Canning Tomatoes

I've been canning quite a few tomatoes this year.  Our heirloom tomato plants have been absolutely loaded with fruit.  I've made salsa, pasta sauce, eaten tons fresh, froze some, and have been canning them.  And I haven't had to buy a single tomato!  I posted about canning tomatoes packed in water back in 2008, but I've since given up using water and just can them in their own juices.  I like the flavor better.  And I actually like canning the tomatoes themselves better than making sauces with them first.  Then I can just open a jar of my home-canned tomatoes in the winter and make up a pizza sauce or pasta sauce.  We like a lot of variation and get tired of the same sauce over and over again, so this works best for us.  Plus, aren't my jars just so pretty with the different colored heirlooms??  I love it! Anyway, since it's a slightly different process than canning in water, I figured it warranted it's own post. 

Canning Tomatoes (packed raw and in their own juices)

Tomatoes
Lemon juice - 2 Tablespoons per quart or 1 Tablespoon per pint

Wash tomatoes. 

Core and cut an "x" in the bottom side of the tomato.

Dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until skins split, then dip in cold water.

Slip off skins (some people also prefer to wait till this step to remove the cores... I find it easier to remove them first, but to each her own.).

Leave whole, halve, quarter, or chop (I usually quarter).

Add bottled lemon juice to the jars.

Fill jars with raw tomatoes.  Press tomatoes in the jars until spaces between them fill with juice. Leave 1/2-inch headspace.  Place lids on jars and process pints or quarts for 25 minutes at 10lbs of pressure (or for 85 minutes in a boiling water bath).  Remove jars from canner.  Let cool.  Store after 24 hours. 


This post is linked to: 
Fight Back Friday @ Food Renegade
Simple Lives Thursday @ GNOWFGLINS

Canned Pear Slices

Our pear trees are producing a fair amount of decent fruit this year.  I'm still trying to figure out all the varieties that we have.  We definitely have a couple bartlett trees, and I believe we have a green anjou,  a comice tree, and an asian pear tree.  We also have two trees that I believe are bosc.  And I'm trying to figure out if another tree is one of the old school pear varieties with apple-shaped pears.  The bosc trees are loaded with fruit.  The others, which all ripen earlier than the bosc, have produced a fair amount.  I didn't make as many changes in the orchard this year as I had hoped to, especially with the pear trees, so I was quite impressed with the fruit that they have produced.  Some are very pretty fruit - like the bartlett pear on one of my trees pictured at left - and some are not so pretty, but it still tastes great!  That's what's important.  :) 

I've done a small amount of canning with them.  I did a test run last week, with just 3 pints.  And I'll be doing some more this week (probably tonight).  And I'll be doing more once the bosc trees are ready.  This was the first time I've canned pears.  It was fairly simple.  The most time consuming part is peeling and slicing them.  I did some research before I started and discovered that when canning pears, you shouldn't let them ripen to the point of being good to eat.  You want them to be firm.  The best way to tell if they're ready to can is to press on the top of the neck, by the stem.  If it has a slight give, they're ready.  You don't want to wait for them to ripen all the way, or you'll end up with really mushy canned pears.  I also read that you'll get a much better texture/outcome if you raw pack them.  So that's what I did.  I used a very light syrup and just followed the instructions in my Ball canning book. 

Canned Pears

Very light syrup:
1/2 cup sugar or sucanat
4 cups water

Heat sugar and water until boiling. Let simmer while you prep your pears.
Meanwhile, wash, pare, core and slice pears. Pack fruit in hot jars. Pour hot syrup over pears, leaving about an inch of head space. Process pints in boiling water bath for 25 minutes.


This post is shared via:
Real Food Wednesday @ Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Simple Lives Thursday @ GNOWFGLINS

Canned Pasta Sauce

Back in mid-August, I canned a couple batches of pasta sauce. I used my SIL's recipe for sauce, with a couple modifications. I didn't make it quite as sweet as she does, with a little less brown sugar and no cloves. I also was sure to add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to each jar, as you should with any tomato based canned item, to ensure the proper acidity. I am very excited to have this on hand for pasta dishes - it was so delicious pre-processing!

