Pickle you green beans!

My first experiment in pickling. And its killing me! As I mentioned in my previous preserving blog, a pickle in made with brine. Brine needs time to work. Two to three weeks to be exact. So although these green beans look super tasty, its going to take several more days before they actually are tasty. Why green beans you ask? Because they were growing in my momma's garden. We have always had a small variety of food bearing plants around the house (tomatoes, peppers, herbs) but this year my mom took the next step and got a community garden plot. Loads more room for vegetables. Everything that was planted is growing strong, however, the green beans were the only plants ready for harvest when I visited over the weekend. I'm looking forward to many more harvests of green beans so I can play with the flavor of my pickling solutions. I know what your thinking, a pickle is a pickle right? Well think about that again. There are sweet pickles, bread and butter, dill, ect... The same principle apples to anything you pickle. For these green beans I used garlic, dill and chili peppers. The recipe is below.

2lbs fresh green beans, washed and trimmed to fit your jars
2 cups distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
1/4 - 1/2 cup salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 spring fresh dill
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Mix the vinegar, water, salt and garlic is a sauce pan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and remove garlic. Place beans, dill and crushed red pepper flakes in clean, sterile jars. Pour brine over beans leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles and fit two piece cap. Seal jars in a simmering hot water bath (jars should be covered with 1 inch of water) for ten to fifteen minutes. Remove and cool. Check jar lid for proper seal. If sealed, set for two to three weeks before eating.

Peaches for you, Peaches for me.

For anyone who is also friends with me on facebook you saw how excited I was to find a mysterious new fruit in my local grocery store. It was labeled as a 'UFO/ Buzz Lightyear Flying Saucer' peach, marketed and grown by Disney. I googled it when I got home and found it to be one of over 200 species of peaches grown around the world. This particular peach, better known as a donut peach, is native to Asia. Generations ago it was a favorite among Chinese emporers because you could easily hold it in one hand and it did not drip juices into their beards. The varieties that you find here in the United States have been scientifically modified to be slightly sweeter than the original variety and have a firmer flesh to make shipping and handling easier. I sampled a few of these peaches fresh before turning them into butter and I must say the Chinese deities had it right. Not only did this peach not drip juice everywhere, the skin was very thin and had little fuzz making it very easy to eat and enjoy.
On this most recent photo shoot with Miss Theary, we multi-tasked and made several different dishes. I knew the peaches were something I wanted to work with but we weren't positive what else we were going to use. So, we stopped by a road side produce stand in my neighborhood to get some ideas. Turns out the only thing they had that we were interested in was more peaches. This time from Georgia, just like Theary.
While reading one of my many books on preserving food I came across some interesting information about fruit butters. The most popular and common would be apple butter. What I found most interesting is that there is not actually any butter in these products. In fact nothing even slightly similar to butter. They consist solely of fruit and sugar. For soft fruits like peaches they are first blanched and shocked (submerged in boiling water, then ice water) and then pealed and chopped. For hard fruits like apples they are pealed first, then chopped and cooked. Once the fruit is ready it is placed over heat and cooked until it is completely tender (easily cuts with a plastic utensil) and then removed from heat and pulverized. The trick here is to completely 'mush up' the fruit with out liquidizing it. I use and immersion blender, a regular stand blender would work also. Once you have the right consistency it goes back on the stove and the sugar is added. Heat until the boiling point is reached and then reduce to a simmer for 20 mins. Place the hot butter into hot jars, seal with a two part lid and boil completely submerged in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

6lbs Peaches
4 cups sugar

This dish is obviously great as a breakfast or snack item but I found a way to mix it into a savory dish. This weekend was my belated birthday party and I celebrated in my favorite fashion by having friends over for food, drinks and games. I was determined to redeem myself from the mediocer chicken wings I served last time I had a get together. I stuck with the party/finger food genre but this time went with meatballs. And they were a hit! They were spicy, sweet and smelled wonderful!

2lbs lean ground turkey
2tablespoons curry powder
1tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1tablespoon fresh chives (minced)
2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 jar home made peach butter* (or store bought)

mix first eight ingredients together and form into meatballs. brown on all sides in a frying pan with a small amount of oil. Transfer into a glass baking dish and cover with peach butter and diced up bell peppers. Bake until cooked through (20-30 minutes). Enjoy!

p.s. this recipe also makes awesome burgers, mix first eight ingredients and form patties, cook to order and add sauce to top before serving. Pick a nice hearty flour dusted roll for a perfect burger.

Strawberry Balsamic Jam

Today is August 2nd and according to the rules I should be starting a new 'thing'. However, I've never been a big fan of the rules and so I have decided to stick with preservation for another month. I just don't feel like I've covered all the bases. I've spent most my time in July focusing on jams, jellies and other fruit preserves. True, I had a little tastes of picking with my green beans but I feel like I have more area to cover. So August will be my first continuation. My plans include more pickling (I have about six pounds of cucumbers in my crisper right now) and a request for pickled watermelon that I'm not sure I can turn down. I'm also planning to work with the tomatoes growing on my patio to make salsas and sauces. I might work in a few more fruits as well. Time will tell...

