JAM SEASON 2012 NOW UNDERWAY!

07 Monday May 2012

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Jams, Jellies & Preserves

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canning pot, jam, lavendar, mangoes, Pickled asparagus, pike place market, rhubarb, rhubarb jam

THE LAST WEEK OF APRIL I BOUGHT FIVE POUNDS OF RHUBARB in the Skagit Valley after an afternoon of tulip viewing with my mother and sister. I have never been a big fan of rhubarb and since the groundskeeper does like it, I gave it another try. I did a little searching around and found this recipe for Lavender Rhubarb Jam at Hungry Tigress. This jam is delicious! On Friday I made mango jam (inspired by Mrs. Wheelbarrow) with lime juice, a couple of large mandarins and a minced Fresno chile. Mangoes are cheap and plentiful this last week–88¢-$1.00 apiece!

On Saturday I went to a restaurant supply armed with a quart jar and bought a new, 16qt. stock (Crestware) pot to replace my old enameled canner.

It will comfortably accommodate six quart jars (pints sterilizing in the photo) and tall enough to cover the jars with two inches of water. I also bought a rack that fits perfectly on the bottom.

And then, I proceeded to pickle asparagus purchased at the Pike Place Market earlier in the day. It will take just a bit of getting used to since it is heavier and takes longer to come to a boil with a load full of jars. Happy with the new canner.

WINTER FRUIT FOR WINTER PRESERVES

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving

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cranberries, dried figs, half pints, Mandarin oranges, pears, red onion jam, red onions, ripe pears, star anise, Winter Preserves

Pear, Mandarin Orange & Cranberry Preserves

WINTER HAS ITS BOUNTY OF FRUITS AVAILABLE FOR MAKING PRESERVES. How about pears, mandarin oranges and cranberries? I put together this combination the last week of December, just before we set off for the desert. I still had about 4lbs. of late harvest pears from our tree that needed to be used, a pound of some sweet little mandarins, some sparkling apple and pear ciders, and a cup of fresh cranberries left from the holidays. Delicious on toast or a big spoonful on plain yogurt.

Cider, citrus peels and star anise.

Pear, Mandarin & Cranberry Preserves

Yield: About 5 half-pints

3 cups sparkling pear cider

2 cups sparkling apple cider

Peel from 4 small meyer lemons (use vegetable peeler)

2 whole star anise

1– 2″ cinnamon stick

3 ³⁄₄ – 4 lb. firm ripe pears, peeled & diced

1 lb. mandarin oranges peeled & chopped; reserve thin peel from 4 oranges to add to cider mixture

1– 5″ vanilla bean

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, 1 tsp. reserved

12 oz. sugar (or more to taste)

1 c. fresh cranberries

4 tbsp. lemon juice

Combine cider, star anise, cinnamon stick, and citrus peel in large non-reactive pan; bring to boil and reduce to 2 cups. Remove spices and peel. Add pears, chopped mandarins, vanilla bean, 1 tsp. of thyme leaves and sugar. Bring to boil and reduce heat to gentle boil and cook until fruit is soft. Remove fruit and reduce liquid to about 2 cups. Add back fruit; add cranberries and cook until cranberries pop and mixture is thickened to your liking. Add reserved thyme leaves. Taste at this point and if too sweet, add lemon juice 1 tbsp. at a time. (I used all 4)Jar, seal and process 10 minutes.

Cooking the pears and mandarins with the reduced and spiced cider.

Another winter winner is sweet and savory Fig & Red Onion Jam.

Fig & Red Onion Jam

Yield: 3 half-pints

8 oz. dried figs, quartered and coarsely chopped

Brandy to cover figs, about 1 c.

1 ¹⁄₂ lbs. red onions, thinly sliced

2 tbsp. olive oil

¹⁄₂tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

¹⁄₄c. balsamic vinegar + 1 tbsp. (or more to taste)

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

Freshly ground white or black pepper to taste

Place chopped figs in pint jar or bowl and add enough brandy to cover figs. Let stand 6-8 hours or overnight. Drain figs and reserve brandy.

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat; when oil is shimmery, add onions and toss to coat with oil. Add salt and continue stirring onions until they are wilted. Sprinkle with the sugar and cook about five minutes until onions are lightly carmelized. Cover pan and cook five more minutes. Remove lid, add 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar and cook another five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add figs, thyme leaves, stir to combine; reduce heat to medium, cover pan and cook 5-7 minutes until figs have softened. Remove lid and add reserved brandy and cook until mixture is thickened and onions are very soft. After 10 minutes taste for seasoning and add pepper, and additional vinegar and salt as needed. The goal is slightly sweet with a tang of the vinegar. Continue to cook the final 5 minutes to jam-like consistency.

Place in jars and store in refrigerator up to a month (this cannot be water bath processed).

