We mentioned that we`ll be experimenting by making homemade liqueur (cordial) soon.  We also mentioned we`d share an exciting discovery (at least it was a discovery for us!).

The following applies to fermenting cordial – but also applies to other fermenting including sauerkraut, fermented pickles and kimchi.

Fermentation requires the removal of air from your product.  The process assists us naturally as gasses produced by fermentation are heavier than air – a layer of gas will easily rest on top of your fermentation unless there is a breeze, someone walks by or airflow changes around your jar.

Kaela at Local Kitchen mentioned using a trick you could do with a balloon and gave a link to find air locks in her article on berry cordial.  This sent me on a mission.

I went to a local u-brew store.  They help people make wine and beer.  They also sell air-locks such as this 3-piece unit (the cork doesn`t count as a piece as you can get different sizes for different jars):

An airlock allows the natural gasses to force air (and excess gas) out without letting air in.  The 3-piece unit is pretty easy to use:

1. The largest piece is  inserted in the cork (the `straw`is gently pushed in).
2. Water is poured into the large piece – there`s a fill line which tells you when to stop.  The water is poured in the outside `bowl` which surrounds the straw).
3. The second largest piece fits inside the bowl and on top of the straw.  It also goes into the water – this is the actual airlock.  Gas will force air out through the straw and it will bubble through the water to escape – but no air can enter because of the seal made by the water.
4. The small cap then goes on the top to seal everything in

Take a look (there`s no water in it):

Our excitement has been the discovery (that I believe Kaela was pointing out but I missed) that the large cork that is used for a carboy (large plastic container for brewing beer) fits a regular-mouthed mason jar!

This means that for a whopping $3 we can easily ferment small batches of `things` in jars.

These are the simple pleasures which excite me!

Our recent run of posts on dehydrating has led to a lot of questions (here and on the Facebook Group) surrounding buying dehydrators.

We ran a very comprehensive article on things to consider when buying a dehydrator – consider it the pre-reading for this article (we won’t be repeating  points).

Since writing that article, I’ve learned a few things and would add two considerations to that list:

1. The first one is emphasis: buy the biggest dehydrator you can afford – yet make sure that you have room to store it somewhere that is accessible and have the space to use it.  I am thrilled with our 9-tray unit and thankful that both Dana and I are ok with it taking so much room in the only closet in our house.  Not all would feel the same way.  Despite our massive unit (I can dehydrate about 24 square feet of product at a time), I do catch myself daydreaming about running 3-4 units at a time in shed dedicated to drying…
2. If you’re patient, you can find them affordably.  Today’s articles highlight some examples of ways to find them on the cheap.

I am continued to be surprised by how much we use the unit and how much it has changed our kitchen.  Drying is consuming more and more shelf space on The Great Wall of Preserves (so much that we are thinking or relegating cookbooks to another room).  The food is fantastic, easy to make and so much fun to cook with.  I often think of dehydrating as ‘making ingredients.’

Here’s some ideas on how to buy a dehydrator cheaper than retail:

• The time of year is critical.  Spring is the absolute best time to find them – spring cleaning and moving are abundant and there’s more dehydrators on the market than any other time of year.
• Garage sales – especially in cottage or fruit producing areas.
• Goodwill/ Value Village.  Keep your eyes out – there are multiple stories in our comments here and on FaceBook of people buying units for $5 or less.
• eBay (be cautious of shipping – large units are…large).
• Craigslist.  I learned a trick recently which was to check rural areas outside of my city for equipment like this.  When looking for fruit presses in Toronto I found almost nothing – when I searched Niagara, it was amazing how much abundance was so close to home.

It’s my experience that most retail stores don’t run sales on the large commercial units but you may occasionally run into sales on the smaller units at large retail shops.  The biggest key to saving is getting out and looking!

Any other tips out there?

Dana sent me an email that contained a link and a cryptic one-line description:

Large ceramic pot with lid – the kind used to preserve meat for winter.  $20.

Sounded like a fermenting (crock) pot to me.  And it was less than a kilometer from home.  I confirmed there were no chips, and the pot was in tact.  It was being sold as an antique.  A pot like this, in our neighborhood, would easily grab $80 and possibly much more.