Cream of Celery Soup

Local celery has been in season for the last couple of weeks, so I've been stocking up as much as I can. I've frozen quite a bit for use in soups and stews, but I also wanted to can some cream of celery soup. Cream of celery is my favorite cream soup. By making it myself, I know exactly what is in it and can use all local, high-quality, sustainably-grown ingredients. I also avoid the preservatives, MSG, GMOs, BPA, pesticides, etc. that you ingest when you buy the commercial branded cream soups. I got this recipe from a Yahoo! canning group that I belong to. This is a really easy soup to make. It only took about 20-30 minutes to prep the ingredients, make the soup, fill the jars, and get them in the canner. I'm planning to get more celery from my CSA next week so I can do up another batch since I wasn't thinking and only ordered enough celery for one batch this week.

Cream of Celery Soup

1/3 cup butter
3 cups celery, 1/4" dice
1/2 cup sweet onion, 1/4" dice
1/3 cup finely diced celery leaves (set aside)
1 quart vegetable broth
1 quart chicken broth
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1/4 tsp. ground celery seed
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup Clearjel

Melt butter. Add celery and onion and sauté until crisp tender. Add broth, saving 1 cup to mix with the Clearjel. Add the seasonings, lemon juice, and the reserved celery leaves. Mix the Clearjel with the reserved broth. Mix all ingredients and heat until it boils, stirring often.

Put in jars and process in pressure canner for 45 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Makes 5 pints

Fresh Vegetable Salsa

I've made a few different types of salsa over the last couple of years... zesty salsa, zucchini salsa, and pineapple-peach salsa. All three have been pretty good, but I'm still looking for an even better recipe that we just love. So I figured I'd try a new one this time. I found one in my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It tasted really good as I was filling the jars and its nice and thick... just how we love it! We'll see how it is after processing in a few weeks. I made this very mild because I've been having problems with spicy foods and my gall bladder. I made 3 pints and 5 half-pints from this recipe. The book says you should get 8 half-pints or 5 pints from this.

Fresh Vegetable Salsa

7 cups chopped, cored, peeled tomatoes
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 cup coarsely chopped bell pepper
8 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (I left these out and just added some more bell pepper)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can tomato paste
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup loosely packed, finely chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 30 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims, put lids and screw bands on jars, and place in canner filled with water. Make sure jars are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and process half-pints and pints for 20 minutes. Then remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, and remove jars to cool for 24 hours.

Crockpot Cream of Tomato Soup

On Monday, I made up a batch of cream of tomato soup in the crockpot. This recipe comes from my SIL Mary. This is a very good soup. It tastes as good as the last tomato soup I had tried (a Giada recipe), but its much simpler since everything is just thrown into the crockpot. We had a little for dinner with grilled cheese sandwiches and I canned the remaining soup into 8 pints. I'm very excited to have this on hand for quick lunches and dinners!

I'll update with a picture later on.

Crockpot Cream of Tomato Soup

(This cream of tomato soup is rich and hearty and very delicious. It can be used as a substitute for canned tomato soup with excellent results and cannot be beat when served with grilled cheese sandwiches. Mix and match any of the suggested herbs and spices for a marvelous soup. For a traditional blend we use 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, 1 tablespoon oregano, and 1 tablespoon basil.)

2 Tbsp. olive oil (I didn't add this)
1 large chopped onion
3 crushed garlic cloves
2 minced carrots (I just did a rough chop into slices)
2 pounds peeled and diced tomatoes (reserve and add all juices) (I used 1 large can of diced tomatoes and 1 large can of crushed tomatoes)
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock or broth
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
2-4 Tbsp. freshly chopped herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, savory, chervil, Italian parsley, mint, lavender) or 1-2 tsp. dried herbs or spices (Italian spices, basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, cumin, curry powder, nutmeg)
1 cup heavy cream (or milk - I used 1% milk)

Combine the oil, onion, garlic, and carrot in the crockpot. Cook on high, stirring frequently, until the onion softens. This can also be done in a skillet. (I skipped this step.) Add the remaining ingredients except for the herbs and spices and cream. Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours. Add the herbs and adjust seasoning. Cool slightly and puree in small batches (I used an immersion blender). Return to the crockpot and add the cream. (I just added the cream to the individual bowls and canned the soup plain). Reheat until piping hot, or else cool and chill before serving.

