Friday Favorite: Garden Peas
I’ve always been a big fan of garden peas, they’re just so sweet and tasty. I rarely every have enough for freezing, most of them are enjoyed within a few hours of being picked.
Since I never end up with enough peas for the freezer, this year I planted a ton. Two seventy foot long rows to be exact, along with a few six foot rows in the back potager for fresh eating. I grew ‘Green Arrow’ from High Mowing Seeds as my main crop peas. Other sowings included: ‘Little Marvel’, ‘Lincoln’, and ‘Dakota’.
My plan finally worked, on Wednesday evening we spent an hour shelling peas. After shelling our harvest weighed in at 8 pounds. They were blanched and packed into two cup glass containers for freezing.
Typically I’m not much of one for freezing or canning much from the garden, peas are the exception because winter soups and stews just aren’t the same without them!
We’ve also been enjoying our share fresh from the garden. Mostly, I’ve been steaming them then tossing them with butter and some homemade duck breast prosciutto. I always read about traditional recipes featuring peas and mint, but somehow I just can’t bring myself to put mint with peas. One of these days I will.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy garden peas? Do you like peas and mint together?
Share this:
Stocking up for Winter
I don’t spend much time canning in summer, I much prefer to eat vegetables fresh and in season. In winter my tastes lean more towards root vegetables roasted with venison or chicken. Hearty stews and crusty artisan breads are also on the menu quite often when the snow is on the ground. Learning to love root vegetables is quite nice because they don’t need much in the way of preservation, squash gets piled in a corner of the dining room, potatoes are tucked away in the garage, garlic and onions are in boxes in the basement, and cabbages are pounded with salt and stuffed into jars and stowed in the basement as well.
Every other year, I do spend some time putting up jam, jelly, relish, and chutney, but we have enough left from last year that I haven’t made any of that this year. The one thing I did spend some time putting in jars, tomatoes.
Over the past few weeks I have managed to put up a few dozen quart jars of tomato soup (recipe here if you’re interested) and some roasted tomato passata as well (recipe to come later). Hopefully I have just enough tomatoes left for a batch of ketchup and then my canner will retire to the basement shelf.
What summer bounty do spend the most time preserving?
Share this:
Making Traditionally Fermented Pickles
Traditionally fermented food are super healthy. It’s always nice when you can make something using these methods. Not only is it quick and easy to make, the end product is healthier than it’s more time-consuming processed counterpart. Pickles are a prime example. I make one kind of vinegar pickles that are canned. The rest of the pickles I make are fermented. Basically you put the pickles in a jar with whatever herbs you want to flavor them and cover them with salt water. A few weeks later you have a probiotic feast! Adding fermented pickles to your meals will help with digestion and increase the amount of nutrients you can absorb from what you eat.
When it comes to making pickles there are a few things you want to consider. First of all, you don’t want the cucumbers to be too large. The smaller the cucumbers the crisper the end product with be. You want the cucumbers to have distinct warts or bumps and no yellow on them. The smaller they are the less developed the seeds will be inside as well. Freshness also counts, if you can process them the same day you pick them that’s best. If you can’t process them right away make sure to put them in the refrigerator to keep them cool and process as soon as possible. The cucumber on the left is perfect for pickling, the one of the right is a little overmature (but you can still use it if you’d like). You can still use it for pickling, but there will be more seeds and the final product most likely won’t be as crisp.
Second you want to make sure you scrub the blossom end of the cucumber well. It is believed that it can harbor bad bacteria increasing the risks that your batch will not ferment properly. It is also thought that it can make your pickles not as crisp. Some people cut the blossom end of the pickle off, I simply scrape it with my nail until I can see the clean end of the cucumber. You can see the different between a cucumber with the blossom end cleaned (left) and one that hasn’t been cleaned enough (right).
