slowly bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat. 
3.  Meanwhile, bring the water, 2 tablespoons of salt, peppercorns, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and remove from the heat.
4.  First, drain the cucumbers. Then, set up your workspace: have the pot of sterilized jars, brine, tongs, funnel, dill fronds, cucumbers easily accessible.  (We tend to clear the kitchen table and have everything set up right there, laying out newspaper on which we pack the hot, sterilized jars.) 
5.  Layer in the cucumbers, dill, garlic, and chilies (if desired) in each of the pint jars.  Using the funnel, add the brine until within one half-inch of the top.  Cover each jar with a sterilized lid, place the ring over the lid, tighten it, and then loosen it one quarter-turn.  Place the jars back into the stock pot or canning pot and slowly bring the pot to a simmer for ten minutes. 
6.  Remove the jars from the water bath and allow to cool.  Within an hour, you should hear the jars “pop” as they cool and seal.  Once cooled, check the seal by removing the ring and lifting the jar a few inches by the lid.  If the lid remains in place, the jar is sealed.

Canned At Last: Sour Cherries In Syrup

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I don’t know why it took me so long to can.  Despite websites, books, and blogs, I still didn’t have enough information.  Despite the urging of friends, fellow CSA members, and writers here, I still didn’t have enough confidence.  Despite, even, a family tradition of canning whole, skinned tomatoes and tomato sauce (i.e., “gravy”), I still didn’t have an urge to try it on my own.  Yes, I did have an irrational fear of botulism, but, looking back, I think the real concern was drudgery.  In my family, canning tomatoes required a dozen people, two stoves (plus a free-standing gas burner), innumerable bushels of tomatoes, and about twelve hours of your day (sometimes two).  Of course, at our peak, we canned well over 1,000 quarts. 

Recently, we were “burdened” (I use the term loosely) with three quarts of sour cherries.  Even after we gorged on them and my wife made ice cream, we were still left with a quart.  Having a bowl of lush, vibrantly red cherries staring at me and knowing that it would soon rot, I conquered my last reservations about canning. 

I am exaggerating a little, as I had been reading the River Cottage Field Guide 2: Preserves.  With straightforward explanations, beautiful pictures, interesting recipes, and an oddly-British nonchalance about the risk of food-born illness, it was a sufficient motivator on its own.  Coupled with the cherries, I had no more excuse.  One caveat: the guide uses the metric system measurements, so you will have to do your own conversions. 

We preserved these cherries as a “bottled fruit:” we packed the cherries (still with their pits) in a light syrup (made by bringing honey and water to a boil) with some spices (whole cloves or cinnamon sticks) into sterilized jars, and then we put them in a water bath for 10 minutes.  We allowed them to cool for twenty-four hours, all the while listening for the distinctive “pop” that means the jars have sealed.  (Happily, they did.) 

I was surprised at how simple the process was, and how little equipment we actually needed.  We used a large stock pot with its pasta insert (filled with cold water), a saucier, a scale, a candy thermometer, and a pair of canning tongs designed for picking up scalding-hot jars.  This last item may seem unnecessary, and I was certainly skeptical, but it was immensely useful for pulling jars out of boiling water.  (We picked up our pair at a flea market for $5.)  But that’s all - no pressure cooker, no canning pot, and no need for additional storage. 

This experience was so pleasant that we’ve also canned beets, onions, and fennel.  We still have plans for chutney, bottled peaches, plum jam, apple jam, caramelized onions, and, of course, tomatoes.  We won’t be canning a 1,000 quarts anytime soon, though.

Rhubarb!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I picked up a bunch of rhubarb at the Lancaster County Farmer’s Market in Devon (I don’t really recommend it as it’s not a producers only market and most of the veggies are shipped in from all over). For some reason no one at the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market sells rhubarb, so I have to get my fix elsewhere.

I was just going to make pie, and jam, and some rhubarb sorbet from Simply Recipes, and maybe another pie - but then I saw this recipe for rhubarb syrup at Food in Jars, and this one for rhubarb chutney posted by Naomi, and this one for rhubarb mustard at Planet Green (although I know I saw it somewhere else as well, so apologies to whomever that was!) - and the next thing you know I spent much of the weekend canning!

From left to right in the picture: one row of rhubarb syrup (for canning I followed directions for canning fruit juice, and this is four batches of the recipe); two rows of rhubarb jam (with pectin); two rows of rhubarb sauce (no real recipe I just cooked 5 c of rhubarb with 1 cup water and 3/4 c of sugar, and canned as for apple sauce); one row of rhubarb chutney; and one of rhubarb mustard.

I also made a rhubarb-ginger galette. The sorbet and the next pie are on the menu for this week.

Rhubarb Chutney

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Although my first thought upon acquiring rhubarb is usually something sweet, like cobbler or pie, rhubarb also makes excellent chutney.  Today’s batch is based on Boxwallah’s chutney; though the recipe says to leave it at least a month before eating, the sample left over after I canned four half-pints is already quite tasty. 

