How to Make Medicinal Vinegars & Oxymels Medicinal vinegars (Vinegar Extracts) have been around since ancient times, and were an excellent way to preserve and dispense herbs before distilled spirits were known about. While the advantages of using vodka or brandy to make your herbal tinctures are many – including greater potency and longer shelf life, there are those who wish to avoid alcohol for personal reasons or due to the higher cost, making vinegar extracts ideal for them to create. Vinegar extracts (also known as “aceta”) are weaker than alcohol based tinctures, so the required dose is higher. And, while vinegar won’t draw out as many of the beneficial components of an herb that alcohol will, it does excel at drawing minerals and vitamins from a plant. Add those extra nutrients to the already established benefits of apple cider vinegar and you have a very acceptable option for your herbal remedies toolbox. Making a Vinegar Extract: According to my well loved book, Making Plant Medicine Dosing a Vinegar Extract:
National Center for Home Food Preservation About Us The National Center for Home Food Preservation is your source for current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation. The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to address food safety concerns for those who practice and teach home food preservation and processing methods. more >>> Announcing a free, self-paced, online course for those wanting to learn more about home canning and preservation. Introduction to Food Preservation General Canning Canning Acid Foods Canning Low-Acid Foods This course is offered in the University of Georgia eLC system. Having trouble watching this video? Seasonal Hot Topics Springtime means many plants are starting to wake up, spread their leaves, open their flowers, and even produce their fruits. Home · Publications · Search · Seasonal Tips · Info Request · Multimedia · FAQs · Contact · Links
4 Ways to Cure Olives User Reviewed Four Methods:Curing Olives in WaterCuring Olives in BrineDry Curing OlivesLye Curing OlivesCommunity Q&A Curing olives is an ancient process that turns the naturally bitter fruit into a deliciously salty, tart snack. Choose a curing method that works best for the type of olive you have. Prep time (in water): 7-10 days Steps Curing Olives in Water <img alt="Image titled Cure Olives Step 1" src=" width="728" height="546" class="whcdn" onload="WH.performance.clearMarks('image1_rendered'); WH.performance.mark('image1_rendered');">1Obtain fresh green olives. <img alt="Image titled Cure Olives Step 9" src=" width="728" height="546" class="whcdn">9Cover the olives with the brine. Curing Olives in Brine Dry Curing Olives Community Q&A
How Do I? Can Food may be canned in glass jars or metal containers. Metal containers can be used only once. They require special sealing equipment and are much more costly than jars. Regular and wide-mouth Mason-type, threaded, home-canning jars with self-sealing lids are the best choice. Most commercial pint- and quart-size mayonnaise or salad dressing jars may be used with new two-piece lids for canning acid foods. Jar Cleaning Before every use, wash empty jars in hot water with detergent and rinse well by hand, or wash in a dishwasher. Sterilization of Empty Jars All jams, jellies, and pickled products processed less than 10 minutes should be filled into sterile empty jars. Empty jars used for vegetables, meats, and fruits to be processed in a pressure canner need not be presterilized. Lid Selection, Preparation, and Use The common self-sealing lid consists of a flat metal lid held in place by a metal screw band during processing. Buy only the quantity of lids you will use in a year. top ^ How do I?
DIY Homemade “Green Powder” Oh, you guys. You know that feeling when you stumble upon something so rad, so essentially, perfectly relevant, so flippin RAD-TASTIC that you actually go past the point of peeing-in-your-pants-excited and just sort of sit back and sigh and shake your head? Yeah. When most people think about food preservation, they’re focused on handling the bounty of produce that warm-weather brings. But what about people like me? Ginormous organic chard for $1/bunch (!!!). This concept is so simple that I simply can’t believe it hasn’t occurred to me sooner. It goes like this: Procure a large quantity of fresh, local, organic greens (like spinach, collards, chard, dandelion, etc). Wash and de-rib the leaves. Collards, the morning after. Next, you’ll need to grind your greens into powder. You could also use a spice grinder, a mortar and pestle, or a food processor. Grind grind grind in batches, until voila! Enjoy!
Canning Cherry Pie Filling, Making Sweet Cherry Pie is a snap if you can this ahead of time. Making Sweet Cherry Pie Filling is a snap if you can this ahead of time. Cherries are an acid food and can be safely water bath canned. These directions are for either sweet cherries like bing cherries (this is what you see in the pictures) OR sour cherries that you traditionally use for pies. If you like this, I've also adapted it for a Cherry Rhubarb Pie Filling Prepare Gather your canning supplies water bath cannercanning jarscanning seals and ringsjar liftercanning funnellarge pot or blancherbowlslarge spoonssharp knifetowels and dish clothscherry pitter - optionalstock pot to cook cherriesladle Ingredients Cherries - 6 quarts usually sour is preferred for pie filling, but I also use sweet cherries.7 cups sugar1-3/4 cups cornstarch, flour or Clear Jel9-1/3 cups water1/2 cup lemon juice1 tsp Cinnamon - optional2 tsp Almond Extract - optional I have always used flour for a thickener in my pie fillings. If you use Clear Jel be sure you purchase the non-instant or regular type. Procedure Process
How to Make Verjus, or Verjuice Photo by Hank Shaw You know the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?” Well, when life gives you unripe grapes, make verjus. I have a problem. Verjus, pronounced vehr-ZHOO, is a sort of vinegar made from the juice of unripe grapes. Photo by Holly A. As you may have surmised by the name, verjus is a French creation. So how do you make verjus? Fortunately, green grapes grow near you. how to make verjus You will need lots of grapes, a food mill, a fine mesh strainer, some Mason jars and some patience. Makes about 6 cups. 7 pounds unripe grapes1/4 teaspoon citric acid1/8 teaspoon sodium metabisulfite Take most of the stems off the grapes. In batches, grind the grapes through the coarsest plate of your food mill. As you get a slurry of ground-up grapes and grape juice, pour it into a bowl as you work. Now you need to run the ground grapes through a fine mesh sieve. Finally, you will need to pour the strained juice into a Mason jar. Bottle and store in the fridge.
Canning Recipes - Ball® Canning and Preserving Recipes Makes about 4 (32 oz) quarts or 8 (16 oz) pints Not only does this mouthwatering filling make a to-die-for pie, it is also an excellent topping for coffee cake. If yhou need a housewarming gift, it makes a nice addition to a food basket. 15 cups frozen red tart cherries (about 10 lbs), thawed for 24 hours in the refrigerator 3-1/2 cups sugar 1 cup ClearJel® starch 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 cup lemon juice 4 (32 oz) quart or 8 (16 oz) pint preserving jars 1.) Quick Tip: Store remaining 2 cups cherry liquid in Ball® Plastic Freezer Jars. Half Recipe Makes about 2 (32 oz) quarts or 4 (16 oz) pints You will need: 7-1/2 cups frozen red tart cherries (about 5 lbs), thawed for 24 hours in the refrigerator 1-3/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup ClearJel® starch 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 2 Tbsp lemon juice 2 (32 oz) quart or 4 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands Directions: 1.)
Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce In honor of the Great Tomato Can Jam Round-Up of 2010, today we bring you Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce. Let me warn you from the get-go: this is not a beginning canner’s recipe. The ratio of non-acidic to acidic ingredients is critical for canning safety, as are strict adherence to the methods (slicing, dicing & measuring) and processing instructions. Also, I’ve tweaked, more than a little bit, a published recipe (Italian-Style Tomato Sauce from the Ball Complete) in order to add some summer garden-glut vegetables, including the controversial-canning-cucurbit, summer squash. Experienced canners get nervous, and rightly so, when someone starts tweaking an established recipe, especially one dealing with tomatoes, already an on-the-cusp-of-safe-acidity ingredient, and low-acid vegetables such as onions, carrots and garlic. So, if there is even a question of safety, why would I bother making this sauce? Adapted from dozens of tomato sauce recipes in various cookbooks. Summer. Like this:
Canning Queen (Young and Sweet, Only 39) I'm sorry my posts have been few and far between lately. You may choose from one of three excuses:1) School is back in full swing, and I'm crazed.2) I am sick as a dog with the allergies and hay fever (damn ragweed!).3) Every "free" moment I have is spent with another canning project--they never end at this time of year! And I'd like to share a few winners with you in the thick of this harvest season. Pictured above are three faaaabulous preserving recipes that, once again, I gleaned from the wonderful GardenWeb Harvest Forum. Pictured in the center is a refrigerator pickle (no processing required) called "Tomates-Cerises a L'Aigre-Doux." Lastly, because I was recently complaining about drowning in zucchini, a lovely gal from the Harvest Forum left a comment on my blog recommending that I try a recipe for Roasted Corn and Zucchini Salsa (pictured on the right), so I made a triple batch and got seven pints for my efforts, which I must tell you were substantial. Makes 6 pints (I got 7!)
Small Harvest Preserving - Canning Tomatoes and Zucchini Details Published on Saturday, 30 June 2012 03:31 Written by Christine I was blessed this year with an abundance of zucchini. I had already been pickling it, dehydrating it and pressure canned some too. Pressure Canned Tomatoes and Zucchini - makes 7 quarts Here is what you will need: About 12 pounds of tomatoes - I had German Stripe Tomatoes About 4 pounds of zucchini - you can always cut the recipe down and basically use 1 pound of zucchini for each 3 pounds of tomatoes You can add pearl onions if you like but I did not have any available so I didn't Canning and picking salt if desired Here's what to do: Prepare canner, jars and lids Fill a large stainless steel saucepan, with water and bring to a boil.
Recipe for canning Bloody Mary mix, fireball pickled tomatoes I was interviewing Urbana resident Jill Miller (of Hooey Batiks fame) this morning for a feature story, and she mentioned she cans Bloody Mary mix in the summer. I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down, begging her to send me the recipe for my blog, as I get really excited about the idea of canning tomatoes. She was nice enough to do so, and even included a bonus recipe for a garnish, which are pickled green cherry tomatoes. OK, for the mix, she started with this recipe but said it's too bland to stand alone. "The veggie ratio is pretty much whatever I have on hand," Miller said. She said this year, she roasted all the vegetables first, and didn't bother peeling or seeding the tomatoes because she runs it through her blender. To assemble a Bloody Mary, she mixes 4 ounces sake with 4 ounces of mix, and 10 drops of Sriracha hot chili sauce. Fireballs: spicy green pickled cherry tomatoes Enough small green cherry tomatoes to fill 4 quart jars 4 garlic cloves 4 celery stalks 4 hot red peppers
Six Ways to Preserve Zucchini - Food in Jars According to my parents, I have been a good eater from day one. My first sentence was, “more mayonnaise, please” and the first thing I learned to spell was “i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m.” Until it got too long, my mom kept a running list in my baby book of the foods I’d eaten and enjoyed. One of the things I love about zucchini (and really, any other summer squash), is its intense versatility. My favorite squash application is one I learned from my friend Lucy, many years ago. One thing I hear frequently from new picklers is how disappointed they are with the texture of their water bath processed cucumber pickles. Another way I preserve summer squash is by turning it into a relish. The last pickle pieces I wrote for Serious Eats before hanging up my In a Pickle hat was all about zucchini pickles with curry. This summer’s favorite zucchini preservation method has been chocolate zucchini bread. How do you preserve zucchini and other summer squashes? Six Ways to Preserve Zucchini Ingredients Instructions