Cooking with Pumpkin

I'm about to turn this year's mantle display into all sorts of deliciousness.

This time of year everyone is getting excited for pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup... The canned stuff is fine, but this is cheaper (especially if you've got pumpkins lying around), fresher, and more fun.

Here are a few tips for turning your autumn decor into food.

To select your pumpkins:
Know that smaller, heavier, and harder=better. In other words, use little sugar pumpkins, not Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins.

To roast or bake (Taken directly from The Joy of Cooking):
Bake halves, quarters, or slabs of pumpkin cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Remove the seeds and strings before baking. Add 1/4 inch water to the pan and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake in a 400 degree oven until tender when pierced. Halfway through the baking, pieces can be turned over with tongs, brushed with butter or mild oil, and sprinkled with brown sugar and nutmeg or other spice. Allow 30 to 45 minutes for small pieces.

Obviously these pieces of cooked pumpkin (or squash) make a delicious side dish for any dinner. Or, if you prefer, you can puree and save the pumpkin to be used in recipes.

To puree and preserve:
Scoop the roasted flesh out and puree in food processor. Freeze in ziploc bags, packed flat.

My favorite pumpkin recipes are:
Pumpkin Risotto
(I add mushrooms and almost die of happiness with every bite.)
and
Pumpkin Cookies

What are yours?
xo,
anne

Potted Gardens

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If you think you don't have enough room to grow a bit of food, watch this clip and think again. I don't usually click through to links, but seriously, click the link and watch the video. Next thing you know you'll be googling bee keeping and urban homesteading.

We just wanted to share a few tips about small space gardening to encourage you to start where you are - no matter how tiny your living space or your garden-knowledge - and grow something that you can use. There just aren't many satisfactions like eating the fruits of your own labors.

Get inspired about urban gardening (rooftop or container) here. And here.

A good place to start is with some potted herbs. Who doesn't want to snip some fresh basil for their pasta sauce? Tips here.

Things to keep in mind for potted veggies/herbs:

- use a lighter potting soil, regular garden soil will be too heavy and hinder root growth
- potted plants will need more water than plants in the ground
- drill holes in the bottom of buckets/pots to allow for proper drainage and consider placing pots up on blocks to increase drainage.
- allow plenty of room for roots (5 gallon buckets for things like peppers, tomatoes, beans, etc. Smaller pots (with 6-8 in. of root space) for shallower root plants like radishes, carrots and kitchen herbs.

Along these lines, click on over to Cottage Industrialist and print out her awesome calendar (Jan-June, July-Dec). Colorful and well-designed and each month includes a list of things to plant at that time of year!

My Top 10 Favorite Flowers

We're so happy to have Lindy giving us a few tips on selecting and growing lovely flowers. I was lucky enough to witness her beautiful yard on Maple Lane in the flesh, so when Lindy talks about flowers, I listen!

I don't consider myself an expert gardener, but I did train at the feet of my mother who is a master. Most of the pictures below come from my home on Maple Lane in Provo, Utah, which I moved from about a year ago.

Lots of my neighbors would ask me, "Lindy, how do you get so much color in your yard?"

Occasionally, if I was feeling chatty, I'd give them the long answer which involves good soil, regular watering, and plenty of sunlight. But usually, I just gave them the short answer, which is: "Plant annuals and Miracle-Gro them religiously. Trust me."

And, it's true. That's really all it takes for your yard to stop traffic (foot or otherwise). Here are my top 10 favorite easy to grow flowers. These plants are all low maintenance and provide tons of eye-popping, sidewalk-stopping color throughout the growing season.

1. Petunias, Wave and Cascading

I know the humble petunia is often thought of as old-fashioned and overdone, but they're popular for a reason; they're tough and stand up well to the dead-heat of summer. The key with petunias is to avoid the purple-red-white plantings exactly one foot a part amidst a vast expanse of soil. All plants look better and more natural when they are planted close together in clumps of three or five. As you can see below, I planted pink and magenta wave petunias all along the sidewalk leading up to my front door. Here they are in May. Small, but still colorful.

By October, they've become monsters. Yep, these guys bloom for a good six months+ in Utah (and in Georgia, too).

