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Off My Larder Shelf: Put ‘Em Up! Fruit

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Off My Larder Shelf: Put ‘Em Up! Fruit

Here in the northeast, I like to think of this time of year as almost summer. Because even if I’m wearing a scarf when going outside, or need to pull out my puffy coat for one final day or two, when the light starts to change, everything changes. Without fail, one fine evening in March or April when I’m cooking dinner in my city digs, I look up and realize – damz! It’s still bright outside! And it’s uphill from there until at least October as far as I’m concerned.

As soon as it’s almost summer I long to get my paws on some luscious summer fruit. Rhubarb first, then strawberries, gooseberries, and before long an abundance of blues hang like baubles right outside my door complete with birds diving like missiles directly into the surrounding nets for a forbidden taste. Peaches, plums, apricots, oh, and how could I forget the most fleeting of all – raspberries.

This particular almost summer I am happy to get my paws on a brand new preserving book, the sequel in fact to one of the best all around preserving books of recent years.  This one focuses on, you guessed it, fruit!

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Having worked quite a bit with Sherri’s first preserving book, I was very excited to receive my copy of put ‘em up! fruit from her generous publisher, Storey. A lot of great recipes here for sure – blueberry ketchup (I must try!) grapefruit sections in lavender syrup, maraschino cherries (if that doesn’t impress your friends, nothing will!) and five spice plum sauce to name just a few. What I also love about this book is the troubleshooting section – concise instructions and tips on how to avoid such mishaps as the dreaded fruit float, siphoning, cloudy jelly, and preserves too thick or too thin. There’s also primers on acid, pectin, and reaching the gel point – essential things to know when putting your fruit in jars.

                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Can Amongst Yourselves                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Can Amongst Yourselves
                        
                    

                
                

                    
It’s true confession time. I haven’t canned a damn thing since I put a bunch of rhubarb in jars back in early June. There, I said it.


There’s a few reasons for that, and given all the roarin’ about canning that has happened around here in the past, I feel I owe you an explanation:


My work is full speed ahead and summer is the busiest time for me. It seems a recurring theme that each summer I get busier and busier. So there’s that. My garden has been taking up a lot of my ‘free’ time. This year’s drought has turned the northeast growing season on its roots. And the watering, son, the watering. I’m not used to it as Berkshire summers aren’t Berkshire summers without all the rain.


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And then there’s the deer, note the photo of the bean patch below was taken before the deer discovered how tasty it was. You don’t even want to see the chewed-to-pieces sweet cherry tree, or my newly discovered trampled shallot patch. Yes I know, it’s time to get more fencing – or a big dog. I even chose to forgo my summer kimchi-making. It’s been too damn hot and I was concerned the fermenting would happen too fast and the subtlety of flavor lost. Which means we’ve been frantically stir-frying a lot of savoy. We are hoping (of course) that this Mediterranean-like climate will be good for the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. The latter two always iffy in these hills. And so, we tend to them with even greater care.


Just because I haven’t hot-water bath canned since June or kimchied even, doesn’t mean I haven’t put anything in jars. We shook a year’s worth of butter again a few weeks ago. Yup, 8 gallons of cream plus a gallon of buttermilk set us up all of last year. We still had one jar left when we made the new and it tasted as fresh as the day it was made. The one below is the new batch courtesy of this morning’s breakfast.




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If you’ve ever wondered what a year’s worth of butter looks like there’s a shot of my newly stocked cellar freezer (please excuse the lighting). Some are in large jars, they are to be made into ghee or used for baking. The smaller jars are for slathering and are either sweet or cultured and various forms of salted, i.e. salted, salty, and chunky salt.


Since we’re down here, my cellar was built somewhere from the 1830-50′s. When we bought the house there were a kazillion spiderwebs everywhere here. They were as thick as dreads. Nothing a little sweeping and vacuuming couldn’t fix. Because of the modern day furnace that we installed it’s not a good root cellar – unfortunately, it doesn’t get cold enough. It makes for a great larder though, it’s good enough for wine-storage (essential) and I’ve even fermented down here in summers hot but not as hot as this. Those crocks are empty now though.


