Yummy Sweet Potato Soup and some work in the garden.

Sweet Potato Soup

The next recipe is for Sweet Potato Soup.  It is very tasty and provides a nice contrast to some of the spicier things I’ve been making.  The recipe is adapted from epicurious and goes like this:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked sweet potatoes
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1.4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk

Place sweet potato, and all other ingredients through chicken broth in the blender.  Cover and blend until contents are smooth.  Pour into saucepan.  Add milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until soup comes to a boil.  Turn down heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.   Serve.  It drinks through a straw just fine. 

I have not given up on my pursuit of  all foods local.  In fact, those potatoes and the milk and chicken broth in that soup came from local sources.  I am trying to get as much of my local food as I can from my own yard.  To that end I have been working this week to get some new areas of my yard planted, now that I have more sunshine.

Artichoke plants in new space.

I got the new areas tilled up and have begun to fill them up.  My friend, Tamela who lives nearby came over during the week to help me get some artichokes planted.  You can see the tiny little plants right here at the right.  I put in lots of seeds too, of Swiss Chard, English peas, carrots, and radishes.  We were supposed to have two rain events in the past 4 days but neither one of those really panned out, so I got out and watered today.  I also planted potatoes in another new area near the privacy fence.  I still have lots of spot weeding that needs to be done, because the weeds like living in my yard as much as the vegetables do.  I’ve got extra light in the evenings with daylight saving time and I need to let the chickens out for a while anyway.  So I’ll have plenty to do to keep me occupied while I’m out there. 

Weedy Swiss Chard that overwintered.

There are a few things left in the garden from the fall/winter garden.  Here’s some Swiss Chard that has hung around and is still pretty tasty, but it is one of those things that need weeding.  I also still have a little lettuce and a couple of bunches of green onions.  My collards are about to bolt and the arugula already has.  So they need to come out to make way for more summery stuff.  I’m getting really excited about that.  I’ve got plants coming from Mary Denton and I will be happy to get them in.  I’m going to plant tomatoes in the bed in front of the porch and in the amongst the English Peas in the new bed in the back.  As the peas go by the wayside in the heat, the tomatoes will be coming on.  So things are looking good.  I’ve got to figure out some kind of blended thing to make with the Swiss Chard.  That will come soon.  I’ve got lots to look forward to.  My wires come off and the CSA starts at just about the same time.  That will be a happy week.

Settling in to the new routine.

Eating everything through a straw is starting to feel normal.  I don’t want that to last for long but I guess it’s better than fighting with it.  I have some kind of fruit juice and smoothies of various kinds for breakfast, but mostly my standard banana peanut butter.  I made it once with canned pears instead of bananas and that was good also.

I try to have at least two kinds of soup for each meal just to have some variety.  I’ve got a stack of soup recipes that we are going through.  I keep at least two kinds made at all times.  I’ve only had  malts from the ice cream shop twice, but mostly that was subterfuge to get the big fat straws, which make drinking soup a lot easier.  The thin everyday straws just don’t cut it except for water and juice.  I am going to make myself a childhood favorite for a snack this afternoon or this evening for dessert.  That is a Purple Cow.  It is too easy and too good.  Blend together 1 cup ice cream and 1/2 cup grape juice.  Pour in a glass and drink with a straw.  If you don’t have to drink with a straw, I prefer it lumpy and just stirred together in the glass.  It’s great and you can’t have too much of that purple juice.

I’ve come up with some fairly interesting soups to keep myself hydrated and fed.  The first I want to mention is split pea soup.  I had already been making it just because I was trying to incorporate at least one kind of dry legume into each weeks rotation.  It gets some good protein into your diet.  It is especially good and only needs a little extra chicken broth for it to blend up perfectly.

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 cup celery chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 chipotle pepper chopped
• 1 1/2 cup of dry green split peas
• 4 cups of chicken broth

Saute the seasonings in the olive oil.  Add the peas and chicken broth and stir well.  Bring up to a boil and then down to simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.  The peas should be totally mush.  If you are not drinking through a straw, ladle it up and squeeze a little lemon juice on top along with a dollop of really good olive oil.  You can add that too if you are drinking, but then put a cup of it or a little more through the blender along with about 1/4 cup of chicken broth.  It should slurp up very well.

Split Pea in the jar, waiting to be blended. It makes about 2 quarts. This is all that is left.

After the Procedure.

