I’m a little tardy with my November Can Jam entry, but better late then never, ey? November’s ingredient was apples, and there is only one thing I do with apples, and that’s make applesauce.

Applesauce

Modified from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving; Yield: 1 quart, with enough warm applesauce leftover for snacking on.

• 3 pounds apples, cut into 8ths (no need to core or peel)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1.5 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids. Read THIS post if you have no idea what I’m talking about.
2. Place cut apples into a heavy-bottomed pot with about an inch of water. Cover and cook over medium-low until apples are soft.
3. In batches, transfer apples into a food mill. Push through into a bowl.
4. When all apples are pushed through, transfer sauce back into the pot.  Add lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. Sugar and cinnamon can be modified to taste, but the lemon juice cannot. If you don’t know how serious I am in terms of botulism prevention, and how much I DON’T f*ck around with acidity levels, read THIS.
5. Fill jar, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove bubbles, adjust headspace as needed, place lid, and screw on band just past fingertip tight.
6. Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.
7. Eat straight out of the jar when you need comforting. Note: the title of this blog entry was lifted from Ruth Reichl’s memoir of the same name. Read it if you haven’t yet.

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I think I’m finally ready to come out with it: I have a tremendous, completely irrational fear of Clostridium botulinum.  More specifically, my fear is that something I can will harbor botulism, and me or someone else who eats it, over subsequent days, will develop symptoms of botulism, and die.

You might think that someone who cans/preserves as much as I do would be comfortable with all the ins and outs of canning safety, and I am, but you see, my fear of botulism is totally irrational.  So regardless of whether I know that there were only 22 reported cases of food-born botulism in the entire US last year, and despite the fact that I follow proper safety precautions, the fear slips in… and then it takes over.

This past February, there was a particularly bad episode that we’ll call “The Fermented Pickle Incident”. I went to a fermented food tasting party with some fellow pickling buddies I had met through twitter (is that weird?).  I brought a batch of Indian carrot pickles with mustard seed that I had recently made following Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe, which included oil.  That little bit of oil brought my fear gushing in. My mind went: oil –> anaerobic environment –> botulism –> death to all tweeting picklers.

One thing that I do when I freak out like this, and which I did the day of The Fermented Pickle Incident (foreshadowing: and today) is call random canning experts that I find online.  That time, like other times, I wound up talking to a sweet woman from the Utah Cooperative Extension program. It was clear she didn’t get many calls from neurotic New York Jews like me, or she wouldn’t have pointed out that “you can’t be sure unless you get your stomach pumped.” Ummmmmm……WHAT?!

Long story short, I didn’t get my stomach pumped, but only because Matthew and I braved a snow storm to drive to Whole Foods at 9pm to buy pH strips. After testing the carrots in the parking lot, it was clear the environment was acidic enough to prevent botulism and I would be OK.  But I didn’t really feel better until I was sure I was alive 7 days later. And then I went right back to pickling. Why? I have no idea. Maybe ’cause I love the cute jars. And pickles.

October Can Jam: Chilies

This month started out fine. I heard that the Tigress Can Jam October ingredient was chilies, and I was excited to make a grapefruit chili sauce inspired by Marie Sharp’s Grapefruit Habenero Sauce that I had tasted on a trip to Belize last year. Stupidly, I only brought back a tiny bottle of the stuff, and it went fast.  With this challenge, I was looking forward to finally trying my hand at replicating that tangy, spicy, savory, delectable sauce. So, I hit the books. The only thing that kinda came close to what I was after was a recipe for Orange Chili Marmalade in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. So, that was my starting point, and this is where I ended: heart beating, calls to Utah, pH test strips strewn around my kitchen…

So, since I feel like I might have modified too much, I won’t be sharing a recipe this month. The published recipe said to take OUT the chili peppers after they cooked with the grapefruit; I kept them in. The recipe was too large, so I did 40% of it; was my computation correct? I added some water to thin out the marmalade as it cooked. Was that a good instinct, or a fatal one?

Utah Canning Lady said that I was ‘probably fine’, but she ‘can’t be sure’.  So,  just to be safe, I’m going to do the other thing that I do when I’m afraid that my cans weren’t properly sealed and that they might not be preserved correctly.  I’m going to eat it, all, very very fast. And it happens to be delicious!

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L’shana Tova to all of you! A sweet and healthy new year!

For this month’s Tigress Can Jam ingredient, The Peach, I opted for something simple, yet delicious. A few things led me to go this route:

1. With the holidays over the past week, I’ve been busy and spent a few evenings away from my apartment, limiting the amount of time I had to work on my canning.
2. We received 4 peaches from our fruit share this week, and all but one of them was eaten before I had a chance to can!
3. We had a TORNADO in Queens last night! I was driving back from Long Island when I started being pummeled with rain and lightning and thunder lit up the sky. I am lucky that I have an Aunt and Uncle en route, and so I stopped there to wait out the traffic and watch coverage of the storm on TV… My Thursday evening canning plans were foiled! We’re definitely fortunate that neither us nor our car was in Forest Hills during the height of the storm. While we did have damage inside our apartment (screens blew out of our windows, dirt was spattered on the ceiling and walls of our bathroom, there were leaves in the bedroom, rugs strewn about, etc) we were lucky compared to many people in the area. I’ve posted some pictures below that Matthew took over the past day… Pretty scary stuff!

