Preserving+canning « boston localvores

Preserving+canning

Preserving+canning — 1 Comment
16
Aug 09

An Experiment: Brined Tomatoes

We found this recipe in the book with the most irrepressable title ever: Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation. This is our first, experimental batch, with tomatoes from a roadside stand in Vermont where we just spent an amazing week.

Here’s what it says to do:

Make a brine (one-quarter cup salt to one quart of water), and bring it to a boil. Allow to cool. Choose firm tomatoes, preferably (‘Campbell’ variety, for example), wash and dry them carefully, and put them in glass jars. Pour in the cooled brine, up to one and a quarter inches below the rim, and fill in the remaining space with olive oil to cover. Close the jars airtight and store them in a cool place.

These tomatoes will keep for nine to ten months; use them for sauces.

So, if you don’t hear of any reported botulism cases in the greater Boston area between now and June, you’ll know that this is, indeed, a viable, inexpensive, quick, easy way to preserve tomatoes.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherrrrry BOMB!!

Cadillac, Feathers and Tom Cruise sure know how to enjoy an Ambrosia Salad, but the recipe below is more my speed.

Cherry Bomb
As we quickly run out of room in our freezer, I’m pursuing other methods of storing food for the winter.
I was initially inspired by Pete Wells’ recipe, which I might still try later this summer. For today, I opted to make these very, very simple brandied cherries, which I hadn’t ever done. Here are some tips, should you find yourself at the farmer’s market wanting a few extra pounds of cherries to put up.

Currently, it looks like I murdered someone in our apartment. As the cherries tend to burst as you pit them, be sure to change out of any clothing you care about or put on an apron. Also be sure to be clear of white walls, cell phones and/or library books. WOOPS. I scrubbed for a good 20 minutes, but future tenants will just have to wonder if someone died or got funky with too much red wine, thus blaming it on the boogie. You are going to get MESSY. Granted, I smell quite lovely, but my hands have a ghosty sheen to them, worthy of the best zombers get-up.

Maybe get a cherry stoner? I’ll say that again, CHERRY STONER. Why one of these monsters hasn’t been given to me as a house-warming gift is beyond me. Maybe one of these little cuties can come home with me some day? ZOMG, somebody STOP me from buying this one!

The iconic Dana Hill Liquor store (we like to call it “Vegas Liquor”) on Mass Ave has a good deal on brandy right now. The proprietor told me that it was shipped to them by mistake, so get $16 and head over for a liter of E&J VSOP Superior Reserve. Not the best brandy in the world, but does the trick for our cherry-rific purposes.

Audrey Horne wasn’t the only Twin Peaks character into cherries, but damned if she wasn’t the sexiest one. I think maybe I’ll end all my blog stories with video…

BRANDIED CHERRIES
adapted from Cherry Home Companion.

It takes 6 weeks for results, but is well worth the effort.

2 cups sugar
4 cups brandy
2 lbs. fresh sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted

1. Dissolve sugar in brandy in a sterilized 2–3-quart glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
2. Add cherries.
3. Cover jar and allow cherries to macerate in the refrigerator for 6 weeks.
4. To serve, pour some of the brandy into a small glass and add a few cherries. Cherries will keep, refrigerated, for up to 1 year.

CSA / Preserving+canning / Updates — 2 Comments
28
Jul 09

Pickling whatever you can get your hands on . . .

pickles Probably when you think of pickles you think of cucumbers, maybe peppers. But you can pickle everything.

Pickling can be a great way to put up all that produce coming from your CSA to be eaten later. One of my favorites is pickled okra, which is all over the place where I grew up in East Tennessee, but I don’t find it very much at farmers’ markets here. So sad, very little okra these days. For want of okra, I pickle green beans, yellow squash, radishes (all kinds including daikon), peppers, beets, carrots, cucumbers and then mixes of all of the above with onions and garlic. (Editor’s note: The way Sarah mixes vegetables and pickles the shit out of them is a revelation). I recently branched out into making relish from yellow squash, which turned out fabulously. Then there is also exciting wild fermentation and sauerkraut and kimchee, but that’s for another post and a better expert.

The thing about pickling that is too often lost is that it is SUPER easy. You don’t need any fancy kitchen equipment, and you aren’t going to die if it goes wrong somehow in the process. Worst case scenario, the texture and taste are off. But then you try again.

