Make Something. Share It.
We return to our series of preserving autumn before moving onto random posts for the next few weeks before reporting on my journey of the moose harvest (a series of post the inevitably kills about 50% of the traffic to our site). It’s going to be a busy month – I’m glad to have some flexibility to switch between topics for the next little while – there will be some on preserving, some book reviews, some food and equipment reviews. A little bit of everything. [Read more...]
Many of us start preserving with commercial pectin, following recipes that we think are easy and, for the most part, are. I remember thinking that fermentation, pressure cooking and dehydrating were far too complex and I would eventually learn how to do them.
The truth is the `more advanced` preserving techniques are often the easiest.
Here`s the complete list of ingredients to make sauerkraut:
For every 5 pounds of cabbage, you use as little as 3 tablespoons of salt. A large head of cabbage is about 5 pounds and the freshest cabbage you can find, the better.
There are many recipes on the web – unfortunately not a lot of variance between them and I`ve found many that seem to have copied and pasted the recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Rather than just copying and pasting we`ll send you there for the fine details if you are interested once you read a high-level walk-through below.
The process is simple:
You can add other vegetables – hot peppers slices, shredded carrots, red cabbage and more. You can keep the kraut in it`s crock, fridge, freeze or waterbath – the former techniques will tend to have a better texture while the later ones will last longer.
There`s something magic about seeing fermentation in action – it`s like a delicious, controlled rot that seems so counter-intuitive to consume that it`s delightful.
It`s ironic that the `advanced techniques` I avoided for so long are actually so much easier than many that I started with.
For the full details on how to do this, check the link above – would love to hear any of your experiences.
This is part of our series of posts linked to our Preserving Autumn article in Edible Toronto. The posts will update daily from September 18th and you’ll be able to see all of the posts in the series by clicking here.
Pears are, to me, the anti-asparagus. One is short, plump, has a heavy skin and soften when it ages. The other is lean, long and gets `woody`as it matures.
But that`s not what makes them each others antithesis to me.
One ushers in my second-favourite season of year (Spring) and the other brings my favourite (fall). I`ll admit Asparagus is really mid-late spring and pears are late (sometimes mid) summer and early fall but it`s what it represents as much as when it actually happens. Remember, this is about my perception and in my own head these things are pretty much always right 
.
We preserved several different types of pears last year. I was surprised to find out that they didn`t dehydrate nearly as well as apples. There was so much water in slices of pear that the dehydrated product was a little thicker than the thickness of a shadow and, therefore, mostly unusable. Imagine trying to peel a piece of tissue paper that had been soaked and then dried on top of a piece of sandpaper and you`ll know the obstacle. I`m open to tips if anyone else has had some success (I imagine a leather or roll-up would work if the pulp had been cooked long enough and applied thick enough (more on leathers when we cover apples).
The easiest form of preserving is, in a way, cheating. Infusing vodka with pears requires as much work as consuming the pear in the first place so it`s very easy. The cheating part is that you are preserving the taste of the pear and small pieces of it`s tissue but the actual fruit is discarded in days.
Infusion takes as little as 3-4 days (any more and you risk ending up with a bitter product). It really is as simple as cleaning, cutting and covering before waiting a few days. We have more details on infusing vodka with pears as well as what to do if infused vodka becomes bitter. I am pleased to report the final results remain amazing to this day.
Preserving slices of whole pear is slightly more work – you have to peel them after all (the peels will become tough otherwise). We preserved them in a simple syrup last year and added a touch of Kahlua. It was a heavenly combination – here`s a pic of our results:
For the simple details of pears in Kahlua (this involves pear, Kahlua, sugar, water and a bit of lemon juice) click on how to preserve pears.
As always, feel free to ask any questions, share your own links, ideas or recipes in the comments! We love to hear from you.
This is part of our series of posts linked to our Preserving Autumn article in Edible Toronto. The posts will update daily from September 18th and you’ll be able to see all of the posts in the series by clicking here.
Beets are a lot of fun. I`ve had a funny relationship with them since childhood. I forget to put them on my plate (or outright avoid them) thinking that I`m not a giant fan of them. When I have a weak moment and plate some up I rediscover that I love them. This can happen several times per week. [Read more...]
For those who don’t know – Dana represents all things graphic here and I do a lot of the writing and cooking. Neither of us are particularly thrilled about our writing styles (I am a much more articulate speaker) but that’s been half the fun of writing for the last few years.
But the fact that Dana is the designer is important to this post. I draft the content of our preserving posters, she presents me with drafts. We both provide feedback to the other but each has their area of expertise and we are confident the other will do an awesome job.
This is a very, very long tale to explain that I don’t have a lot of input into the graphical elements of our posters. Which is why I laughed when I saw the graphic above. It’s from one of the most humiliating personal stories I have (which makes it fun to share). We’ve shared it on Facebook in the past but not here; I’m never shy about embarassing myself (I was, after all, a very unco-ordinated competitive jazz dancer for several years as a preteen).
Today’s post explains why the graphic above was chosen; tomorrow we’ll share some posts about preserving beets for the winter. This is more of a silly story that is connected to the topic at hand – and the poster above so I thought I’d share.
I have a fairly corporate job; one with a fancy title and grown-up responsibilities. I don’t shirk from these things – it’s a lot of fun and I enjoy it a lot. I just have a tough time remembering that I’m not 22 anymore (37 and a bit for those keeping score).
We have a wide variety of people at work (there are 800 people).
