The month of canning

 So, I realize that it has been over a month since I last posted on my blog, but once you see all the delicious treats I've been making this past month, you'll realize just why I haven't had time to post!

I've gone on a little bit of a food preserving rampage. I have, of course, made some normal jams and such, but I also tried my hand at some less common (for me, at least) products: tomato ketchup, peach ketchup, mustard, jasmine peach pickles and pickled grapes.

I didn't actually photograph the pickled red grapes because they do look a little bit frightening, floating around their jar like tiny monster's eye balls, but they really are delicious! I love them with any cheese. I used this recipe, and would happily make them again and again, any time I'm stuck with more grapes than I care to eat up fresh (this happens more often then you would imagine and is part of the reason that I so rarely buy grapes).

I did manage to photograph everything else that I made, and I will say that I was delighted with how everything turned out. It's all delicious! And, while I'm still figuring out how to use the new stuff, it's kind of exciting to have things like homemade mustard and ketchup that I made all on my own and didn't have to buy from a store. This isn't to say that my versions are better than store bought, or that I would only ever use my homemade versions in the future(I absolutely won't), but it's always a nice feeling to be able to make something that is usually always store bought, in our modern age.

Blueberry jam made with Liquid pectin.

Pluot Jam- I only made three jars of this. It's delicious! I didn't use any pectin for this recipe.

This is actually new to me, I've never actually made pepper jelly before but thought it would be fun to help a friend who has never canned before. This turned out great. We used Liquid pectin for this jam/jelly.

This plum butter turned out pretty good. I made it in the crock pot(a first for me) and I actually think it needed a little more sugar and a little more time on the heat. I took it off too early because I was getting impatient, but also because it started to stick.

Nectarines in Syrup- growing up, we made canned peaches every summer, and last year I made a single jar of peaches, but this year I thought I'd try canning nectarines because they are so easy. I think I like canned peaches better =)

This is the only really strange item that I made recently. These are from a really innovative chef, Edward Lee, and while I love this concept, the peppers he called for in the recipe give the peaches an odd, vegetal taste. Still, these are lots of fun!

The most unusual and most delicious item I made, this peach ketchup goes splendidly with cheese, especially brie, but any cheese will do =) it's really, really good.

I used David Lebovitz's recipe for Mustard. I've been wanting to make mustard for years and finally decided to make some this month, since I've been on a "making weird foods" roll.

The tomato ketchup. This was pretty good. I ate some with roasted potatoes last night for dinner and I really think it would be tasty on a hamburger. Hopefully I'll have some left the next time I get around to making hamburgers. I doubt that I'll make this very often since it took a lot of cooking down to get it to the correct consistency. But it was fun to try homemade ketchup. I used a mix of different recipes for this and hope to find the perfect, easy recipe some day =)

a handful of blueberries makes all the difference

I'm am posting two different jams here today. The little jar in the photo contains my strawberry blueberry jam and the large jar contains my plain strawberry jam.



The two berry jam actually only contains a quarter part blueberry, the other three parts are strawberry, but that handful of blueberries makes the entire jam taste of crunch berries. It is completely delicious!

The plain strawberry is very good as well, but it has a much cleaner, more simple flavor. The color of the strawberry only jam is nicer though, and I love the brighter red color; it really has that classic "jam" look.

I have gone overboard stocking my cupboard with more jam than I need this year. A week ago or so, I made some figgy jam(much like last year's) and though I didn't do a water bath for it, I did turn the jars over for a quick seal to help it stay fresh for a little bit longer in the fridge. And, just a few hours ago I made some grape jelly out of my favorite Kyoho grapes from the Japanese Market. The grapes are a little bit expensive but have such an amazing flavor and sweetness. I added just half a cup of sugar to the entire 4 cup batch. I am worried about it's consistency though and may not post on the jelly if it didn't turn out.

All in all, a very jam filled autumn. I think I may need to start giving some jam away. Hopefully all of my friends don't mind jam made with either less sugar or even just honey. I simply love the extra fruitiness of jam that doesn't contain more sugar than fruit. It really tastes more flavorful.

totally normal girl canning

The subject of this post is actually a total lie! I still feel like such a super talented amazing grown up with my recent spat of big girl canning projects. Perhaps with a few more canning projects under my belt I'll finally feel as though using a proper water bath and sealing up jars is "totally normal girl canning" but until then I'll continue to revel in my feeling of happy, superior success!

This week I very successfully canned four pints of tomatoes. I got a pretty good deal on some locally grown tomatoes so I went ahead and bought enough of them that I felt an intense urgency to do something with them before they all went bad.

 I don't really know what I'm going to make with these home canned tomatoes that I couldn't make with store bought canned tomatoes, but while canning I recalled a memory of my grandfather insisting that he simply could not make his favorite goulash without a quart of home canned tomatoes. He said that store bought canned tomatoes did not give his favorite dish the proper flavor. That memory has always instilled in me the idea that home canned tomatoes are naturally far better than any other canned tomatoes. Whether that is true or not, who knows! I guess I'll find out this fall when I use these happy little jars of tomatoes.