More yummy and fun canning recipes!

Ok, I'll stand up and admit it. I am a canning addict. I LOVE, love, love! making new and tasting things that will help carry over summer through the cold months.

I recently joined a really fun group of fellow canners on Facebook in my area, and I've been so lucky to have met two of them already! I think we all though, might need an intervention. My sister keeps threatening to give me one and warns me to put down the bucket and step away from the fruit and produce. I can't help it, I love harvesting and picking the amazing goodies and turning them into things I will love all winter.

I did three new ones this weekend, one of them I wasn't sure how the flavors would meld, but they are amazing together. I've been wanting to do a fig jam for a while now as I love figs, and I finally found some locally grown and plump and delicious.

Of course coming from New Mexico, I do love things with chilies. But I am not into the thermonuclear heat of some of them, I love the ones that give you that wonderful earthiness and subtle heat. So when I came across a recipe for a sweet chile sauce, I had to modify it for a jelly to enjoy.

The third recipe was another onion jam, a bit different though, but equally as tasty, it's going to be great to serve at parties.

Ok, I'll quit blathering and get to the recipes.

Let's go with the fig jam, very very tasty!

Fig Jam with Rosemary

6 cups of diced fresh mission figs, stem removed. Dice fine
3/4 cup of sugar
zest and juice of one large lemon
2/3 cup of good port or full red wine
1 Tbl dried rosemary, crushed
1/8 tsp of sea salt

Toss diced figs and sugar in your sauce pot and let stand, stirring occasionally to let the fruit macerate and most of the sugar is dissolved.

Get your water bath canner ready and 4 1/2 pint jars ready to sterilize

Add the remaining ingredients to the figs, bring to a boil, let boil one minute, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid sheets off your spoon.

Ladle the mixture into your hot sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, wipe the rims clean and seal with the hot sterile lids. (yes you might have a little left to put in the fridge and enjoy with breakfast).
Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove the jars and let them cool on a towel. Store out of the light in a cool place.

Sweet Chile Jelly

10 good sized red jalapenos, coarsely chopped, with seeds
2 red serranos, chopped with seeds
6 to 8 cloves of garlic, chopped (I used two huge cloves of elephant garlic)
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 to 1 1/4 cup water
6 tsp sea salt
3 Tbl arrowroot starch
6 Tbl water

Puree the jalapenos, garlic, vinegar, sugar and 1 cup water in food processor or blender. You'd like it to be as smooth as possible. Transfer this mixture to a non-reactive stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low boil and let it cook until it thickens a bit.
Combine the arrowroot and 6 Tbl of water and whisk until smooth. Add this to the pepper mixture and simmer until thickened, adding the last 1/4 cup of water if you like. This only takes a couple of minutes. It gets thick pretty fast.

Ladle into sterilized hot jars (3, half pint jars). Wipe the rims, seal with hot lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars and let them cool on a towel on the counter.

This is a sweetish jelly with a nice subtle warmth to it. Very nice.....

Onion and Rosemary Jam (small jar on the right)

3 pounds of sweet onions, like Walla Walla or Vidalia (equals 8 to 10 onions approximately)
1 large shallot
1/4 cup grapeseed oil or olive oil
2 - 3 Tbl dried crushed rosemary
2 Tbl dried thyme
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp chile flakes
3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/8 cup good red wine
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar

Peel, halve and slice the onions and shallot fairly thin, about 1/4" thick. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large stockpot. Add the onions and stir to coat them then add the rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, chile flakes, salt and pepper. Stir to mix and cover the pot and let the onions cook down until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

When the onions have lost most of their liquid, remove the lid and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a slow boil then reduce the heat slightly and let it simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the liquid is reduced by half. This is about 20 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and discard them. Let the jam simmer a bit longer, about 10 more minutes.

Ladle into sterilized hot half pint jars, (takes 5), wipe the rims and seal with hot lids. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Remove jars and allow them to cool on a towel.

That about covers what I've done this weekend, what about you? Maybe next weekend, I'll try my hand at Hawthorne Jelly! Who knows, maybe my friend and I can corroborate on a new type of jellies that can have added health benefits. :)

Enjoy! And if there is a recipe you want to try and I haven't posted it here yet, I will be happy to do so if you let me know what you're looking for!

Being Adventurous and Trying New Things - Golden Beet Butter

I love trying new things and doing new things with some of my favorite foods. One of my favorite foods is beets. Yes I know, not everyone loves them, but then most folks only know of them out of a can. Blech.

Fresh beets are different, very different! There are many varieties and many ways to prepare them. And I love them all. But once upon a time I wasn't a beet lover. My palate changed as I grew older and had a friend have me try his borscht. Well, that little bowl of beautiful red borscht changed my outlook on beets forever. And it seems I can't get enough of them sometimes.

You'd be surprised how many foods you probably eat daily that has beets in them, V8 is one of the ones that comes to mind.

However, aside from my nattering on about beets, I tried something new today. I made a recipe that I found on Pinterest, but changed it a bit for myself and whatever my creative mind decided I wanted it to be.

And yes, you can can it if you'd like or make some for yourself, (yeah after you taste it you may not want to share it) or for a party. I think it'd be fab with goat cheese, or plain on a cracker or piece of crusty french bread, or as the nutella commercial notes, "SPOONS!"

This is before I canned it....

Then I tasted it, and thought I'd found nirvana! I really did moan, it was silky and delicious! I think the color from the gold beets is gorgeous, (imagine using the red or candy cane beets!) and was simple to make! However, I will note, if you make enough to can (3 x the amounts and you'd get 7 half pints and little more), don't forget the maple syrup. Though if I'd thought of it earlier, I would have used the beet syrup I made after boiling the beets from the water in lieu of maple syrup. Maple can be pretty strong flavored, and gold beets have a delicate sweet flavor on their own.

Ok, here goes....

Golden Beet Butter

4 good sized golden beets, scrubbed and trimmed slightly
2 cups lightly roasted macadamia nuts, chopped
4 Tbl grapeseed oil
4 Tbl maple syrup (or use the beet syrup you make with the water)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt

Boil the beets with just enough water to cover them, until they are fork tender, 30-45 mins approximately. Using a slotted spoon remove them from the pot and put them into cold water. Let them cool until you can easily handle them. While you wait, strain the water and measure the amount and put into another sauce pot. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar to the water and bring to a boil then simmer to make a simple syrup.
Peel your beets and chop them.
In your food processor, process the macadamia nuts and grapeseed oil until smooth and buttery. Add the beets and keep processing until smooth scraping down the sides as needed. Add the salt, vanilla and drizzle in the syrup.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge if you're going to serve it right away.

If you plan to can it, fill, hot sterile half pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Seal with hot lids and process in the pressure canner for 35 minutes. Let the pressure release on it's own, when the pressure has gone down, remove the jars from the canner and let cool on a towel.

Please note again, if you're canning it, you do need to use the syrup, but the syrup can be omitted if you're going to use it at your party or snack on it.

And yes, beet syrup is beautiful, use it in your iced tea, to flavor water or even flavor baked goods too! This is my syrup.... I LOVE the color and it smelled so wonderful!

Waste not, want not. And preserving the summer bounty

As many of you have figured out, I've been very busy during my weekends picking fruit and vegetables and preserving them a lot. I think today is the first day I've sat down to share some recipes with you on canning.

As you can see, I've been busy!

And this picture does not even include the 5 batches of wine or liquor I've done! Nor the 39+ canned items I've shared with family and my elderly neighbors. And those binders have many of my recipes in them.

I've pickled veggies and crabapples, I've made fruit butters, jams, jellies, barbecue sauces, salsa, tomato sauces and crushed tomatoes and even canned tuna (first time ever) and pickled Kelp! And I'm not done yet. Things to do yet for me will be elder berries, quince, and persimmons. I may even can some salmon when I can get some.

It's a lot of work, but also very rewarding and I've been very blessed to have met some wonderful people during all this. And why would you turn down the chance to pick fresh fruit for free and enjoy that taste of summer during the winter months?

I thought I would share a couple recipes, one I have done several times before and is one of my favorites which allows you to use everything in the process, and another new one that I had a request to share. And I'll share another tip or two. ;)

First is the requested recipe I found the original from Rachel Ray, modified a little and canned it instead of refrigerating it. :) And thanks to Ray Cook who is a master canner for telling me how to can it! And yes, that is pickled asparagus behind these lovely little jars.

Caramelized Onion & Thyme Jam

2 Large sweet onions (or like me, 1 HUGE walla walla onion) Chopped into 1 inch chunks
2 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl of butter
3 Tbl balsamic vinegar
2 Tbl organic cane sugar (I used raw so it had a little of the molasses left in it)
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbl fresh or dry thyme leaves
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
3 half pint jars with lids and rings

In a large heavy sauce pot, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, vinegar, sugar, bay leaf and thyme. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are becoming tender. Remove the lid, and increase the heat to medium-high and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the onions become caramelized and nice and golden. Season with sea salt and pepper.

While it's cooking, heat your water in your water bath canner and sterilize the jars and lids.

Spoon the mixture into the hot jars and seal. Place into the water bath and process for 10 minutes. Remove jars when done to a towel to cool.

That's it. It smelled heavenly, and yes, I did a taste test.... Oh My Goodness! It's very good! I can see munching on it over all kinds of things.

Now.... I don't have a picture to share of the beets right now, didn't think to get any.... Oh well hey?

Spiced Pickled Beets

4 lbs of beets, scrubbed, greens trimmed leaving a bit of the top, and tap root trimmed but not fully removed
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp or 12 cloves
2 tsp kosher salt

Boil beets with just enough water to cover, cover the pot reduce heat and simmer until very tender, about 25-35 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the beets and put in cold or ice water to stop cooking and be able to remove the skins.

NOTE: Keep the water you boiled the beets in! I'll tell you why at the end!

When the beets are cool, peel and remove the top and slice them. Set them aside

Have your water bath canner  with hot water and Sterilize your jars and lids.

In a separate stock pot, place the sugar, water, and vinegar in. Make a spice bag with cheese cloth and add the spices to it. Place the spice bag in the pot with the vinegar solution and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove and discard the spice bag.

Pack your sliced beets into the hot pint jars leaving about 1/2 inch head space. Ladle in the hot vinegar solution over the beets, remove any bubbles from the sides of the jars with a knife or fork handle and wipe the rims and seal. Process in hot bath for 15 minutes, adjusting time as needed for altitudes. Cool jars on a towel.

NOW, I know you're asking, what about the water we save from boiling the beets in? Well you can do several things with it, but first you need to strain it through several layers of cheesecloth or 2 layers of flour sacking like I have.

You can make a syrup with it, freeze it for soups, OR you can make beet root wine with it. Which is what I do, like this....

Beetroot Wine

1 gallon of beet water (from canning recipe above)
4 lbs of sugar
juice of 3 lemons (no seeds please)
8 cloves

Add the sugar and lemon juice to the beet water, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cloves and cover and let ferment and a warm place out of the light for 3 weeks. (I use  simple gallon jars with an airlock in the lid)
After 3 weeks, skim, strain the wine through at least 2 layers of flour sack cloth or get a strainer bag like a jelly bag, and bottle it.

Wine can be that simple. And this is a delicious wine and depending on the type of beets you processed you can have a lovely golden color or a fabulous ruby color wine. And it's ready to enjoy after aging a couple of months in the bottle. Something to enjoy for the holidays. Of course if you want a deeper flavor or color, cook several more pounds of beets in the water and put some of those wonderful veggies in the freezer!

A few other tips to make the most of your summer harvest. If you're putting up tomatoes and you need to skin them, save those skins, dehydrate them and when dried, crush them or pulverize them for tomato flakes or powder for soups and stews. If you want to try pickled kelp, save the fronds and air dry them outside for kelp flakes for soups. I am sure there are many other tips out there, but these were the ones I could think of at the moment.

If there is a recipe you want to know about, be sure to let me know, I'll share what I've got or done.

Yes it's Canning Season, and Yes I cannot say no to the bounty....

I am fortunate in that the place I live grows a huge bounty of wonderful foods. And with all the bounty that is available at the Farmer's markets, farms for u-pick and wonderful people here in the valley that let you come pick their unwanted fruit, well, as my sister keeps saying, maybe I do need an intervention!

I simply cannot help myself! I LOVE all these wonderful amazing things that are growing! And one way to ensure I can enjoy this amazing bounty through the winter into spring is to preserve, pickle, freeze and can delicious foods.

Last weekend it was to pick plums and bosc and bartlett pears. OH MY! I've made chutney, spiced plums in blackberry port that I also made, an asian plum sauce, and this evening spicy plum barbecue sauce. I love barbecue sauces! So versatile!

I know with all the goodies I've put up with tomatoes, okra, pickles, curry pickled veggies and such, I should probably catch up and share most of my recipes!

