Pickling vegetables is among the easiest ways to preserve your garden's (or farmer's market's!) excess.  It's also one of the easiest things that beginning canners can make - just a handful of ingredients and about an hour's worth of time result in several pints of colorful, flavorful pickles.  Plus, the basic recipe is extremely versatile. Once you cover the basic acidity and salt requirements you can add garlic or hot peppers, more or less dill (or some other herb - tarragon can be nice) or even make veggie blends.  You can use whole, trimmed vegetables or slices or even shredded (especially nice for cabbage or carrots).

I use a simple recipe put out by the USDA (click to find copies of their Complete Guide to Home Canning).  The USDA is responsible for advising home canners on the types of foods that can be safely canned, processing methods and techniques.  Recently, the USDA dramatically increased the processing time for tomatoes to take into consideration modern low-acid varieties.  So these are good people to know because they figure all this stuff out for you.

Another good source of information is the Alltrista consumer site.  Alltrista manufactures a variety of canning equipment, accessories and mixes and they have a nice illustrated primer on the basics,as well as a good FAQ.  In my opinion, you don't need much of the equipment or mixes they sell to be a good, safe, productive canner but you do need some of it and you should definitely take advantage of the benefit of their expertise.

One last thing before we get to the recipe:  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Yes, I know your grandmother put up hundred of quarts a year using nothing but mayonaise jars and a hunk of parafin. Follow the latest rules anyway. Knowledge about food borne pathogens increases constantly and we know a lot more now than we did when your Sainted Grandma road her kitchen range. Another way to look at it: you'll likely never be sorry that you followed the modern guidelines, but you just might be sorry that you didn't.

Now for the good part - the recipe. First, fill your canning kettle to a level that would be 2 inches ABOVE the height of your canning jars when they're placed in. Follow the directions for preparing your jars and lids from either the Alltrista or USDA websites or that came with your jars (every new box comes with a set of basic instructions). Once your jars and lids are sterilizing, get to work on your veggies.

For pickled green beans, trim the ends and cut to a uniform length to fit into your jars (likewise for asparagus). I like to do peeled and trimmed carrots in coins (a food processor makes quick work of carrot coins). Brussels sprouts need only a quick trim on the bottom and onions should be peeled and trimmed. I've never done jicama or beets, although I'd love to, but they should be trimmed and cut as desired. I've also heard of people dilling broccoli, but I've never seen it for myself!

Pack your veggies into the hot, sterilized jars, leaving about an inch of "headspace" between the top of the veggies and the top of the jars. Tuck in a head or a nice healthy sprig of dill and include a clove of peeled garlic. A jalapeño pepper makes a nice, spicy touch - use red for green veggies and a green for carrots or beets. Some people also like to use a half teaspoon or so of dried pepper flakes, which makes for an interesting presentation and pretty spicy pickles.

To make the brine, combine in a medium saucepan: Two cups of water and two cups of white vinegar (5% acidity - regular supermarket white vinegar. In other words, save your fancy pants vinegars for something else) with a half cup of either pickling or kosher salt. Heat to boiling and fill your jars to a half an inch headspace. Clean off the rim of the jar using a clean towel dipped in hot water and seal using the two-part lids that the equipment directions have you already sterlizing.

Process in a boiling hot water bath (that is, put the jars on the rack only after the bath is boiling and then start counting your processing time after the water resumes boiling).

Once your processing time is completed, remove the jars (I use a jar lifter for this, but you can - carefully - use glove-type potholders or thick towels) and place on a tea towel to cool. You'll start to hear the little "pings" that indicate a good seal within 15 to 20 minutes. All of your jars should seal within 24 hours. Those that haven't should be refrigerated and used first. Try to let your pickles sit for six to eight weeks before opening for the best flavor.

So...what are you going to make? Do let us know how it turns out! I, for one, am on pins and needles.

I've been seriously working on a prototype recipe for caramel sauce and I think I'm just about ready to give it a spin.  To work the recipe up, I've been looking at all the various candy-type sauce recipes that are around. The reason you can can most of them is because they are nearly 100% sugar products, water and other non-spoilable ingredients.  They still must be processed in order to have a good shelf life (like commercial sauces that are shelf-stable until they're opened and then must be refrigerated) but because you don't have to deal with the spoilage factor or acidity a hot water bath is just fine.


The recipe I've worked up includes melted caramel candies, corn syrup, water, maple syrup and salt and bears a slight resemblance to the caramel used to cover apples.  I need to mess with the proportions though because I just realized after a trip to the store that I had assumed that candy caramels came much larger bags than they actually do.  Since I want to make the sauce as easy as possible to make I want to work the recipe out to use whole bags - why have to deal with leftovers or partial bags? I also need to decide if the sauce will be used directly out of the jar or will require heating.  In my book, heating is the way to go since I really like that hot melty ice cream effect, but some people really object to that and want something pourable.


So this is where we are on the caramel sauce issue.  I'm hoping to have the initial proportions worked out by this weekend but won't be able to test until the earliest part of August so please stay tuned.  In the meantime, I'll be posting the dilled vegetable recipe - probably on Friday - because it's that time of year again. 