* Process at 10 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes if you want to can it.

Pinto Beans

I canned pinto beans this morning. 14 pints. That should get us through the year, I think. At least, in combination with all the other beans I've done, or plan to do. This brings the tally to 49 pints of beans canned in a 42-hour time frame. Kinda crazy... but I've been wanting to work on beans for months now... and I'm figuring out that I turn to canning, cooking, and cleaning (you should see how far our basement has come in the last two days!!) to keep my mind off things when they're crappy... and this is most definitely a very crappy time right now... Anyway, I'd like to do some cannellinis tonight, but we'll see if I make it out to the store to get more wide-mouth lids and I probably should pick up some more jars while I'm at it, too, since I'm down to only about 15 pints left and I don't want to do beans in quarts or half-pints.

Anyway, I used the crockpot to make these beans to save on the humidity in the kitchen when making them on the stovetop. I filled my 6-quart crockpot about half-way with beans last night. Then filled the other half with water - right up to the rim. Then I turned it on low and let them cook all night while we slept. I filled my 4-quart with beans, as well. I ended up with 10 pints from the 6-quart crockpot and 4 from the 4-quart pot (could have fit more in both, but that's all I had). From the crockpot, I used a slotted spoon to fill the jars with beans - make sure you tap the jars down to compact the beans. Then use a ladle to fill with the cooking liquid. Leave a 1" headspace and pressure can at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes.

Great Northern Beans

I canned a batch of great northern beans this morning - they're still processing in the canner right now. I bought a bunch of organic dry great northerns at the health food store last week so I could make the baked beans, can a couple batches, and make white bean and ham soup (post coming later). I'm going to do another batch of baked beans today and can another batch of plain great northerns later on, as well... and I'll be done with them this year. I made 10 pints in this batch - and I'll do another 10 pints later on.

I used the same process I posted last year when I made black beans. First I soaked the beans in water overnight (about 12-18 hours). Then drained them, rinsed them, and put the first batch into my largest stockpot (a 12-quart) and covered them with water by about an inch. You then bring them up to a boil for 30 minutes and remove from heat. Using a slotted spoon, fill the jars with the beans, then use a ladle to add the cooking liquid, leaving a 1-inch headspace. (I used my pasta stockpot this time with the insert in so I just raised the beans out in the insert and left the cooking water in the pot... much easier!) Then I processed the beans for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. And voila! Home-canned great northern beans... with no additives, salt, preservatives, etc.! Not only does this save some money (using the organic beans, it ended up being about 35 cents per pint), but it will limit our exposure to BPA tremendously since the beans only touched the metal lid during the processing time.

I'll update with a picture once I take them out of the canner.

Crockpot Baked Beans

I made baked beans today - they're currently pressure canning. I found a recipe that sounded good on AllRecipes. It utilized the crockpot, so I thought it was perfect - I could let them cook all day while I was working and then could finish them up, taste them, and can them when I got home. These were super easy! And they tasted great! Very similar to the Bush's canned beans. Although I made several changes to the recipe, so I guess I don't know what the original recipe tastes like... :). I made a double recipe of the one posted below and ended up with 7 pints.

Crockpot Baked Beans

2 cups dry kidney beans (I used Great Northerns)
5 cups water
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 ounces cured pork (I used turkey bacon)
1/4 cup molasses (I used 1/4 cup for a double recipe)
4 tablespoons brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup, plus a few spoonfuls, to taste, for the double recipe)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup ketchup

In a slow cooker place beans, water, onion, salt and pork. Cover the pot and cook on low for 9 to 10 hours. (Mine were plenty done after 8 hours)

Drain beans, saving the liquid. Add molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, ketchup and 1 cup of the bean liquid. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour.

(If you are canning the beans, cook them for 8-9 hours and do not cook them the extra hour after adding the sauce... they'll get too mushy otherwise. To can them, you'll want to leave 1-inch headspace and can for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.)