A young man approached me – he was in his first few weeks of work. He asked me for some personal guidance – I could tell his question was tough to ask for him. I provided some guidance and promised I’d follow-up with him in a few days. It looked like he thought I was blowing him off.
I returned to his desk a few days later and shared what I had learned about his question. He was elated – I could tell I made a difference in his day. It felt good to see such earnest appreciation and I felt like I had made a difference. He mentioned that he was impressed that someone with my Seniority would actually follow through on something ‘so small.’ I’ve never been much for hierarchy and although I understood he was speaking of my role, I chose to interpret that it was also intended at my age. I felt really good at the favour, but I also felt a little old. I had to prove to myself that I still had ‘it’ (to this day I have no idea what ‘it’ is or was).
I tried to make small talk. “You’re most welcome and you deserve answers to all of your questions.”
“Well I really appreciate it, it will help me this weekend.”
“Great. What are you up to?”
He got excited and instantly passionate. “I’m going to that guys [he points, guy #2 nods with excitement] and we’re gonna make some beats.”
Now I know the kids today have this hip slang that makes me so legit I quit long ago. I know that beats is cool for music. (This is both true and tongue-in-cheek).
It’s just that I chose to hear “beets” and I got real excited. I remember thinking how cool it was that kids today are into pickling. It was surprising but it did mean that I was cool like they were. It meant I would be accepted. It meant I wasn’t as old as I thought…
“Pickled or dehydrated?” I began to panic as the words came out of my mouth. I clawed desperately at the air and tried to grab them in the time after they left my mouth and before they hit his ears.
I knew I’d made a mistake and I knew what was coming next. It was the look. The look you, as a young dude, give to the old guy who thinks he’s your age. It’s a look that says he’s both delusional and so wrong that the goggles of youth is the only vision strong enough to see just how wrong he is.
So I did the only thing I could think of. I panicked and dug the hole deeper.
“I mean…I mean…you’re spinning records..”
They actually giggled a little. I could hear a small twinge of compassion and they weren’t being mean. It was, after all, pretty funny.
Funny like those video of penguins trying to get out of the freezing water only to slide back in the ocean because they couldn’t jump high enough or hold onto the ice. It’s funny but it’s a little sad all at the same time.
I ducked away from the conversation and wished my DJ friends some luck. I was, after all, 35 and now understood why I had entered a different demographic on those annoying surveys from magazines and trade shows.
I went to find my team and told them the story. I was both humbled, laughing and a little bit proud of how it didn’t horrify me not to be one of the cool kids (not that I ever was – but a benefit of ‘experience’ is that these things end up being of less and less concern each year).
My team was compassionate. Until they came up with my new fancy title (one that I still prefer to anything more formal and have used for fun since).
I am indeed, “MC Pickled Beets.”
When Dana showed me the first draft of the poster, I knew it was time to share this story. I hope it’s as fun as our normal posts and that we’ll avoid a full blown beet riot as long as we post tomorrow.
This is part of our series of posts linked to our Preserving Autumn article in Edible Toronto. The posts will update daily from September 18th and you’ll be able to see all of the posts in the series by clicking here.
When I was younger I had several friends who bought Jeeps. There were TJs, YJs, CJs and more. They all looked neat to me but they were far more than that to them.
Jeep owners were like a different flock unto themselves. They waved at each other on dirt roads, talked to each other at gas stations and would gather in groups to go for rides – on or off-road. It was a fun time of my life and neat to get a glimpse into a subculture that`s so hidden that it hides in front of your eyes, in plain sight. [Read more...]
I’ll gladly admit that when I first made onion flakes it was mostly because I wanted to play with our new dehydrator and I didn’t really think there was much of a reason to dry them out other than having fun. It seems odd to preserve something that cellars so well to begin with.
When I tasted the results, I realized I was wrong. Dehydrated onion flakes contain a small portion of the bite that their original flesh contained while keeping the essence of their sweetness. I can eat these like candy.
Other than eating them whole, dehydrated onions are very useful for bread, soups, salads, pizzas and sandwiches. If you’re planning to eat them without rehydrating them you may want to consider cubing your onions as the long pieces can be a little stringy/ chewy. It’s also a heck of a base for a dry rub for ribs, roasts or a savory to add to your stuffing in a turkey.
It’s also an added bonus that we NEVER run out of onions. The few occasions that I have found myself reaching into a bare cupboard have left me cackling like a mad scientist when I realize I have a secret jar of onions that will last FOREVER (well, a really, really long time).
As with all of our dehydration, we’ve learned that using a mandolin to cut your product will save you hours in the end. When all of the onion is the exact same width, the drying process is uniform and you don’t have to check your entire inventory piece by piece and selectively pull items out of the gentle heat. The mandolin also speeds things up if efficiency is one of your goals.
Sliced onions are laid flat on a preserving tray (you could technically use a cookie sheet) and placed under a low and slow heat – we use 125 degrees Fahrenheit (52 Celsius).
Be prepared that a lot of onion does not go a long way. Our last batch was 7-8 pounds and the finished product filled a 1-liter (4 cup) Mason jar.
This is part of our series of posts linked to our Preserving Autumn article in Edible Toronto. The posts will update daily from September 18th and you’ll be able to see all of the posts in the series by clicking here.
I`m pleased to announce that our third published article in Edible Toronto is starting to hit the shelves in our fair city. THis is the third collaborative effort that Dana and I are lauching into the community and we`re super excited to share it with you:
