A Little Peace of Mind
There’s just something wonderful about waking up in the morning and seeing this on your counter. This is what I saw Wednesday morning when I got up and went into the kitchen.
On Tuesday I canned: 5 quarts of tomato soup, 5 pints of tomato soup, 4 pints of pickles, 3 quarts of sauerkraut, 3 pints of sauerkraut.
What’s on your counter at the moment?
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Making Jalapeño Jelly
I’m always game for making new things, particularly when it comes to enjoying fresh produce from the farmer’s market. When I was at the market last weekend I saw some lovely jalapeño peppers, so I snatched them up. While contemplating what to do with them and I came across Baby Loves Jellies post about making jalapeño jelly.
Since I’m a big fan of all things spicy, particularly where spicy hot peppers are involved, I knew this jelly was right up my alley. This recipe is particularly interesting because it is made with all jalapeño peppers and it contains no green peppers. It’s actually more of a jam than a jelly because you don’t strain out the seeds like you do in a lot recipes. Of course the result is a hotter jelly than most recipes.
Since I cannot follow a recipe to a T, I amended it to suit my tastes. I don’t like to use pectin when making jams/jellies, I prefer using tart apples or nothing at all. I find that certain jellies, particularly this one, work well if they’re a little runny. After all, you don’t really want to use huge amounts of this jam on your toast, it is quite spicy!
Jalapeño Jelly
12 jalapeños
2 tart green apples, chopped
2 cups cider vinegar, divided (I prefer organic unfiltered raw apple cider vinegar)
6 cups sugar (I use organic evaporated cane juice which makes the jelly darker)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 green jalapeños, diced finely (for added texture, add to blender with peppers above if you don’t want jalapeño bits in your jelly)
2 red hot peppers, diced finely (for added color, you can use sweet if you’d like, or add additional jalapeños)
Chop up 12 of the jalapeños and add them to blender with one cup vinegar and the 2 chopped apples and liquefy.
Make sure the wear rubber gloves while cutting & handling peppers since the hot pepper oil can burn the skin. Also don’t inhale too deeply when opening blender and when cooking the jelly, can cause coughing. Make sure you wash your hands well after handling peppers to remove all pepper oil.
Combine the pepper & apple purée with the remaining cup of vinegar, lemon juice and sugar in a pan and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
Boil for ten minutes, stirring often. If it’s not thick enough boil longer, test for thickness by putting some on a cold plate and letting it rest. Remove from heat and add remaining diced red peppers and jalapeños and stir to incorporate.
Ladle directly into hot, sterilized jars. Leave a quarter inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and wipe the rims clean. Add lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
I canned this jelly in small 4 oz jars because I figured a pint or half pint might not be used up quick enough. I ended up with 12- 4 oz jars and 2-8 oz jars.
This jelly is perfectly spicy, of course I love hot spicy foods. It’s perfect on things like cornbread, or a bagel with cream cheese. I even added some to my apple pancakes the other evening and it added the perfect spiciness, of course Mr Chiots thought I was crazy. I think a jar of this mixed with a jar of chutney would make a great BBQ sauce for chicken or salmon.
Are you a hot spicy food lover, or do you prefer to keep things on the tame side?
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My Kitchen Table
My kitchen table is currently littered with canning supplies and a surplus of veg from the garden and the farmer’s market. It is the season for preserving summer’s bounty for those long dreary winter months.
I’m not a big fan of canning, but I do love the delicious food all winter long.
What methods do you employ to preserve summer’s bounty?
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Canning Tomato Soup
My tomato harvests have been ramping up now that the warm weather is here. On Sunday I harvested over 28 pounds of tomatoes. With this many tomatoes it’s time to start canning. The recipe I’m starting with is tomato soup. I made this last year it was by far our favorite canned item. We finished off all of the jars earlier this spring, so this year I need to can more than I did last year (31 pints).
I’m particularly excited about this soup because this year I grew my own celery. I also started a lot of onions, but onions are one of those things that don’t do all that well in my garden, so I’ve been buying them at the farmer’s market.
TOMATO SOUP
6 onions, chopped
1 bunch celery, chopped
8 quarts fresh tomatoes (or 5-6 quarts of juice) *I coarsely chop mine in quarters leaving the stems on them since I’m putting them through a food mill.
1 cup sugar (I find this is too much and I use less usually 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup salt (I usually add 2 T and then taste before I add more)
1 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup lemon juice
Directions
1. Chop onion& celery. Place in large kettle w/ just enough water to keep them from burning. While this simmers, cut tomatoes (remove stems if not using strainer).