The description mentioned nothing about pickling, fermenting or that it was a ‘crock’ pot.  Just that you could preserve meat in it.  I figured that’s why it was still available – I don’t even know how she stumbled upon it.  And, while I know of communities who salt can meat, I know of no one who has ever tried to preserve it using a fermenting pot.  I rationalized that the owner didn’t know what it was.

On picking the pot up, I asked about the claims of preserving meat with an open mind.  I was certain I was going to get a generic answer that may or may not have been accurate – instead I was treated to a delightful account of Canadian Farm life from 60 years ago.  This exact pot was indeed used to preserve meat.

The owner recalled fall hunts where his family harvested deer and moose (I got the impression that it was mostly deer).  Fat was trimmed from the animal and layers of salt and meat were packed into the crock and the salted meat would last through the winter in the cold cellar.  Any leftover meat would be kept cold in the cellar via large blocks of ice which were covered in sawdust and would stay in tact all winter long.

It was fascinating insight.  Even as a hunter and a preserver I found myself in awe – I’d never heard stories of this before.

It was a great encounter – one that was sweetened when I shared my plans for the crock (to actually use it).  My host was surprised that anyone was preserving at all and encouraged by it.  He simply didn’t want to throw out his pot and was hoping someone would use it as an antique.  He was excited to hear that it would be put to use.

The Canadian Government still states that the only ways to safely preserve meat at home are freezing and curing (even jerky is recommended to be stored in freezer).  The US Government does advocate pressure canning.  It’s amazing to think how much we’ve forgotten – it makes one wonder if, at times, we’re overly cautious in the modern kitchen.

For now, it was fascinating to have a peak into our past – and to be able to use a piece of history in our somewhat modern kitchen.

I am so thrilled to share what arrived when I was away: our brand new 15 Liter Crock Pot for fermenting and pickling.  I do feel like a bit of a geek on just how excited I am about this but I`m comfortable enough in my obsession (I mean self-confidence ) that I am just letting myself get amped about it.

There are a few features about these amazing crock pots from Germany that make them so special.  Beyond the quality of the pot (it`s fired in a kiln at 1200 degrees) it comes with weights designed to fun in the pot.  If you fill the pot to it`s capacity (you don`t have to), these stones lock in place because of the shape of the rim of the jar.  The hole formed in the center of the two discs allow you to easily check the height of the brine and ensure your product is well covered and prevents mould.

The other feature is the shape of the rim and the lid – this allows gasses during fermentation to escape while creating an airlock that keeps air out.

You;ll definitely be seeing a lot more about our new tool (ok, I`ll admit I think of it as a toy) and fermentation in general in coming months!

If you have a crock that you want to share your knowledge with – or questions about fermenting that we could help answer, let us know and we`ll include as we start a whole bunch of new and exciting projects!

Maybe you shouldn’t.

Then again, maybe you should.

Yes, I am  a Gemini – a very tired, punchy one at that.  I’ll try to keep this post intelligible and somewhat comprehensible.

We’ve been having a lot more conversations on Twitter and through our Facebook group lately.  Part of that is due to a 2-week business trip and extended time in hotels and part is the growing community that is coming here is becoming far more vocal (perhaps we’re being more inviting or perhaps the crowd simply is deciding to have its turn).  Nothing could make me happier – the most confounding part of this project (for us) has been figuring how to turn this space into a multi-way conversation that we can all join in together.  If your on Twitter or Facebook, we’d love to have you come along and join in the conversation (or use the comments below).

Travelling makes daily writing difficult (I often to try to get a few posts ahead of the game) – coming up with ideas seem even more difficult.  I turned to Twitter and was gifted a bounty of ideas in reply to my plea – the idea for this post came from Aagaard Farms (farm, Community Shared Agriculture Program and Market) from Brandon Manitoba (a city I’ve been through 5 or 6 times).

The question(s) revolved around pressure canning – Is it worth buying one? Which one?  How will it change my canning life?

I’m going to combine #1 and #3 and cheat on #2.

Is it worth buying a pressure canner?

