Food Preservation

Stevia: How Sweet it is

One of the plants that’s thriving in my oh-so-wet-and-rainy garden this year is stevia. It’s the first time I’ve grown it, so I’m pleased to see it do so well, but how to use it? For starters, just chewing on a fresh leaf gives a burst of sweetness that’s welcome when you’re trying to cut back on processed sugars. I’ve tried tossing a few fresh leaves in with hot tea, but don’t notice much in the way of sweetening with this method. I really wanted to have a go-to sweetener at the ready for tea and coffee, so I decided to try drying it, which was super simple to do. I stripped the leaves from the stems, cleaned them in a bowl of water, and took them for a spin in the salad spinner.

Citrus Season: Tangerine Triple Sec

By Kris Bordessa

I’ve mentioned already that we’ve got an abundance (and then some) of tangerines at our disposal. I’ve made Tangerine-Ginger Jam. I’ve made Tangerine Syrup. Now I’m even getting boozy on you. When I spotted this recipe for homemade triple sec made from Cara Cara oranges, I had to try my hand at a slightly different version featuring our ever-plentiful tangerines. Tangerine Triple Sec makes 5 pints 2 cups tangerine juice (about 15 tangerines) 4 cups sugar 1 cup water 750 ml bottle of vodka Peel and juice tangerines, reserving the peels from four tangerines. Use a spoon to scrape the white pith from the inside of the tangerine peel; discard. Slice the remaining peel into 1/8″ strips and divide between five pint sized jars. In a large saucepan, combine sugar and water; heat until sugar is dissolved. Stir in tangerine juice. Simmer for five minutes and then allow to cool to room temperature. Pour in entire bottle of vodka, then divide liquid between the jars. Screw on caps, set the jars in a cool dark place, and forget about them for a month. Once your month of waiting is up, strain out the tangerine peels and you’re ready to...

Use It Or Lose It

By Kris Bordessa

I’ve been preserving my garden produce for years – I’d say at least 25 years or so. Only within the last few years, though, have I found a solution to using my canned goods in an organized manner, making sure that we had enough to last us until the next season or avoiding an excess of something that wasn’t a favorite. Prior to moving to an apple-less location (sob!) I made hundreds of pounds of apples into applesauce every year. This was by far my kids’ favorite pantry item, so it was easy for us to use it all up and then find ourselves without any for months on end. Or the opposite would happen: those six jars of pickled peppers that tasted fine but turned out mushy kept getting pushed to the back of the pantry, leaving us with canned peppers at the height of fresh pepper season. I found the solution in a copy of The Tightwad Gazette years ago. In it, the author shared her plan for making sure her preserved foods were used up before the next season’s glut of zucchini and green beans without depleting the stores too soon: A simple chart. Once...

Tangerine Ginger Jam

By Kris Bordessa

My neighbor has a tree that is dripping with ripe tangerines. He came out and hollered at me the other day to pick some – lots of them – so I filled my market basket with about 15 pounds. It barely put a dent in his crop. It’s tangerine central around here right now. Let me be honest: I’m not a fan of marmalade. Those little bitter bits of peel? Very off-putting to me. Yeah, ick. I decided to modify the orange marmalade recipe from Pomona Pectin just a bit to see if I could come up with a less bitter citrus spread. I peeled the fruit before chopping it up, and of course used tangerines instead of oranges. Where the recipe called for water, I used tangerine juice for more flavor, and I added a bit of ginger and vanilla. It’s like marmalade, but without the peels. Let’s just call it jam. Tangerine Ginger Jam Yield: 8 pints 16 tangerines, peeled and seeds removed (this should net about 12 cups of segments) 6 cups tangerine juice 6 cups sugar juice from a 2″ piece of fresh ginger 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 package Pomona pectin Prepare the calcium water...

Plan Now to Share the Harvest Later

By Kris Bordessa

It’s that time of year when – for many of us – scouring seed catalogs for potential garden additions stands in for actually getting our hands dirty. While you’ve got time (and not dirt) on your hands, you might want to consider organizing a method to share your eventual harvest right in your own community. Just imagine back fence trades – your abundance of zucchini in exchange for some of your neighbor’s prized turnips – a little bit larger in scale. Call it vegetable commerce if you will. Sonia Martinez and Kim Hoffman, both part of the leadership team for Slow Food Hawaii, envisioned a way for backyard gardeners to barter their abundance with others in the area. Share the Harvest is the result. Modeled after the successful Freecycle program, interested parties sign up to become a member of Share the Harvest and swap, trade, or barter anything that is food related. Fresh produce, baked products, preserves, dairy products, or even plants and seeds are fair game. Members who have an abundance send in an ‘offer’ listing what they have available and what they’d be interested in trading for. The message goes out to the list and anyone can...

