A Shameful Lack of Posting

...but I'm back!

Thanks for your patience. The garden's coming along despite its near-abandonment this spring; we thought we were moving. Surprise! We're staying right here.

So we're eating the strawberries and the first three small tomatoes, and lots of lettuce. Even a few potatoes. The garlic's in and cured. I put a little bit of it in today's batch of chutney...because YES, it is plum season.

The camera's out of commission, so forgive the Photo Booth pix.

But the oh-my-gosh discovery of the week? Strawberry-ginger jam!

Let the canning begin.

Sticking it...

How'd I do in '09?

I like this part of the year: nothing to can yet, just enjoy the fruits of last year's labors. And I am doing my best to enjoy them!

Here's what I did last year: 35 jars of tomato sauce, 12 of cranberry sauce, 20.5 of blackberry jam (and we ran out!), 20 of apple sauce (which I am still enjoying), 6 of strawberry jam, a single jar of delicious yellow plum jam and two of nectarine, 4 jars of yummy zucchini pickles, 7 of green tomatoes and 3 of green-tomato relish (thanks, Arcata summer!), 7 jars of jalapeno rings, 9 of lemon marmelade, 8.5 of fruit chutney, 3 of pepper chutney (not as good as the fruit), 5 of pickled lemony green beans, 3 of red-pepper jelly (we just don't eat enough bagels), and a single jar of cucumber pickles.

...a grand total of 147 pints of canned goods. Not too shabby for a gal's first-ever year of home canning!

But as the empties pile up in my pantry I am curious: just how much did I can this year? That was the season I finally took the plunge and bought a pressure canner. And a new enameled pot for hot-water processing. It feels like I went to town...

299!

I guess I did go to town.

(In case you're curious, that was 39.5 pints of bread-n-butter pickles (just barely enough!), 10 of dill pickle spears and rounds, 8 of sweet pickles (a pain to make, but clearly I need to make more as we ran out pronto), 25 of blackberry jam, 7 of peach jam, 34 of strawberry jam (and that's off only 3 6-by-6 beds), ten of lemon marmelade and 3 of lime, 14 of green beans (that taste just like canned green beans from the store; huh), 25 of fruit chutney (way too much as it turns out), 8 of cranberry sauce (which has only lasted into April because it got hidden behind the blackberry jam in the pantry; we only rediscovered it while searching for more sauerkraut), 7.5 pints of New York-style hot-pepper relish (a big hit, so 7.5 pints was not enough), 28 of pickled hot peppers (jalapenos, rajas, etc), 22 of tomato sauce (better from last year, but still not enough to make it to tomato season this year), 9 of whole tomatoes (which helped but still, we will run short), 17 green tomato pickles (plenty), 6 of sweet zucchini relish, 3 of pickled onion (which will be better next year! I have an idea), one of pickled garlic (still thinking about that), 2 of pickled beans, 2 of tomatillo salsa, 2 of pickled zucchini...pickled beets and radish didn't go over well, so I probably won't go there again.)

It certainly gives me an idea of just how much food a family eats in a year.

Now, I wait for May and what another year of canning will bring me. w00t!

We made it through winter

...with enough to eat; how nice! Seriously, once we figured out that I'd put up enough cans to carry us through to canning season this year, we have been pigging out on pantry yumminess.

It's funny: last year we couldn't get enough of the chutney, green-tomato pickles and jam I made. This year it's pickled peppers, sauerkraut, and straight-up pickles (sweet and bread-n-butter).

Part of my morning routine includes chatting with the folks at the local grocery co-op about all things agricultural. They are a pretty ag-savvy lot! One of the women I like talking to has goats, and yesterday my step-daughter dropped off a quart of fresh goat milk and some home-made chevre from this woman's herd.

I admit to being a little scared of the milk; I know it will have flavor, like all truly fresh food. Will I like it? It still astonishes me that chicken eggs have so much chickeny flavor. Compare the taste of a backyard or farmer's market tomato with its mealy cousin from Safeway and you'll have some idea of the way an egg made by one of our girls tastes.

But back to the goat milk. I don't want to not like it; I might just make fruit smoothies with it and ease into it.