Hey!  I just realized that Hot Water Bath was two years old yesterday! 


In that time we've done chutneys and jellies and jams and sauces and pickles and salsas.  Wow.  Time really flies when you're making a mess in the kitchen.

Now, regarding the matter of the butterscotch sauce:  what a distaster!  The process itself seemed simple enough - combine some butterscotch chips, water, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla in a largish saucepan, melt to blend, cook to thicken and process.  What could be easier?


As it turns out, lots of things.  The actual cooking and processing turned out fine - everything went exactly as the recipe said it would.  During cooling, though, something both unexpected and unwelcome took place:  the sauce separated into three layers, each with it's own color and viscosity.  Not a good sign, especially as I'm pretty sure that the top layer is mostly butter.  Everything blends back up when shaken and the sauce tastes fine so I can probably store it in the fridge, but still... I'm pretty disappointed because according to the recipe the processed sauce has a shelf life of 6 months.  I took some pictures and will post them later, perhaps during nap time.


So I'm on the prowl again for something to go along with the chocolate sauce for gifting.  My mom suggested that I use some of last year's failed strawberry jam strawberry coulis.  We'll see.  I'm also trying to track down a recipe for caramel sauce that I think would be more successful since, like the chocolate sauce and unlike the butterscotch, there wouldn't be anything in it to spoil.


I really had the feeling I needed to reset my canning karma so on Saturday night I made some pickles.  The timing was good because my dill is about to bolt.  I'm going to try and harvest some dill seed, which is always nice to have around, but it's a messy job and I'm not sure how much I'll really get so I didn't mind doing the pickles to make the most of what's left of the season.

The Boy Wonder is feeling much better, thank you.   This was the first such illness in his memory (he'd had similar bugs when he was much younger) and he was probably more alarmed and scared than ill.  No one likes feeling so yucky and he was a trooper.


 

I was cleaning out a lot of old LPs (yes, it's true) and tapes the other day and came across an unmarked cassette.   I'm ever so slowly purging old music as once adored songs and artists lose their hold on me.  For a time in my youth I spent most of my disposable income on concerts, recorded music and music related print media.  I could tell you pretty much anything you could have cared to know (and more, most likely) about certain genres and artists.   Now I find that the baggage associated with a life I no longer lead feels heavier and heavier as the years pass and I'm more open to just hanging on the memories while allowing the material ephemera pass through my hands.


Anyway, I didn't recognize this particular tape despite years of similar semi-annual purges so I popped it into a deck.  Within seconds the familiar cords swept around me and, like Proust's madelines, took me back to a time that I had truly thought was lost to me forever.  Still night, nothing for miles...white curtain come down...kill the lights in the middle of the road and take a look around...And suddenly I am 19 again, in my first apartment and preparing for a night out.  Black tights, black skirt, black turtleneck, very high heeled black pumps.  Revlon's Raven Red on my nails and burgundy tint to my normally honey colored hair.  It doesn't help to be one of the chosen, one of the few to be sure... Lindsay's in the next room looking for her boots and the phone's ringing - it's Jeff and Ben wondering where we are and if we're ready yet.


And I started to cry.  At 35 I don't have too many - none, actually - of those kinds of nights out anymore.  Do I miss them?  Not really.  At least I don't think so.  But hearing the Andrew Eldritch and The Sisters of Mercy on a tape I don't even remember possessing brought back to me a part of myself that I've been missing, even if I hadn't even realized it. 


I wonder what happened to that girl.  She had great passions, read great books and had deep philosophical discussions with the thin pale boys she met at the 24-hour Rittenhouse Diner.   The Raven Red is long gone now, given way to a tasteful peachy pink and the Rittenhouse Diner closed its doors sometime in the mid-90s - I think the space is some kind of BYO bistro.  At least one of those shy skinny boys is an investment banker and two are school teachers.  Lindsay's a pastry chef and I haven't worn high heels since I had reconstructive surgery on my right knee in 1998. 


So where is that girl?  I guess she grew up, got married, started a business and had babies.  Hard to say.  Only one thing in this story is certain - she's hanging onto that tape.

Can't post much now - the Boy Wonder is in the grip of serious GI distress which has laid waste to anything resembling a schedule or to-do list.


Hopefully I'll get back into the blogging swing of things within a day or two. When I do, I need to tell you about the weekend's three failures: the beer can chicken that sort-of wasn't, the chocolate chip cookies that NO ONE ATE (this may be a first in the history of mankind) and the butterscotch sauce that separated. This last is probably the most painful me - all that processing heat, the lost jar lids, the wasted ingredients. Kills me, I tell you.

Work has slowed to a crawl this week so I took the opportunity to do some extra cleaning and organizing around the house. Like many people, I'm a little ambivalent about slow times because slow work = more free time but it also equals not getting paid. So to maximize the time and take my mind off the money I wasn't making I organized the Boy Wonder's art drawer. Plus, I figure it's a good thing to enjoy the summer doldrums rather than rail against them.