2. Add tomatoes to kettle & cook until tender.
3. When tender put through Victorio or Squeezo (or similar food mill) strainer. (reserve 2 cups for mixing with butter/flour)
4. Return to kettle, add lemon juice, sugar & salt.
5. Cream butter and flour together& mix thoroughly with two cups of reserved juice (chill so it’s cold), until dissolved (or blend together in a blender), to avoid lumps of flour in the juice. Add butter/flour mixture to warmed tomato juice. (Add before it’s hot, to avoid lumps of flour!). Stir well.
6. Heat just until hot. (If it gets to a boil, it can make the flour lumpy). Just prior to boiling, turn off the burner. (It will continue to thicken as it cools.).
7. Ladle into hot jars with 1/4 headspace, close securely with lids.
8. Put in canner & process 30 minutes (start timing when it’s at a ‘rolling’ boil).
9. Remove from canner & allow to set until sealed (approx. 12 hours)
To serve, mix equal parts tomato concentrate to milk (or water or chicken stock), and add 1/2 t. of baking soda per pint as it cooks (1 t. per quart) if using milk, this keeps the milk from curdling. I actually prefer to add chicken stock to mine instead of milk, I also omit the baking soda when using stock or water. I serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated romano cheese, a sprinkle of cayenne and a little freshly ground black pepper.
**Some people say this isn’t long enough in a canner, some people say you should only pressure can this recipe. I’m happy with it and am quite comfortable making it and processing it in this way. If you’re uncomfortable with this method use whatever canning method you’re comfortable with.
What’s your favorite home-preserved garden food?
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Fermenting Some Pickles
A couple weeks ago Mr Chiot’s 2nd mom sent me this book that was her mom’s. It’s an old Farm Journal Country Cookbook. It’s from the 70’s so all of the photos are quite fun, it’s amazing how far food photography has come since then (just check out smittenkitchen.com)
While leafing through it I was trying to decide what I could make from it. It has all kinds of exciting recipes, it’s particularly good for seasonal cooking recipes. It also has some interesting kitchen items that most people don’t keep in their kitchens any more, like a stone or a paraffined brick.
I came across this recipe for 14-day Sweet Pickles. Since I’ve been wanting to make a batch of brined pickles I decided this would be the perfect recipe to try.
I now have a batch of pickles in the dining room brining away. They’ll sit in their brine for, then on the 8th day I start the week-long process of finishing the pickles. I’m kind of excited to see how they turn out. I’ll be sharing some with Brian’s parents next time they come for a visit.
14-Day Sweet Pickles
adaptation of an heirloom recipe long prized in country kitchens
3 1/2 qts (2″) pickling cucumbers (about 4 lbs)
1 c. coarse flake pickling salt
2 qts boiling water
1/2 tsp powdered alum (I’m not using alum in my recipe)
5 c. vinegar
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
4 -2″ cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 c. sugar
1. Wash cucumbers carefully; cut in lengthwise halves and place in stone crock, glass, pottery or enamel-lined pan (I cut mine into big chunks).
2. Prepare brine by dissolving salt in boiling water; pour over cucumbers. Weight cucumbers down with a place almost as large as the crock and lay a stone or parraffined brick (not marble or limestone) on plate to keep cucumbers under the brine. Let stand 1 week.
3. On the 8th day, drain; pour 2 qts fresh boiling water over cucumbers. Let stand 24 hours.
4. On the 9th day, drain; pour 2 qts fresh boiling water mixed with alum over cucumbers. Let stand 24 hours.
5. On the 10th day, drain; pour 2 qts fresh boiling water over cucumbers. Let stand 24 hours.
6. The next day, drain. Combine vinegar, 3 c. sugar, celery seeds and cinnamon; heat to boiling point and pour over cucumbers.
7. For the next 3 days, drain, retaining liquid. Reheat liquid each morning adding 1/2 c. sugar each time. After the last heating, on the 14th day, pack pickles into hot jars. Remove cinnamon sticks; pour boiling hot liquid over pickles; adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath (212) 5 minutes. Remove jars and complete seals unless closures are self-sealing type. Makes 5-6 pints. (current standards say to process pickles for 10 minutes in a water bath canner).
Do you have any old heirloom cookbooks in your kitchen? Have you ever made a recipe from it?