2. Geraniums
My grandma always planted red geraniums in pots. Red is a classic, but I love a mix of pink hues, too, as seen here in my window boxes.

Geraniums also look great paired with cascading petunias.

3. Pansies

I've planted "winter" pansies in both Utah and Georgia with great results. Put your pansies in the ground in the fall before first frost. As soon as the ground warms up in spring your pansies will start popping up and you'll be so very happy to see them.

4. Zinnias, Giant and Profusion
I'm such a sucker for giant plants. These Belara Giants are amazing; they grow up to 4 feet tall--literally inches overnight.

Profusion Zinnias are another staple in my yard. As their name suggests, they bloom profusely and can fill in a large expanse quickly. I love combining orange, white, and pink varieties with purple salvia.

5. Daisies

You're probably already very familiar with the adorable daisy. The white petals surrounding a sunny yellow center make for such a happy combination. They also make great cut flowers, and if you get the right variety, they will "naturalize" (spread on their own). Oh, and did I mention these little darlings are perennials? That means you'll have many happy returns on your initial investment.

6. Coneflowers

Purple and white coneflowers (also called echinacea) are fabulous for areas that get hot, all-day sun.

7. Rocket Snapdragons
I pass this quaint little house (actually I think it might qualify as a mansion) every day. The white picket fence is a perfect backdrop (and lattice) for these rocket snaps which grow up to 3-4 feet tall.

8. Black-Eyed Susans
My son use to call these "bumblebee flowers." They spread like crazy and some even consider them invasive. But they are always welcome in any yard of mine.

9. Sunflowers
Is that Jack and the beanstalk? Nope. It's Lindy and her giant sunflower. I planted a few seeds in May and look at what I had by July. Magical, I tell you.

10. Dahlias
These lovely ladies come in every size and color you can imagine. I love the plate-size varieties because they are just so dramatic. The best thing about dahlias? The more you cut the flowers off, the more they bloom. That's why I have a whole bucketful here waiting to be brought inside and put into vases.

Happy Gardening, everyone!

Gorgeous! Thanks, Lindy.

Getting Ready to Garden

Last fall Rachael taught us how to preserve our garden harvest; today she's giving us some tips on everything that proceeds the harvest. Wait! don't "X" out of this if you don't fancy yourself a gardener or if you only have a patio from which to coax a crop - even with only a tiny bit of know-how and space, you could be eating the fruits of your very own labors in a few months - so cool! Here's Rachael's advice, we think you'll find it helpful no matter where you find yourself on the gardening spectrum:

Before you plant:

Sit down with a sheet of paper and make a list of everything you’d like to plant. Then diagram your garden and assign plants to specific areas, based on the appropriate spacing guidelines. Think about seasonal rotation (for instance, using the same spot for lettuce in the spring, bush beans in the summer, and kale in the fall) or interplanting (parsnips and radishes together; corn, pole beans, and squash in the same hill). Once you’ve decided what’s going in the garden, create a master list of planting dates, fertilizing schedules, etc.

As you’re planning your garden, try to select a level spot that gets plenty of sunlight. Some lettuces prefer partial shade as the summer goes on, but by and large, lots of sun will maximize your overall harvest. Plan to water frequently enough to keep your soil evenly moist. If you see standing water or cracked dirt, you’ll know you need to change your watering schedule (I usually water every other day). Create raised beds to help with drainage by shoveling or trampling a path between your beds.

Plan on frequent weeding so that your plants get enough sunlight and nutrients. Weeds are much easier to battle when they’re small; a hand cultivator (which looks like a fork) is a great tool here, as is a scuffle hoe. An even better idea is to stop the weeds before they grow by using black plastic or mulch. Simply lay down the plastic, snip a hole for the plant, and you’re in business—no weeding around the tomatoes and squash! As an added benefit, the black plastic also helps retain the heat, which helps crops like melons to ripen more quickly. I lay down plastic wherever possible.

