MMMMMMMMMore pickles

This moning my canner was still out on the stove from yesterday's canning project.  I thought I might as well get another small pickle project done before washing it up and storing it away.  Todays project is pickled carrots.  I like the italian style ones and Ben enjoys the mexican style ones, so I did both. The following recipe is enough brine to make about 6 pints of pickled carrots.

To start with, sterilize your jars.  Then you'll want to make a pickling brine.  This time I used this recipe:    
    5 Cups vinegar
    1 Cup water
    2 Cups sugar
    2 Tablespoons sea salt
    4 Tablespoons mustard seed (whole)

You will also need:
     Carrots (about 1/2 lb per pint jar)
     Garlic (1 clove per pint)
     Onion (1/4 Cup per pint of Mexican style)
     Jalepeno pepper (1/2 pepper per pint of Mexican style)
     Green bell pepper (about 4 cut sticks per pint)

Bring the brine to a boil.  In the mean time, wash-peel and cut your carrots.  For Italian style I made carrot sticks and for Mexican style I cut rounds. 

Peppers, onions and garlic add flavor and color to your pickled carrots

Start with Italian style pickled carrots. **It  is important to start with these because when you cook the Mexican style ones the brine will get too spicy due to the jalepeno peppers.**

Place a pinch of mustard seed in the bottom of the sterilized jars along with a pinch of whole leaf oregeno.  Add a whole garlic clove (I like to slightly crush them with the side of my knife first.)  Then add your raw green pepper sticks.

Place  your cut carrots into the hot brine.  Cook this on medium heat for about 8 minutes or until the carrot sticks are al dente.

You can fit about 1/2 lb of carrot sticks in a pint jar

Next add these hot carrot sticks to your jar using tongs.  Cover these with brine leaving about 1/2  inch of headroom in the jars.  Now put the lids and rings on jars and set aside on a towel on your counter.

For Mexican style pickled carrots:

Cut your cleaned carrots into rounds.  Cut jalepeno peppers in rounds and dice onions in large pieces.  Add these to the remaining brine and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until al dente.

Cooking the mexican pickled carrot mixture

Add 1 slightly crushed garlic clove to bottom of each hot jar.  When the carrots mixture is cooked add that to the jar.  Be sure to include jalepeno pepper slices in each of the jars.  Cover with hot brine leaving about 1/2 inch of  headroom.  Add lids and rings.

Place both  Italian and Mexican style carrots into your water bath canning rack and waterbath for 10 minutes.

Remove from canner onto a towel on your counter and allow to cool.  Once completely cooled  remove the rings and label your jars.  Store in a dark cupboard for at least 1 month to allow for all the flavors to mature.  Ours should be ready to go for Thanksgiving!

Yummy Mexican and Italian pickled carrots!

What am I gonna do with all these little green tomatoes?

Pickling is a great way to preserve your

green end of season tiny tomatoes

We've had torrential rains for the last few days.  October in the Pacific Northwest is the wet cold season and now that the rains have started, there's no telling when they'll end. 

I still have 3 large yellow pear tomato plants in the garden that are producing. All this heavy rain is causing them to split as they ripen.  So today I went down and filled my pockets with tiny green tomatoes for pickling.  Then I grabbed the pruners and harvested a handful of anise flowers and oregeno from my organic herb bed along with about 8 garlic cloves that didn't get planted earlier this week.

Yellow pear tomatoes are about 1/2 the size of cherry tomatoes

When fully ripened they are a bright yellow, but these green ones

will be better pickled

Organic Anise flower from the boat garden

Garden fresh organic oregeno from the herb beds

These garlics didn't make the cut for planting but they will

compliment the small tomatoes for pickles

Back in the kitchen, I washed all of my items and pulled out the canning equiptment again.  First thing was to sterilize 4 quart jars and start the water to boil in the canner. 