Here’s a good starter recipe for pickled green beans:

2 lbs. green beans (take any stems off but no need to trim the ends, cut off any mushy or brown parts)

Pack lengthwise in hot, squeaky clean jars (go ahead and boil the jars for a sec, or run them through the dishwasher)

Add to each jar:
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, whole
1 head of dill or 1 1/2 tbsp. dill seed
(The spices are the fun part. Increase the cayenne if you want, or the garlic. Or switch out the dill with something else, curry, celery seed, mustard seed, anything.)

Boil together:
2 1/2 c. water
2 1/2 c. vinegar
1/4 c. salt

Pour this over the beans in the jars, leaving about 1/4 of an inch at the top. Put the lids on, and put the jars into boiling water in the pot. Boil for about 15 minutes. Let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes, or until you hear the seals pop. You know the jars are sealed when you push the center of the lid and it doesn’t pop back up. But don’t do this until they’ve been on the counter awhile. You want it to seal itself.

They’ll be ready to eat in a couple of weeks, or save them for the winter.

You will need the following stuff in the kitchen:

Canning jars with sealable lids (go to the hardware store and buy a case of the canning set—jars, lids, rings; you will use them all eventually, believe me)

A big pot—tall enough that you can put your jars of goodness in, the water covers them, and the water can boil without wreaking havoc

Something to put in the bottom of the pot to prevent the jars from sitting directly on the bottom (I use one of the steamers that folds in on itself, unfolded of course.)

Something to get the jars out of the boiling hot water with (I use tongs, sometimes a bit sketchy but no big disasters yet.)

(You can also go to the hardware store and buy a canning set up with pot, rack, funnel, etc. I have my own set up that works for me, but it does get pretty messy.)

You could use this recipe for any vegetable. Or switch to apple cider vinegar and sugar instead of salt for sweet pickles. The internet is very useful for unusual and creative pickling recipes, among other things.

I’d love to hear of other interesting recipes that people have. So please send them on!

CSA / Community / Meals / Preserving+canning — 2 Comments
22
Jul 09

Can Someone Do Me a Fava?!?!?

I can admit it: I’m a little obsessed with fava beans. While I was living in Spain, my co-worker/buddy would make me my favorite dish when I was grumpy. Known as “habas con jamon y huevos,” it is an amazing combo that I’ve never seen someone NOT enjoy. Although, apparently some people have a genetic disorder called “favism” that results from eating them…

Fava Beans

Having never eaten fresh fava beans (we used frozen in Spain), I jumped at the chance to re-create the dish while at the farmer’s market. I bought a few pounds from Parker Farms and then swung by Savenor’s on my trusty bici to get the coveted Jamon Serrano. With eggs from Austin Brothers Valley Farm and onions and garlic from my Red Fire Farm CSA, this was guaranteed to be an awesome meal. [The only thing missing was authentic Spanish olive oil, which truly can’t be beat, but that’s a blog story for another day.] The desired result was even better than I remembered.

I have since returned to buy almost 30 pounds of fresh fava beans for freezing purposes, from Parker Farms and Drumlin Farms. Fava beans are only around for two or three weeks a year from what I understand, so I may have gone a little overboard, especially given the tiny freezer in my apartment. For freezing purposes, you need simply to shuck the beans, parboil for two to three minutes, dunk them in cold water to cool them off, drain, lay them out in a single layer, freeze through, then bag them up! You’ll have to shuck them out of their giant pods and THEN peel the outer layer off of each bean to actually cook them for eating right away (or after defrosting later). I recommend watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Hulu while shucking. A friend is certainly helpful, too…

HABAS CON JAMON Y HUEVOS

NOTE: I don’t really do measurements for certain recipes. If you like something more than something else, use more of it. If you want the ham to egg ratio to be 5:1, have at it, I say.

1 pound shucked/peeled fava beans (this is about 2 pounds of whole fresh fava beans)
Small piece of Jamon Serrano, slice should be ¼ to ½ inch thick, cubed [DO NOT TRIM THE FAT!!!
Eggs
Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt/pepper
Love (you should always have this on hand and always use it)

Fry onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, taking care not to brown the garlic.
Toss in the ham and let the fat melt. Toss in the fava beans and continue frying until the beans just start to brown and the onions start to caramelize and the ham gets a bit crispy, but not too crispy.
Make little wells within the mixture and crack an egg into each one. Fry the eggs until desired level of eggness. Putting a lid over the frying pan will help to cook the tops of the eggs, rather than attempting to flip them.

