"Putting up" food from the garden is most often seen as a summer activity. Tomatoes are canned and vegetables are pickled and preserved. Images of steamy kitchens come to mind with long harried days producing beautiful jars of soft fruit conserves and berry jams before the fruit passes its peak of ripeness.
But fall and winter are a more relaxed in the garden-harder skinned fruits and vegetables keep longer, their earthy flavor lends itself to wonderful savory preparations. Preserving these seasonal delights will allow you to enjoy them and give them as gifts year-round.
If you've never tried preserving before, it helps find a friend who loves canning, and ask if you can help. If you're doing it on your own, you may want to recruit a partner-even an inexperienced one can make the process more fun. Buying jars and supplies may seem like an expensive proposition. Fortunately, garage sales and thrift stores often have used jars and other supplies-you get to recycle and save money.
Canning lids need to be replaced with every recipe. Glass jars and rims can be used over and over. If you are buying used jars, you just need to make sure that there are no cracks or chips on the edge of the jar: run your finger slowly and gently around the edge. If you feel any pits or sharp points, that jar should be discarded since it won't give you a tight seal.
For basic canning information, the standard reference is the Ball Blue Book Guide to Home Canning, Freezing & Dehydration, published by Alltrista Corporation, the folks who make the canning jars. The Glass Pantry, by Georgeanne Brennan is a beautiful and inspiring book on preserving. Part coffee table book, part cookbook it offers a seasonal guide to recipes your mother probably didn't put up. The book has many ideas for fall and winter preserving including "Whole Preserved Lemons" and "Rose Hip Jelly." One of the most delicious recipes is "Pears Pickled in Merlot." The rosemary-infused red wine syrup created for this recipe is so good you'll want to bottle it on its own.
There are several good online resources for canning and preserving:
- www.homecanning.com is produced by Alltrista Corporation and has much of the same information that is in their print publications.
- www.cooks.com (the web site for Cooks, Saveur, and Fine Cooking magazines among others) has a large selection of recipes on canning and preserving. They lack detailed instructions or attribution, but they are great for ideas.
- www.allrecipes.com has plenty of canning recipes. It is a site where all the recipes are submitted and reviewed by the site visitors.
- Local cooperative extensions can often answer canning questions over the phone. You can find an office in the phonebook or online: http://www.reeusda.gov/1700/statepartners/usa.htm.
One of the easiest and most versatile things to preserve is pickled garlic, you don't even need a canner, and the uses are endless-you can eat the cloves as an appetizer, or put them in salads or stir-fries. If you're using homegrown or market-fresh garlic the flavor of your pickles will be nice and strong. If you're in a hurry, however, you can even start with pre-peeled cloves.
Zesty Pickled Garlic
Ingredients:
3 cups peeled garlic cloves
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
2 cups apple cider vinegar
3-4 half pint jars with lids
Rinse and pat dry garlic cloves.
Toss the garlic with the salt and fill sterilized jars
Divide mustard and rosemary and crushed red pepper among the jars
Fill jars with vinegar just to cover the cloves. Cover and refrigerate. Turn jars daily to mix the brine. The garlic will be ready to eat in about a week, but will keep for 3 or 4 months.
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Baba ganouj is a great vegan snack but because preparing it can be quite a process, it isn't often made at home. Fortunately, roasted eggplant can be preserved quite nicely in the refrigerator ready to be used in soups, stews, pizzas, and of course, baba ganouj.
Roasted Eggplant Preserved in Olive Oil
Ingredients:
4 large eggplants
olive oil
2-3 quart jars with lids
Wash eggplants and prick them in several places with a knife. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the eggplants on the baking sheet in a 400 degree oven. Roast eggplants until they collapse and are soft all the way through. When they are cool enough to handle, scrape the fruit away from the peel. Fill sterilized jars with the eggplant and cover with oil. Refrigerate. The oil will solidify eventually, but it can be easily scraped off the eggplant as you remove it from the jar.
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Many canning recipes are handed down from generation to generation. This recipe for "Apple Pie in a Jar" is no exception. Originally meant to be a quick pie filling, it is also delicious over soy ice cream or mixed with warm oatmeal. Any firm, tart apple will do, Gravensteins work particularly well. If you've never canned or "processed" anything before you'll want to read up on the basics and have all your "gear" ready before trying this recipe. That said, it is actually quite simple to make.
Apple Pie in a Jar
Ingredients:
10 pounds of apples, washed, peeled and cored and sliced
1 1/4 cup organic sugar
5 1/2 cups water
2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 quart jars
Toss apples with lemon juice. Combine water and sugar in a large pot and bring the syrup to a boil, add the cinnamon and apples to the pot and simmer the mixture gently for five minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the apples from the syrup and pack them into hot, sterilized jars and leave 1/2 inch of headspace (the gap at the top of the jar). Fill the jars with syrup; the liquid will fill in the spaces around the apples still leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Stick a chopstick or thin plastic spatula into each jar to remove any remaining air bubbles. Cover the jars and tighten lids. Process the jars for 20 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