Peaches

I canned peaches last year and said I'd probably never do it again until we had our own peach tree to make it a little more economical once you factor in all the time it takes to prep and can the peaches. Well, my SIL Mary received some fabulous tips from her in-laws on canning peaches that save sooooo much time and effort, so I decided to give them a try again this year afterall. I canned them about two weeks ago now and did 32 pints! Not bad at all compared to my 5 pints last year! The crazy thing is... I think I did the 32 pints in LESS time than it took me to do the 5 pints! This is definitely the way to do peaches! Mary posted the method on her blog last week, too, so I've just copied and pasted her description below.

The Easy Way to Can Peaches

Prep jars, lids and canner
Make simple syrup (I did a light syrup...2 1/2-3 cups sugar in about 11 cups water)
Prep treatment solution (I just sprinkled with some Fruit Fresh)
Wash peaches
Cut peaches in half
Remove pit
Quarter peaches if necessary
Place peaches in treatment solution
When all peaches are ready drain solution
Place peaches in hot jars, cut side down if possible
Cover with syrup
Secure lid and band
Process in boiling canner 25 min. for pints, 30 min. for quarts

Once you are ready to use the peaches, the peels will just slide right off.

Pineapple Peach Salsa

I came across another salsa recipe on RecipeZaar that I knew I wanted to try. It was for peach salsa, but I wanted to make a pineapple-peach salsa. So I substituted half of the peaches for canned pineapple. Just a heads up, you cannot use fresh pineapple and safely boiling water bath this salsa, as the fresh pineapple has a lower pH than does the canned pineapple. So I made this tonight. It's so yummy! I can't wait to have some! We love to eat chips and salsa, so this will be a great salsa to have on hand!

Pineapple Peach Salsa

3 cups chopped peaches
3 cups chopped canned pineapple
3 large fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped red onions
4 medium jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid honey
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Blanch peaches, cool in cold water, peel, pit and chop to measure 3 cups. Drain and chop canned pineapple to measure 3 cups. Blanch tomatoes and cool with cold water, peel, remove seeds and cut into chunks. In a large stainless or enamel cooking pot, combine peaches, tomatoes, onion, Jalapeno peppers, sweet red pepper, cilantro, vinegar, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. If the mixture is too sloppy or soupy, boil for a few minutes longer so that some of the liquid evaporates and the mixture thickens. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add more cayenne pepper if you desire a spicier taste.

Ladle salsa into hot jars to within 1/4 inch of top for headspace. Remove air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between the glass and salsa. Re-adjust the headspace to 1/4 inch. Wipe jar rim to remove any stickiness. Center lid on top of jar; apply screw band just until finger tight. Place jars in a hot bath in a canner and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Remove jars and place on a towel, then cover with another towel to cool slowly.

Makes 8 half-pints.

Zucchini Salsa

So we're back from vacation and I haven't wasted much time getting back into the kitchen. As expected, the garden is overgrown with weeds and veggies ready to harvest, so I've been picking and freezing yet more green and yellow beans... I never thought I'd say I regretted doing so many succession plantings... but I'm ready for the beans to be DONE. We had so many zukes ready for picking... 14 of them!! That's a lot of zucchini! I have given half of them away and am trying to use up the rest of them before we have more ready for picking today or tomorrow... I think I'll be giving some more away. :) We also had peppers and tomatoes ready to be picked, as well as our first few ears of sweet corn, and I can start digging up some of the carrots anytime now, I think. Maybe I'll get to that later today... At least the weather is a little cooler these next couple of days... it'll slow things down a bit. :) Anyway... on to my post... and then on to getting ready to meet up with my SIL, BIL, and their two kids for breakfast!

I came across this recipe on RecipeZaar and figured I should try it out. It had great ratings, I've been wanting to try some different kinds of salsa this year, and I have a major bumper crop of zucchini, so I figured this was a perfect recipe to try. It was very easy to make... especially since I cheated an used some organic canned diced tomatoes. :) I only made a half batch since I didn't think I really needed 10-12 pints of one particular salsa. Plus, I only had enough peppers and onions on hand to prep a half batch yesterday morning. It says its a 2-day process, but I just prepped it early yesterday morning and let it sit all day. Then did the second part and canned it in the evening right before going to bed last night. Worked out great! I tasted it as I was filling the jars and its delicious! I'm very excited to have this sitting on my pantry shelves! Next up... pineapple-peach salsa!! :) (I'll update with a picture once I upload them off my camera)