I say yes, yes a thousand times yes.  But it’s not for everyone.  From my perspective:

The Good:

• I love to put things in cans.  I love the pop of the lid, the process and how they look on the shelf (I am that vain about my vegetables).
• I like the ease of giving them as a gift.  No one expects canned peas or beans as a gift.  It’s also a nice reminder of how much we’ve forgotten about storing and eating food.
• I believe that some ingredients benefit from this treatment over all others.  Peas change texture but their taste is absolutely stunning in February (and better, in my opinion, than freezing).
• We have almost no freezer space.  We freeze pesto, pepper  purees and more but our fridge-top ice chest will only take so much.  We keep some more goods frozen in my parents deep freeze but it’s almost 30 kilometers away.
• I don’t have to eat local food *only* as a pickle or sugar-added product.  Low acid foods that aren’t pickled have to be done this way.  This includes meats or stocks.
• The leftover water in the jar is a great start for a stock.  It can also freeze so you can mix it with others later.
• It is the closest ‘real’ taste of the produce when compared to pickles and jams.  Both are yummy and our water-bath canning tastes yummy – but pickled asparagus is a faint reminder of the real deal.  Pressure canned is much closer.  (Thanks to Sasha on the Facebook group for the reminder!)

The bad:

• The texture changes – depending on what you are canning this can be good or bad.  I’m not thrilled with my beans yet.
• Pressure cooking could result in lost nutrients due to high temperatures.  We will be doing a lot of fermentation this year which will provide super nutritious meals and yummy food too – just have to be careful I don’t turn in to a pickle.  So this may be a necessary tradeoff – use the broth to cook pasta or rice (especially if stir frying that rice with the veg from the jar).
• Many products (i.e. vegetables) for this purpose are ready in the heat of summer.  Freezing avoids using hot water and may be prefered – pressure canning uses less water, takes shorter to come to a boil and can create less heat than water-bath canning. (So this is a good compared to water-bath canning – thanks to Janice for this reminder on Facebook as I was thinking it was only a disadvantage compared to freezing)
• It’s a moderate-expensive investment depending on the canner you choose and your canning budget.  Do not use Grandma’s canner from 1971.

The Interesting

• We are eating far more seasonally.  More than% of our home cooking this winter has all been using cellared vegetables from our network of farmers and Community Shared  Agriculture Program.  For those who continue to argue that local food is expensive, we spend less than $100 every two weeks (including the cost of preserves from summer that we eat) for 14-22 meals for one (this is lunches and dinners).  For those who say there’s not enough time – I am very empathetic but also am out of the house 12+ hours a day for work and Dana is just as busy (sorry, rant).
• Sometimes a jar freaks me out.  There’s no good reason for this – a jar of jam can be just as dangerous but thinking that there’s beef stock in that jar, I can’t believe it keeps on the shelf (which is ridiculous because commercial stock does the same).
• We jar a large amount of food a year for personal use.  Almost 700 cans.  About 150-250 will be pressure canned.  It becomes a bigger percentage of my canning each year as I begin to move away from mass canning with sugar (we dehydrate a lot of seasonal fruit).

Conclusion

I am sure there are other reasons (add them to any of our community areas mentioned above) – what do you think?

Which one?

At the risk of sounding cheeky and the need of being practical, check an article we wrote last year (improving the accessibility of the archive is a prime goal for me).  It has some similar themes to what you see above but direct advice on things to think about when buying one for yourself.  I hope this isn’t too bad a cheat.

If the idea of dehydrating was interesting, check out our advice for buying a dehydrator.

So, is it worth it?

Let us know why you do it, why you don’t, won’t or will..

We were trading messages with friends on twitter last night when we got a simple request from Dallas (check her site out) who asked us for some ideas on where to start with a new dehydrator.  I love questions like this – makes coming up with topics easier. 

