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Oh Man Oh – Romano!

There were no plans to preserve yesterday – but sometimes I see something that melts a little piece of my heart and calls me to the jarring process (Im really not all that dramatic – but its the closest I can come to describing what happens).

I ran into a bin full of Ontario Romano Beans.  They looked super cool.  I bought a pile of them and took them home.

The cleaning process was relatively straightforward – split them with fingers and dump the contents in a strainer:

This is the first time I have ever bought fresh Romano beans and adored the colors.  I found it intriguing that the individual beans vary so largely from one to another.  Most reminded me of the speckled bowling balls I grew up with in the 1970s.

I was somewhat disappointed that they lost all of their color when cooked (although that was very logical based on the fact that none of the canned romano beans I’ve ever eaten looked like a bowling ball) but excited with the results:

The jars  (about a cup) cost about $1 each – jarring them with a pressure cooker (these would not be safe to do without one) costs a lot of energy compared to drying.  The local element certainly saves on transport compared to many commercial products.  The winter will be the ultimate judge!

Instructions

  1. Shell and clean beans.
  2. Pack beans (raw) in clean, sterile jars (I generally recommend pint jars), leaving 1 inch of headspace.
  3. Add 1 teaspoon of salt (optional)
  4. Place lid and pressure cook at 10 pounds of pressure for 40 minutes (start timing after the cooker reaches full pressure per instructions of your unit).
  5. Remove from heat and allow to cool slowly without removing the lid (this will help prevent siphoning) for at least 30 minutes.

Canned Peas – winter is gonna taste great!!!

I have been going to Forsythe Family Farms for a very long time.  We will feature them in the future but if you find yourself in the Markham or Unionville area in the meantime, make sure to get up and visit this destination.  They have activities for the kids and an abundant farm store which sells local products (often, but not always, from their own farm).  They carry fantastic baked goods, honey, veggies, preserves, meat, poultry, cheese and much more.

As we were spending the weekend in Markham, I picked up a day-old raspberry pie and noticed that the farm peas were in.  They were available in the pod or, for cheaters, in pre-shucked bags.  I bought a shucked bag as a gift for our hosts (my lovely parents) and carried on with my Friday-evening trek to suburbia.

On our way home today (Sunday), we headed back to the Forsythe Farm.  4-cheater bags were still available – I would guess that they were about a pound each for $5.  $20 later and we were off with our farm fresh shortcuts and headed back to the city.

I have never preserved peas before.  I knew we would have a trusted recipe and, once again, the Joy of Cooking paid off.  It seems there is little to it (though use a tested recipe) – boiling salt water on top of fresh peas is then brought back to a boil for two minutes before added to hot jars and the sealing process is followed.  You definitely need a pressure cooked for veggies like this – there is little-to-zero acid in the jars and 240-degree heat is needed to safely preserve these for many months to come.  The recipe I followed recommended 40 minutes at pressure.

We made 11 1-cup jars (1.75 liters) – raw food cost is just under $2 a jar.  They are not as cheap as growing your own (we will one day have our own little garden) and they are more expensive than buying the industrial product.  Our ingredient list (peas, water, salt) is something I am proud of and know we will taste the difference when the winter comes.

This was preserve batch #7 of the year – I think we have just about recovered from our slow start to the season.