Zucchini Salsa

10 cups zucchini, peeled & shredded
4 onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped (I substituted a medium-heat Hungarian wax pepper)
1/4 cup pickling salt
1 tablespoon pickling salt
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon pepper
5 cups chopped ripe tomatoes (I used organic canned diced, drained with the juice reserved)
2 tablespoons ClearJel
12 ounces tomato paste

Day one: In a large bowl combine; Zucchini, onions, green pepper, red pepper and the salt Mix together cover and let stand over night.

Day two: Rinse, drain well and put into a large pot then add mustard, garlic, cumin, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, salt,cornstarch, nutmeg, pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars and put lids and rings on. Pressure can at 5 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes.

Yield: 10-12 pints

Note: I pressure canned mine b/c of all the low-acid veggies. Some people think it'd be ok boiling water canning it for 15 minutes. I'd rather be safe than sorry, though. So I did the pressure canning. :)

Cherry Pie Filling

Guess what I found at the Grand Blanc farmers' market on Sunday?? Tart cherries!! Woohoo!! :) I washed and pitted them on Sunday night after Carson went to bed, then I made and canned a batch of cherry pie filling using a USDA recipe on Monday evening. I made a double batch of the recipe below and ended up with 6 pints and 1 half-pint of filling. I tasted it as I was filling the jars and the cherries were a little tart-tasting still, but I think they'll probably sweeten up a little as they sit in the sugar-gel and if not, I'll just add a little sugar when I break open a jar. Otherwise, they tasted great, though! I'm excited to have this in the pantry now - I'll have to make turnovers or something sometime soon... though I think I might pick up some more fresh tart cherries and try making a cherry pie with fresh cherries if I can find them still... we'll see what I find and how much time I have, though. I'll update with a picture later on after I upload it.

Cherry Pie Filling

For every 1-quart of canned filling, you will need:
3 1/3 cups fresh or thawed sour cherries (I used fresh)
1 cup Granulated sugar (I used free-trade, organic)
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Clear Jel
1 1/3 cups cold water
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon bottled lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
6 drops red food coloring (optional)


Select fresh, very ripe, and firm cherries. Unsweetened frozen cherries may be used. If sugar has been added, rinse it off while the fruit is still frozen.

Rinse and pit fresh cherries, and hold in cold water. To prevent stem end browning, use ascorbic acid solution (I didn't do this, but probably should have).

For fresh fruit, place 6 cups at a time in 1 gallon boiling water. Boil each batch 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. Drain but keep heated fruit in a covered bowl or pot.

Combine sugar and Clear Jel in a large saucepan and add water. If desired, add cinnamon, almond extract, and food coloring (I added them all). Stir mixture and cook over medium high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained cherries immediately and fill jars with mixture without delay, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes.

Black Forest Jam

Well, guess what I found at the farmers market yesterday? Cherries!! And they're actually not Traverse City cherries - which I wouldn't consider local for me even though they're delicious - but they're from Romeo, which is about 50 miles away, so they're local! Yeah!! I bought 8 quarts and have made it through 6 of them already. 3 quarts were dehydrated, 2 quarts were used in making this jam, 1 quart has been frozen. I'll freeze another quart today and the last quart will be for fresh eating. I'd still like to make some cherry pie filling, but we'll have to see if I can find other local cherries this week at one of the other markets. I'd kind of like to dehydrate another few quarts, too. Since Carson eats raisins like they're going out of style right now, I'm hoping he likes dried cherries (he'll get to try them today). They're a great snack, but I'd also like to make sure I have some for baking this fall/winter, too.

Anyway, back to the jam. This recipe is from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. My friend from work is borrowing my book right now, so I had to look this one up on one of the canning groups I follow, so hopefully its still the correct recipe. Its the one I used, at least. And it is soooo good! I tasted it as I was filling the jars - YUM! I wanted to make this to use as a filling for a chocolate cake and it'd be a great ice cream or cheesecake topping, too! I made a double batch, as I'm thinking this might be a good holiday gift for our mailman, hair stylist, etc.

