urbandryad

This is pretty good. In 500ml jars.

Mix until dissolved:
1 - 1.5 cups pineapple juice
3/4 cup whit vinegar
2 - 2.5oz achiote powder

Put in each jar:
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp very generous canning salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
A big pinch oregano
A couple grinds of black pepper
1/2 pineapple ring

Fill each jar with meat

Put 2-3 tbsp of the liquid into each jar (basically distribute evenly).

Pressure can for 75 minutes at 12-15psi at my elevation.

Note: could use a touch of sweetness, or serve with pineapple. Fry in a pan to crisp up and serve.

Put up roughly 10kg of turnips into pickles: matchsticked them, put in a couple sliced beets for colour, filled the container maybe 1/6 full of 7% vinegar, and then added water to cover and salt at 3% of total weight including veg and vinegar (it's a bit more complicated than that, I boiled the brine and poured it over warm, and some calculations needed to be made on that brine).

I also did carrot/jalapeno/garlic pickles (mostly carrots), about 9kg, with a 6% brine poured over boiling (not total veg + water weight, just 6% brine). I'm using vacsealed bags of water for air exclusion in the gallon jars, then there's an airlock on one and the waterlock fermentation crock as well.

I also canned some potatoes but haven't yet opened a can to test; I put in 3/4 tsp of Old Bay seasoning per liter jar.

The carnitas I made has been seeing a bunch of use. That recipe is a keeper even though I find the cumin smell offputting when I open the jar. When fried up and put into a burrito it's really good.

I had 50lbs of cabbage.

9kg is in the crock, sauerkrauting. 2% salt this time, last year was 2.2 and just fine but I'm playing. I added roughly 4lbs jalapenos to the whole thing, seeded, and put through the food processor to shred just like the cabbage.

The fermenting garlic is pretty fragrant right now.

I'd like to try the canned vinegar coleslaw recipe but I need my jars to arrive first.

I have 25lbs of tomatoes and 25lbs of pears to process, and a small bucker of apples gifted to me. I want to dehydrate some of this stuff but I also hate dehydrating. We'll see what happens.

It's been tough to find chamber vacuum sealer bags lately, my go-to place is well back-ordered so I tried ordering from a different place this morning. Fingers crossed.

I also did a bunch of canned carrots, mostly in 1-cup portions. I modified the glazed carrots recipe as follows: 4 cups brown sugar, 3 cups orange juice, 6 cups water. Boil syrup, peel and pack carrots, pour syrup over carrots, pressure can 30 minutes at 10psi.

We've had our first frost, so I suppose it's fall canning now.

More things I've completed:

6kg of tomatoes' worth of Salsa Ranchera. I used my bolting cilantro and canned instead of fresh lime juice. It's really excellent, and the ovening is a good way to peel the tomatoes. It had a bit of trouble sealing, like many of these thick tomato sauces.

Crock full of lacto pickles using A's recipe.

Eggplant pickles - 6 kg worth.

Marinaded peppers using the national center for home food preservation recipe. This was hard to get to seal, maybe because of the oil.

Zesty pickles. I did the first 4 jars of spears in a water bath; the other 14 jars of pickles (12 slices, 2 spears) were done using the pasteurization method.

Eggplant puttanesca (3kg tomatoes), out of the healthy canning website. This is... better than expected from all the discussion about whether it's too vinegary on the website, though of course not as good as fresh puttanesca. Nice to have ready-made pasta sauce though.

Chicken wing sauce, 1 batch: tastes too spiced right now, we'll see how it settles. May be a good pork sauce?

Creole sauce, 1 batch: this is tasty, I'll need to remember to use it. As they say in the recipe, shrimp/seafood would be a great combo with rice.

I'm currently doing a double batch (8kg) of stewed tomatoes and veggies, altered a touch: roasting the tomatoes to de-skin, halving the onion, using a touch of lovage instead of a bunch of celery, and using jalapeno peppers and poblano peppers instead of green peppers.

Still to do: lacto jalapeno pickles, apple jalapeno hot sauce, lacto mixed peppers, and a lacto apple pepper sauce.