And if it weren't for a friend who also cans asking for this recipe, I'd probably get distracted and not share this one.

I'm still learning all the types of plums and fruits that grow here. Way too many varieties to remember!

Anyhow, I had just a little more than 3 lbs left of these and they are ripening fast, so I set out this evening to make a spicy plum barbecue sauce. And I will say, it's very tasty!

Yeah, I'll make this one again..... very good, I can see it basting a ham for Thanksgiving supper. OH BOY!

Spicy Plum Barbecue Sauce 



Makes 3 pints



Ingredients:
3 to 3.5 lbs of ripe plums
4 large cloves of garlic roughly chopped
1 Tbl minced ginger
5 thin slices of lemon
1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup raw organic cane sugar (it will have some of the molasses in it, and be gold colored) or use 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbl Corriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbl peppercorns
Sage leaves, about 4 of them
1 Tbl Worcestershire Sauce
3 Tbl red chile powder
2 tsp sea salt



Wash, pit and chop plums and add to stockpot with sugar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and let plums start to cook a bit.



Make a spice bag with cheese cloth containing the lemon slices, pepper corns, ginger, garlic cloves, coriander, cumin, and sage and tie it closed.



Add the chile powder, garlic, vinegar, salt and worcestershire to the plums and add your spice bag. Stir and cook the plums down till extremely tender at a simmer, stirring occasionally. Approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Turn off the heat and carefully remove the spice bag to a bowl. Using a spoon, press all the juices out and return the juices to the pot. Either carefully using your food processor or immersion blender stick, puree the fruit in the pot, or if you used your food processor, return the puree to the pot. Check the taste and adjust any seasoning.



Return the sauce to the heat and simmer another 15 minutes while you prepare your jars and lids. Make sure your water bath pot or steamer is ready.



Ladle the sauce into 3 pint jars leaving about 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims and seal. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes and let the jars cool 24 hours on a towel.



If you don't want to can this for use later, you can store it in jars in the refrigerator up to a month.



I promise it's easy to make, no peeling, and it's very yummy! I cannot wait to have some after the flavors have had a chance to meld a bit more.



This weekend I'll be doing MORE tomatoes into sauce; pick, roast and freeze green chilies; process the ripe pears into a couple of tasty things; and find green beans to make dilly beans! Who knows what else I'll run across! And personally, who cares? I'm having fun, I enjoy it and enjoy meeting so many wonderful people. Thank heavens though I have a 3 day weekend this weekend!

Ah summer and gorgeous fruit!

Yes, it's summer here in the pacific northwest. And we are certainly getting above average temperatures for this summer. Which means all the bounty of amazing fruits, berries, produce are ripening early and big and juicy. Which is wonderful, but it's also making me a bit crazy!

All this bounty has me out picking fruit, sharing the harvest with family and making oodles of different wines. My sister thinks I need a fruit intervention! This thought might be in part to the fact that I have stuffed my poor little freezer full of frozen veggies and fruits. Literally, it's stuffed. And I don't have the space built yet to put all the canned goodies. Yeah, I cannot say no to fresh picked fruits and berries, especially at less than a dollar a pound to pick most or free from fab neighbors.

My latest crazy picking spree garnered me just over 24 lbs of fresh peaches. That's a lot of peaches actually! I got home after picking up other fresh goodies, to include being given 4 HUGE crookneck squash. Looked at all the fresh goodies and thought to myself, what the hell am I going to do with 24 lbs of peaches??? I had thought to freeze some, but can't now, freezer is full with all kinds of goodies I've already picked or harvested. Sigh.... Well, this means I need to can them all somehow.

Well, I had about 5 lbs of them ripe this morn, and the puppy made off with one of them, she thinks all the fruit is tasty. Yeah, right, momma's little helper, right? LOL

These are just a few of them. They smell so sweet!

Ok, what to do with them? I plan to make some into a Butter Caramel Peach Butter, but one can only make so much of that!

Well I came across a recipe for a peach bbq sauce in one of my canning cookbooks, and I decided to make some of that! Though I modified it some.

Got all of my canning stuff lined out, the water bath pot heating to sanitize the jars and lids, and got the ingredients lined out. Sorry I didn't take pics as I went along. I wasn't sure how I'd like it first. I can say it's really awesome!

So, here's my awesome sauce!