You can get very complex with a dehydrator.  Candied fruits, jerky, leathers and sheets of vegetables (like Kale) are all examples of the more complex options.  While those things are all good, I find I love the simple things just as easy.  Here’s a few ideas/themes on what I’d start with this time of year:

• Baseline. Dehydrate apple slices.  Compare these to the commercial variety you’ve had and you’ll instantly see why you bought your dehydrator.  A lot of commercially dried apples are done with chemicals and the flavor difference is awesome.
• Local. This time of year I would take whatever I can get – kale, leeks, onions, apples, and more.
• Savory. Onion slices and awesome – but they can stink up your house and leave a lingering flavor on your person for days if you are unlucky or do these in a central area of your home.  I say this from personal experience.
• Powder. Beet powder.  Dehydrate thin slices of beets and grind into a powder (5 pounds of beets make less than a cup of powder).  The tiniest bit to top a squash soup, salad or garnish is pretty awesome.
  
• Unusual but useful. Celeriac – turn it into powder later for an awesome addition to every soup, stock, roast, dry rub, and more.
  
• Yummy. Pineapple slices are outstanding.  This is not the same as the candied stuff you buy in bulk – it’s far better.  I`m also told mango is stunning and that`s a project for the near future.
• For the puppy. Sweet potato slices for treats.

Any other time of year I would be heavily swayed by the seasons.  Make sure you don`t miss thin slices of strawberry in the early summer (we`re still eating last years and have the full taste of fresh strawberry in the winter).

Choosing the right jar size for berries is a pivotal decision – don`t leave this to chance or accident.

I used to use 500 ml (1 pint) jars for everything other than tomato sauce and pickles.  I made some great jam in these jars and ran into some problems quickly:

• When I wanted several flavors of jam open at the same time, my fridge would overflow.
• WHen it came time to give jam away as gifts (Christmas, housewarming, etc), I would give one or two bottles.  This is a huge amount of jam and a little amount of variety.
• When we would go to someones house for a party and bring a cheese tray (cheese is another passion) we would pair it with different jams.  If we had 4 pieces of cheese this meant 4 bottles of jam and we would rarely be able to bring them back due to popular demand for the leftovers.  I`m not stingy but going through 4 pints of jam in an evening can put a dent in your pantry in a hurry.  When we made cheese boards at home, our fridge would fill with 6-8 different jars.
• Some of my jam is a bit more of an acquired taste.  Gooseberry jam is downright tart; large bottles can take forever to consume.
• I occasionally cook with jam.  If I wanted to use a flavor that wasn`t opened, it was a significant decision in terms of storage space in the fridge.

Things got so bad that 1 of my 3 shelves was filled with jars.

We now make a lot of jam in 125 ml (half-cup) and 250 ml (1 cup or half-pint) jars.  The smaller version is typically 1-2 servings for two people nd will last most of a party if you have many jars open.  It`s not beyond us to have 10-15 different jars open at a party for people to try and match with different foods.  We go through the same amount of jam but offer more variety.

The 1-cup jars stack nice in the fridge (the smaller ones stack but not as high) and are used for jams we go through in a hurry or take camping and that type of thing.

Keep in mind that larger jars need to be in a water bath for longer than smaller jars.  I will jar a single batch of jam in different sized bottles taking care to put the large cans in the canner first so that I can remove the smaller ones before the larger ones and time things differently.  I really get excited about having differently sized jars of the same preserve.  I know that may sound odd but it`s something I adore.

Would love any other tips or your approaches to bottle sizes in the comments and I really hope that if you are on auto-pilot for bottle sizes that you consider mixing it up a bit – it`s a lot of fun.

We’ve had a series of questions about pressure canning lately and thought we’d share a few experiences on choosing a pressure canner.  These are based on our experience and using ours for preserving for about 2 years.