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(Don’t worry, there will be cabbage in the fall garden and kimchi to be made!) and yes that is cheap Mexican beer at the bottom, and a bottle of dom on the top. What can I say? I like to go high-low.


Back to what I brought you down here for: jars. The empty ones and the full ones. See all those sad, empty jars on the shelving on the left? That side is usually much more sparse at this point in the summer as the jars make their way (I help them of course) up the cellar stairs and to my kitchen where I fill and seal them with provisions for the coming year. Then I bring them back down again and put them on the shelf to the right. I have so many still-empty jars this year, they’ve encroached on the shelves to the right! But above and below that shelf you can see some full jars, and there are more of them too, upstairs in the kitchen, and at my city digz.







You see, with my very busy and somewhat stressful work schedule, and my gardener-turned-farmer(apparently)-attitude, I’ve had to set some boundaries with myself, lest I be worn-out by summer’s end:


    

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    Only preserve what I am growing myself.
    

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    Use up what I have! With just the two of us, we don’t plow through a ton of sweet preserves, even factoring in gift-giving.
    

    3. 

  3. 

    It’s ok to meander though my very limited free time and do what I feel like doing, even if it is relaxing and not necessarily productive (this is a hard one for me as tigresses are industrious by nature).
    

    4. 



With that, I want to call attention to the index page on this site, in which I hope to have made it very easy to find what you are looking for. because there is a wealth of canning recipes on this site, and just because I’m not churning out a bunch of new recipes this summer doesn’t mean there are not a bunch here for you to churn out.


By way of summery sweet stuff, I’ve still got 2011 smokin’ strawberry jam, nectarine preserves, gooseberry chutney with Bengali spice, raspberry rose jam, and sour cherry preserves left in my larder. Hell, I’ve got 2011 rhubeena still and I’ve got a whole new batch of everything rhubarb for 2012 including my absolute favorite jam of all lavender rhubarb.


I’m not sayin’ that you won’t see more canning recipes around here this summer, I’m just sayin’ that my freezer may be my new best friend and while I’m in the garden…


Can amongst yourselves.

                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Preserved Lemons of the Maghreb                    
                


                

                    

                    

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By now most of you that have spent anytime around here at all know


I have a thing for Indian lemon pickle. Those fine specimens of fermented perfection that do me right everywhere from curries, to flatbreads to yogurt and rice… You may even know that I got married in Rajasthan and traveled around for a month, where I kid you not –

that whole month I never longed for a morsel of any other persuasion than those sultry masalas.


But here’s the thing- Way before I lost, for a moment, my breath at the first sight of the Taj Mahal. Or tried to coax it back in & out, respectively, in the middle of the night while traveling down a 4 lane highway at 70mph realizing I was looking straight into the eyes of a caravan of cargo carrying camels…


I was seduced by this:




 


 


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And this too:




Lest you think my palate promiscuous, let me explain:


(I sort of half prepared a discourse about growing up in an Italian-American-Slovakian home and while those flavors and textures will always be part of who I am, my world literally opened up when I began to experience the world. Not only by the good fortune and wherewithal of actually getting to these places, but by experiencing them on the palate. And how, even when one cannot actually trot around to all those faraway places, the palate can. And by studying world food cultures, one can learn a whole lotta ’bout the cultures of the world.)


But basically all I’m sayin’ is variety is the spice of life baby. (Ok, my palate’s a tramp)






Preserved Lemons of the Maghreb


1 pound Meyer lemons (organic)

pinch saffron (Kashmiri if you can, or Spanish)

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or Turkish, or cayenne powder, or paprika)

2 small bay leaves, or one large

3/4 tablespoon sugar (I use raw)

4 1/2 tablespoons salt (I use sea salt)

1 very clean & very dry 3/4 or 1 quart glass jar


Directions:


1. Wipe the lemons clean with a damp and then a dry cloth.


2. Cut lemons in quarters lengthwise and remove seeds, try not to lose the juice.


3. Mix together the salt, sugar, and Aleppo pepper. Crumble the pinch of saffron between your fingers and into the bowl.


4. Toss the lemons with the spices, salt and sugar and stir to coat the lemons.


5. Press the coated lemon quarters into the jar. Add the bay leaves somewhere in the middle. Press hard enough so that the juice runs out and covers the fruit. With Meyers this should be a sufficient amount of liquid – it should cover the fruit 3/4 of the way up.


