Apologies for the lack of writing; there's no excuse why I haven't written a single post in the last few months. But alas, I am back. Within the last month I have been canning like crazy. Everything from figs to tomatoes to peaches. Some of my new favorites include:
ginger fig jam
pickled green tomatoes
blueberry fig and lavender
If anyone has ideas or would like to something special jarred just for them, send them to me. I would be more than happy to practice my canning. My next projects include, but are not limited to......
pickled carrots
pickled turnips
radish relish
pickled beets (more, but this time golden)
It's interesting to note that there are limitations to hot water canning, which is my personal preference and method of choice. The hot water method takes longer for jars to process, must be adjusted according to altitude with each food item, does not allow for every type of food item to be processed (i.e. Cruciferous plants are usually unsafe to process), has an increased risk of burn injuries, and above all else, is the first method developed. My grandma Kirchner swears by the hot water method and taught me over this particular method for the first time. She had too many horror stories using the pressure cooking method, which was another reason for learning the hot water procedure. Frankly, I prefer to learn older procedures that have been around the longest. After all, there must be a reason why it is so widely used and continues to be used, right?
Last year was my first year, and I would say I ended up with about 100 jars in total of assorted edibles. Most are gone, with only but a few more jars of stewed tomatoes and pickled hot thyme carrots.
Some of you may wonder, what exactly is that picture and how does it relate to todays post. Well, fellow readers, it is one the dishes I prepare at Sunday's brunch at Sprout called the Lox. It consists of pickled items, gravlax salmon, potato tuile, homemade cream cheese, truffled yolk salad, figs and more. I wanted to display a picture of what you may be to pair with your pickled items at home. I hope this opens your mind to the endless possibilities.
There will be more to come on the wonderful world of canning.....
Ranelle, this is too tantalizing. Can you make fig kimchi or some other twist on the Korean classic?
ReplyDeletehmmm, I've never thought of doing a fig kimchi, but that's a brilliant idea. In fact, I was toying with the idea of pickling figs. However, at this time of the year, it's near impossible to find firm figs. After all, I do live in Illinois. I'll have to think about different variations of kimchi.....apple, pear or chestnut sound like exciting companions. Let me do some magic in the kitchen and I'll report back.
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