In the mean time I will tell you about the strawberry Balsamic Jam pictured above. Unfortunately I can't describe the taste for you because I gave all my jam away! Of coarse Theary got a large jar as partial payment for her beautiful pictures and I gave the other jar to an old coworker and friend of mine who I meet for lunch last week. I always appreciate anyone who reads my blogs and was more than happy to share a treat. I think that is what I like best about these jams and jellies, they are so easy to share! And even to ship. So if you are a reader and are in another state (or country for my military friends) and want to try some pickles or jam send me a message and I will send you some food :) Anyways, back to the jam. The strawberries you want to use for this are the small slightly tart berries you find at the beginning of the season. They have more of a flavor punch than the larger juicy varieties you find in mid to late July. Of coarse if your trying to make this jam now, its ok, you can use the large strawberries just be sure to try it again next year with the small berries you find in late June.
This recipe came strait out of a book I got with my brand new library card. I chose it because the tang from the balsamic makes it a nice treat for breakfast but also allows this jam to be used in a more savory fashion as well. Perhaps as a base for a glaze for lamb or as a spread in a bread and cheese coarse. To make this jam you need 4 parts berries (cleaned and chopped) and 3 parts sugar. For those of you who are super kitchen illiterate, parts means equal portions. For example 4 cups berries to 3 cups sugar. And one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to each cup of sugar. Heat the berries until they boil (their natural juices will be released) then add the sugar, dissolve and reduce to a low simmer. Once the combination has thickened enough to coat a spoon add your vinegar and cook another 30 mins. Poor hot jam into hot jars and seal in boiling water for 15 minutes. Make sure the seal is set and enjoy when you please. If your jars don't seal properly you can always keep your jam in the refrigerator, just the same as you would an already open jar of jelly.

thank you to everyone for reading. Keep watching for at least one more jelly (I'm thinking apple, carrot ginger?) and lots of pickles, sauces and salsas!

keeping it fresh

Where to begin this month?? How about with a thank you! Not only to everyone who takes the time to read this blog but especially to those who donated to this months theme. Or what I should say, is thank you to everyone for all the wonderful birthday gifts, cards and cash! Although the art of preserving foods in meant to help save money it was a bit of an investment to acquire the equipment necessary to get myself started. I also decided to take no chances with this theme. The severity of the consequences of improper preservation is not something I want to play with. When shopping for ways to burn my birthday cash I started with the experts, Ball. Who's Ball you ask? Ball is probably the oldest (or at least most well known) maker of preserving and canning supplies. Not only did I buy their jars but I bought their beginners guide to canning and preserving. A hundred-something page paperback booklet with everything you need to know. And trust when I say I read it multiple times! When I said I don't intend to play with the consequences of a botched jar of jam I was serious. Mrs. Theary can tell you I constantly had my nose in my books as we worked. I have so much new information I can't help but share it with everyone. I hope I'm not disappointing anyone by making this a strictly informative blog, no recipes. (recipes will follow soon!).
The first thing I feel compelled to explain is the different types of preserving. There is canning and jarring, pickling, oil, freezing and dehydrating.

Canning and jarring is what you will mostly see in my posts this month. There are three ways to can food. You can use a water bath to seal the jars, a steam kettle or for certain fruits you can use a wax (pectin) to seal your product. The ingredent you choose will determine your method. The whole point of preserving is to keep produce safe to eat through out the year. To keep it safe you have to kill all the baterica and alter the environment to prevent new bacteria from growing. A water bath will kill the necessary bacteria in low PH foods, however boiling water would not get hot enough to kill certain elements found in high PH foods. You need pressurized steam for that. You can not do this with the basic set of pots and pans you have in your kitchen, specific equipment must be purchased. This is why I am living in my books this month, I want to make absolutely certain I keep my food safe. And since I am only a chef and not a food scientist I am not able to determine on my own, the exact PH levels of foods.

Pickling is a method of preserving that uses a brine usually made of salt and some form of vinegar. Obviously pickles are your best example of this method but it is easily applied to vegetables and some meats.

Oil is mainly used for preserving meats and fish. It is considered a short term method only lasting a few weeks at best. Oil is a oxygen free environment. So by completely submerging a product in oil you keep it from oxygen which is one of the main ingredients needed for bacteria growth.

I won't waste anyone time talking about freezing and dehydrating. They are so common they explain themselves.

Hopefully I haven't lost everyone by this point because I am about to answer some of mans oldest questions. Jam or Jelly? isn't that the same thing???
No!
A jam is made from crushed or partially crushed fruits. It will be slightly thicker than your other options and have bits and pieces of the fruit in it.
A Jelly is made from fruit juices. Smooth, sticky and free of 'chunks'.
A Butter (like apple butter) is made from the pulp of the fruit. Fruit pulp isn't the yucky stuff everyone wants left out of their orange juice. It is what is left over from cooked, processed fruits. (if you are still confused, stay tuned. I made a peach butter that I will blog about soon)
A preserve is whole or sliced fruit (and veggies) meant to be kept in it original form.

Well there you go. That is all the unnecessary information I'm going to bombard you with today. If you are disappointed with the lack of recipes today, let me know. I will get you a jar of jam to make up for it!