I find that this meal works for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, whatever, and is quite filling. Or enjoy with a nice Chianti, as Hannibal Lecter recommends.

Happy eating!!

Preserving+canning — No Comments
20
Jul 09

We picked our own

That’s our pal Erik holding the perfect blueberry. He wrestled it from a gang of pre-schoolers and one very ferocious German shepherd at Land’s Sake Farm in Weston. There was some serious competition in the pick-your-own fields this afternoon. But it was a glorious Sunday in summer and it is *the* blueberry moment.

Which is to say, if you want to get your hands on a lot of berries — perhaps with an idea of putting some up for winter — now is the time. Land’s Sake is a lovely venue for this, and only 20 minutes from the city.

Maybe go on a weekday. And try to overlook the irony, like we did, that you are actually paying more for the experience of picking your own than you would if your purchased the same quantity of berries from your local farmers’ market. ($5/pint) Our pick-your-own berries came with the extra bonus poison ivy exposure, so it was totally worth it. (There’s kind of a lot of poison ivy at Land’s Sake, but you can avoid if you’re paying attention… and not hungover.)

So tonight, just as we did precisely this time last year: we rinsed our haul (five pints). Spread them out on cookie sheets, on a layer of a wax paper. Popped them, in turns, in the freezer for about an hour until they were good and hard. Then into ziploc bags. And there they will stay until the world turns cold and bleak and horrible again.

Events / Preserving+canning — No Comments
21
Jun 09

Strawberries + Farm News

Our CSA farm allows members to pick a lot of stuff, including strawberries, if you can get your ass from Boston to Granby (about two hours by car, or 2.5 by Amtrak train and car, as our friends Erik and Ryan would learn; we picked them up at the station in Springfield). The allotment of strawberries is 8 quarts (4 quarts of peas). Not bad, but we made the stupid decision to toss all 8 quarts into reusable canvas tote bags. Ours sat on the floor of the front seat, at my feet. But Ryan, as a space saving measure, carried his bag on his lap. It was a very messy lap. This method of heating berries has been christened “The Crotchpot.” Fortunately, their berries are going to become jam today.

Ours are going to become frozen berries. For smoothies, desserts, maybe for yogurt in the winter? I know strawberries in particular don’t thaw very well, but I don’t have the will to make jam and process it, and I don’t have a huge need for jam. We just don’t eat that much.

We stayed for a dinner outside at the farm. The farmers, Ryan and Sarah, announced that they’d purchased 110 acres in Montague, Ma, and would be moving their home and 75% of their vegetable production to Montague. In the cosmic scheme of things, this isn’t far, but it’s more than 30 miles north of Granby. So for all intents and purposes, Red Fire Farm is moving. It’s bittersweet for them, I think. They have been farming rented land that is near the current home farm, but have been unable to secure long term tenure or an option to buy that land, which they think will become homes after they are no longer renting it. The Montague land is still 3 years away. It needs to be transitioned to organic production. Ryan mentioned a few things about how they will finance this project - the mortgage they will carry on the new land is $560,000, and the payment more than four times what they currently pay.

It was an interesting moment. I think of this particular farm as doing just fine, with hundreds of CSA subscriptions in metro Boston, more in the Pioneer Valley, a farm stand and, now, a farmer’s market presence at the South Station market. But in order for the farm to continue to exist (which were the terms they were speaking in) they will have to do even better than that. And part of this crisis is one of land, and its inflated value.

Fermented food / Preserving+canning — 2 Comments
5
Oct 08

What time is it? Kraut:30

October is the proverbial kraut:30, to mix a couple of metaphors. We have made a few big jars full this summer already, but the cabbages are coming fast and furious from our CSA share.

For those of you who don’t know the conspiracy of sauerkraut, please allow me to say a few words. It might shed some light on the current banking crisis.