Gently wash cucumbers. I usually just wipe with a damp cloth to remove all dirt. You don’t want to scrub them too much as they are delicate and they have beneficial bacteria that aid in fermentation in their skins. Place cucumbers and spices in a fermenting crock or a glass jar. Typically I avoid the use of any kind of plastic when pickling as the acidic brine encourages leeching of BPA’s and other chemicals from the plastic into the foods being fermented. I use 1 Gallon Glass Barrel Jars for fermenting pickles and sauerkraut. Wide mouth half gallon mason jars work quite well also. Depending on the size of container you use for fermenting you can use small plates, glass jars, or drinking glasses to weigh down the vegetables and keep them submerged in the brine.
I also always put my fermenting jars on a plate that has a lip to contain any brine that spills out of the jar. This seems to happen most of the time when I’m making pickles, sauerkraut or kimchi. Do not be alarmed if you see white mold or green mold floating on top of the brine when you’re pickling or in the brine that spills out of the jars onto the plate. This mold is common (some cultures even prefer it) and harmless. You will want to skim this off of the top of the brine daily, but don’t worry about getting all of it as it has a tendency to break up and float away. Since I use wide mouth pint jars to weigh down the vegetable I usually just push down on the jar, when the brine overflows out of the fermenting jar the white mold usually slides down the side of the jar. Every few days I add some extra brine if needed to keep the level up.
When fermenting you want to use pickling salt or sea salt. You do not want to use iodized table salt or any kind of salt that has anticaking agents in it. Many places will tell you to only use pickling salt, but I prefer to use an unrefined sea salt called Redmond Real Salt with the minerals in it. I purchase this salt in 25 pound bags directly from their website.
LOWER EAST SIDE FULL-SOUR DILL PICKLES
from The Joy of Pickling
About 4 pounds* of 3-5 inch pickling cucumbers, blossom ends removed
4 to 6 dill heads or large sprigs
2 small fresh or dried hot peppers broken or cut into pieces
8 garlic cloves, sliced
1 Tablespoon whole allspice berries
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 Tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1/2 cup pickling salt (4.65 oz)
3 quarts of water
Layer cucumbers in gallon jar with dill, peppers, garlic, allspice, peppercorns, and coriander. Dissolve salt in the water and pour enough brine over the cucumbers to cover them. Place something in the mouth of the jar to weight down the cucumbers and keep them submerged in the the brine (I usually use a drinking glass or pint mason jar with brine in it). Keep jar at room temperature. I keep mine on the dining room table so I can monitor it.
Within 3 days you will begin to see tiny bubbles rising to the top. If scum forms on the top of the brine skim off. Pickles should be ready in about 2 weeks when they are sour and olive green throughout. At this point, remove the weight jar, remove any scum, and top off with brine if needed. Cap the jar and store in the refrigerator. These pickles will keep for several months to a year, although they seem to lose a little bit of crispness after a few months. I have had a batch in my fridge for about 9 months and they were very good down to the last pickle.
*if you do not have 4 pounds all at once you can continue adding cucumbers to your jar until it is full. Just remember to let them ferment for 2 weeks after last cucumber has been added.
You can certainly change the spices in the recipe above to suit your tastes. Add some sliced onions and mustard seeds, or perhaps mixed pickling spices instead, some horseradish would be nice as well. When making more than one batch of pickles, always make sure to label your jar with the type and date started. I also include the page number that the recipe was on. If you’re interested in learning more about both traditional fermentation and other kinds of pickling I’d highly recommend purchasing The Joy of Pickling: 250 Flavor-Packed Recipes for Vegetables and More from Garden or Market. It’s full of all kinds of recipes from fermented vegetables to gravlax and so many other interesting things.
Do you make or enjoy any traditionally fermented foods?
Share this:
Cucumbers and Pickles
All of those cucumbers I planted about six weeks ago have started producing. The Monticello inspired teepees have been working well for supporting the vines, they look really lovely now that they’re lush with cucumber and pole bean vines. I have had to train the cucumber vines to grow up the supports. I’m trying to think of a way to improve on this design next year. Last week I started harvesting cucumbers from all three varieties that I’m growing this season. I planted 12 vines of each in hopes of having a large flush of cucumbers for all those pickling recipes that call for pounds and pounds of cucumbers.
So far the ‘Boston Pickling’ are the largest and most productive. One day I harvested enough cucumbers to make a gallon of fermented full-sour dills. I have grown this variety of cucumber from the very beginning of my gardening career. I have always had great luck with them. They even produce a decent harvest is less than ideal conditions, like my shady back garden.