Black Forest Jam

6 1/2 c. granulated sugar (organic, free-trade certified)
1/3 c. sifted unsweetened cocoa powder (organic, free-trade certified)
3 c. firmly packed, coarsely chopped, pitted sweet black cherries (I used Bing cherries)
1/2 c. lemon juice
2 pouches (3 oz. each) liquid pectin
4 T. amaretto liqueur or 1/2 tsp almond extract (I used the extract)

Prepare canner, jars, and lids. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder. Stir well and set aside.

In a large, deep, stainless steel saucepan, combine the cherries and lemon juice. Stir in reserved cocoa mixture. Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir in pectin. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in amaretto liqueur. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot preserves. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

Makes 7 half pints.

Balsamic BBQ Sauce

I finally had some time to can up a batch of balsamic BBQ sauce this morning after I'd canned a batch of strawberry jam. I've been wanting to can this sauce since we tried it a few weeks back on balsamic BBQ chicken. Its a Giada DeLaurentiis recipe and it is soooo yummy! I made a triple batch today and wish I'd have had more balsamic vinegar to do an even larger batch since I only ended up with three half-pints. But its better than nothing, right? Its very easy to make, so making another batch later on won't be a big deal, at least. I'll post the original recipe, but like I said, I tripled everything to make a larger batch.

Balsamic BBQ Sauce

1 cup balsamic vinegar (organic)
3/4 cup ketchup (organic)
1/3 cup brown sugar (organic)
1 garlic clove, minced (organic)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3, about 15 to 20 minutes. Ladle into hot jars and boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Veggies, Veggies, Everywhere!

And strawberries, too! I've been hitting up the farmers markets again this week. On Wednesday, I stopped by the Allen Street market in Lansing on my way home from work. It was a crummy day with all the rain we were getting, but there was still a great turnout at the market. I picked up some local organic pure maple syrup, a bag of organic spinach, a bunch of organic rainbow swiss chard, a bunch of organic garlic scapes, a bunch of organic broccoli raab, and a bunch of organic green onions. The spinach has already been dehydrated, the chard has been blanched and frozen, the scapes I'll be using to make pesto at some point this weekend, the broccoli raab we'll be having with one of our meals on Sunday, and the green onions will be used in random dishes and I'll be dehydrating some of them, too - I think I'm going to use them to make my own garlic salt.

Then on Thursday, I stopped into the Lansing City Market on my lunch break. I had intended to just run in quick to pick up some Moo-Ville whole milk, but they were out of whole milk. But I noticed they had butter for sale, which I hadn't seen before. I spent some time talking to the Moo-Ville Lady and found out they've just started producing their own butter - hormone-free, antibiotic-free, all-natural... their products could be considered organic if they applied to be certified. I was excited when she said it was only $3/pound!! I've been searching for a good and affordable source for organic butter and I've finally found it! Yeah! After my Moo-Ville butter find, I spent some time chatting with a local farmer - Jane Bush (who I'd bought my maple syrup from the day before). I ended up buying a flat of organic strawberries and another bag of organic spinach. I have to say that these strawberries are the best we've had yet! I've already run through most of them - making 9 half-pints of strawberry jam, freezing a quart, drying another couple quarts. We're keeping one quart to eat fresh and then I think I might try making some strawberry fruit leather with the last quart... we'll just have to see how much time I have tomorrow or Sunday. The spinach I'll be using for salads. I also picked up a pint of organic fava beans and a bunch of kale from one of the organic CSAs with a stand at the city market. We'll have the fava beans as a side dish to one of our meals next week and the kale has been made into kale chips.

Preserving the Harvest

For the last month or more, I've been working on a list of preservation efforts I'd love to accomplish at some point this year. Most of which are using things I am actually growing in my garden, or things I'm hoping to pick up at one of my local farmers markets this summer. I think my list is pretty ambitious, but it'll be awesome if I can actually accomplish all of this. And I'm sure I'll switch some things up as time goes on, especially once I look through all of my canning books again, but here's my list so far with things crossed off that I've already completed.

