The Value of Barter

This past Monday I attended Well Preserved's Preserve Swap. M and I were not really sure what to expect, having been invited by WP's Dana and Joel after bumping into them on the street earlier in the week. But curiosity and practicality gave way, as we still needed to find a home for a couple jars of spicy dilly beans sitting on our shelf.

The event was a great turn-out. Preservers packed the little neighborhood bar and lined the counter space with their jars of jams, jellies, pickles and preserves. Some of the more unique items were rumtopf, dandelion jelly, maple syrup, and cured ham hock. I felt a little out-of-place, having only brought 2 measly, unlabelled jars, but I was intent on trading for something different.

We ended up meeting a handful of passionate preservers, and scoring a nice slab of bacon (cured by Starfish chef Kyle Deming) and a bright red jar of apple jelly (freshly made by local Beverley Barnett Graham). A sweet deal for our 2 jars of dilly beans! Ah, money-less exchange makes me happy, as does hot sizzling bacon and a mouthful of sweet jelly. Best of all, now that I have a Preserve Swap under my belt, I promise to step up my game for the next event.

Death by Canning

Likely not that dramatic. In any case, you should still read the Ecoholic article in this week's NOW magazine, re: nasty chemicals in canning lids:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/columns/ecoholic.cfm?content=177185

I had no idea that the standard canning lids contained bisphenol A (BPA). Nor was I aware of a reusable lid alternative.

Adria also references a few of her favourite canning websites. Warning though: before you start clicking on the links, be prepared for a few hours of reading and being inspired by great ideas. Speaking of which... you should also check out wellpreserved.ca, a fantastic food blog authored by two well-seasoned canners, who just happen to be my neighbors.

Grape Jelly Fail

Throughout August and September, concord grapes were a staple in my diet. The source was our Plan B CSA box, and no matter how hard I tried and how purple my fingers became, I just could not eat them fast enough. Then, a brilliant idea: grape jelly!

Seemed simple enough. Squish grapes. Strain. Boil. Add sugar. Add pectin. Pour into jars and boiling-water process for shelf stability.

Upon tasting the grape juice after straining, I decided that it was sweet enough and didn't need much more sugar. I decreased the sugar in the recipe by more than half. BIG MISTAKE.

The jelly did not set. So the next day, I added more pectin. Again, still runny. The following week, I added more sugar. And yet still, a jar of purple liquid stared back at me.

I could add more sugar, but then it would be way too sweet. I could add more pectin, but I would have to buy another box and I would have no idea how much to add.

So now, I have 2 jars of grape concentrate for making sparkling grape drinks (just add soda water). Pretty tasty, I suppose. Lesson learned: don't mess around with jelly recipes. Also, when life gives you runny jelly, make drink concentrate.

Recipe: Tomato Confit

Wish you could store all those ripe roma tomatoes for another day, but the thought of canning repels you? Try roasting them. It's super easy, and so tasty. The roasted tomatoes, or "tomato confit", will keep in the fridge for at least a week, and freezes well.

I used the instructions on the blog Chocolate & Zucchini, but didn't include the chili flakes or herbs. When packing the confit into jars, I layered with roasted garlic since I had it on-hand.

The confit has been incredible in sandwiches, omlettes, pasta, or even on their own. My favourite, though, is using the confit in a caprese salad. One slice of roasted tomato, one slice of buffalo mozzarella, one fresh basil leaf, salt, pepper, a glug of olive oil... there's nothing quite like it.

Pickles and Party

This year's canning event was the biggest yet! Meaning, one more friend joined our party of two. Zing! We had a full day of peeling fruits and vegetables, packing into sterilized jars, making syrups and pickling liquids, boiling jars and listening to lids pop.

To avoid the scramble to find the right ingredients and quantities the morning of, I pre-ordered the produce from the Withrow Farmers Market a week in advance. Haystrom Farms from Picton, The Fresh Veggies Farm from Brampton, and Weber's Meats from Paisley were the Ontario producers that supplied the eggs and vegetables I needed to get my pickle on.

In total, we made over 40 jars of preserved peaches, beans, eggs, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes and pears. The jars now stand in a line above my kitchen cupboards, soldiers of food preservation ingenuity.