Carrot Ginger soup

Well, I have had the worst day.  Monday was it.  I could not keep anything down and it was miserable.  But by Tuesday morning all the bad drugs were out of my system and I was feeling much better.  I started on a rehydration campaign, drinking lots of water and juice and getting myself stronger.  Pat got me a malt from Scoops, the local ice cream shop on the square, just a few blocks from our house.  It was lovely.  And, it provided the motivation for me to learn how to drink from a straw with all this stuff in my mouth.  It is not too bad.  One thing that taught me was that I need a lot more of those big fat straws. 

I went back to the doctor yesterday to see how things are going.  She said that it all looked very good and that I don’t have to come back for a couple of weeks.  That’s good.  I have found,  scrounging around on the net looking for guidance, a really good website, “Jaws Wired Shut,”  http://jawswiredshut.tumblr.com/post/144140751/the-panic-button, which gives the culinary adventures of Emily Kornblut during her broken jaw experience last summer.  She has some really good looking recipes on there.  I made one today, the remains of which are shown above waiting in the refrigerator for the next meal.  I had some at lunch, pureed in the blender.  It is called Carrot Ginger Puree.  It is really good. 

I also made up my own breakfast smoothie, based on one I have been using all throughout my weight loss adventure, but with more protein in the peanut butter.  All you do is put 1 container of greek yogurt, about 6 oz, 1/2 cup milk, 1 frozen banana, and 1 Tablespoon of Peanut Butter in the blender and whir till smooth.  It has lots of good stuff and is tasty.

What kind of diet did you say? Liquid Diet

Well, I have really gone and done it this time.  I passed out on Monday and fell and broke my jaw and four front teeth.  On Friday, I have to go to the hospital and have my mouth wired shut.  I will stay that way for 6 weeks.  During that time I can only eat liquids.  That’s right, no crunchy stuff, no chewy bread, no scallion pickles, and no salads.  Ok, now let’s focus on what I can have.  Those soup recipes up in the recipe section actually blend up very nicely.  I can start with that.  I need lots of liquids, fruit juices and water and such.  I’ll need lots of calcium to help with healing.  Lots of protein they say also.  So, my blog will consist of lots of information about liquid diets for the next few weeks.

I made avocado ice cream yesterday.  It was amazingly delicious.  It is very simple and I can let it melt a little and squish it in.  Here’s the recipe, adapted somewhat from Eating Well magazine:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 3/4 cup sugar

Blend all ingredients together till very smooth.  Put blender container in fridge for at least 1 hour to cool, can leave as long as 8 hours.  Pour into ice cream freezer and follow manufacturers directions.

Believe me, this is good even if you can chew.

Pickled Scallions, Blah!

Me, pulling green onions from my garden.

Wow!  Finally the food of the month is something I have in my own garden.  I don’t have to go to the store or anything.  After foreign oranges and carrots, I can do something local.  See, that’s me right there, pulling them up myself.  I was so happy to be able to do this one right.  I pulled up all the remaining green onions I had in a bed, that had once grown irises, yarrow and coreopsis, among many other things.  My current desire for more local food has forced me to convert several flower beds to vegetables.  Over the winter, I also had carrots and beets out in that same bed, but, unfortunately, I had eaten all the carrots before the carrot challenge was announced.

In a very busy weekend I worked half a day on Saturday, worked in the garden in the afternoon, supervising my young helper, Holmes, while he was turning compost and spreading it on my asparagus bed; then, on Sunday, a friend came out to hang out and make two batches of mozzarella.  We went out to the dairy that is about 20 minutes from my home , got the milk and made the cheese.  After she left, taking a jar of the Rosemary Pickled Carrots with her, I also made a batch with Patrick, my DH, who wants to move right ahead to gouda and cheddar.   We made ricotta from all the whey left from all that cheesemaking.  Then I pulled those onions and washed them about 10 times.  I kept remembering that botulism spores reside in the soil.  I don’t want botulism, so I kept washing.

Prepared for the soak.

The only canning recipe I could find for scallions or green onions was Pickled Scallions on several websites.  So I went with that.    After they were washed, I cut them to fit the 1/2 pint jars and stacked them in layers in a bowl with salt, covered them with water and allowed them to sit overnight.