DEHYDRATING:

• Strawberries (RAW: 2 qts sliced, 2 qts halved; DRY: 2 pint jars)
• Cherries (RAW: 6 qts whole; DRY: 3 pint jars)
• Blueberries
• Grapes (RAW: 1 pound; DRY: 1 half-pint jar )
• Spinach (RAW: 4 pounds; DRY: 1 pint jar)
• Zucchini (RAW: 3 medium yellow; DRY: 3/4 pint jar)
• Celery
• Garlic
• Yellow/White Onions
• Red Onions
• Green Onions (RAW: 2 bunches; DRY: 3/4 pint jar)
• Carrots
• Oregano
• Dill (RAW: 3 bunches; DRY: 1 half-pint jar)
• Parsley
• Basil
• Chives (DRY: half of a half-pint jar)
• Sage
  

CANNING:

Condiments

• Giada’s Balsamic BBQ Sauce (3 half-pints)
• Ketchup
• Mustards – Dijon, Beer
• Dill Pickles
• Salad Dressings

Soups

• Cream Soups – Celery, Broccoli, Chicken
• Giada’s Tomato Soup

Stocks

• Beef
• Veggie

Veggies

• Beans – Cannellini, Pinto, Black, Chili/Ranch-style
• Creamed Corn
• Corn Salsa
• Cut Green Beans
• Chopped Tomatoes
• Stewed Tomatoes
• Tomato Sauce
• Enchilada Sauce

Fruit

• Strawberry Syrup (7 half-pints)
• Strawberry Jam (9 half-pints)
• Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves (7 half-pints)
• Black Forest Jam (14 half-pints)
• Cherry Pie Filling (6 pints, 1 half-pint)
• Sliced Peaches
• Peach Butter
• Pear Sauce
• Sliced Pears
• Applesauce
• Apple Butter

Other Sweet Things

• Butterscotch Sauce
• Caramel Sauce
• Hot Fudge Sauce

FREEZING:

• Strawberries (5 quarts)
• Sweet Cherries (4 quarts)
• Tart Cherries
• Blueberries (1 gallon bag)
• Pesto – Spinach, Basil, Parsley, Basil-Arugula (2 trays), Garlic Scape (2 trays)
• Spinach (3 pounds)
• Snow Peas (2 quarts, 2 pints... about 3/4 of a gallon-size bag)
• Sugar Snap Peas (missed them)
• Chard (2 pounds)
• Pac Choi
• Broccoli (11 heads... 2 1-gallon size bags and 1 quart size bag)
• Zucchini (1 gallon bag of yellow slices, 1 gallon bag of yellow chunks)
• Beans (2 1/2 1-gallon bags)
• Corn (9 ears de-cobbed = 1/2 1-gallon bag)
• Cauliflower
• Peppers
• Cabbage
• Parsley, chopped with a little water in cubes (1 tray)
  

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

I decided to make some strawberry rhubarb preserves after my visit to the Grand Blanc Farmers Market this morning (we were in GB, so just went there). I had marked this recipe last year in my Preserving Summer's Bounty book, but was reminded of it when I saw it on A Good Appetite a few weeks ago. So I was very happy to pick up some organic rhubarb and organically grown (but not certified) strawberries at the market this morning. I bought six quarts of berries and I'm already wishing I'd bought more as they've almost all been used up! I sliced up two quarts and threw them in the dehydrator. I sliced up another quart and have it flash-freezing on a cookie sheet right now. Two quarts were used in this recipe and we've just been munching on the remaining quart. I also picked up two pints of snow peas that have been blanched and frozen, and a large bag of spinach that I plan to dehydrate tomorrow once the strawberries are done. I must say it's been a very productive nap-time (Carson's nap-time, not mine :)). I don't remember when I've felt like I'd accomplished so much in such a short amount of time... I've even gone through a couple loads of laundry - washed, dried, folded/hung, and put away. Not bad!

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

1 1/3 c honey (local, pretty much organic, pure)
4 c strawberries, washed, stemmed & thickly sliced (organically grown, but not certified)
4 c rhubarb, washed and sliced (organic)
3 T lemon juice

Place the strawberries in a medium enamel or stainless steel saucepan. Drizzle 1/3 cup of the honey over them & let sit at room temperature for 3 - 4 hours.