Rhubarb chutney

Combine rhubarb, onion, whole spices, and vinegar in a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for half an hour, then add the dried fruit, sugar, and ground spices.  Simmer, uncovered, for two hours or until rhubarb has completely disintegrated and the desired thickness is reached.  Transfer to sterile jars and process in a boiling-water bath. 

Summer in the Winter

Sunday, February 22, 2009

I look forward to February all summer, and lunch yesterday reminded me why.  With help from our winter share Farm to City, we had summer-y spaghetti sauce.  The onions were from the winter share, fried in olive oil with local garlic we had put up in the summer.  We added a jar of our summer farmstand’s fabulous tomatoes we had canned last July plus pesto we had made from Weaver’s Way basil last summer.  Finally, we mixed in winter share spinach.

For dessert, we had local peaches we froze last summer plus maple syrup we picked up in Virginia last summer when we were on our way to West Virginia (so not local to Philly, but local to where we bought it!).  I didn’t know they did maple syrup in Virginia, but it was lovely.

We’re starting to plan our garden in our new house, so I’ll keep you posted…

Local Food Gift Idea: Apple-Maple Jam

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I like making jam, and my friends and family enjoy eating homemade jam, so it’s one of my standard gifts these days.  However, much as I love eating strawberry marmalade in the cold of January, I hesitate to call such sugar-intensive recipes local, and they require a lot more planning ahead for use as holiday gifts.  Local apples, though, are still widely available, and don’t require as much sugar for gelling.

The two jars above are two different batches of apple-maple jam; the smaller jar, on the left, is this year’s batch, and the larger jar is last year’s.  Here’s the recipe I used:

3 qts chopped, peeled apples (~6 lb)
6 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
1 c maple syrup

Prepare as jam and can in a boiling water bath.  (Put apples and sugar in a large pot.  Cook on low to medium heat, stirring, until there’s enough liquid to keep the apple bits from scorching.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until the apples are soft.  Add spices.  Cook a little more, then bring to a boil again and divide into sterile jars.)  Makes about 8 half-pint jars’ worth.

That recipe is really for an apple-y, mapley jelly with chunks of apple suspended in it.  I prefer fruit preserves that are easier to spread on toast or PB&J sandwiches, so I purée mine with an immersion blender.  And I don’t peel the apples.  Otherwise, last year’s batch is pretty close to the recipe.  This year, I wanted to make my apple-maple stuff entirely local, so I used about 2c honey and 1.5c maple syrup instead of the 6c sugar and 1c maple syrup called for.  It came out quite nicely, if closer to applesauce than jam on the preserved-fruit continuum.  , If you’re looking for something to take to a latke party this week, some of what didn’t get canned was very tasty on latkes a few days ago.

Another reason to love brussels sprouts

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I know that just about any vegetable can be made into a pickle.  But the idea of brussels sprouts made into pickles strikes me as kind of bizarre.

The other day on the train I was reading a book on canning and preserving that someone bought me last year, and I noticed that brussels sprouts were mentioned.  Apparently, canning brussels sprouts is a very bad idea.  Sprouts freeze nicely, so it would not have occurred to me to even try to can them…but there it was: canning can unpleasantly intensify the flavor of sprouts and will usually result in a gross discoloration, too.  Unless you pickle them, that is.

Well, now that I got the idea in my head, I can’t get it out.  I do love brussels sprouts, and I’d probably even love them pickled.  And it’s been recommended to me that I try them in a Bloody Mary or Martini, because they are allegedly the perfect addition to a cocktail.  Who knew?

I ended up finding several recipes for pickled brussels sprouts:

• Pickled Sprouts with Fennel
• A pretty standard pickle
• Pickled Sprouts with Cayenne and Garlic
• Pickled Sprouts with Szechuan oil

Brussels sprouts are very in season right now, so I’ll be sure to pick up a few pints of sprouts this weekend and give it a shot.  I cannot resist!

Pickle Time!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The last of the harvests are coming in and that can only mean one thing: the final frontier of preservation, pickling! My husband has tried pickling in the past, to varying degrees of success (can’t get the regular, cucumber pickle to not turn to mush, but he makes a mean sauerkraut and pickled green tomato!). So this year, I’m trying 2 different pickling methods: the regular refrigerator pickle and the canned pickle.

First, the refrigerator pickle. I’m trying my hand at an Indian-style pickled cauliflower. I’m thinking it can’t be that authentic (got it from a PA Dutch book). But hey, those people know how to pickle! Besides, a refrigerator pickle is such an easy thing, if I mess up, oh well. There’s still some more cauliflower-time left.
The other pickle is a shelf-stable canned red wine beets. I don’t know who I’m fooling: both pickles are not the fermented kind, so there’s really no fear of failure. But there’s something scary about cooking something and then letting it sit for a few weeks. What if I forget? What if it tastes like crap? It feels like an investment. I just hope that pickling doesn’t turn out like our economy…

On a final note, I’d like to get suggestions from farmers and farm market supporters about marketing issues or questions that they’d like discussed in future postings. I had such great feedback about the website needs of farmers and I’d like to throw in my two cents where possible. So send them in!