Pickle time and cherry bounce

It's pickle time in our part of the world. I planted enough pickling cucumber plants this year to make it worth my while. I have been using "The Pickled Pantry" by Andrea Chesman since finding a copy of her book at the library several years ago. My daughter's purchased a copy for me that same Christmas. Pickles are not the only thing that make this book my go-to for pickling. Check it out and you will see why.

The thing about pickles is they go really well with dill. The thing about dill is it is ready well ahead of the cucumbers unless you remember to plant successive crops which I don't. I came up with a solution to my problem and that is I pickle the dill as it is ready. I have a half gallon Ball jar in my fridge that I fill with dill heads and vinegar when they are ready. I use fresh heads as long as they keep coming. When the cucumbers outlast the dill, I just pop some of the pickled heads into the jar with the new batch of pickles I am working on. Sometimes I will use a bit of the vinegar to boost of the flavor as well. The dill keeps for a very long time like this, well into the winter so I also have dill vinegar in winter.

NorPro Deluxe Cherry Pitter with suction base

I am also fermenting cherries for a delicious cocktail mix in. I never saw my mom do this, but my oldest cousins remember her having this on hand during one of the family get-togethers. I found various recipes in German cookbooks and it was also published in our local paper also published a version of it. After looking over the options, I came up with my own version of proportions which are a bit easier to remember. I also don't want raisins in mine.

Cherry Bounce
2 pounds of pitted pie cherries
2 cups of sugar
1 qt of moonshine or other liquor
Mix the pie cherries with the sugar in a large jar (mine is one gallon). Cover with screw on lid and mix well. Keep jar on the counter out of sun and swish the cherries and sugar around once or twice a day to keep it well blended and the sugar dissolving with the juice. 

After a week to ten days, add the liquor to the jar and mix well. I seal mine with a bit of plastic wrap as well as the screw on lid. Set the jar in a cool, dark place for two months. You can put it in smaller jars to share or store. Enjoy on its own or in a cocktail.

What's in your canning kettle?

I have been enjoying a little bit of domestic time now that the wedding is done and the flowers are no longer on the top of my list.  I will post pictures, but I promised my daughter that she gets first dibs on posting wedding pics.  She wants to share them with the florist first, who was absolutely terrific in working with us.

I thawed out the eight gallon bags I stowed in the freezer and made my spaghetti sauce this weekend.  When you start from frozen, it takes a bit more time.   Little by little I got them in the electric roaster and cooked them down.  A bit of this and a bit of that and 24 hours later, I had 10 quarts and seven pints of spaghetti sauce and an additional four pints of chili sauce.  I made a modification to the spaghetti sauce and added two tablespoons (minimum) of red wine vinegar to each quart of sauce to raise the acidity.  I water bath canned them instead of pressure canning with the increased acidity.  I have no meat in my sauce when I can it.  All should be good according to my research on the adaptation.  The chili sauce was in the Ball Book.  The smell of this cooking was delicious with all the spices and vinegar cooking down for several hours.

I also had a few pounds of pears from the neighbor.  We ate several fresh, but they start to over-ripen quickly so they are now pear chutney which I made from The Pickled Pantry.   This recipe also smelled so good as it was bubbling on my stove top.

I have windfall apples from my sister chilling in the frig for a new batch of applesauce.  Don't you just love autumn?!

Sauerkraut...new beginnings

 I started my first batch of sauerkraut...ever.  The last time I remember taking part in the process, I was about eight years old. I was sitting under the legs of the adults while they cut the cabbage on the "kraut cutter".  It was build to fit between our kitchen sink and the adjacent cabinet.  My younger sister, Lisa, and I were in charge of picking up the cabbage that didn't land in the crock and adding it to the rest.  The only other person that came down by us, was our mom.  She would bend down to sprinkle in a layer of salt every so often between the layers of cabbage.  I don't have a kraut cutter, or a mandolin (the miniature version of our kraut cutter, or a large enough food processor.  I do have cutting boards and a large, sharp knife.  Last Friday morning I worked my way through six heads of cabbage one eighth of an inch at a time.  I'm sure that my great grandmother did it this way, so why couldn't I?!

In true style for everything I do, I read up on it first.  The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman was my first encouragement to try something I had very limited experience with.  I consulted the Ball Canning and Freezing handbook.  I had the University of Wisconsin Extension handbook that I picked up at State Fair YEARS ago.  They have the same publication on line in pdf format.  Same words, different format.  I talked with friends and family on-line, at work, over the phone, and even strangers who wanted to talk canning.  The one thing I couldn't do, which would have made me much more at ease, was talk to my mom.  She's been gone for 18 months and there are still times I want to pick up the phone to ask her a question.  I wanted to pick up the phone several times on Friday, but I just sent thoughts heavenward in hopes that some divine inspiration would come seeping downward to get me through.  
I improvised.  I didn't have the cutter, the stomper, or the crock.  I made do with a knife, a wine bottle, and a re-purposed pickle pail (this is food grade plastic, laundry detergent pails are not).  With a bit of advise from my friend's mother (the cabbage from our drought summer was not going to be moist enough), I was able to decide to make up a brine one and one half tablespoons of salt per quart of water to add to the pail.  This advise was my sanity saver.  I mixed my three tablespoons of pickling salt (don't used iodized) to the five pounds of shredded cabbage.  The directions said to let is wilt for five minutes.  I would cut the next five pounds while the first sat wilting.  Layer by layer I added it to the pail while pounding it down with my flat bottomed wine bottle.  It was juicing but not enough to cover the cabbage no matter how much I pounded it down.  I would add some cool brine a little at a time until it came to the surface.  