6. Leave in a sunny windowsill for 7 -10 days. Give the jar a shake once or twice a day. If your jar allows you can turn it upside down in the am, and right-side up at night.


After the 7-10 day period the sun isn’t as important but continue to leave it out of the fridge for another 2-3 weeks or until the peels have lost their bitter twang and are soft enough to chew comfortably but still hold their shape.



                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Carrots: Buttered & Jammed                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Carrots: Buttered & Jammed
                        
                    

                
                

                    
 


So I’m there with my 5 lb. bag of carrots thumbing though a myriad of canning books looking for something to get excited about when as luck would have it, excitement came knocking at my door.


By way of a friendly neighbor carrying a paper bag swelling it seemed with these:




Of those carrots and apples, I made this:




Another thing that happens around this time of year: I start to get antsy about using up all of my freezer-preserved produce in anticipation of the coming season. Rhubarb and strawberries’ days are numbered in the late winter months because they are some of the first things to spring forth in the new season. These two happenings combined prompted me to make this:


Without further ado:


Carrot Apple Butter with Cardamom




adapted from the Joy of Jams, Jellies & Other Sweet Preserves


4 pounds carrots

about 4 cups water

3.5 lbs. tart apples

4 cups sugar

teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground cardamom seeds

1/2 pint mason jars (approximately 5)


1. Peel and slice carrots thinly. Put into preserving pot and barely cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer, covered, until tender.


2. While carrots are simmering peel, core and slice apples thinly. When carrots are just tender, add apples and continue to simmer until both are very soft.


3. While the carrots and apples are simmering, break open the cardamom pods. Take out the black seeds inside and discard the green casings. The seeds will be easy to grind with a mortar and pestle. They are quite sticky, so I stay away from an electric spice grinder when I am grinding them.


4. When the carrots and apples are soft, put them through the medium screen of a food mill.


5. Put milled carrots and apples, sugar, and ground cardamom into the preserving pot.  Heat at first on medium-low until the sugar dissolves. Once sugar has dissolved, raise heat a bit, stirring more frequently as the butter thickens.


It is done when it becomes a shade darker, a bit glossy and a spreadable thickness. You should be able to drag your stirring spoon across the bottom of the pot and form a clean line, the butter hovering on either side for a second or two before it folds itself back over the bottom of the pan. Mine took about 30 minutes. While the butter is cooking, prepare your canning pot and jars.


6. When butter has reached sufficient thickness, remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.


7. Fill half pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wiggle the jar a bit and run a spatula around the insides to get rid of air bubbles.


8. Hot water bath process for 10 minutes.







                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Tigress’ Best Books of 2011                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Tigress’ Best Books of 2011
                        
                    

                
                

                    
I’ve been so excited about my holiday list of my fave preserving and DIY books of 2011 that I decided to have a big ole’ cyber party on Facebook and give ’em all away!


It’s true!


I have so much to say: about the party, about the books, about how-we-gonna-have-one-of-those-holiday-cookie-parties in cyberspace?


Let me start with the books – the books that would totally be on my holiday wish list (and should be on yours!) if I didn’t already have every last one. I love these books!


Can it, Bottle it, Smoke it


by Karen Solomon is chock full of beautiful photos and clear instruction on things like plum catsup, carrot almond jam and pickled grapes. But the best part of Karen’s book is that she goes even further afield in her DIY kitchen. There’s a ‘stalk it’ section with tortilla chips, a ‘smoke it’ section with chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, and ‘munch it’ with crunchy lentil snacks. Need I say more?


The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking


Kate Payne and I go way back. I’ve been following her blog since it’s inception, and we even picked strawberries together once. Even if those facts weren’t true, I would still say that Kate has written a gem of a book. There isn’t a thing about homemaking left uncovered; hip décor on a budget, composting, environmentally friendly cleaning products, entertaining with style (while on a budget) canning, bread-baking, button-mending. She’s got the Martha gene, but cooler, much cooler. Even pilgrim me, whose had my house for quite some time now, learned a thing or ten from Kate. This book should be on your holiday gift list for anyone learning how to build a (hip) home.