That leaves me where?   Monday morning to make pickles before, I say before, I go to work.  I was up at 5:00 and moving slowly.  My first problem, was realizing that the tiny little half-pint jars would not sit in the rack in my water bath canner.  Now what do I do?  So I got out my Revere Ware stock pot.  I only had enough for 4 jars, so they would fit in that, but how to keep them from jostling into each other.  Somewhere I had read that someone put a dish towel in the bottom of the pot and that kept them steady.  It sounded half-baked, but I was desperate at that moment.  I had to get this done and go to work.     So I put the water on to boil.

I then prepared the spice bag to boil in the vinegar.  The recipe called for pure vinegar, no water to dilute it.  That made me feel better about the botulism.  It had only 2 Tablespoons of sugar in 3 cups of vinegar.  It called for white, I had cider and besides, what I had was organic.  Who knows what is in that white vinegar.  The recipe called for whole allspice, which I did not have, mustard seed and whole peppercorns, which I did.  I punted and used whole cloves instead of the allspice.  I hung the bag on the pot handle and draped it into the caramel colored vinegar and turned on the heat.  Then I packed the jars with the onions, a garlic clove and a bay leaf; then placed them just so on the counter.

So far, all was well.  Or, at least so I thought.  I poured the vinegar in and put on the lids.  Now, how do I get these jars in a pot of almost boiling water with a dish towel floating around in it.  It was supposed to lie on the bottom and behave, but that is not what it was doing.  It was flapping about crazily and there was no way it was going to protect my jars from jouncing around in the hot water.   The other thing I noticed was that there were suds in the pot.  My dish towel apparently had not been rinsed thoroughly in the washing machine.  I don’t want sudsy tasting pickled scallions.  It is now about 6:30.   I have to be at work at 8:30.  I dumped out the pot rinsed it several times and refilled it with clean clear water and waited for it to heat up.

Busted jars.

It took longer than you would think for that to happen.  I just sat and watched the pot come near a boil.  I never thought about how much the jars had cooled down by this time.  I also had nothing in the bottom of the pot to cushion the fall of the first jar that slipped from my jar tongs and banged into the bottom of the pot turned over and popped.  The entire bottom sheared off.  I fished it out.  Somehow the onions all stayed in.  The next jar went as peacefully as you please.  The third jar was going good, but then I heard that pop again.  The bottom had broken off that one, too.  All the vinegar rushed out while I held the jar with the scallions remaining suspended in the jar tongs.  I sat it down beside the other broken jar and crossed my fingers.  The last one was no problem.  They sat on opposite sides of the pot and I put the lid on and set the timer.  15 minutes I had to wait.

They rattled away in the pot, but no pops or crashes.  At fifteen minutes, I took off the lid, lifted the two jars out  and set them on the towel to cool and seal.  It occurred to me then that I did not know what one did with pickled scallions.  Do you just eat them out of the jar like the pickled carrots?  Do you put them in cocktails?  Do you just admire them on the shelf?  The thing that  I was really wondering about, was what I was going to do with the mountain of green onion tops that I had left over.  I wrapped them up and put them in the refrigerator to use in salads and such, but would we really be able to eat them all before they wilted?  This seems like one of the more wasteful kinds of pickles that you could make.  I still had to get ready to go to work, but I was really hungry by this point, and what is better in scrambled home grown eggs than green onions?  I chopped up some of the tops and made me a lovely plate of scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast.

 

The Recipe – Pickled Scallions

To make 4 half-pint jars

48 green onions

3 cups apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup salt

2T sugar

2 T whole cloves

1 T whole mustard seeds

1 T whole peppercorns

4 bay leaves

4 cloves garlic

Wash and trim scallions to fit in jars.  Remove the tough outer layer of skin.  Wash again. Place the scallions in layers in a bowl, sprinkling each layer lightly with some of the salt.  Cover the cold water and let stand 12 hours or overnight, making sure scallions stay submerged in water.  Drain the scallions, rinse then in fresh water and drain again.  Combine the sugar and vinegar.  Add the spices together and tie up in a cheesecloth bag.  Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes.  Discard the spice bag.  Pack the scallions, standing upright into sterilized jars.  Add one bay leaf and one clove of garlic to each jar. Fill the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top with the boiling liquid and place the covers on loosely.  Place the jars in hot water bath and process for 15 minutes.  Remove and let them cool and seal.Buy a mini canning rack from Amazon that fits in a Revere Ware stock pot.  These pictures won’t line up like I want them to, but here they are anyway.  That’s my blood orange marmalade on the toast.  A lovely breakfast and off to work.