 Layer by layer, batch after batch.  Cut, salt, wait, pound.  In the end six head of cabbage, which were average size by farm market standards, filled the pail just over half.  My arms were tired, my hands were cramped.  Tasting bits of salted cabbage took me back to the linoleum floor under the cutting board.  I missed my mom more than I have in many months.  My full canning shelf remind me of the hours she put into preserving food for our family.  Hers was at least 3 times the size of my own.
I made more brine and let it cool as I finished up my cabbage lasagna.  The higher the layers came, the easier it got to hold on to the bottle to pound.  I remember Dad standing over the kraut cutter moving the cabbage halves back and forth over the triple blades.  He cut himself every year. In my memory he did.  I will probably be corrected by my older sisters, all five of them.  Dad also did most of the stomping.  We all took a turn, but it was Dad's arms that truly brought out the juice from the cabbage.  Mom was a strong woman in her own right as well.

I had made another gallon of brine which went in to a two gallon Ziploc bag.  After putting a plate on top of my sufficiently salted and liquidated cabbage, I laid the partially filled bag on top of the plate.  This sealed around the edges of the pail to keep the air out of the briny mix as much as possible.  I believe this is working well, as today is the first day I felt the need to skim the scum from the top of the pail.  Bubbles are coming up from below when I push down on the plate, so fermentation is taking place.  As we like to say in our household...it is processing nicely.

I also weighed down the plate with a half gallon Ball jar with more brine in it.  I could have just used water, but if I need more brine, it will be at the ready.  Some liquid has evaporated as it came over the top of the bag.  I have not added more since starting the process.
Most books recommend keeping the crock in an area 68 to 72 degrees during fermentation.  This will keep the fermentation going at a steady pace.  Too warm and it happens to quickly and may spoil.  Too cool and the process takes longer, which means you have to baby sit the kraut with daily visits for skimming.  I also placed the pail on one of my multi-use boot trays.  If the kraut were to be higher in the pail this would be more necessary for possible run over.  I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to our old, hardwood floors.
I will update as needed so I can keep track of the process for future reference.  In the meantime, we're processing nicely.

Canning and Cuttings

With a conference to attend and family in town, I have had no time at home.  Today was catch up time.  I spent a pretty penny on the precious apples and was not about to abandon my plans of spiced apples and green tomato mincemeat.  
The mincemeat was a little putzy, but I think it was worth it in the end.  I even pulled out the old meat grinder to grind up eight cups of green tomatoes.  I have still been trying recipes from The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman.  Both of these were in her book.  Most of the pickling recipes need about six weeks of shelf time to fully develop their flavors.  The mincemeat is ready to go any time and can even be frozen if that is more convenient for the cook.  It was supposed to make six pints but I had at least two more in the kettle when the canner was full.  I did one pint in two half pint jars for smaller uses, and I ran out of pint jars.  I took some extra to the neighbor who passes produce my way and put a bit in the frig to try a bit in some crust when I make pasties for supper tomorrow.

The other job on the top of my list this past week was making sure I get my cuttings in the house before the plants freeze.  My coleus are done after last night's cold, but there was good cuttings at the neighbor's house who I share a cup of weekend coffee with. We met when I used to walk the dog.  Both of us garden, but he changes up what he is growing.  It is this neighbor I have to thank for my light table as he lost interest in using them himself.  He consistently keeps roses in the mix.  The conversation is never lacking for interest.
It may be time to see about cabbage for sauerkraut on my next market trip.  I look forward to trying another new skill.

Fall Farm Market and canning season

The time is right for getting out to the Farmer's Market.  We are nearing frost time so pretty soon all the summer stuff will be gone and the cole crops will be in their prime.

It is also time to get out and get your apples.  In our neck of the woods an early spring followed by a freeze knocked out much of the apple crop so pickings are slim and the deals will not be found this year.  I am thankful that putting up applesauce is not on my list this year.  I will make do with what I have on the shelf from last year until it runs out.  I did get some Granny Smith's apples to make some spiced apple pickles and also am looking at a green tomato mincemeat to put up with the last of the crop I stripped off the plants this weekend.

I recommend a great book that I have been referencing and doing some canning with.  Our library had a copy of The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman in the new volumes.  I have done pickled spice plums, pickled cauliflower, pickled tomatillas, and dilly bean so far. I want to try sauerkraut and the apple recipes I mentioned already.  I am putting this book on my Christmas wish list this year.  Try something new this year.