Canning for a New Generation 


by Lianne Krissoff has been out since 2010. I’ll be perfectly honest, it got lost in the shuffle of a gazillion preserving books that launched in 2010. But now that I finally have it in my paws, I can tell you it is definitely a cut above the rest. It delivers exactly what it promises; bold fresh flavors for the modern pantry. And, you gotta love a book that ends with a chapter entitled ‘Baked and Creamy Things to put Preserves on’.


The Urban Farm Handbook 


by Annette Cottrell and Joshua Mchnichols is more than just a resource for city folk who want to take control of what they eat, it’s an inspiration. I’ve been following Annette’s blog since she began her journey in 2009 and all is can say is, wow! She did it – in the city! Yes, you can grow your own food – and a lot of it – on a little plot of city land. If you’re serious about getting closer to your food source, buy this book. But please, don’t take my word for it, you can view the first 50 pages on the urban farm handbook website.


We Sure Can! 


by Sarah Hood is a fun book loaded with great canning recipes. What’s different about Sarah’s book is the spotlight she puts on the online canning and preserving community. Which, in case you haven’t noticed, has exploded in the last three years. You’ll find a short interview with yours truly and a couple of my recipes too. I’m not the only one – many of your fave canning and preserving bloggers are featured here.


Tart and Sweet 


by Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler hasn’t left my kitchen since I received a copy last spring. Like I said in April, out of the 101 recipes, there’s like 99 that I want to try. It’s been a joy to dig into this book and play with the modern flavors presented by these two talented preservers. And with a winter chapter that contains things like grapefruit honey jam and candied kumquats with cinnamon and star anise, this book is not leaving my kitchen anytime soon.


Homemade Living Series 


Yes, I’m giving away Ashley English’s entire series to one lucky winner! Another one of my blogging buddies, I’ve been diggin’ Ashley’s blog since the beginning. This is a set of gorgeous hardback books – a great gift for anyone interested in small-scale homesteading. All four of the books are so well done; canning and preserving covers the classic recipes every beginner wants, and then offers up things like rhubarb and amaretto chutney. The home dairy book is one of the absolute best on the market – and has replaced my old stand-by. If you are thinking of dabbling in dairy, you want this book. While I don’t have my own just yet, keeping bees, and keeping chickens has me longing for that day. And I know I’ll be prepared, ’cause I’ve been pining over these books.

                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Sweet Preserved Kumquats                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Sweet Preserved Kumquats
                        
                    

                
                

                    
Sun pods


Shaped like an oversized grape, tastes like a very sweet lemon that can be eaten whole, peel and all, even when plucked directly from the tree.


No wonder why I love these little buggers.


Sweet Preserved Kumquats


1 & 1/2 pound organic kumquats

juice of 4 lemons (about 2/3 of a cup)

4 tablespoons sea salt

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed

1 tablespoon black pepper, crushed

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly crushed

1 & 3/4 cups maple sugar (or a natural brown sugar like turbinado or demerara)

1/2 gallon jar


Directions:


1. Wipe each fruit with a damp paper towel, then with a dry one. Make sure they are 100% free of water as this can cause mold during the preserving process. It is a good idea to let them sit out in a warm dry place for an hour or so after cleaning.


2. Warm the maple sugar and lemon juice slowly in a small saucepan until sugar melts. Turn up the heat and boil for 2-3 minutes, just until the mixture looks slightly syrupy. Leave to cool in pan.


3. When crushing the spices, make sure the fennel and cumin still retain some shape. You don’t want to crush them to a powder. The black pepper can be crushed as fine as you like. Combine the salt and spices.


4. Slice off the button ends of the kumquats, and then slice the entire fruit in half lengthwise. If you see blatant seeds take them out. But you don’t need to dig out the very small concealed ones. Slicing the kumquats completely in half allows you to easily add the spice mixture. Just toss the whole lot together in a bowl, then transfer to a 1/2 gallon jar and pour the syrup over top.