The Farmers Market in Cartago, Costa Rica

My sister-in-law at the market in Cartago.

Back in January, my daughter and I visited my brother’s home in Costa Rica for a family reunion.  No better place for a family reunion in January!  They live in the mountains near Cartago, and have a 15 acre coffee farm.  They moved down there 10 years ago after retiring from teaching school.  They have banana trees that shade the coffee, so there are fresh bananas all the time for the picking.  The workers hang a stalk near their porch and you can just get one whenever you want.  The porch is where most of the living is done.  Where they are, the temperatures run in the mid to high 50’s  at night and up to 80 degrees during the day.  It is like perpetual spring.  It was coffee picking time while we were there and so we got to see how that was done and how it is processed at the co-op that buys their coffee.  Local food is mostly the way of life there.  Unfortunately, Wal-Mart has infiltrated and is bringing more industrial food into the area, but the old ways are dying hard, such as the local farmer’s market.

On Saturdays in Cartago you can go to the local farmers market and apparently, everyone does.  I went with Becky, my sister-in-law, who goes every week and takes several folks from her housekeeper’s family who do not have a vehicle.  (Many people there ride bicycles and walk what would seem to us enormous distances up and down mountains, every day.)  I would estimate that there are at least a hundred booths in each of two streets on either side of a park.  the booths run down each side of the street with a double row in the middle. 

View of the Farmers Market.

There is an enormous variety of food available.  The climate varies as you go up and down in the mountains, so that vegetables with warmer needs grow in the valleys and cooler season vegetables grow up in the mountains.  All kinds of cruciferous vegetables were there, cauliflower, cabbage, greens, chard and lettuce, as well as tropical fruits and vegetables.  I saw green beans, tomatoes, celery, pineapples, gourds, and berries of all kinds.  There were roots and stems of plants I did not recognize, and we could not understand the description of how they were cooked.  There were melons, watermelons, cantaloupe, honeydews and some I did not recognize, but they offered tastes and they were delicious.  Many fruits can  also be purchased along the side of the road.  There were also fresh eggs from non-industrial chickens.  Those are just as tasty as the ones we get from our chickens.

Mixing with crumbled local cheese.

The best part of all was the lovely cheese tortillas made by Maria.  Apparently, this is a regular treat in Becky’s week; Maria knew her well.  She makes these huge thick tortillas on a propane fired grill set up in the market.  She brings prepared masa with her which she brings out in batches.  She mixes it with whole kernel fresh corn and a local fresh cheese, that looks something like homemade cottage cheese or quesa fresca.  After they are completely mixed, she forms it into large balls which are put on the griddle and pressed out with a big spatula.  They cook for a few minutes on each side and are turned a couple more times to complete the cooking.  Then she takes one up, cuts it into about 8 pieces and puts in a styrofoam box for you.  Styrofoam is everywhere.  I wish it would go away.

Cheese Tortillas cooking on the grill.

We took the tasty creation and found a place to sit and enjoy it and watch the busy market.  Becky says that by late afternoon, almost everything is sold.  People from the city of 156,000 and the surrounding area buy up all the food available.  Cartago, which was founded in 1563, is located at the base of Vocano Irazu, which over many millenia has covered the area with volcanic ash which contributes to the high fertility of the agricultural area surrounding the city.  The main agricultural products of the surrounding region are potatoes, milk, onions, coffee and orchids, but as you can see lots of other foods grow in the area. 

And, Maria, the lady who makes them.

I enjoyed my time there, but it started me on a fruit binge that I have just now gotten back under control.  The tropical fruits there were so good and when I got back here, I found that the local Kroger had Costa Rican bananas and pineapples.  They were not quite as good as the ones down there, but they were pretty good.  And then those ruby red grapefruits had come in from Texas.  Ok, I know none of that is local, but it is traditional, at least in my family from way back, to purchase tropical fruits in the winter.  You get those lovely oranges and such from Florida, and that is not so far from me.  But Texas has the best grapefruit, I think.  Anyway, I have been eating a lot of fruit and it has slowed down my weight loss somewhat, although, I have gotten no colds or anything like that, even though people around me at work have been dropping like flies.  I guess it could be worse.  I did allow myself some absolutely wonderful coconut flan at a restaurant we went to.  I haven’t made any flan since I came back.  A fruit binge is much better than a flan binge.

