Above is a shot of some of my projects. Not pictured are 6 jars of oven-dried tomatoes I wrote about earlier, and the 8 jars of tomato salsa I gave out to coworkers.
To date I've completed:
- 6 jars of homemade ketchup
- 16 jars of mild salsa
- 16 jars of dill pickles (8 done with garlic and dill weed from my own garden and another 8 using Bernardin's stock dill pickle spice package for a comparison)
- 12 jars of sweet and spicy bread and butter pickles which I love along side a grilled cheese or on a burger - now I know why my Grandma had a dusty jar of turmeric in her spice rack it what gives them their signature taste and yellow tint
- 6 jars of pickled red onions - great on sandwiches and slow cooked pork carnitas tacos - their hot pink colour makes them look like jewels. I used this recipe, and then hot packed and processed them for 15 minutes.
- 3 large jars of honey jalapenos for spicing up mild salsas and topping nachos and pizzas
- 4 large jars of pickled beets - I eat these so fast it only makes sense to make large jars of these
- 12 jars of peach and poblano salsa adapted from this recipe. I used no dried chili and instead used all fresh chilies from the garden: 1 jalapeno, 1 serrano and 2 poblanos. We have already eaten one jar with grilled shrimp and it was a revelation - I am forcing myself to wait until the dead of winter to crack the other jars - it's like warmth and summer in a jar and will be worth shoveling a path to the Bar-b-que so I can top grilled chicken and fish with it
- 6 jars of green fig and orange jam and another 6 jars of a black fig, balsamic and black pepper jam to serve with cheese plates
I've got a few more projects on the books for fall including some green tomato salsa verde to use up all the green tomatoes in my garden and later in the fall apple and pear butters and crab apple jelly.
I've found the best place for jars and supplies year round has been Canadian Tire, but with the renewed interest in canning even our local discount grocery store has a special end of aisle display in the produce department for all your canning needs.
Here is a list of sites I've found helpful for techniques, processing times and/or gotten recipes from:
Canning Across America: I have a confession to make - inside this polite middle-aged lady interior lurks a 12-year-old boy. Every time I talk about preserving and someone says "cans" I snicker. I jokingly call this website "Cans across America" and snicker each time but outside my juvenile amusements the resources area cannot be beat and for people who learn better by seeing there are videos!
Well Preserved: In addition to their great site this husband and wife team also do the Well Preserved column in the Edible Toronto Magazine - a beautifully designed retro looking pull out in every issue. Their extensive posts on all the steps of canning tomatoes (from what variety to purchase to cooking down the sauce) have been especially helpful. Sadly I found their site AFTER I peeled and cored a 53 pound bushel of tomatoes by hand and wondered why the skin on my hands almost fell off - hint it's the acid in the tomatoes - not normally a problem except when done in that quantity so wear gloves!
Food in Jars: I found this blog after this great article in the LA times on the canning trend I got the idea for the spice blend in my homemade ketchup from her slow cooker tomato jam recipe and I used her recipe for my garlic dills. Word to the wise though read through all your recipes start to finish before starting - I didn't realize you need to wait at least 8 weeks for the flavour to develop before cracking into your dill pickles. Doh!
Tigress in a Pickle and her sister site Tigress in a Jam are filled with more variety than any other canning site I've found. She runs the gamut from exotic flavours like kimchee and Moroccan style preserved lemons to sophisticated preserves like nectarines with summer savory & white pepper to old classics like rhubarb jam. Plus once a month she holds a Can Jam challenge around a different fruit or vegetable where around 140 other food bloggers come together to share their favourite recipes and photos around the theme ingredient. She then posts a "round-up" of the best recipes and posts.
Saving the Season is another find thanks to the LA Times article. The photos are luscious and I've already bookmarked a ton of recipes for apples, pears and quince for the fall. I'm on the hunt for crabapples so I can make Crabapple and thyme jelly - imagine it on roast pork loin or on leftover thanksgiving turkey sammies. Sadly I've never seen crabapples for sale at the markets - you seem to need to know someone with a tree - can anyone help me out?