Peach Chile Barbecue Sauce

5 lb or so ripe peaches, pitted and chopped. skins on are ok
2 Tbl olive oil
1 Medium sweet onion, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
6 large cloves of fresh garlic minced
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup of water or bourbon (your choice)
1 cup worcestershire sauce
4 oz tomato paste
2 Tbl peeled and grated fresh ginger root
1-3 Tbl red Chile powder ( I used 3, NM red chile powder)
Salt and pepper to taste

Have your canning equipment set up and 6 pint jars with lids and bands ready.

In a large non-reactive saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil and saute the onion and shallots until tender. Add the garlic and cook for about 2 more minutes. Stir in the peaches, sugar, molasses, vinegar and water or bourbon. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce to medium and simmer uncovered, for about 30 minutes until the peaches are very tender. Let cool for a bit.

Either using a stick blender or working in batches, puree the peaches and liquid and return to the pot. Add all remaining ingredients and bring back to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Ladle the sauce into hot jars, leave about 1/4 inch of headspace, remove any bubbles, wipe the rims clean and seal tightly with lids and bands.

Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove jars and let cool on a towel.

I had enough to fill 6 pint jars and the perfect amount left over to use for my supper tonight on the grill. Of course I had to taste it! Let's just say it was so awesome it was addicting! 

Now if I could just keep the puppy from wanting to sample them all before I can the rest! I figure I'll make the butter, preserve some and maybe make jam if the other two don't use up all the batch. Of course I'm sharing all this bounty with family out here.

Off to pick crabapples tonight, I know I'll be making another batch of wine from them (which will make the 4th batch of wine I will make this summer) and a spiced apple butter with them. I also will have more apples to pick soon, plums and pears to pick from neighbors. And I still want to pick black berries!

Ok, maybe I do need an intervention.... I just hate to see the bounty go to waste!

What to do with your bounty?

A friend recently turned me on to Bountiful Baskets. It's a co-op that doesn't cost to join, but every other week, you log in and contribute to pick up fresh produce and fruit and other asundry goodies on Saturdays usually.  I had been looking for ways to get back into eating more fresh veggies and fruit again, and usually the produce in the grocery stores has kind of left me flat lately. I've been missing the farmer's markets.

Bountiful Baskets is a great way to get fresh foods at much less than you would spend at the market. You can choose conventional or organic, there are add ons for a bit extra money, things like a juicing basket (which I got this week) that would contain veggies and fruit to juice, Italian veggie basket, fresh baked organic breads, coconut oil, olive oil, and the list goes on.

This week in my regular basket I got pear tomatoes, potatoes, artichokes, avocados, oranges, apples, bananas, celery, romaine lettuce, acorn squash and brussel sprouts. In the juicing basket I ordered I got more celery, beets, kale, more celery, apples, ginger, parsley, carrots, and a pineapple. I am sure I am forgetting things as I filled three huge reusable grocery sacks!

Well, in my humble opinion, there is only so much celery a single person can possibly eat! And these were huge bunches of celery! I love celery, but not enough to eat it everyday. So I had to get creative how to enjoy some of this for supper this evening. Aha moment!

And my Braised Plum Tomatoes and Celery was born.

I served it over brown rice that I had soaked all day, it was delightfully delicious, light and filling. And I am grateful for left overs! I also decided to cook my remaining collard greens for the side.

You might be surprised how good it actually is, and I'm willing to bet the kids would love it too!

Braised Plum Tomatoes and Celery

1 head/bunch of celery, trimmed, washed and cut into 1" pieces.
2 cups plum tomatoes, halved
1 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 cup chopped onion
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 Tbl sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbl coconut oil or olive oil

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic for 30 seconds, add onion and cook till it starts becoming soft. Add tomatoes and parsley and broth. Cook for a couple of minutes then add the remaining ingredients. Cook down until the liquid is halved and tomatoes are soft.
Serve over rice or pasta. and Enjoy!

Now if you want the secret for a perfect pot of brown rice.... I'll share it with you....

1 cup brown rice
1 Tbl whey
water

Put the rice in a container, add the whey and enough water to cover by an inch. Let it soak 8 hours or even more is fine. Drain the rice and rinse.
In a sauce pot, put in 2 cups water, broth or combo of. Add the rice, and 1 Tbl butter or coconut oil. You can also add cilantro or parsley at this point too. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook 20-25 minutes until the water is absorbed.

That's it, that's all there is to it, and you get the best tasting perfectly cooked rice every time. And in half the cooking time!