Making Cheese

I tasted the carrot pickles and I like them.  The rosemary adds an interesting flavor that was not exactly what I was expecting.  The other ones I had made that were just refrigerator pickles had regular pickling spices and red pepper flakes in them.  It was actually hotter than this one with the whole pepper in it.  I guess that would depend on what kind of pepper you use.  There is not a lot of choice on peppers in the middle of February, so I used what I could get. 

Gabrielle and Brenda waiting for the milk to heat up.

But, that is not what I came to talk to you about.  I’m here to talk about cheese.  You can make your own, you know; from local milk that is taken from cows who can walk around in a pasture all day and who are not given regimens of drugs to keep them somewhat healthy.  The milk I get comes from Johnston Family Farm near Newborn, GA.  It is only about 20 minutes away from where I live.  They sell their milk at Whole Foods in Atlanta, and also through the Locally Grown market based in Conyers.  But the funnest way to get it is to go to the farm and pick out what you want from the refrigerator on the porch of the barn.  Then you drop your money in a box nailed to the wall.  All the cats come to meet you and watch as you choose what you want.  Someone must give them milk, but I don’t want to share any of mine with them.  You can check out their website, http://www.johnstonfamilyfarm.com/.   The milk is delicious, low-heat pasteurized and not homogenized.  They have all varieties, whole, skim, 2%; they even have chocolate milk and cream.  A few weeks ago, I invited a couple of friends from work to come and make cheese with me.  We made basic fresh mozzarella, which is quite easy and only takes about 45 minutes to an hour. 

The milk has separated into curds and whey.

Brenda and Gabrielle were amazed at how easy it was to do, and wondered, like I did, at why people ever stopped doing this at home.  It is so much better than what you get from the store.  But I guess it is like everything else, it just seemed more convenient.  I remember all those  supposed time-saving commercials when I was a kid.  After being brainwashed about that for so long, you just give in.  But by doing that, you lose a lot of the satisfaction of creating your own life, not depending on someone else to do it for you at a cost.  But I digress again; we really should get on to the making of the cheese.

Pouring off the whey.

In order to make cheese, you must have milk, any kind will work, whole, 2% or skim.  The milk you use cannot be ultra-pasteurized; so that rules out most grocery store organic milks.  To make it turn into cheese you need citric acid, lipase, rennet and salt.  The recipe I use comes from the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website, http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Mozzarella.pdf.   You can get all your cheesemaking supplies from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.  Their web address is www.cheesemaking.com. 

But I don’t exactly make it like the recipe.  The method is the same but I add lipase to the mix, just before putting in the rennet.  Lipase is an enzyme and I think it gives the cheese a better flavor.  You can get it from the cheesemaking folks along with everything else that you need.  You must keep it and the rennet tablets in the freezer to keep them fresh.  You only have to heat the milk up to 100 degrees to make this cheese.  That is one reason it does not take so long.  At 50 degrees you add the citric acid; at 90 degrees you add the lipase and then the rennet and stir gently.  Stop stirring as soon as the milk begins to separate.  Increase the temperature to 100 and then turn off the heat.  Let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes to separate completely; then dip out the curds into a large microwaveable bowl.  They will be full of whey, so you must begin kneading them.  As you do the liquid will come out and you pour it back into the pot.  This is harder than it sounds.  You have to hold onto the curd and pour around it.  Once you have gotten as much out as possible, heat the cheese in the microwave for about 45 seconds and knead some more.  The whey will be more creamy looking.

Brenda kneading the cheese.

Now heat it again and knead some more.  Heat it at least one more time and knead and stretch.  After the third time that you heat it, knead the salt in.  The recipe calls for 1 1/2 teaspoons, but I only use 1 teaspoon.  You may have to heat it more.  It should be pretty hot now, and pretty stretchy.  The strands should not break, but stretch out.  That is how you know it is ready.  Once it stretches without breaking, you can break it off into small balls and drop them in ice water or form it into one large ball.  I have a bowl that is just the right size and I just put it in there with plastic wrap over the top.  I know, I know, I hate plastic wrap, but the surface gets a really funky texture if it stays exposed to the air.  I guess you could put the one large ball in a deep bowl of ice water.  Keep the cheese covered with water or plastic wrap in the refrigerator and eat it within a couple of days.

Chop it up in salads; make pizza or lasagna; cheese toast is good.  Whatever you do with your mozzarella, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what went into it and who made it.  Enjoy!