This is the ingredient list for a basic sauerkraut: cabbage, salt. That’s it. The stuff that you would get with some Keilbasa in some German beer hall is, traditionally, white cabbage, sea salt and caraway seeds. Kim Chi is another version of the same idea: bok choy, ginger, red chili, garlic, sea salt. The salt is the agent by which the whole thing ferments, and ultimately takes on a more and more sour taste.

German and Korean cultures are not the only ones with a fermented food. Most every culture has one. Roman soldiers* depended and survived on sauerkraut, and Rome would not have been possible without it. They had other calories, but the health benefits of sauerkraut are extraordinary. Also, British saliors used it to help ward off scurvy, but somehow limes got all the fame. Ketchup, back in the day, was a fermented fish brine (the word, according to Sally Fallon of Nourishing Traditions, comes from the Chinese ke-tsiap). English people added stuff like oysters and cucumbers to it. Americans added tomatoes.

Fermented foods are “live” foods, loaded with lactic acid and beneficial bacteria that make a healthy gut (not unlike the acidophilus in yogurt) and, therefore, a healthy person. These foods have all but disappeared from our diets or changed into stuff like Heinz brand ketchup or sauerkraut that’s been pickled with vinegar, not salt, and pasteurized to kill any bacteria. Kind of defeats the purpose.

Anyway, long story short, a basic method of preservation that is actually essential to human health and happiness is in the dust bin of history. Why is that? Because average people who have depended on the life-giving properties for millenia decided to stop one day? They liked having their teeth rot out of their heads?

I really recommend the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz for a bunch of great recipes on fermenting stuff. That guy ferments everything. Meanwhile, here is a recipe for Cortido, a Latin American sauerkraut that comes from Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. This is what is I made today.

1 cabbage (green or red) cored and sliced thin
2 carrots, grated
2 medium onions, sliced thin
dried oregano
dried red pepper
2 tablespoons sea salt

This isn’t an exact science. Just slice everything thin, toss it all in a big bowl and sprinkle on the salt. Crush it with your hands and let it sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, clean out however many glass jars you’re going to need to contain all this. I recommend one big half gallon ball jar or two quarts. Stuff the stuff in tight. Then take a wooden spoon and crush is even harder. As the cell walls of the vegetables break down, they release their liquid, and, mixing with the salt, create a brine. The brine should cover the kraut. Leave it covered with only cheesecloth, or with the lid very loose, out on the counter for three days. It will bubble a bit at the fermenting begins. Cover and move it to the fridge after three days. Again, it’s not an exact science, and when it’s “done” depends on your taste, and some takes longer than others to become sour.

*I realized recently while watching some drama about Rome that Romans are always played by Anglos in general and Brits in particular. Kind of skews our collective imagination about what it was like there, or at least what the people looked like. I think I will pitch a series about Rome to HBO featuring the cast of the Sopranos.

Preserving+canning — 1 Comment
6
Aug 08

Pickles, the experiment

Too long were we tempted by the pickling cukes: smaller, cuter and cheaper ($1.25 per pound-ish), are they, than their cousins, the regular old eatin’ cukes. Too long were we intimidated by the prospect of buying a bunch and practicing whatever alchemy transforms them from plain veggies to preservation superstars. It did not make sense. We’ve made kraut, we’ve conquered yogurt. We have even had a successful batch or two of kombucha.

And so last week, at the Cambridgeport farmers’ market, we bought as many pickling cukes as we could fit in our hands from Stillman’s and a pretty bit of dill from the Hmong farm. We agreed to sacrifice a half-gallon ball jar that Just Dairy usually fills with our milk (sorry Just Dairy, we’ll return it…eventually!) and make. it. work. People!

Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions guided us through a very simple pickling process — seriously, I put a load of laundry in downstairs and when I came up, Darry had started and finished — and we can proudly say we’re now on Day 3 of having a big pretty jar with almost-pickles on our counter. We cracked open the lid and they’re smelling like pickles for sure.

Here’s the recipe from Sally — for 1 quart

4-5 picklin cukes
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoons fresh dill
2 tablespoons of sea salt
1 cup of filtered water

-wash the cukes; put ‘em in the jar
-combine remaining ingredients and pour them over the cukes, adding more water if necessary to cover the cukes
-cover tightly and leave at room temp for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage
-we’re guessing you leave it in cold storage about 2-3 weeks for it to get real pickly… but it varies, and is up to your pickliness preference