Additional Notes


You’ll want to keep them either on a sunny windowsill or outside in the sun if you are in a warm climate. If you put them outside, be sure to bring them in at night. When making pickles like these, the timing depends on the temperature and will vary. Give it a check at the 2 week mark, and then every couple of days after that. It’s really up to you how soft you would like to let the kumquats become. I like mine still a bit toothsome, but definitely soft enough to chew freely. As the citrus breaks down, the syrup will become thicker. Once they are to your liking, store them in the fridge for a year or more. At this point they will be broken down enough to fit in a quart container. Or better yet, distribute them into even smaller containers and go through one at a time.


You can eat this anywhere you would an Indian pickle or chutney – accompanying all manner of curry, flatbreads, or mixed rice dishes. I particularly like it simply atop warmed basmati rice with a spoonful of yogurt for a quick lunch.

                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Fermenting Chiles                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Fermenting Chiles
                        
                    

                
                

                    
These may look innocent enough to you



But that’s because your eyes aren’t watering from the heat. If you’re a chile head like me, or another person I know then you might like what I’m about to tell you. I like my chiles homegrown (or local farmer grown) and I like my chiles all year ’round.


Fermenting Chiles


1/2 pound of chiles (or mild peppers if you’re more of a sweet head)

1 pint of water

1 & 1/4 tablespoons of sea salt

1 quart container


Directions:






1. Wash and dry the chiles, leave them whole if they are small, cut in pieces if larger. Place in the quart container.


2. Dissolve the salt in the water and pour over chiles to cover. Important: you need to make sure the chiles are completely submerged in the brine. I placed a smaller sized jar on top (inside the larger jar) to help submerge the chiles. I also had brine left over which I sealed in the top jar in case I need more brine once the chiles start to ferment. You can always make more brine if you need, using the ratio above.


You don’t need a jar in a jar, you can put them in a bowl that fits a plate inside, and some kind of weight on top of that. Make sure whatever you use is clean of course.


3. Keep the chiles at room temperature, checking the next day, and the day after to make sure they are still submerged. Add more brine if you need.


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4. You may see a bit of something that looks like ‘scum’ form on the top of the brine, and/or the jar or plate you have submerged.


That’s ok. Just skim it off and rinse off the jar or plate and replace it, making sure the chiles are submerged. Everything should calm down in a few days. Then you can pretty much leave it alone and just check every 3 days or so to make sure all is in order.


5. In about 3 weeks or so, give them a taste. They should have all of that chile goodness, with an added tang of sour (Yum!). When you deem them ready, drain the brine into a saucepan, bring to a boil and skim off any residue on top. Let the brine cool.


6. Put the chiles into a clean jar, pour the boiled & cooled brine over, cap the jar and place in fridge.


…That my peeps, is how I enjoy homegrown chiles all year – or at least through the winter months. I use them for cooking all manner of curries and stir-frys, and anywhere fresh chiles are called for in cooking.


I also enjoy these babies fresh from the jar whenever a dish needs a little – or a lot of – heat.





                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Can Jam Round-Up: Asparagus                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Can Jam Round-Up: Asparagus
                        
                    

                
                

                    
I was in a real pickle about where to post all these amazing asparagus recipes this month.


I think I made the right choice.




Pickles, Pickles & More Pickles!


asparagus pickles – post-industrial eating, they look gorgeous! And I am so happy you are back on your feet. I think you are going to enjoy these little lovelies when you pop them open!


bloody mary asparagus – locally preserved, some like it hot, and some like it hotter (me). Love the horseradish and hot sauce additions!


last minute pickled asparagus spears – put-a-lid-on-it you are a trooper you are. Your little one is gonna love pickles I tell ya!


pickled asparagus – café del manolo as a garnish for ceaser salad! sounds like a perfect pairing! Makes me want to pickle some spears right now!


pickled asparagus – flamingo musings but I love rhubarb & fennel!! Er, nevermind…we’re talkin’ about asparagus here and it’s one of your favorites (whew!). About that recipe…what? You don’t have 22 lbs. of asparagus laying around?