Add the rhubarb, remaining 1 cup of honey & lemon juice to the saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil stirring from time to time. Cook at a rapid boil for 15 - 20 minutes or until berries are clear & the sauce has thickened. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat & skim off the foam.

Ladle into four hot sterilized half-pint jars leaving about 1/4-inch headroom. Clean off the tops of the jars & cover with a lid. Close with a neckband & finger-tighten. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Turn off heat & let sit for 5 minutes. Remove jars from the water to a heat-proof surface & let cool for 12 - 24 hours (do not dry jars). Check to make sure the top of the jar has been drawn downwards, creating a seal. If it hasn't either reprocess that jar or store it in the fridge to be eaten within 3 weeks. Remove the neckbands & store jam in a cool dark place.

Makes 4 half-pints (I just about doubled the recipe and ended up with 7 1/2 half-pints.)

Strawberry Syrup

This morning I made and canned a batch of strawberry syrup using a recipe that I found on one of the canning boards I visit. I had been looking for a strawberry syrup recipe for some time before finding this one - notice it contains no corn syrup? All of the strawberry syrup recipes I kept finding contained corn syrup and I've recently found out that light corn syrup now contains high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) (I guess it didn't used to have HFCS in it), which I did not want to use in my preservation efforts since that is something I'm really trying to limit and get away from. I tasted this syrup as I was filling the jars and it is yummy! Can't wait to have it on pancakes or waffles or some homemade vanilla ice cream! It was very easy to make and went very quickly once I got all the berries hulled and chopped.

Strawberry Syrup

Juice:
3 quarts strawberries
1 cup water

Syrup:
4 cups strawberry juice
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Juice: Mash berries and crush them one layer at a time. In 8 quart pan, mix berries with water and put on med-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and take cover off and skim foam. Let it cool for 15 minutes.

Sieve over a bowl or pan to strain out the pulp. Discard the pulp and rinse the sieve. (I did not discard the pulp, but froze it in cubes to throw into fruit smoothies.) Measure 4 cups of juice.

To make syrup: In medium saucepan, mix juice, sugar and lemon juice. Over med-low heat, stir it constantly and heat till sugar is ALL dissolved. Increase heat to med-hi and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer syrup for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and skim off any foam.

Ladle hot syrup into hot jars, leave 1/4 inch space. Wipe jar rims and threads with damp clean cloth, apply lids and rings. Process half pints in boiling water bath (BWB) for 10 minutes, pints for 15 minutes.

Makes 6 half-pints or 3 pints

(I used about three and a three-quarters quarts berries and got five cups of juice and 7 half-pints of syrup.)

Farmers Markets Galore!

This past week I have been able to hit up another farmers' market and, even though I hadn't planned it, got a good start on my preservation efforts for this summer's harvest season. As I've said before, I am trying to make/grow/buy locally as much as I can this year. It is my goal to do enough preservation and buying of meat and grain/flour straight from the farm that all I will need to buy this winter are milk, eggs, sugar, and a few other things along these lines.

I hit up a local Lansing market on Wednesday - the Allen Street Market - held in one of the neighborhoods right near where I work. I went there a few times last year and have always loved going there and look forward to making more visits there every week or two throughout the summer. I picked up a half-flat of strawberries, 2 quarts of snow peas, 2 huge bunches of spinach, and a large bunch of garlic scapes. We're getting a lot of our own snow peas from our garden, but we've been eating them raw (Carson loves them just like Kevin and I do!) and I want to freeze a good amount of them for stir fries, too. I rarely see them at farmers markets and have been told by my local farmers that its b/c they all eat them raw before they can leave the farm. So I was very excited to pick up 2 whole quarts of them! I blanched and froze the entire quantity. The spinach has received the same treatment - blanched and frozen - to supplement the spinach that I'd frozen from our garden. The strawberries have been made into strawberry syrup (post to come). And I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the garlic scapes yet, but they keep for up to two months in the fridge, so I have time to deal with those. I'll probably add them to dishes as I would scallions mostly.

Tomorrow I'll be hitting up the Swartz Creek farmers' market before we head out to my cousins' church for their annual FIESTA festival. I'm excited to see what our market will have tomorrow!