Squirrelling Away Squash

The cold weather is upon us. Sadly, that means goodbye to our warm weather friends, like tomatoes, peppers and zucchinis. But hey, squash is in season. My favourite cool weather vegetable. Even saying his name, Squash, is kind of fun.

I rented a car for the weekend for a short Thanksgiving trip up north, which presented the perfect opportunity to load-up on those heavy gourds at the market. Three butternuts, two acorns and one something-or-other. I brought them home and cut them into cubes, to store in the freezer for the winter months.

I soon found out that peeling 6 squash (or squashes?) at one time
can be sweaty work. The acorn and something-or-other squash was particularly hard to cut, and required holding a super-sharp knife at strange and uncomfortable angles. Grotesque images of accidentally slicing off all 4 tips of my fingers popped into my head; no doubt instigated by a recent visit to the emergency room after I sliced off the tip of my thumb cutting kohlrabi.

In the end, I had 2 fat freezer bags full of cubed squash, and retained all fingers and thumbs intact. A lot of work for a Saturday morning, but I know it'll be worth it when it's minus 1000 degrees outside and I'm curled up on the couch with a steaming hot cup of squash soup.

Canning Party

Two weekends ago, a couple of friends came over to my apartment and we had our first annual canning party. Wooo!

We made dill pickled cucumbers and beans (top photo with chicken looking on), tomatoes and pickled beets/onions (bottom photo), and peaches. It took a night of prep work (my friend was up until 3am roasting beets!), and 5 hours of jar sterlization, filling jars, making pickling juice and simple syrup, and boiling water canning. In the end, we had about 40 jars of all sizes and colours, ready for storage. But still, I kind of wished I made more.

You can find lots of instructions about canning on-line; I like pickyourown.org because they have step-by-step instructions and pictures. With the whole local food movement gaining momentum, there's likely to be a canning workshop close to where you are. In Toronto, Foodshare held a free workshop in August, and the Gardiner Museum has one coming up in September.

Hhere's a few tips I've learned over the last couple of years:

• Pack your jars as tightly as possible. The fruit/veggies shrink during heat processing; if you don't pack tightly enough, you'll have lots of liquid in your jars.
  
  
• Get the right tools for the job. Last year I used the largest stock pot I had, which only fit 3 jars, because I didn't want to buy specialty items (gadgets really annoy me). But it took 2 full days to finish canning. This year, I bought a basic canning pot with rack from Craigslist for $10. What a huge difference: it fit 7 jars, and the rack fits in so that you don't have to reach into the boiling water to pull out the jars.
  
  
• To keep pickles crunchy, minimize heat processing time and/or soak in brine the night before. Soft pickles are kind of gross.
  

And most of all, have fun! Turn up the music, invite over some friends, open a bottle of wine, and can, baby, can!

How-To: Freeze Herbs (Cilantro)

If you're like me, sometimes you'll have more herbs than you know what to do with. And then sometimes, you'll be wishing you had that herb that you don't have.

The Everdale CSA offers free herbs as they are available. Never one to turn away from a good deal, I gathered up a large leafy bouquet of cilantro. Fine and dandy for summer and autumn, but how to keep cilantro-happy in the barren months of winter?

Freeze 'em! After a quick web search, seems like there are a few ways of freezing herbs:

• Freezing whole
• Freezing in water
  
• Freezing in oil

To solve this, I conducted a very un-scientific study to determine which of the 3 preserves cilantro the best, by trying all 3 methods and then later adding each one to a dish.

Result: freezing the cilantro WHOLE seemed to preserve more of the flavour than freezing in water or oil. Of course, none of the methods came close to the mellow aroma and crisp flavour of fresh cilantro.


How To Freeze Cilantro
Season: Summer to autumn

Trim the roots, and rinse very thoroughly. Pat or air dry.

If freezing whole: place cilantro in freezer bag, preferably in a single layer.

If freezing in water or oil: finely chop cilantro. Add to individual portion-sized containers (e.g. ice cube trays, pill pouches), or as a thin layer in a resealable bag (this will freeze in a 'sheet', and the amount you need can be broken off easily). Add just enough water or oil to saturate.

Freeze. Enjoy later.