• DO not buy an old one for a “deal.”  The safety has improved drastically – even in the last 10 years.  Save your pennies and invest in something new (we spent around $100 Canadian for ours).  The ‘extra’ money compared to used will pay off through reassurance of your personal safety and repairs to your ceiling.
• DO not listen to the horror stories of a canner exploding 50 years ago to decide not to buy one.  Ours has 3 different release valves where pressure will release from if it gets too high (preventing a blow out where the weighted or dial gauge ‘exploded’ off the lid).
• DO read the manual.
• DO know how much it will cost you (and how) to replace the seals.  This is the likely point of fail and if they’re unavailable you will have obtained a pot (just no pressure)
• DO buy one for canning.  It will save you money buying separate racks and components for it.
• DO buy as large as you can – but keep in mind that the larger the surface area of the bottom of the pot, the longer it will take to heat.
• DO practice before doing your first canning.
• Know that you can stack 2 levels high – if you are always using small jars you may not want a very large canner.  If you’re doing pickles in 1-liter (2-pint) jars, you may want something tall.  You are generally sealing with steam so don’t be afraid of size.  We also use our pressure canner to sterilize jars as it’s our largest pot.
• DO research the differences between weighted and gauged canners.  Many feel that the gauge is more accurate but I like that I can hear the weighted gauge to know it’s as hot as I want it to be.
• DO clean it well.  A clogged canner is a dangerous canner (the pressure will continue to build).
• Read some recipes to know what you are getting in to (its often less work than hot water bathing).  Check the National Center for Home Food Preservation here or see our recent experience with asparagus (it explains the fundamentals of how pressure canning works).
• Start small – it’s not difficult but it’s not the same as jam
• Watch out for head space – you will generally need a lot more (the temperature is much hotter) and it’s easy to forget to check (pickled asparagus can often handle 1/4-1/2 an inch of head space while pressure-canned asparagus in the same 1-pint jar would need a full inch or more.
• DO ask questions and we’d be pleased to try to help – also share your experiences if you can provide further insight!

Smiles; happy Monday!

Dana went out for a few errands – newspaper, milk and that type of thing.  It was all a short walk from home.

She came back about 15 minutes later and proudly proclaimed `I got you a gift!`  It was too cold for ice cream today so I wasn`t sure what was left (the 24-karat tennis bracelet I`ve been dreaming about is at least a 20 minute walk away…laugh).

She proudly held a piece of red metal above her head – after briefly fearing for her fingers, I got most excited:

An interesting  new store has opened in our neighborhood (where you can find the odd treasure – the owner claims to be a “Captain” with “the best booty around”) that’s basically a mix between trashy flea market and pretentious upscale furniture gallery.  Leave it to Dana to find (and recognize) a beer capping machine.  It really is a lot of fun.

I love to think about it’s history.  Who used it?  What did they make?  Who did they share it with?

At any rate, for $15 we now have the first piece of our mini-micro-brewery!

It’s a very exciting day for me so you’ll have to pardon the pun in the title of the post.

Let’s start with a simple question – which way should you hold a set of jar lifters?

Today is another common sense tip that took me too long to learn – it seems so obvious in retrospect.  Photo 2 is the correct way (the black cars are handles).

Many people hold them the “wrong” way.  I know this because

a)     Google showed me so
b)    I was one of them for more than 10 years.

Directions are never provided with these tongs – I suppose the inventors figure it’s obvious.  I’m not entirely certain of the logic I had in thinking that black handle was the lifter but I think it was along the lines that it’s cylindrical profile would more easily grab any sized rim and that the exposed metal close to the back bars could easily burn me if it got too hot.  I lifted hundreds of jars out of boiling water using the black cylinders to lift.  Jars would be difficult to control but a little bit of practice teaches you all you need to know to safely and efficiently pick them out of the water in this manner.

It was in the middle of last summer that I accidentally saw a photo of someone using back part as handles.  I laughed at first, thinking they clearly had their tongs upside down.  I even grabbed my lifters and an empty jar to see how much more difficult it must be to use it that way.

I was shocked.

Try it both ways to prove it to yourself.  The molded bars opposite the straight cylinders (also known as handles..heh..) are curved to fit standard and wide-mouthed jars.  Jars that fall on their side can be picked up as easily as those which are vertical and they fit in tight spaces between jars that much easier.  It is next to impossible to drop a jar that is picked up with the correct end of the tongs.

I do wish that someone made these things 3-4 inches longer.  Many canners boil/steam 1-1.5 L bottles in 2 layers – since the lifters are almost the same height as a large bottle, this makes digging the lower level of jars out of boiling water a very difficult task.  By the time August rolls around my hands are usually so toughened that a quick scald is barely noticeable.