Beginning/small space gardeners

If you only have room for a few things, plant tomatoes (with a basil plant or two alongside). Nothing packs quite the same fresh-from-the-garden punch as a really awesome beefsteak tomato. (They’re also pretty idiot-proof, and you can even buy special varieties bred for container gardening). Bush beans (Bush Blue Lake 274 is my favorite) are also easy and bountiful. And summer squashes (zucchini and yellow crookneck) will be prolific beyond your wildest dreams (pick them at 8 inches long, and pick every day). Lettuces are also very reliable (try Simpson Elite); loose-leaf varieties have the added bonus of regenerating after you cut the leaves off (don’t pull out the roots!) And if you like radishes, they’re one of the ultimates in short-term gratification, ready to eat less than a month after planting.

When to plant?

Planting dates depend on where you live, or your “hardiness zone” (http://www.garden.org/zipzone/). What really matters here is the dates of your first and last frost (which you can easily find via Google). In general, you will find that most seed packets instruct you to either plant “in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked,” or “after danger of frost.” In northern Indiana, where I live, this translates to planting my first round of peas, lettuces, onions, etc. around mid-March, and my tomatoes, beans, corn, etc. around May 15^th. Sow seeds every two weeks for continual harvesting; with transplants, pay attention to whether a tomato, for instance, is “indeterminate,” which means it will keep producing until frost, or “determinate,” which means most of its fruit will come on all at once and last a couple of weeks. Most planting guidelines will also give you an “end date,” so you have a window of a couple months for your successive sowings.

An invaluable resource is your county extension office, which offers specific information for your area; they can advise you about weather patterns or pests, plus perform soil testing. My local extension office (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/garden_pubs.html#Vegetables) has some fantastic online publications; you can find guidelines here on just about every fruit/vegetable you can think of, plus composting, amending soil, etc.

Soil preparation

If you’re breaking sod in your backyard, save your back (and hours of time) and rent a rototiller from a local hardware store (about $50 for 4 hours, and very much worth it). You can have soil testing done through your local extension office that will give you specific guidelines as to soil amendments that you should add. Generally needed by any garden: peat moss, which will lighten your soil, vermiculite and perlite to help it retain water, and well-rotted compost, which provides the organic material to really thrive. I also use lots of rotted manure (make sure it is well-rotted so it doesn’t burn your plants). You can purchase soil amendments at any nursery and some home improvement centers (they will generally be cheaper at the home centers, but you’ll have less selection. If you know someone with animals, give them a call about the manure). Compost is trickier to find and can be quite expensive, the best way is to make your own (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/ID-182.pdf) by creating a pile for your yard waste and kitchen scraps—which will then rot down into beautiful, rich, black garden goodness (good to know: a correctly-managed compost pile doesn’t stink). As a bonus, carrying out the kitchen scraps to the compost pile is a job that two-year-olds think is really exciting!

Soil amendments can get pretty expensive, so what we tried last year was to amend selectively. For anything that was a single plant (broccoli, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, okra, eggplant, peppers, squash) rather than a row (corn, beans, root vegetables) we dug out a good-sized hole and fill it with a mixture of heavily amended soil (mixing 3:1 amendments to garden dirt) then plopped in the plant. For the row crops, we mixed in our amendments, but much more sparingly. We had bumper crops last year, so I’d say our experiment was a success. Selecting a good fertilizer is also key (there’s some great articles about this on the Purdue Extension site I linked earlier); check the specific plant’s guidelines for how much and how often. Most plants need fertilizer initially, when they begin to blossom, when they begin to fruit, etc.

Garden boxes are also a great option if you’ve got awful soil, or if you’d like to get a jump on planting when the ground is too frozen (or wet) to till. We built a 4 x 8 raised box for square-foot gardening last year and filled it with the best soil (and amendments) we could find; it was about $65 for the whole thing. This is more of an investment, and I don’t know that I’d recommend it for the entire garden—I look at it as a lettuce box. I also did not see a marked difference in productivity between the box (with the awesome soil) and the garden at large (with moderately amended soil).

Pests
Let’s be honest: your garden will be much happier if it is fenced off. You can use chicken wire, electrical fencing, board fencing, etc., but you’re going to need something if you want to keep your harvest. There’s lots of discussion on gardening forums about keeping away animals with more natural methods, such as marigolds, human hair, scents, etc., but I’ve always relied on a fence (and the occasional kid throwing rocks at rabbits). Be forewarned: rabbits can flatten themselves down to practically nothing and deer can jump 8-foot fences.