The ‘Solly Beiler’ have been less productive than the Boston Pickling, but the descriptions say they are heavy producers so I’m guessing they just haven’t hit their stride yet. They’re a much fatter cucumber than I expected, even when picked at the recommended small size.
The ‘Fin de Meaux’ seem to be producing nicely, although they’re a tiny cucumber so it takes a lot more to get enough for a batch of pickles (the one in the photo was picked a little big, most of them are much smaller). I’m looking forward to using my recipe for French Cornichon pickles from The Joy of Pickling:. I’m hoping to get enough to to give away small jars of these tiny cucumbers to friends this Christmas. If you have space I’d recommend a few of these as they’re wonderful little cucumbers. I think kids would especially love to eat pickles made with these tiny cukes.
I’ve already been making pickles with my harvests. I have a gallon of full-sour dills fermenting on the counter right now (they smell fantastic). Traditionally fermented pickles are a great way to get probiotics to enhance digestion and nutrient absorption of your meals.
I also have one jar of quick refrigerator pickles in the fridge, they’ll be ready to eat this weekend. They’re always the first kind of pickle I make so I can have pickles to eat right away. My recipe for these quick small batch pickles is posted over on the Your Day blog at Ethel so head on over there if you’re interested. My next batch of cucumbers will be some Crisp Pickles that are a favorite of everyone that tries them, I found the recipe in an old Farm Journal Cookbook given to me by Mr Chiot’s step mom. I’ll post the recipe with photos sometime soon.
I’m hoping that my cucumber vines will keep producing well for the next few weeks, then they’ll be replanted with hopes of another flush of cucumbers come fall. I want to make sure I have plenty of pickles in the pantry for winter as we love eating them with most meals.
Are you a pickle lover? what kind is your favorite: dill, sweet, bread & butter, mustard?
For more detailed descriptions of each of the cucumbers listed above head on over and read this post.
Share this:
Making Wild Violet Syrup
I mentioned yesterday that the wild violets were in full bloom and we’d been harvesting the blooms and the leaves for our salads. Since I don’t treat my lawn in any way, the violets have slowly taken over and now my entire lawn is dotted with beautiful purple blooms.
I decided to make some violet syrup this year. The syrup is a good source of vitamin C and is supposed to be a great cough syrup. It’s also said to help you fall asleep without making your drowsy. Since I can be a bit of an insomniac, this sounds wonderful to me!
Making violet syrup is no small feat, you need 8 oz of violet blossoms. At first this may not seem like a lot, until you start picking. I harvested a pint of blossoms and they weighed in at 1.2 oz. Out came the big half gallon mason jar and I spent some time sitting on the front lawn harvesting those tiny purple beauties. I’m sure my neighbors were wondering what in the world I was doing. It was quite relaxing though, I enjoyed myself. Mr Chiots saw me through the window and had to come out and get a photo.
It took me about an hour to pick a half gallon jar full of blossoms, which happened to weigh 8 oz. If you have kids this would be a great project for them to do, they would not doubt love this chore!
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the blossoms and use a wooden spoon to slightly mash the blossoms down into the water. If you need a little more water to cover the blossoms add just enough to cover. I added an extra half cup of water. Let sit overnight on the counter. In the morning, strain out the blossoms and you’ll be left with a beautiful violet liquid. I bet this would be a wonderful natural dye for Easter eggs, or fabric.
Pour the violet water into a saucepan and add 2 cups of honey. Simmer for about 30 minutes until slightly thick and syrupy (keep an eye on it in the beginning as it can foam up and boil over). Pour into jar and store in the fridge. You can waterbath can this for 10 minutes if you’d like to make larger batches. I ended up with about two and a half cups of syrup.
I’m looking forward to using this syrup throughout the year. It tastes like honey and smells of violets and is a beautiful lavender color. It would taste wonderful on ice cream or in tea and as far as cough syrup goes, it’s so much better than the mediciny stuff you’d buy at the store.
Do you make any of your own herbal syrups?