The art drawer in located in the kitchen and is low enough that he can get in and out of it on his own. There's crayons and paper, of course, but also stencils, stickers, (cleaned) foam meat trays, glue sticks, colored pencils, play dough and lots of other good stuff. This week I decided that he's old enough to have a pair of blunt-edged school scissors, so they're in there, too. I love that he feels free to claim this space as his own but I love it even more now that it's clean and tidy and that the drawer can fully close once again.


I also spent part of this morning making and freezing some baby food for the Little Diva. She's been getting rice, oatmeal and mixed cereals for a couple weeks now and it's time to start in with veggies and fruits. Making these colorful purees is one of my favorite parts of being an infant's mom. Feeding a baby is a form of communication and making my baby's first foods let's her know that I value that which is fresh and simply prepared. The freezer is now home to little cubes (I use an ice cube tray to freeze in perfect serving sizes) of sweet potato, butternut squash, carrot, acorn squash, summer squash, chick pea, zucchini, pea and green bean purees. Since Alisha's peaches arrived today I'll do some of those, although we probably won't get into fruits until next month, and I can't wait to do apricots and plums. The Boy Wonder adored avocado and mango and I have some wonderful memories of introducing him to new things. How exciting it is to be traveling this road again and discovering anew how wonderful food can be when it's unadorned and eaten with a sense of wonder.


Time has been officially set aside this weekend to make the oft-promised butterscotch sauce. I'm nervous as I always am when trying a new recipe but I'm also terrifically excited about how great I think it'll be. I can practically taste the butterscotch now...

The kids and I have returned from a brief holiday visit to see friends in Chattanooga. The trip was very nice and we are exhausted. Much of today will be spent in recovery mode, doing laundry and reinforcing sleep schedules. I'm not planning any ambitious activities and have promised that I'd be gentle with myself as I move about - no rushing or bemoaning what couldn't be done. Most of my clients were also away so I doubt there will be much in the way of communication from them today as they deal with backlogged e-mails and phone calls.


I'm sure I'll be successful with my committment to calm largely because I know a storm of activity will hit later in the week. The darling Alisha is sending me white peaches from her tree! They'll need to be dealt with rather quickly - some will no doubt be eaten out of hand while others will be canned in a spicy cinnamon and nutmeg syrup. I may even puree a couple. Bellinis, anyone? Everyone should be so lucky as to either have their own peach tree or Alisha for a friend. Thanks babe!


I also want to complete the butterscotch sauce this week because I've been noticing that green beans are starting to hit the markets and I want to get it done before I'm distracted too much by the beans. I made some green bean puree for the baby last week before leaving for Tennessee but now I want to make pickles for the grown ups and even blanch/freeze some packs.


Finally, thanks to all of you who sent such nice messages to me - I will be having another Q&A post up soon to address your questions (unless it was a more urgent canning question, in which case you should have already received a response). For those of you who have requested recipes, hang in there! I am working on a small booklet containing the recipes that I've either posted or discussed here. My goal is to finish it before August - when canning/preserving time really cranks up - and I'll keep everyone posted.

My descent into karmic oblivion seems to have been arrested. Perhaps the bug flipping was effective in proving my good intentions in the world.


The oven, however, remains unimpressed and inoperative. I'm pretty sure that our range is original to the house. It is, like the rest of the establishment, kind of odd - four burners with a griddle in between sitting above two ovens, one quite little the other much larger than average. It's nestled into some custom cabinetry making replacement difficult - a newer range is almost guaranteed to be much smaller and would leave a gap where no finishing of the wall or floor is present. So we've made do with its quirks - very slow preheating, random temperature hold and all the rest because replacing it would merely cause different problems.


Sears no longer supports this model (although you can reference the parts needed on the website, you just cannot buy them) so we now have been pretty much backed into a corner, stove-wise. And, despite my blustery happiness about redecorating the kitchen, I am less than happy because well over half of our budget will now go to an appliance that will in turn require spending the other half just fixing the ugliness cause by buying the new appliance in the first place.


And this is how I found myself grilling pizzas for dinner the other night. The Boy Wonder really wanted pizza and I had all the ingredients so no way was I about to let a little issue like a lack of oven stop me. I recalled reading in some fancy-pants cooking mag years and years ago about pizza grilling so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. And I was right, much to the Boy's delight.


A quick oiling, a good preheating before turning the flame down to the lowest and forming "personal" size pizzas for easy maneuvering did the trick. I used homemade dough, so getting the pizzas from the platter to the grill was a little tricky. If you're inclined to using pre-made crusts that part of the operation would be smoother. Once the dough was set and beginning to turn golden, I moved the pizzas to the cooler upper rack for finishing. Most excellent and fascinating to small children, if the Boy Wonder is any indication.


In other news, I've bought all the ingredients required to can butterscotch sauce. I'm super psyched about it - it'll be a great accompanyment to the chocolate sauce for Christmas presents. I know two or three ice cream monsters who will be very pleased indeed.