Can Jam February

The Hot Water Bath steaming away

Pickles…it had to be pickles.  What else can you do with carrots in a hot water bath.  Well, I had found some recipes for carrot chutney, and even marmalade, but I’ve already done marmalade, and besides, there is only so much sweet stuff that is reasonable for a person who is eating to stave off type 2 diabetes to have around the house.  So, something that would be good snacky food, with not too many calories, was what I needed and I found the recipe in the newest edition of Well Preserved:  small batch preserving for the new cook, by Mary Ann Dragan.  Pickled Rosemary Carrots.  That sounded perfect.  Only the tiniest amount of sugar.  I had made something very similar that was not jarred up and sealed.  It just stayed in the fridge until you ate it up, which did not take long.  I liked them and felt sure I would like these.  The recipe was not challenging at all, at least compared to the marmalade from last month.  This one was pretty much old hat.  Cold pack, pour in the vinegar, put on the lids and hot water bath.  It was almost too easy. or so I thought.

Finding the carrots turned out to be the hard part.  I really wanted local, organic carrots for this round.  I thought it would be easy.  I know lots of local farmers.  I have access to some markets that are still open, even in the dead of winter.  Surely I could pull this off.  I called all my farmer friends.  No one had carrots.  The extremely cold weather we have had this winter had slowed them down to a crawl.  Some had carrots, but they were no bigger than a very slender pencil.  I was forced back to the grocery store, but I did get organic carrots.  So I have gotten something right.  And the rosemary did come from my own herb garden.   I did not have pickling salt, so I substituted sea salt.  The recipe also called for mixed peppercorns.  I could not find those but I did find some special Tellicherry black peppercorns and some green peppercorns, so I used them.

Chopping the carrots.

So I peeled and cut and packed them into the jars.  It didn’t take as long as I had thought it would, even doing 4 pounds of carrots.  And, they fit exactly into 6 wide mouth pint jars.  I put in the garlic, chili pepper and sprig of rosemary and they were ready for the vinegar.  My dear husband helped with getting the hot vinegar solution poured in and I put on the lids and set them in the steaming hot water bath.  They stayed in there for 15 minutes and were done.   The lids started popping almost immediately after I got them out.  I was very surprised at how quickly they were all sealed.

So here is the recipe.  Directly from the book except with a few minor changes:

Pickled Rosemary Carrots

• 3 cups water
• 3 cups vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup sea salt
• 1 Tablespoon each Tellicherry black and green peppercorns
• 6 cloves garlic
• 6 hot chili peppers
• 4 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
• 6 – 3 inch sprigs of fresh cut rosemary

Prepare the preserving jars.  Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and peppercorns and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer 5 minutes.  Place one clove garlic and one chili pepper in each jar.  Pack carrot sticks tightly in the jars standing them upright.  Slide one sprig of rosemary into each jar.  Carefully pour the boiling vinegar solution into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe the rims clean and place lids and rings on the jars.  Place the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

It was very satisfying to see how easily it all went together.  Kind of zen-like in its simplicity.  I’m looking forward to tasting them.  I will let them sit for about a week before I take a taste and give them time for all the flavors to “swap around” as Huckleberry Finn would say.  I think they turned out quite lovely.  The green and orange complement each other in a satisfying kind of way.  I hope that they will be as delicious as they look. 

Now, I eagerly look forward to the challenge for March.  I hope that I can get the ingredients for it locally and organically.  I had thought that I was really good at that.  After all, the pick up for our local CSA is on my front porch.  I did not count on the weather knocking me for a loop.  But I guess that is what we all have to live with in reality. 

The finished product.

Tigress’ Can Jam redux

Slices of blood orange, ready to be made into marmalade.

Well, it seems that I did not read the directions correctly and so posted my recipe and story about the January canning experience too early.  I was excited and wanted to get it all down as it happened.  I also am leaving in the morning to go to Costa Rica for a week for a family reunion.  I was trying to get things done when they could get done.  So, now here is the recipe.  You can look to the last two posts for the full story of how it all went.  Thank you Tigress for having this great idea.  I can’t wait to find out what we are doing next month.

My recipe for Blood Orange Marmalade

5 small blood oranges, locally grown, if you are so lucky.

Slice them 3/16 inch thick, crossways, so that you get that pretty star effect.