Sooooo back to canning — In order to make the 9/17 deadline, I had to do something QUICK today before we leave for Yom Kippur this afternoon. In light of how CRAZY the situation is with the tornado in Queens, and inspired by the Jewish Holidays, I decided to do a simple peaches in syrup recipe. During the Jewish New Year it is traditional to eat sweet foods to symbolize the sweetness to come in the new year. Therefore I opted for heavy syrup, and added a bit of extra flavor with a vanilla bean.

L’Shana Tova Vanilla Peaches

Recipe adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving; yield: 2 wide-mouth pint jars

• 5 peaches
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and cut in half

1. Prepare canning jars, lids and boiling water canner. Read HERE for more info.
2. To peel peaches, put large pot of water on to boil, and score the non-stem end of the peach with a sharp pairing knife. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. When the water boils, put in the peaches, 2 at a time, for 60-90 seconds, then remove and place immediately in the ice water. The skin should slip right off.
3. Cut peaches in half, remove pit and scoop out core. Quarter and set aside. (Toss with lemon to prevent browning if you will not be proceeding with recipe immediately.)
4. Heat up water and sugar over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Take care to not boil this mixture. Add split vanilla bean.
5. Add peaches cut side down, and heat on high for 1 minute until heat through.
6. Using a slotted spoon, pack hot peaches, cut side down, overlapping them, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Ladle hot syrup into jars, tucking in the vanilla bean in each jar.
7. Remove air bubbles, adjust headspace, and add more syrup if necessary.
8. Wipe rim, center lid, and screw on band until fingertip tight.
9. Process for 20 minutes in boiling water canner.

The Aftermath: Forest Hills Storm Pictures:

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It’s not August until the tomato crop comes in, so it’s no surprise that this month’s Tigress Can Jam ingredient is the tomato. Fittingly, Golden Earthworm delivered 5 pounds of globe tomatoes with our regular vegetable share this week. Since I’m already getting a large share of plum tomatoes in a couple of weeks that will be devoted to “regular” canned crushed tomatoes, I wanted to have fun with these and try something I’ve been wanting to make for a while.  I have to admit, I was always a little reluctant to make homemade ketchup since it seemed quite labor intensive. But then I thought about how AWESOME it would be to top my NY State BOG burgers with NY State ketchup, and all hesitancy went out the window. In the recipe below, the tomatoes, onions and garlic are all from Golden Earthworm. In the end, it wasn’t that labor intensive. Sure there’s a food mill involved, and you steep spices in the vinegar before you use it, but these steps are worth it!

Homemade Tomato Ketchup

• 1.5 teaspoons celery seeds
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 whole allspice
• 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 4 pounds tomatoes, cored and chopped roughly
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 3 cloves garlic, halved
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

1. Tie celery seeds, cloves and allspice in cheesecloth, creating a spice bag
2. Combine vinegar and spice bag, bring to a boil over high heat. When boiling, turn off heat, and let stand for 25 minutes. Discard spice bag.
3. Meanwhile in a large saucepan, combine tomatoes, onion, garlic and cayenne. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes. Add vinegar and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Transfer mixture, little by little, to a food mill, cranking to extract all liquid. Continue until all the tomatoes have been through the food mill. Discard solids.
5. Return liquid to saucepan, and add sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and and boil gently until volume is reduced by half, and the ketchup thickens up. This will take around 45 minutes.
6. Prepare canner, jars, lids. Read THIS if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
7. Ladle hot ketchup into 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles, adjusting headspace if necessary. Wipe rim, center lid, and twist on screw band.
8. Process in boiling water canner for 15 minutes. Remove and cool.

It really tasted like ketchup! I expected it to be more runny, or more tomato-y, but it was very savory, a little sweet, and actually tasted exactly like Heinz (in a good way). However, which would you prefer?! I’m so excited to be able to stock my pantry with this version!

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This classic pickle couldn’t be easier or more delicious, especially since I made it not only with Golden Earthworm‘s organic cucumbers from this week’s CSA share, but with some from a Square Foot Garden that I’ve been working on with a friend. Since I’m down to the wire with this July Can Jam entry, this isn’t going to be the post about Square Foot Gardening in general, but needless to say, it has been an incredibly doable way to grow a wide-range of produce.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Recipe makes two 15-oz jars

• 5 cups sliced trimmed pickling cucumbers
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup canning salt (I used kosher salt)
• 1.5 cups white vinegar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 T mustard seeds
• 1/2 tespooon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1. In a stainless steel bowl, combine cucumbers, onions and salt. Mix well, cover with cold water, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Drain, rinse, and drain again.
2. In the mean time, prepare canner, jars and lids. (See this post for more info.)
3. In a large saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, turmeric, and celery seeds. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in cucumbers and onions, bring back to a boil
4. Put grated ginger in one jar. Pack cucumbers/onions into jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles, and adjust headspace as needed. Wipe rim, center and place lid (the one with ginger marked with a “G”), screw on bands to fingertip-tight.
5. Place jars in canner. Process for 10 minutes. Remove, cool and store.