Bugs are another matter entirely. It’s a matter of personal preference as to whether you want to go totally organic with no pesticides, or whether you’re okay sprinkling a little Sevin out there to kill those Japanese beetles.

There are a couple of things you can do preemptively; one is to rotate your crops, avoiding planting the same things in the same locations year after year (this is especially important with the nightshade family—tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant). You can also put “cutworm collars” on your transplants to protect tender seedlings. And lastly, be vigilant—if you check on your garden every day, you’ll notice the bugs before they turn the leaves to lace.

Gardening is a lot of trial and error. Inevitably, you will have some successes and some failures every year, and you’ll learn from your mistakes, and you’ll learn to ask questions of every gardener you know. But when you can wander out to the garden on a lazy summer’s evening and decide right there in the tomato-scented dusk what you’re having for dinner, it’s worth the weeding and planting and rabbit-chasing.

Doesn't that just make you want play in the dirt? Thanks a million, Rachael. As always, you've given us so much useful information!

We’d love to hear your tips, advice, and tricks! Leave a comment to share your gardening wisdom...

Eating Healthy on a Budget

When we talked about budgeting back in January, several of you inquired about eating well on a budget. Some of the things we mention below almost seem too obvious to merit their own asterisk...but hopefully you'll find a few helpful tips.

*If you're concerned about eating organically, learn where it really matters. Check out this article published by Martha Stewart about 'The Clean 15 vs. The Dirty Dozen.'



*Eat less meat. Way less. I was reading an article the other day that said Americans today eat 50 lbs. more meat per year than their grandparents did. If you need a little push in this direction, check out one of Michael Pollan's books next time you're at the library - fantastic.


*Stretch the time between visits to the grocery store. I know this is tricky when you're trying to eat a fresh, plant-based diet, but truly - it's difficult to get out of the grocery store without spending $25. If you pop in every 3 days - that's $250 a month on the little "just need to grab some milk" trips. I've even heard a few people say that having milk delivered ends up saving them money over the course of the month because they don't have to make those quick trips for milk, which turn into quick trips for milkeggs,blueberries,saladgreens, chocolate chips...$30. I would imagine joining a CSA or some kind of produce-delivery service would have a similar effect as it would reduce the number of trips you'd need to take to the market.

*Speaking of...look into joining a local CSA. (Find a local CSA or farmer's market in your area HERE.) I loved Liz's post about her family's experience with this.

*Buy in bulk. We mean from the bins - oats, nuts, grains, rice, legumes, etc. It is so much cheaper.


*Legumes, legumes, legumes! Doesn't get healthier than lentils/rice and veggies, rice and beans, etc.!


*Grow a garden/buy local produce in season. Even in tiny spaces, you can produce a lot of food.
You'll be amazed by what this family is doing with 1/10 of an acre; watch this video (pardon the movie trailer that precedes it).

*Read back through Rachael Bailey's tips on preserving food to get motivated and to learn what to do with the 25 lbs of peaches you buy when they're thirty cents/lb.


*Know what should be in your pantry (post on this coming soon from Taylor...) and keep it stocked to avoid intermittent trips to the grocery store.


*Plan your meals!! And plan them around what's on sale at your local grocery store. (More on this coming up tomorrow from Amanda; she'll also have a few tips about coupon-ing).


*Avoid the overpriced, packagey stuff that's void of nutrition. Eat whole foods!


*Food storage: store what you EAT! Replace things when you use them (rotate)!


* If you're passionate about eating everything organic, you'll just spend more. Almost without exception. It all comes down to what you value. In the case of meat, for example, if you want free range chickens from the farmers' market, but you don't want to increase your meat budget, then you just need to plan on eating less meat. You'll also need to realize that a generous grocery budget might necessitate a slim entertainment or clothing budget. On a limited budget, it comes back to priorities and values again and again.

* And finally - to really get yourself in tune with how much you're spending each month on food -- keep track. I mean save every single receipt. Or track every single transaction with your debit card register, or whatever you do. And add it all up at the end of the month. Every little trip for every little ingredient. You might be astonished to reconcile what you think you're spending with what you're actually spending. Sometimes just the awareness of reality will help you cinch up your financial belt.