But the chevre; we can't get enough of the stuff. We are very fortunate to have a goat cheese maker right here in town (Cypress Grove) and a store that carries a large selection of NorCal goat cheeses. Since we also have a lot of eggs, what with the longer days, I made us onion-and-chevre omelettes for dinner last night. For garnish we opened a jar of pickled peppers.

It was delicious.

Make what you eat...

...Eat what you make!

I don't know about you, but when I have a spare 45 minutes, I think, What could I can? Today it was cranberries.

Mmm, home-made cranberry sauce! Good on turkey, pork, in a spoon, on ice cream...all year long, too—or as long as it lasts in the pantry.

And yeah, I see I need to wash my windows. Someday.

Frittata Sunday!

So, technically, only the garlic and the eggs in the baking dish came from my back yard. But on this lovely rainy and sunshiney Sunday I made a vegetable-and-cheese frittata and a couple of jars of cranberry sauce. If you want to put some up before cranberries disappear from the supermarket shelves, try this original-to-me recipe:

Suzanne's Cranberry Relish

4 c. whole cranberries
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 can pineapple chunks (or crushed pineapple if you don't want a chunky sauce)
juice and zest from one lemon
juice and zest from one orange
1/8 c. fresh grated ginger (or less, to taste, if you are not a ginger fanatic)

Combine it all in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the cranberries start to pop. Reduce to low/med-low and continue to cook until you can pop all the cranberries with the back of a spoon. You can either can it now, or take it off the heat and refrigerate it overnight, which will jell it up, as it's pretty runny right off the stove. Makes approximately 6 cups.

It's Pickled Peppers Time

...and I'm on it!

Don't worry, scum is normal.

Or so says Mother Earth News in their article on home-made sauerkraut.

I love sauerkraut. The tang, the association with hot dogs (and, by extension, fairs), its working-class, good-natured yumminess. Even though I posted a sauerkraut recipe I saw in the San Francisco Chronicle, I have been strangely reluctant to make any this year. I think I found the recipe, and the concept of home 'kraut as presented in the Food section a little too daunting.

But we got a huge head of Napa cabbage in this week's farm box—either the freebie, abandoned CSA box our neighbor gave us, or the one we subscribe to; I can't remember. Even with the crispy duck Greg brought back from the Bay Area, for two people a whole head of cabbage goes a long way.

All roads were leading to sauerkraut.

So ignoring my previously-posted recipe, I trolled the Internet, landing in short order at Mother Earth News. Over the past two years of canning, I have to say that MEN and Pick Your Own have been my best, most-reliable sources for non-fussy canning. If the accompanying pictures of my food preparation area don't horrify you, you'll probably find something you like on those sites, too. Well worth checking out.

Anyway, on to the sauerkraut. Back when I read the article in the Chron, I did a little surfing looking for real 'kraut crocks. Nice, but pricey! I'd take one if I got it free—it'd look great sitting on my granite-top counters next to my Viking stove...ha!—but I went the poor-(wo)man's route: my lowly crockpot.

A crock pot, a cabbage, some salt, a cutting board and a knife or two. That is all you need.

Well, none of my "small plates" fit inside my little crockpot, so I ended up inverting the lid. That should work, as the 'pot was pretty full. We'll see.

I didn't feel like washing off any large rocks, so I filled a couple of plastic bags with water, then put that in a ziploc bag. Please don't leak!

Here's the recipe I used from Mother Earth News:

Sauerkraut Recipes

By Nathan Poell

Simple Sauerkraut

2 large heads of cabbage (about 5 pounds)
2 to 3 tbsp noniodized salt

Grate 1 cabbage and place in a crock or plastic bucket. Sprinkle half the salt over the cabbage. Grate the second cabbage, then add it to the crock along with the rest of the salt. Crush the mixture with your hands until liquid comes out of the cabbage freely. Place a plate on top of the cabbage, then a weight on top of the plate. Cover the container and check after 2 days. Scoop the scum off the top, repack and check every 3 days. After 2 weeks, sample the kraut to see if it tastes ready to eat. The flavor will continue to mature for the next several weeks. Canning or refrigerating the sauerkraut will extend its shelf life. Yields about 2 quarts.