Not many jars left so let's hope this works out. I think I'm going to try some of the lacto ferments in vacuum bags (!!!)

Planning to get as follows from Desert Hills in Ashcroft:

Poblano - 1 box like tomatoes and eggplants come in ($40)
Green jalapeno - 1 box like tomatoes and eggplants come in ($20)
Roma tomato - 3 cases ($16 ea = $50)
Eggplant - 1 case ($10)
Pickling cucumbers - 1 case ($40)
Carrots - 20lb bag ($10)
Red onions - 20lb bag ($10)
Cantaloupe melons 3 large or 4 small ($4)
Garlic 2lbs ($4)

=$190

If it won't fit in the car, remove:
1 case tomatoes
Pickling cucumbers

The goal is to make a bunch of things that can:
1) go on no-cook charcuterie plates (marinaded eggplant, peppers, mixed jalapeno-carrot pickles, sauerkraut, cucumber pickles)
2) pretty close to open-and-serve or open-put-on-pasta-serve (ranchero sauce, pasta sauce, eggplant puttanesca)
3) Hot peppers to go with every meal (pickled jalapenos)
4) Assuage my curiosity (cantaloupe jam, apple ketchup)
5) Tomatoes as a staple
5) Jars of something I can throw in the instant pot with a chunk of meat

Planning to make:
Canned:
Marinated peppers (nchfp site) from a mix of anchos and jalapenos
Pickled eggplant (healthy canning site, recorded here)
Pickled mixed jalapenos and carrots (zesty pickle brine)
Eggplant puttanesca (healthy canning site, recorded here)
Ranchero salsa (healthy canning site)
Pasta sauce (Homemade Italian sausage, tomatoes, pressure canned)
Tomato sauce (tomatoes, acidified and cooked down)
Cantaloupe jam
Zesty pickles (my old recipe recorded here)
Chicken wing sauce
Cajun sauce?

Fermented:
Jalapenos and carrots
Jalapenos
Cucumber pickles

Plus, from home stuff later in the month:
Apple ketchup
Apple rhubarb sauce
Fermented sauerkraut with jalapenos
Canned potatoes (maybe lemon-oregano or with jalapenos)

Already made this year
Pizza sauce
Veggie pasta sauce
Tons of apple sauce (I can dehydrate it and make fruit leather! It's free from my tree) including flavoured apple sauce
Candied jalapenos (delicious but a little too hot for everyday hot peppering, great for making pork jerky or in instant potted meats)
Chicken stock
Pork stock
Canned chicken
Grape jam
Spruce rhubarb orange marmalade
Rose rhubarb orange marmalade
Lemon curd
Asian plum sauce
Tomato jam (replaces ketchup, I don't like homemade ketchup normally)
Turnip pickles
Peach BBQ sauce
Rhubarb caramel sauce
Candied rhubarb (canned)
Sweet ciciley syrup and candied seeds
Pickled spruce tips

Here's the plan:

Ranchero Sauce (Healthy Canning)

9kg tomatoes
1kg jalapenos (or mix jalapeno/ancho)
12 cloves garlic
300g onions
1 scant cup lime juice
100g cilantro
salt to taste

1.Preheat oven to 225 C / 425 F.
2.Line a rimmed baking sheet with tin foil.
3.Wash and core the tomatoes, put on baking sheet.
4.Wash peppers, cut in half, stem, place cut side down on baking sheet. (You can also remove some or all of the seeds where a lot of the heat is if you wish.)
5.Peel garlic, put on baking sheet
6.Peel onion, cut into thick (2 cm / 1/2 inch) slices, add to baking sheet.
7.Put tray in oven, bake until garlic cloves are soft -- about 20 minutes.
8.Remove garlic cloves, chop, put in a large pot.
9.Put tray back in oven, and bake until onion is tender -- about another 15 minutes. Peppers should be starting to char a bit and the pepper skins should be getting wrinkled.
10.Remove tray from oven.
11.Let tray also stand 15 minutes to cool a bit.
12.Meanwhile, juice the limes. Set juice aside.
13.Wash and finely chop the fresh coriander; set aside.
14.Take skin off tomatoes, coarsely chop, add to pot where garlic is.
15.Coarsely chop onion, add to pot.
16.Chop garlic, add to pot.
17.Peel peppers. Discard skin.
18.Finely chop the peppers, add to pot.
19.Bring pot to a boil, stirring frequently.
20.Reduce heat, and let simmer uncovered 2 minutes.
21.Stir in the prepared lime juice, fresh coriander and salt.
22.Ladle hot sauce into heated jars, leaving 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.
23.Debubble, adjust headspace.
24.Wipe jar rims.
25.Put lids on.
26.Process in a water bath or steam canner.
27.Process jars for 20 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