In a seperate pot I brought these ingredients to a boil for the brine:

     *1 1/2 Quarts of white venegar

     *1 Cup sugar

     *1/3 Cup sea salt

As the brine was heating  I placed a pinch of mustard seed, corriander, and a few black pepper corns along with a few sprigs from the fresh herbs in the bottom of each jar.

No need to measure, just add a pinch to each jar

 Next I drained the tomatoes and packed them raw into the jars and added 2 cloves of peeled garlic in each jar.

So pretty!  The tomatoes and garlic cloves are the same size

Once the brine was boiled, I removed it from the heat and poured the hot liquid over the  tomatoes and herbs.  I left 1/2" of head room in the top of each jar and then added the lids and rings.  These went into a hot water bath canner at a boil for 10 minutes. Next I pulled the jars out and set on a towel on the counter where they will cool.

Pickling tiny tomatoes is quick and easy

Once they're cool I'll remove the rings, label the jars and place in the cupboard for at least 1 month.  After brining for a month these will be delicious little pickles and would make a nice garnish for bloody mary's or compliment any relish tray.

Easy as pie! Canning apple pie filling

Seems like everywhere we go lately, we see trees covered in beautiful ripe apples. 
On our trip to town this week, we stopped by to visit our good friend Mark.  His apple tree was bursting with big juicy Gravensteins.  Mark had eaten a few apples off the tree but was content to give the rest to the birds and the squirrels. 



We had just purchased some nice red delicious to make a pie and thought the Gravensteins would be a nice compliment in flavor.  So before it all went to the wildlife, we grabbed a bag, filled it with fresh picked apples, then headed home with visions of hot apple pie.


On our way back to the island, we realized this was a lot more apples then we would need for one pie!  Why not whip up a batch of homemade apple pie filling and have organic and delicious apple pies throughout the year! So we pulled our canning equiptment back out and got to work.

To make our homemade canned apple pie filling you will need:

• 6 Sterilized wide mouth quart jars
• Apples - any variety.  We like to mix them to make a more flavorful pie.  Peeled cored and cut.  Enough to fill 6 quart jars
• 5 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Cups Cornstarch
• 1-2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg.
• 1-2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 10 Cups water
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large pot.  Add water and lemon juice.  Heat to a slow boil, stirring constantly, until mixture thikens.  Remove from heat.
2. Fill bottom inch of sterilized jars with thickened mixture
3. Wash, peel, core and chop apples filling jars with apples as you go
4. Pour thickened mixture over apples to fill jars.  Be sure to leave 1/4-1/2" head room for processing.  Use a knife to remove airbubbles in the jar
5. Wipe jar rims clean
6. Place caps and rings on jars.  Be sure not to over tighten rings
7. Process jars in a hot water bath canner for 25 minutes
8. Remove hot jars onto a towel on counter
9. Allow to cool overnight. Remove rings and label your jars

Recipe variations:

• You can leave out any of the spices that you don't like. 
• You can add 1 teaspoon of salt to the recipe, but I prefer them sodium free.
• You can use pre ground nutmeg.  If you find whole nutmeg too expensive, check at your local mexican market.  I buy my whole nutmegs in a package of 4 for less that $1 at our tienda
• Try adding pears along with the apples for a mixed fruit pie

To make your pie: Use your favorite pie crust recipe or frozen crusts. Fill with your homemade pie filling and bake for about an hour at 375 degrees. Allow pie to cool for 2- 3 hours before serving. You may also use this filling in empenadas, turnovers and other filled pasteries. Or warm and serve over icecream or yogurt.

Ben prepping for our apple project:

  

Fresh local apples and adventures in canning

Wonder how canning your own produce qualifies as a green lifestyle activity?  Well let me see if I can explain my take on that.