There were some pickles which didn’t make it in the jars, which I ended up eating HAPPILY. They were delicious! I’m excited to taste the gingery one. I’ll let you know how it comes out.

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We live in Forest Hill, Queens. It’s pretty urban here — while not as industrial as Western Queens (like Long Island City), or as suburban as Eastern Queens (like Douglaston), we straddle the line between the city and the suburbs, and there’s nothing that resembles a farmer’s market nearby. So it has been pretty unbelievable to join up with the Forest Hills Tuv Ha’aretz CSA, and get delicious, fresh, organic vegetables 6-months out of the year straight from Golden Earthworm Organic Farm. This is our second year with the CSA, but last year, due to a couple of rain-outs, we never made it out to the farm. This year, we were determined and we made the trek out to Jamesport on an early June weekend to go Strawberry picking. How fortuitous when I found out that this month’s Can Jam ingredient was ____berries! It didn’t take long for me to fill in that blank. I mean, when does anyone in central queens have the opportunity to PICK then PRESERVE anything? Umm….never.

The farm is incredible. Located on a windy road just past Riverhead, on the North Fork of Long Island, it is picturesque. Hence the below pictures. In addition to the fields, and green houses, Golden Earthworm also keeps heritage breed sheep, pigs and goats. We actually ran into one of the farmers, Matthew, as we walked around the farm. What a privilege to have the opportunity to thank the farmer that grows one’s food!

With strawberries this good looking (and good tasting), I really didn’t want to do that much to them, so I decided to just can them in a simple syrup. The recipe was adapted (for batch size) from Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Strawberries in Syrup

Recipe makes one 12 oz jelly jar with a few generous tablespoons left over to eat directly from the pot

• 4 cups hulled strawberries, large ones halved
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1. In a large pot, combine strawberries and sugar and toss to coat. Cover and set aside in a cool place for 5 – 6 hours.
2. Prepare canner, jars and lids. If you are new to canning, read THIS.
3. Transfer pot with strawberries to stove, and heat over medium low until berries are heated through.
4. Ladle hot strawberries into jar with 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rim, center lid on jar, and twist screw band on.
5. Process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

My jar boiled over during processing (I guess I didn’t have the full 1/2 inch headspace), and didn’t have time to re-process. I ended up just wiping the lid, re-closing, cooling, and putting it in the fridge. Canning experts — is it still OK? Do I need to boil again before I eat, safety-wise?

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Spicy Pickled Asparagus

• Enough asparagus to fill 1 12-oz jar (trim off woody end)
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pickling salt
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

1. Clean jar and lid; prepare canner. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read THIS post from Tigress.
2. Bring to a boil in a saucepan: vinegar, salt, pepper flakes, coriander seeds, mustard seeds and garlic. When boiling, add asparagus and simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Pack asparagus tip side down into jar (this way the pretty tips don’t get damaged when removing them later–a Ball trick!). Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar leaving 1/2 inch headspace; remove air bubbles with a chopstick, and adjust headspace as needed. Clean rim, and place lid on center of jar. Screw on band until fingertip-tight.
4. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner; then turn off heat. Wait 5 minutes, remove jar, cool and store.

In Chinese medicine, the Spring season corresponds to the sour flavor. I have really been craving sour, vinegary foods lately, and I’m hoping that with the super vinegary pickling brine and ample spices these will be a spicy-savory Spring time treat. I will report back when we eat them.

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I was very excited to find out that this month’s theme was herbs. Herbs are a great way to celebrate Spring, as their delicate, green, aromatic essence wakes up the palate, reflecting all the blooming that is happening outside.  I love the earthiness of thyme, which I often use when roasting vegetables.  So this was my experiment to see how thyme would work with fresh pickled green beans.  I modified the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving recipe for Dilled Beans, and came up with this simple, pretty jar. If you are new to canning, I recommend only using recipes from published books.

Thyme for Pickled Beans

Recipe yields one 12 oz jar

• String beans – enough to fit into 1 jar – washed and trimmed
• 3/4 cup white distilled vinegar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 T pickling/canning salt
• 3 whole black peppercorns
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• 3-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids. If you are new to canning, read THIS primer from Tigress.
2. Bring vinegar, water and salt to a boil over medium heat; add beans, garlic and thyme. When boiling again, turn off heat.
3. Pack beans and thyme vertically in jar. Ladle in hot pickling liquid, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, and adjust liquid levels as needed.
4. Wipe rim, center lids, screw on band, and process in boiling water for 10 minutes.

As I only have one jar, I’m going to wait to open it for a special occasion–maybe an upcoming picnic, and I’ll report back to let you know how they came out. Until then, they will sit in my pantry until the thyme is right…

5/2: We ate the beans at a barbecue with friends, and they were delicious! The thyme flavor really came through, and they were a great snack while the grill was heating.

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