Chicken Wing Sauce

2.5L tomatoes, peeled, cored, chopped
200g onion, chopped
50g brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne
375ml white vinegar
4tsp salt or to taste
2 cloves garlic
1tsp each allspice, cinnamon, cloves, dried ginger

1.Prepare the tomatoes.
2.Put into a large pot (at least 4 litres / quart).
3.Peel and chop the onion.
4.Add to pot.
5.Add the sugar (or stevia) and the cayenne.
6.Bring to a boil uncovered.
7.Lower to a gentle boil and let simmer uncovered until onion has softened -- about 30 minutes.
8.Remove from heat, let cool a bit.
9.Purée in batches in a blender or food processor.
10.Return mixture to pot.
11.Add all the remaining ingredients from the vinegar downwards.
12.Bring to a boil.
13.Reduce to a simmer and let simmer uncovered until the consistency of a somewhat thin ketchup -- about an hour.
14.Ladle sauce into heated jars, leaving 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.
15.Debubble, adjust headspace.
16.Wipe jar rims.
17.Put lids on.
18.Process in a water bath or steam canner.
19.Process jars for 15 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

Eggplant Puttanesca

200g Kalamata olives
6 cloves garlic
3kg tomatoes
500g red peppers
500g onions
1kg eggplant
500ml red wine
125ml balsamic vinegar
1tbsp anchovies
2tsp salt
2tsp dried oregano
1tsp black pepper
75g capers, drained


1.Get two large, rimmed baking sheets and line them with tin foil. Don't grease or spray. Set aside.
2.Pit and chop the olives. Set aside.
3.Peel and mince the garlic, add to olives, set aside.
4.Start oven heating to 220 C (400 F).
5.Wash tomatoes, core, cut in half and place cut side down on prepared baking sheet.
6.Put tomatoes in oven on one rack and start them roasting.
7.Spray the second lined baking sheet with cooking spray.
8.Wash and stem the peppers. Cut each in half and seed them. Place the halves skin side up on the second baking sheet.
9.Leave onion peeled, cut in fours, add to second baking sheet peel sides up.
10.Wash and stem the eggplant. Cut into cubes that are about 3 cm (1 inch) square. Add to second baking sheet.
11.Put in oven on a second rack.
12.Let the tomato sheet bake for about 45 minutes in total, till the tomato skins are just starting to char.
13.Let the eggplant and pepper sheet bake for about 30 minutes in total, or until the eggplant cubes are turning golden and the pepper is tender.
14.When tomatoes are done, remove from oven and let cool on the pan. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them. Discard the peel. Coarsely chop the tomato, seeds and all.
15.Put tomato in a pot that is at least 6 litres (quarts) in size.
16.When eggplant and peppers are done, remove from oven.
17.Add the eggplant to the pot with the tomato.
18.Remove and discard the onion peel, coarsely chop the onion, add to pot.
19.Peel the peppers as much as possible. Coarsely chop, add to pot.
20.Add all remaining ingredients to the pot including the olives and garlic prepared at the start.
21.Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
22.Let simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered.
23.Ladle sauce into heated jars.
24.Leave 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.
25.Debubble, adjust headspace.
26.Wipe jar rims.
27.Put lids on.
28.Process in a water bath or steam canner.
29.Process jars for 45 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

Pickled Eggplant
2tbsp garlic, minced
5g fresh basil
750ml vinegar
1kg eggplant
2tbsp salt