First off, did you know those cans of food that you buy at the local grocer are not just harmless tin cans?  In my battle to live a more plastic free life, I began buying a lot of canned foods rather than getting those that are packaged in plastic "jars".  I really thought I was doing a good thing for my family and for the environment.  Well I learned something that made me take a second look at that idea.  Did you know that most food cans are lined on the inside with a plastic?  Take a look next time you open that can of tomato paste or refried beans.  You'll notice that the inside of that can is white and if you run your fingernail over it, you can scrape up some of this plastic lining!  The problem is that if I can scrape that lining off with my fingernail, how much of that plastic and those hormone displacing chemicals are leaching into the food even before I open the can.

This really got me thinking how beneficial it can be to preserve my own food as often as I can.  The great thing with canning is it's a low investment to buy your supplies, like jars and canning bather.  Once purchased you can reuse those items again and again for years to come!

The other thing that makes canning a green activity, is that when you can local food, you can buy organic in season produce at a relatively low cost.  Or you may even be able to grow your own with a little bit of ground breaking.  Organic foods use no pesticides which means not only are they better for your health, but they're also better for the environment!  Pesticides leach into ground water and wind up harming aquatic life and can even affect the egg strength in nesting birds.  Imagine what they're doing inside our own bodies!

*****Christi steps down from soap box*****

Ok so here's another project that I did while having my technological crisis.  I canned applesauce! 

As luck would have it, we have some good friends here on the island, Victoria and Barry, had a bumper crop of apples this year. They offered us some pickings off their 2 trees.  Ben and I went over last week and picked 3 boxes of apples. 

So making applesauce is really simple. 

Step1:  First you'll want to wash your fruit.  Then pare, core and slice the apples into a large pot.  Victoria loaned me her handy 3 in 1 tool that saved me lots of time as it cores, cuts and peels with just the turn of a handle.

Step 2:  Add a small amount of water to your pot of chopped apples.  I use just enough to cover the bottom of the pot.  This helps to keep the apples from scorching durring the start of heating.  The rest of the liquid will come from the apples themselves as the juices stew out.

Step 3: Place covered pot on medium low to medium heat and begin to warm the apples.  Once the pot begins to steam, stir and reduce to a low heat.

Step 4:  Add sweetner and spices.  I like to add a bit of sugar to this sauce because the apples I was working with were a sweet/tart variety *I think they are gravensteins, but not positive*  For my recipe I added 2 1/2 C of sugar to a large pot of warm apples plus a couple teaspoons of cinnamon and some fresh grated nutmeg

Step 5:  Mix, Cover and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours or until apples are sauced.  The longer you simmer your apples the darker your sauce will become.

Step 6:  While your apples are stewing it's a good time to take your peels and cores out to the compost bin.  Then you'll want to prepare your jars and lids for canning.  When canning always check your jar rims for dings, dents and cracks.  If you find any place the damaged jars in your recycling.  Sterilize your good jars, lids and rings in boiling water:

 

Step 7: When your applesauce has finished stewing you're ready to begin filling your jars for canning. Leave about 1/4 to 1/2" of headroom in your jar to allow for expansion during the hot water bath.  Wipe rim of jar clean of any apple sauce.  Top with lid and then tighten ring by hand.

This is my finished applesauce.  Note the deep caramel color.  This was simmered on low for 4 hours.

Step 8:  Place lidded jars into hot water bath canner.  Return water to a boil and then begin timing.  Applesauce should stay in the hotwater bath for 15 minutes.

Step 9:  Remove jars from hot water bath and place on a towel. 

Step 10:  Allow to cool overnight.  Label jars and store in a cool dark place such as a kitchen cabinet, basement storage area or root cellar.

Follow up:  Be sure to save out some of your fresh picked apples for snacking.  There's nothing like an apple picked right from a local tree.  Yummy!  Also, I save out some applesauce for immediate eating.   Here are some of my favorite ways to use applesauce:  use it as filling in pasteries, spoon warm over icecream or yogurt, bake over porkchops or just eat it as is.  And don't forget your friends!  Homemade canned goods make lovely gifts!