Serve at room temperature spread on small toasts topped with a thin slice or dollop of fresh goat cheese, sharp white cheddar or some Beemster Gouda. Garnish with fresh thyme leaves.

If you have the itch, there is no excuse for leaving preserving to summer months.

CANTOBER! IT’S FINALLY OVER…

06 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Harvest, Tomatoes, Vegetable garden

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bread baking, canning, peaches, pears, peppers, tomatoes

RETURNING FROM OUR TETON trip, these were waiting for me, all 26 pounds of them! Not to mention 10 pounds of pears, peppers, eggplants, and more.

AND THE TWENTY POUNDS OF AUTUMN LADY peaches that I bought from Red Sky Orchards just west of Ellensburg on our way home. What was I thinking? They were big, ripe and sweet. I couldn’t resist after the last box that never fully ripened.

SO, I got to work. The bulk of tomatoes went into a roasting pan along with onions, basil and homegrown garlic and then into a slow oven until the onions were soft. A brief straining to separate the juice/broth from the solids and then through the food mill. Yield: 4 quarts of sauce and 3 ice cube trays of tomato broth for later use.

With the tomatoes cooking in the oven I chopped up a colorful mix of tomatoes for Tomato Basil Jam (My Little Corner of Rhode Island) that was mentioned in a Food in Jars post. Yield: 6 half-pints

ON THE LAST DAYS OF AUGUST I used some peaches to infuse wine vinegar and make some peach liqueur. Time now to decant, strain and bottle.

After adding sugar syrup to the infused vodka I have a quart that needs time to sit a few more months before transferring to smaller bottles for sharing.

I wrestled with tossing all of the fruit that had soaked in the vinegar and the vodka–but I couldn’t do it. I made peach chutney. I added some onions, hot peppers, garlic, sugar, vinegar and spices. Yield: 8 half-pints

Autumn Lady Peaches: 5 pints of Peach BBQ Sauce from the Williams-Sonoma book of preserving recipes borrowed from my neighbor. About 5 pounds made their way in to a batch of Peach & Rosemary Preserves. Yield: 6 half-pints

Two Peach Galettes from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s site; one for us and one for the neighbors.

PEARS: 4 pounds of the pears became Pear Vanilla Thyme Preserves with ginger and lemon. Yield: 4 half-pints

I caught a break the following week and we took a 3 day trip to Walla Walla with some friends to celebrate a birthday–so no canning! Had to make a stop on the way home in Bingen, WA at Dickey’s Farms where I picked up some big, beautiful Honeycrisp and Buckeye Gala apples. Soooo good! I indulged my yen for Tarte Tatin with some of the honeycrisp apples.

Nearly every night during October we ate a tomato salad of some kind. Yum! We’ll be sorry when they’re gone.

MORE TOMATOES: Mid-month as more tomatoes became ripe I picked another 16 pounds and combined a lot of them with 3 pounds of peppers for 10 pints of Tomato -Chile Salsa.

I picked all of the remaining tomatoes a week ago Thursday since the weather was cooling and we were headed for New Orleans on Saturday. All of the cherry tomatoes became 8 pints of pickled green tomatoes the day before we left. All of the other tomatoes are either green or in varying stages of ripeness and will have to ripen inside. We will savor every last one–maybe up until Thanksgiving if we’re lucky. It will be many months before we buy a tomato. Total tomato harvest must be close to 80 pounds.

I got on a bit of a baking jag. I had to refresh the sourdough starter (since it had a vacation while we did) and I picked the last of the zucchini and baked off six loaves of zucchini bread and into the freezer.

PEPPERS: All of the peppers were picked and the plants pulled to make room for the garlic. The remaining anchos, Anaheims, jalapenos, serranos became 3 quarts of chile verde sauce (into the freezer); the ‘sweet’ ones and a few hot peppers became 11 pints of pickled peppers.

Who doesn’t love cranberries? Two weeks ago my sister (fabricgirl) came up from Long Beach to celebrate our mom’s 81st birthday and she brought me two, gallon bags of fresh cranberries. I popped them into the freezer to keep until we returned from New Orleans (thank goodness for pre-planned trips). Hmmmm….cranberry wine jelly may be in order. And that should be the last of this year’s preserving. I think I put something in jars at least twice a week, every week of the month. At least that’s how if felt by the last Friday of the October. So as you can see, there was scant time for posting. Whew!

THE TOMATO STATUS REPORT

16 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Harvest, Jellies & Preserves, Peppers, Tomatoes, Vegetable garden

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banana peppers, brussels sprouts, canning, canning rack, delicata squash, Italian plums, Japanese eggplant, mangoes, mustard greens, pears, pink icicle tomatoes, red plastic mulch, tomatoes

AS YOU SEE, THERE ARE PLENTY OF TOMATOES. Mostly green yet. I’m not convinced that the red plastic mulch is a big improvement to aid ripening. Seems normal to me, even taking our meager summer weather into consideration. I think Ill skip the red plastic next year. We have had our share or ripe ones to eat, so not a big complaint.