Any questions, tips, things you've found helpful - please tell ask/tell us about it in the comment thread. We're anxious to learn from you.

xo,
Em & Anne

Rachael's Harvest Kitchen {Day 2}

Now on to the how-tos! We’ll begin with the simplest and work our way up. Please note that I’m giving fairly quick explanations for the sake of brevity; before you proceed, consult the Ball Blue Book for specific guidelines on the type of food you’re working with.

Dehydrating: I dehydrate tomatoes, peaches, and apples. Some fruits and vegetables need pretreatment in the form of blanching or dipping (soaking in a solution of lemon juice and water). One thing I’ve found, however, is that my tomatoes tend to do better unpeeled, which prevents them from sticking as much to the dehydrator. I also like to spray my dehydrator with olive oil, again to prevent sticking.

Freezing: This is my method of choice for most vegetables, blueberries, pesto, and peaches/strawberries destined to end up as shakes. Most vegetables need to be blanched; most fruits should be peeled, pitted, or cored as you’d prepare them for raw eating. The catch here is that foods won’t come out nice and crisp after freezing, so it’s best to freeze sturdy foods (i.e. no lettuces!) that you’re planning to cook after freezing. You also need to have adequate space in your freezer to store all the food; a chest freezer is a great investment here. The wonderful thing about freezing is how quick the process is; you can turn a bowlful of green beans into a tidy little stack of freezer bags in an hour.

Canning: I can peaches, applesauce, jams, jellies, fruit butters, salsas, tomatoes, and dilly beans. The really important thing with canning is to make sure that everything is clean and that you follow the recipes EXACTLY! Heat lids and jars, then place the prepared food into hot jars (generally a funnel is necessary here), filling to appropriate headspace. Wipe the top of the jar and the threads clean, place a hot lid on the jar, and screw the band on tightly. Place the jars on the canner rack, process the jars in the canner for the specified time, then remove and let cool on a dry towel. After 12-24 hours, check the seal on the lid (I usually hear them popping within minutes after removal from the canner). I also find that I need to wash my jars after they’ve cooled, since they are invariably slightly sticky. I skipped this last year and had a horrible time prying the rings off my applesauce, since they were firmly glued to the jars and had to be washed in very hot water to loosen them.

Now that we’ve gone through the general methodologies, here’s a brief run-down of the foods I most often work with, the ways I preserve them, and any tips or tricks to make things go more easily, as well as a few ideas on utilizing these in your cooking the rest of the year!

A general note on Jams and jellies: A batch of freezer jam is an easy one-person job to knock out in an hour or so, depending on the fruit. Strawberries are our preferred freezer jam fruit, while cherry, peach, or blueberry make our favorite cooked jams. Apple butter (made by cooking down applesauce) was our hands-down favorite last year, and we’re planning to try pumpkin butter this year. A little-known secret—you can use plain juice from the grocery store (think Welch’s) to make delicious jellies, as long as it’s 100% juice. Since this only takes a few minutes (mix sugar, juice, and pectin, boil, then fill the jars), it’s a great homemade gift that takes very little time to make a huge quantity!

