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Canning/Food Preservation

one last tomato project. making ketchup.

September 10, 2011

It’s almost over, the canning year. Not that canning stock, making booze, and other preserving projects won’t continue, but the larder shelves are full. There are jars covering the dining room table. I’m measuring the space under the guest room bed. There’s just no more room. At least that’s what I was saying until I [...]

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canning grape juice from wine grapes

September 4, 2011

Since returning from our vacation, I’ve been obsessed with wine grapes. Dennis eyes me suspiciously and says “no wine making, seriously, for heaven’s sake.” And I don’t intend to become a winemaker, but I do like to blend wine grapes into fruity, tasty grape juice. How could I help but be inspired when we spent [...]

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plum perfect. four – or more – preserving projects.

August 30, 2011

The wonderful Washington State Fruit Producers sent me a present last week. As a Canbassador, they sent me 20 lbs. of perfect plums and 10 lbs. of gorgeous nectarines from the Yakima Valley and asked me to can away. What a glorious bounty with which to face a hurricane. This is the first post reporting [...]

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september challenge. packing.

August 15, 2011

We’ve just returned from a few fantastic days spent floating down the Rhine river valley, and traveling the Routes des Vins d’Alsace. I peered into every charcuterie shop, checked out every butcher. Oh, don’t worry. I did not overlook the vegetables. Or the cheeses. Or pastries. I stopped at markets and chatted up the people [...]

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what to do with 25, or 50, pounds of tomatoes

August 10, 2011

We returned from vacation and the first day back, I went right to the farm stand. I needed to see the State of the Produce. I knew the weather had been really hot and dry. As expected, the chiles were just starting to arrive. The jalapenos were huge and plump. And equally expected, the tomatoes [...]

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National Can It Forward Day, Quickles, and a Giveaway

July 22, 2011

I just love pickles. Sweet, sour, or half sour. Pickle relish. Piccalilli. Cornichons. Incendiary Lime Pickle. Branston Pickle. The more the merrier. I don’t even know when I learned to make them. It seems I always have. I remember having a vat of pickles in the closet of my college apartment. The sweet pickle of [...]

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an old fashioned grocer, amazing pork and spicy plum sauce

July 18, 2011

Where have all the grocers gone? When I was a little girl, my grandmother would go to Shorling’s every Friday morning to pick up her weekend groceries. I accompanied her in the summertime, lingering over the pretty food. The guys working in the produce aisle would have samples to nibble while we shopped. Watermelon, sweet [...]

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charcutepalooza august challenge. binding.

July 15, 2011

Remarkable sausages have been made in the last three months. Really, you Charcutepalooza folks are making the most amazing foods. And taking gorgeous photos. Makes me want to sit at your dinner tables. Every last one of you. The Binding challenge will move us away from sausages, and use all those mad charcuterie skills you’ve [...]

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admiration of the apricot (four preserving projects)

July 8, 2011

I adore apricots. I ate my first fresh apricot at 19, in Paris, and it transformed me. Until then, I didn’t realize an apricot was available in any way other than dried. I know that must seem ridiculous. There’s a battle going on in my head – is my favorite fruit an apricot or a [...]

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