Tangerine Syrup

By Kris Bordessa

December means citrus around here – lots and lots of citrus. Two of my neighbors have trees that they can’t keep up with, so we’re eating tangerines and oranges hand over fist. When I ran across a recipe for tangerine syrup over on the hip girl’s guide to homemaking, I wondered if it was something we’d use. (I’m famous for going all gung-ho and canning a bunch of stuff that seems like a good idea, but in retrospect is just not something my family will eat – hello, mint jelly!) The list of possible uses that the hip girl included with her recipe sold me. Add it to sparkling water for a citrus-y soda! Make a marinade! Sweeten granola! How could I not try it? The recipe was really very simple and easy to do. Since this was the only canning project I had going on, I processed the small jars in my stock pot, rather than heating up my big canner. The cute little jar you see up above was not processed; it will go into the fridge for my neighbor. Hip girl suggests using 3 cups of tangerine juice, or up to 4-5 cups juice for a...

Save Those Green Tomatoes – Make A Batch of Chow Chow

By Kris Bordessa

Circa 1970s: The old metal grinder is firmly mounted to my mom’s kitchen table, the abundance of our summer garden stacked in bowls and baskets around us. As often as I could, I’d take a turn at the grinder, cranking the handle despite my stinging, watering eyes. I watched as onions, bell peppers, and green tomatoes were pulled into the turning screw, a crunching sound coming to my ears over the noise of the squeaky handle turning. Mom hovered, sure that with every turn of the handle one of my tender young fingers might join the mix in the pot that was catching the crushed green vegetables. Clear juices, tinted green, dripped from every point of the old grinder, running down to my elbow and then to the floor where a large towel was ready to catch the overflow. The bright green pulp from the unripe remains of a bountiful harvest would be transformed into a relish with the funny name, “chow chow.” Circa twenty-first century: As times have changed, so too have my methods. Nowadays, an electric food processor makes quick work of the unripe tomatoes, peppers, and onions. But while I am feeling nostalgic about the days...

Going Bananas

By Kris Bordessa

(Click through for more photos.) They always ripen all at once! We’re eating tons of fresh bananas, but a bunch of this size calls for a preservation plan. Time for Excalibur! I sliced each banana a scant 1/8″ thick, dipped them in lemon juice, and placed them on a dehydrator tray. I’m telling you this because while you may not have a banana tree in your backyard, you probably DO have the chance to harvest bags full of slightly spotty bananas from your grocer. Not local, no. But just think: you’ll be saving those fruits from a terrible fate. And they’re generally cheap. I filled the dehydrator before I’d used up all of the bananas from that big bunch. They’re drying right now – soon we’ll have dehydrated bananas in the cupboard. My compost pile will be so happy!

Food Preservation: A Day of Home Canning

By Kris Bordessa

I recently shared my tomato chutney recipe, but I didn’t mention that on the same day I also made marinara sauce. For those of you who have yet to tackle home preservation, I thought it might be interesting for you to see what a day of canning looks like. I started with 40 pounds of tomatoes – not a lot by my usual standards – and processed most of them in a little more than five hours. In the end, I added 8-1/2 pints of chutney and 7 quarts of marinara sauce to my pantry – not bad for half a day’s work. 1:00 start making chutney 1:15 chutney ingredients in pot, ready for 2 hour boil 1:15 move chutney to back burner so I can begin with the marinara sauce 1:16 begin chopping ingredients for marinara sauce 1:35 discover that I turned on the wrong burner for chutney; remedy the situation 1:40 turn heat on under marinara; start cooking onions, peppers, and garlic 2:45 finish chopping ingredients for marinara. 3:00 put water bath canner on to heat 3:10 wash jars 3:15 put lids and rings on to sterilize 3:25 put chutney in jars and set to boil 3:30...

Spicy Chorizo Soup and Chow Chow

By Kris Bordessa

As the weather cools in the States, gardens are slowing down and many of us are shifting to meals that warm us up. Over on Popcorn Homestead, you’ll find one of my family’s go-to cool season meals: chorizo soup. Whip it up with fresh tomatoes and peppers from the garden and top it with the salty crunch of tortilla chips or baked tortillas and you’ll soon know why it’s a family favorite. And if you’re pondering what to do with the green tomatoes still hanging on the vine as autumn approaches, may I suggest a batch of chow-chow? I shared a little bit of nostalgia as well as my recipe for this relish made from green tomatoes over on New Life on a Homestead recently. It’s an excellent addition to a hot dog bun, though not like anything you’d find in a store. Photo: Flickr user dickdotcom

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Reader Favorites

Food Preservation

Stevia: How Sweet it is

Citrus Season: Tangerine Triple Sec

Use It Or Lose It

Tangerine Ginger Jam

Tangerine Syrup

Save Those Green Tomatoes – Make A Batch of Chow Chow

Going Bananas

Food Preservation: A Day of Home Canning

Spicy Chorizo Soup and Chow Chow

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