• Peaches: Can whole, can as jam, freeze, or dehydrate. The trick here is using absolutely ripe peaches, so the skins slide right off when you blanch them and the peaches open easily. You also want to look for freestone peaches, which means the pit will come out easily. If your peaches aren’t quite ripe, just stick them in a brown paper bag for a few days until they give slightly to gentle pressure. Using up peaches is never a problem here; I generally just open a can and serve them with dinner in lieu of fresh fruit.
• Pears: Can or dehydrate. One year someone gave me about a bushel of unripe pears. While I waited for them to ripen up, they started to rot. I ended up cutting out rotten spots and peeling unripe pears, and it was a nightmarish experience; I haven’t tried it again. I will say, however, that while the regular pears weren’t anything special, I canned a batch of cinnamon pears that were a universal favorite and ended up being the stars at Thanksgiving that year.
• Applesauce: Can/cook down as apple butter. If you're planning to make applesauce, make sure you purchase "seconds." These apples aren't quite perfect (bruises, irregularities in coloring or shape), but they're ideal for applesauce and will cost about a fifth of what you'd pay for eating apples. My favorite thing to can, since it’s super easy: wash the apples, cut them in fourths, dump them in a huge pot with some water, and boil them until they’re soft. Dump the squishy apples out into a strainer, turn the crank, and voila! No need to peel or core, since the strainer removes all the gunk. One tip: put the gunk back through the strainer for a thicker applesauce (and to avoid waste, since a lot of good stuff may get dumped out as well). Keep an eye on the apples and make sure they have enough water—although I confess that my kids ate burned applesauce last year and never noticed the difference. J I also don’t add any sugar or spices to mine; I find it’s sweet enough as is and I like to substitute applesauce for oil in my cooking, so I prefer to keep it without any extras. Apple butter is to die for; we made far too little last year and have vowed to never make that mistake again!
• Cherries: Can as jam. We love both sweet and tart cherry jam; I’ve never canned pie cherries (much to my husband’s disappointment). A cherry pitter is a lifesaver here; spend the extra $10 to get a commercial-grade one with a plunger rather than a dinky hand-held.
• Blueberries: Can as jam, freeze. Freeze UNWASHED blueberries (they have a waxy coating that’s removed when washing that helps preserve them in the freezer) and wash before use, although I confess I never bother with this because I pick my berries at an organic farm. We love to use our blueberries in pancakes, muffins, and in steel-cut oats all winter long.
• Strawberries: Can as jam, freeze. We’ve found that strawberries make the best freezer jam, they’re good in cooked jam but nothing too revelatory, so we generally use the strawberry cooked jam for PBJs. My husband loves strawberry shakes, so that’s where most of ours go, and he eats a lot of the freezer jam in oatmeal. We also like to defrost frozen strawberries halfway, chop, and eat them on whole-wheat waffles.
• Tomatoes: Can whole, can as salsa, freeze whole, dehydrate. You can also make spaghetti or tomato sauce, but as it takes about 45 lbs of tomatoes to produce 7 jars of sauce, it’s never seemed worth the effort to me. I love salsa, but be forewarned, it requires a lot of chopping. Dehydrating is almost mindless; I dry mine until they are not fleshy but before they get crispy, then pop them in a freezer bag and stash them in the freezer. This year I’m also planning to do some in olive oil with herbs. Dried tomatoes are a great way to jazz up a homemade sauce (rehydrate in a little hot water for about half an hour before use) or fabulous in pesto. Frozen tomatoes are great for vegetable soup, canned tomatoes are a good substitute in any recipe where you’d normally use diced or crushed tomatoes.
• Green beans: Can as dilly beans, freeze. Just like a pickle, except it’s a green bean—these are fantastic and definitely worth a try! The lovely thing is that whereas crisp crunchy cucumber pickles are a bit tricky, the small size of green beans lends itself well to that satisfying crunch. Frozen beans are very easy—simply wash, snap off the ends, break them into 2-inch pieces, and freeze. When you’re ready to use them, just cook as you would normal frozen beans from the store. These hold up really well in the freezer and still have a lot of the zest and crunch of a raw bean.
• Corn: Freeze. Husk, blanch, and cut corn from cob, then freeze. One word of caution—the milky kernels will adhere to each other and form a brick in your freezer that is almost impossible to break up. I usually end up beating my freezer bags against the counter.
• Squash: Freeze. Peel and cut into serving-size pieces, blanch, and freeze. Use in soups & stews. Shredded zucchini in recipe-size portions is a great way to enjoy zucchini bread all year long!
• Pumpkin: Freeze, pumpkin butter. Remove seeds, bake pumpkin, peel, and freeze. A key point: drain out the excess water after you defrost the pumpkin. I like to use mine in muffins and soups, as well as the ubiquitous pie.
• Peppers: Freeze. I wash and freeze jalapenos whole, then defrost them as use as I would fresh peppers. For bell peppers, I wash them, dice, and freeze in half-cup portions in sandwich bags, then put 10 or so in a freezer bag, and use them in any foods with a slightly longer cooking time (I avoid using them in stir-fries, since they would be a bit soggy, but if something is cooking for longer than 10 minutes, in go the peppers!)
• Pesto (basil): Freeze in serving-size portions inside a larger bag, just as with peppers. We love pesto spread on paninis (mozzarella and tomatoes make a great combo with this), on pizzas (fresh tomatoes and Parmesan), or tossed with good-quality pasta.