Yellow flame tomatotes

Always a few crazily shaped ones.

Pink Icicle. I may save seed from this one.

THE REST OF THE VEGETABLE GARDEN is humming along.

Delicata Squash

Anaheim peppers

Japanese eggplant

Banana peppers

I planted a section of mixed mustard greens to use up old seeds: Osaka Purple, Gold & Ruby Streaks, Mizuna, and Ho Mi Z. Makes for a zesty salad mix when young and it looks pretty too.

Brussels sprouts are forming nicely and should be ready for Thanksgiving dinner!

THIS WEEK’S CANNING REPORT

Gingered Pear Preserves with a splash of cognac made on Wednesday are the first of the pear larder. They are a mix of Bartletts and Rescue. A little over four pounds yielded seven half-pints.

Daughter #2 has an Italian Plum tree and we picked about 4.4 pounds on Tuesday.

I kept out one pound for eating, split and pitted the remaining plums, and slipped them into freezer bags for later use. Straight out of the freezer and onto cake batter for plum cake. An easy and tasty winter treat.

Today another two pounds of pears teamed up two large mangoes for Pear-Mango Preserves. This one is my own combination. A little sweet and a little tart from the lime juice.

Pear-Mango Preserves Yield about 6-7 half-pints

2 large mangoes cubed to make 3-4 cups

2 lbs. pears, cubed (about 4 cups)

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

3 c./ 1.5 lbs sugar

8 oz. apple or pear cider (regular, sparkling or hard)

One 4″ cinnamon stick

about 8 basil leaves bundled and tied.

Combine pears, mangoes, lime juice, cider and half the sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to boil, add cinnamon stick and basil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 15 minutes. Add remaining sugar and cook over med-low until thickened. Turn off heat and let stand one hour.

Sterilize jars and heat lids. Check thickness of preserves. If too thick add a bit more cider or water; remove cinnamon stick and basil and reheat. Fill jars and process 10 minutes full rolling boil. Remove canner lid and let jars stand 5 minutes before removing.

ONE LAST thing. I hate the canning rack that comes with the big enameled canners. They are awkward to handle with jars. There are many jars that don’t fit the racks. I have a 12″ diameter cooling rack that fits perfectly and any size or shape jar sits flat without tipping. Additionally, if I flip the rack upside down, I can squeak the quart jars into the canner. I saw this post on Northwest Edible Life and thought it a quite ingenious solution.

Today at Outdoor Emporium I saw a really sweet aluminum stock pot with a nice rack; it would easily accommodate quart jars and was $32.00. It was very much like this one. It is tempting as my old enamel canner is starting to rust after 35+ years.

Enough canning and harvesting for a while, I hear Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons calling…

SLIPPING INTO SEPTEMBER

13 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Fall

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apples, beets, canning, cherry pitter, cherryplums, dill pickles, pickles, preserves

TWO BODIES OF WATER AWAY TO THE WEST are the Olympic mountains and on the south side of Mt. Jupiter there is a week-and-a-half old fire, about 1,100 acres so far. Since the Labor Day weekend we have had smoky, red sunsets. As we move towards fall, the sun sets a little earlier every day; this week around 7:30 p.m. Summer is so short!

WE CAN, CAN, CAN, BECAUSE WE CAN!

Speaking of the Labor Day weekend, my neighbor and a friend of hers spent the weekend canning. They filled 210 jars with blackberry jam, tomato salsa, bruschetta topping, dilled green beans, pickled beets, and more. On Friday they offered me some of the 25 pound (!) bag of beets that they had bought, so I made pickled beets too (six pints).

My friend Betty makes dill pickles. Tom says they are the best he has ever tasted, so Betty gave me the recipe given to her by a friend around 1970. Nothing like sharing recipes and canning to cement friendships. We went to the Pike Place Market on Saturday of the Labor Day weekend and bought around eight pounds or so of pickling cukes. I am pretty sure that I had never made dill pickles.

These are the finished pickles, ten quarts worth. Betty says not to open them before Thanksgiving. Time will tell whether or not I succeeded in matching Betty’s pickles.

CHERRY PLUMS! One of our daughters has several old cherry plum trees growing on the property where she lives. Two years ago they were rather plentiful and none last year. Last week we managed to gather up a little over four pounds (we were a week too late for the best ones).

This quirky looking gadget was a birthday gift this summer from one of my sisters. I forgot all about it when I pitted pounds of cherries in July and August. But I remembered to try it out with the cherry plums. The pitter sits atop a narrow mouth jar and is fixed in place with a screwband; the pits drop into the jar. Worked pretty well.

Cherry plums make some of the best preserves when flavored with star anise, vanilla bean, and a couple of fresh bay leaves. The yield was seven half-pints. Since the pickings are slim these preserves are highly coveted.