Place in a heavy bottomed pot with the juice of one lemon and just enough water to cover them.  Make a jelly bag from cheese cloth or muslin.  Put the end pieces from the oranges and the lemon rind and seeds in it.  Place that in the pot also.  Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat.  Cover and let sit overnight or up to 12 hours.

Bring the fruit and liquid up to a boil again and cook for 30 minutes to evaporate some of the water and get the benefit of the pectin in the bits in the jelly bag.  At the end of this cooking, take out the jelly bag and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  This is where the pectin is in most abundance.  Pour that liquid back into the pot. 

Now it is time to measure the amount of fruit and liquid that you have.  I had approximately 4 cups.  Add the same amount of organic sugar to the pot and bring it up to boiling.  At that point, turn the heat to medium or lower and watch it carefully until it reaches 220 degrees.  Skim off any scum that develops.  Jar up the marmalade.  You should have at least 3 half-pints.  Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Set out on towel on counter and wait to hear the lovely pops of your jars sealing.

Finished marmalade

January Can Jam (part 2)

I, at least, bought organic sugar at the store so part of this thing is going right.  After cooking the fruit down, I measured it and found that I had 4 cups worth of fruit and liquid.  I added 4 cups of organic, made in Florida, sugar to it and began to cook it off.  It gets up to 200 degrees rather quickly, but that last 20 degrees takes a while.  I figured out that the sugar to water ratio has to be right for it to be able to go above boiling, so we are just evaporating off the  excess water in the meantime.  As I skimmed scum, I grew somewhat impatient and resorted to turning the heat up.  Unfortunately, it almost scorched, but I caught it in time.  At least I guess I did.  It does not taste burnt.  There was one tiny scorched spot in the bottom of the pan. 

marmalade bubbling away in the pot

The next time I make this, or any other jam or jelly, I will definitely let it go at a lower setting and just make up my mind to wait.   I will also use a smaller pot, so that the thermometer is deeper in the mixture.  I hope this is about learning, not just about achieving perfection.

I scooped it up into the jars and managed to make 3 full half-pints and about a half of another.   I put the three full ones  in the hot water bath for ten minutes.  The half of a jar, I just put in the refrigerator.  I’ll eat it first.  In fact, I’ve already had a couple of bites.  The color is very nice and it tastes good to me.  There is some bitterness from the peel and such, but I really kind of like it.  The pectin certainly did its job; it is very dense and stiff.  I detect no hint of laundry from the jelly bag.  I look forward to having some with biscuits or English Muffins in the near future. 

I learned a lot from this first Can Jam effort, how to use the mandoline, a little bit about patience, and how to make marmalade.  I have just ordered both versions of Well Preserved.  They are two different books with two different subtitles, by two different women, that are both about canning in small batches, which is more suited to the life I live now, unlike the huge batches I grew up with.  I have canned green beans, tomatoes, muscadine juice and pears.  I’ve made pickles of all kinds, pear mincemeat and just recently, scuppernong jelly; and many other kinds of jelly, but that was a long time ago.   This one was all in the technique.  I think the next time I make it, I will be smoother in the process, but I’m not sure that it could taste much better.  I really love the contrast of the bitter and sweet in one mouthful.

My recipe for Blood Orange Marmalade

5 small blood oranges, locally grown, if you are so lucky.

Slice them 3/16 inch thick, crossways, so that you get that pretty star effect.

Place in a heavy bottomed pot with the juice of one lemon and just enough water to cover them.  Make a jelly bag from cheese cloth or muslin.  Put the end pieces from the oranges and the lemon rind and seeds in it.  Place that in the pot also.  Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat.  Cover and let sit overnight or up to 12 hours.

Bring the fruit and liquid up to a boil again and cook for 30 minutes to evaporate some of the water and get the benefit of the pectin in the bits in the jelly bag.  At the end of this cooking, take out the jelly bag and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  This is where the pectin is in most abundance.  Pour that liquid back into the pot. 

Now it is time to measure the amount of fruit and liquid that you have.  I had approximately 4 cups.  Add the same amount of organic sugar to the pot and bring it up to boiling.  At that point, turn the heat to medium or lower and watch it carefully until it reaches 220 degrees.  Skim off any scum that develops.  Jar up the marmalade.  You should have at least 3 half-pints.  Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Set out on towel on counter and wait to hear the lovely pops of your jars sealing.

The finished jars of blood orange marmalade.