Thank you so much, Rachael! This was the second-best thing to actually being in your harvest kitchen.

If you have any questions for Rachael, you can either ask in the comment thread or contact her directly at: theirchronicles {at} gmail {dot} com

From the Harvest Kitchen of Rachael Bailey

We're really excited to have Rachael Bailey at Bloom for the next couple days teaching us all about preserving a garden harvest and using it throughout the year. Here's her introduction in her own words:

When I left for college, my cooking repertoire consisted of unintentionally scrambled French toast. Eight years later, after marriage to a man who taught me the proper way to treat an onion, I'm absolutely passionate about cooking, and I've got my own in-house tasting panel: Abigail (4), Juliet (2), and Isaac (7 weeks). I fund my love affair with French cheeses by teaching part-time at a nearby university and work off the cheese guilt by training for a half-marathon.


You can read more about Rachael, her prolific garden, and her darling little family on her blog.
Thanks for being here, Rachael!

Three years ago, our family moved to the Midwest for my husband to pursue a doctoral degree. I was devastated to leave the mountains, but also excited to live in a hotbed of farmers’ markets, u-pick fruit farms, and to grow a garden of my own. My parents always had a ridiculously enormous garden, and most of the summer mornings of my childhood came with the stipulation that we had to do x amount of food processing before we were free to go off and play. While I’d been a helper all through my childhood and adolescence, it’s a bit intimidating when you come home from vacation to 100 lbs of ripe tomatoes, or return from a local orchard with a trunk full of peaches, and you are the one giving the orders!

Fortunately, it’s a fairly simple process, once you get the rhythm down and all the pieces in place. If you can sit in a friend’s kitchen and watch her do a batch of jam or applesauce, you’ll see what I mean, which is exactly the purpose of this post—to be a virtual window into my harvest kitchen (but without the stickiness and children underfoot!) It is best, however, to do your canning with another person around to help, since there tend to be long periods of repetitive work (like slicing peaches) with sudden bursts of frenzied activity (like ladling boiling jam into very hot jars).

There are three main areas of food preservation:

*canning
*freezing
*dehydrating.

I use a boiling-water canner for jams and fruits. Since most vegetables need to be processed in a pressure cooker, which I don’t have, I freeze most of my veggies, and I dehydrate tomatoes and some fruits. Freezing and dehydrating are fairly fool-proof, although there are some preparatory steps to both; canning is a bit more complex.

Before you get started, there’s some basic equipment you need to have on hand. For all three methods, I’d recommend that you have the following:

• Enormous bowls (I bought mine at a restaurant-supply store)
• Colanders
• Stockpot(s)
• Dry dishtowels
• Lots of ice
• A cushioned mat to stand on (trust me on this!)

A dehydrator is great, but you can also use your oven. Freezer bags or boxes are an obvious must-have if you’re using the freezer.

If you are canning, you will also need a boiling-water canner or pressure cooker, a canning rack (fits inside the canner and holds the jars in place), a jar lifter, a magnetic lid lifter, canning jars and rings (resusable), lids (not reusable, since they only seal once), funnels, and a long-handled spoon.

If you are working with cherries, for $20 you can buy a commercial cherry pitter that is worth every penny. If you’re making applesauce, tomato sauce, or clear jellies, a food strainer (I recommend a Victorio strainer) is a great investment as well. Keep an eye on garage sales for canners, strainers, dehydrators, chest freezers, etc.

Last but not least, the very best advice I can give you is to get a copy of the Ball Blue Book, which is invaluable (and cheap!) This is where you’ll find specific instructions and recipes for any canned, frozen, or dehydrated food you can imagine. This also includes processing times as well as just recipes. I cannot emphasize enough the vital importance of following recipes and instructions EXACTLY when you are preserving food; the last thing you want is for your family to become sick from something you’ve canned.

Rachael will be back tomorrow with the how-to's of harvest preservation and tips for incorporating your preserved food into your everyday cooking throughout the year.