1.Mince the garlic; set aside.
2.Chop basil leaves coarsely; set aside.
3.Wash eggplant. then peel.
4.Cut eggplant into 2 cm (1/2 inch) cubes; set aside.
5.Put vinegar in a stainless steel pot, bring to a boil.
6.Put one-fourth the eggplant in the vinegar, bring back to the boil, and let boil 2 minutes, then remove with a strainer spoon and put in a bowl.
7.Repeat in similar batches for the rest of the eggplant.
8.To the bowl with the par-boiled eggplant, now add the garlic, basil and salt, and toss.
9.Pack hot into half-litre (US pint) jars.
10.Fill jars with the hot vinegar.
11.Leave 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.
12.Debubble, adjust headspace.
13.Wipe jar rims.
14.Put lids on.
15.Process in a water bath or steam canner.
16.Process 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
17.Best after at least a month of jar time.

Well now.

Extra shockingly to people who observed the covid runs on seeds, CSA, yeast, and garden supplies: it's really hard to find jars right now.

I'm concentrating on "high value" items instead of "ingredients"; things I don't feel like I'm allowed to have much of, things that make life super easy, things I'd pay a lot for in the store.

I've done a ton of "grapple" sauce: three crockpots of apples cooked down with five pounds of grapes, passed through a chinois, 3/4 cup sugar added for flavour balance, canned.

Also did a ton of pizza sauce: twenty pounds of tomatoes, cored, and five jalapenos or so cooked down and immersion blended. Added fennel, oregano, basil, garlic powder, bay leaf, salt, and more sugar than I thought. Canned like tomato soup, pressure for 20 mins, because I didn't add acid.

Lots left to do. Potatoes starting to come in and I'm wondering if I'll have enough jars for them.

Filled the pot with ripe peaches (roughly 4L peach puree) and put in several jalapenos, along with roughly 1/4c whole mustard seeds, roughly 1/4 cup cider vinegar, a couple drops liquid smoke, a very healthy long glug of Worcestershire sauce, and salt to taste. Will immersion blend, cook down, can.

Tastes great so far, needs some simmering.

Edited to add: added 1.5 cups sugar, another several drops of liquid smoke, and a very generous long glug of molasses. It's really good.

Pickled spruce tips:

2c each water and apple cider vinegar
2 slightly heaping tsps kosher salt
2 extra heaping tsps honey (maybe 6-7 tbsp in all)
Spruce tips

Heat brine ingredients together, pack tips into jars, pour brine over tips. I put a hot pepper in a couple jars too.

Water bath.



Spruce tip syrup:

Equal parts water and white sugar

Bring to a simmer

Stuff in spruce tips (8 cups per 4-6 cups water)

Simmer & steep for several hours. Strain.

Add 1tbsp lemon juice per cup water, into jars, water bath.



Let's see if the spruce tips soaked in sugar water come out as candy.

That ended up less amicable than expected, but I guess that much food is still a relatively benign sacrifice. I'm living on my own now, which means-- more time to make things. And I (thank goodness) don't look like I need to move my canned goods yet.

Even so, I think aside from a bunch of apple/pear sauce and a few more rounds of pickled eggs, putting things in jars might be over for the year.

That might mean it's time to start brewing. I helped with a batch of pumpkin beer last weekend (pretty good date activity, to be honest). I'm feeling much more confident in the beermaking process having walked through the steps.

It's kousa dogwood time, and then soon rowan berry time. I think both of those might make interesting ferments. I have a stupendously huge bucket of honey waiting to make mead (rowan mead?!)

I also (think I still?) have access to large amounts of frozen unpasteurized apple cider/juice. I've learned about graff ( http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/ ) which seems pretty delightful even if it was created based on a Stephen King book. There are a bunch of different ways to do it, and of course I'm interested in the sweeter end of those, or the sour ones.

I haven't been out scouting too many alleys lately, which is sad. Apples are falling all over the place; we had a huge storm on the weekend and I bet that brought a ton more down. It's just a matter of permission or stealth to get 'em home.

Apparently there's a cider press festival in Vancouver, which might be an interesting way to both network with cider-press folks and to get a little more apple juice. Looks fun, anyhow. http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/frog-hollow-press-fest