pickled asparagus – nutmeg, nutmeg…love the nutmeg! (Ahem, and please see below regarding local!) 🙂


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pickled asparagus – I think you are really going to like these…the lemon adds a nice twist!


pickled asparagus – mother’s kitchen tellin’ it like it is…thanks for that link! A can jammer can never be too informed!


pickled asparagus – hip girl’s guide to homemaking, I totally dig your resourcefulness! And it’s all about a kitchen eco-system. It’s very important when trying to eat seasonally, locally, & stretching all that year round.


pickled asparagus & fiddleheads – backyard farms I absolutely love the way you fiddled with this recipe!


pickled asparagus with curry & spices – prospect: the pantry ok, I love anything curried! I am really curry-ous (had to) to know how these turned out, let us know! …oh, and talk to Joel above about floaters. 😉


spicy pickled asparagus – café Libby ya need to pack ’em in, pack ’em in, and maybe give ’em a seat belt ala well preserved. But they’ll taste just as good, so no worries!


spicy pickled asparagus – sustainable pantry thank you so much for that tip on Chinese medicine – now I have an excuse to be a sour puss! 😉 …and don’t worry, June 1st is almost here. But I am sure you will enjoy this little jar!


spicy pickled asparagus – oh briggsy! I love how you peeps put two and two together…asparagus & booze. Why not? Works for me.


tarragon pickled asparagus – notes from a country girl living in the city oh how very French of you! Tarragon she adds…for sure you are gonna love these! Let us know when you pop them open!

                

            


        

            

            

                

                    
                        Strawberry Ice cream                    
                


                

                    

                    

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                            Strawberry Ice cream
                        
                    

                
                

                    
If you happened to be following what I’ve dubbed ‘the butter chronicles’ over here, then you know that there’s a lotta bright and deep colored butter in my future. Lovingly made by me (and M) from the milk of happy spring-grass munching jersey cows. If you’ve been hanging around my Facebook page long enough then you may have picked up that I LOVE ICE CREAM!!! And this strawberry ice cream is no exception!


Sorry to shout – I just get so excited. Then how, says you, can I have all that luscious dairy dripping around my crib and not use a wee bit for my paws-down favorite dessert? I can’t. I couldn’t. I didn’t.


But first, if you don’t have an ice cream maker and you love ice cream then I must tell you about this one. It practically lives on my kitchen counter all summer. It makes ice cream making way easier than pie (and hell, if you really want to win friends and influence people make ice cream and pie for dessert). It’s worth it’s weight in gold for my summers, so the price didn’t bother me. But I can tell you this: there is no doubt that it will be on deep sale at the end of the summer. So if you can’t swing the coins be on the look-out in September and you’ll be prepared next summer.


Strawberries


As luck would have it, early-glow strawberries blushed into season at my local u-pick farm just as I was nearing the butter-making end. I kept one half gallon of cream on reserve in the fridge, and a quart of créme fraîche too. That, sugar and the mighty berries are pretty much all that’s needed for this decadent frozen delight.


You’ll want a small shot of kirsch too, for the texture. You can use vodka if you don’t have it. It works the same way….grab a lemon from the fridge on your way over. Let’s get this party started. Strawberry créme fraîche ice cream adapted from the perfect scoop by David Lebovitz.


Ingredients:


1 pound strawberries, rinsed quickly in cold water then hulled

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar (I use organic evaporated cane)

1 tablespoon kirsch, or vodka

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup créme fraîche


Directions:


1. add sugar and kirsch to strawberries and let set in a covered bowl for a good hour. Toss every once in a while to help sugar dissolve.


2. place strawberries in a blender or food processor. Add lemon juice, cream and créme fraîche and pulse a few times until everything is blended. Don’t over do the pulsing if you want some chunks of berries to remain. Pulse more for a smoother ice cream, maker’s choice.


3. cover and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight.


4. freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufactures instructions. For those of you that have not yet used an ice cream maker, don’t let this line scare you. Basically, you pour it in, turn it on, and let it run for 15-20 minutes at which point you will have the creamiest, most berry-packed ice cream you can imagine.


For more delicious ice cream recipes click here!

                

            


        

    
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