Whew, almost back to Normal... and Peaches!

Computer is now fixed, and I downloaded software so I can read all my research notes and my recipes again. However, my CapTel (captioned telephone) still isn't working; not the fault of the telephone itself but rather the VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) box that runs it.

The VOIP box is an Ooma Telo, and their customer service is the pits. After getting no help from repeated emails and calls to them from a neighbor's phone for a week or more, I gave up. I bought the Ooma box through Amazon so I finally contacted Amazon. With no hesitation, Amazon is replacing the unit at no charge. I hope the new one works longer than the 3 weeks the first one worked.

With as much catching up I have to do, I also have a trip away next week, so I'll still be behind and scarce in posting for another week. A Virginia friend is picking me up after my doctor's appointment in Winston-Salem, NC next Monday afternoon, and we are going to upstate South Carolina around the Gaffney area for peaches. A gardening friend there is giving us a place to sleep.

If you have never tasted a freshly picked ripe South Carolina peach, you have missed a really big treat, nothing like you can taste in cold-storage peaches from the grocery stores. Georgia calls itself "The Peach State" but SC grows and sells more than twice as many peaches as Georgia. Several years ago when I still lived in Georgia, I took a bushel of huge SC peaches to a garden gathering in Tennessee, and they were gobbled up like hotcakes. I haven't had really good peaches since then.

My onerous chore for this weekend is to wash canning jars in preparation for the peaches. Peaches do not keep well, so I will have to process mine as soon as I get them home. I plan to make peach chutney (some mild, and some spicy) and perhaps make some peach curd and maybe even peach vinegar for summer fruit salads. Any remaining peaches that I don't eat fresh will be canned in very light syrup.

Garlic Harvest 2012, plus Pickled garlic buds and scapes

I apologize for such few posts recently, but I HAVE been really busy in the garden (plus I'm having some health issues on the side). This is my 2012 garlic harvest, better bulbs than I expected from just 2 short rows!

Actually, this photo is not all of them, just what I had already dragged up to the porch to dry when I took the photo. They will get hung to further dry in the tool shed in a few days. I think my harvest is more than enough to see me through the winter and still have enough cloves to replant in the fall.

The shallots and onions won't be far behind, but the leeks won't be harvested until early fall.

About a dozen or so of the garlics were hardneck, which develop a scape with a bud on top. I cut the scapes and put them in to lacto-ferment, cutting off the buds to ferment them separately since they don't keep as long.

Close-up of the seedheads...

The lacto-ferment "brine" and technique is easy. Use 1 tablespoon of non-iodized salt to each 2 cups of non-chlorinated/non-fluoridated water. Cover the foods with the brine, leaving a space at the top of the canning jar, and the lid loosely tightened to allow gas to escape. Use a weight of some sort to keep the food submerged if necessary. (I used a piece of plastic cheesecloth on the seedheads since they wanted to float. The scape pieces sank, so no weight needed.) Keep on a warm counter for several days as they ferment. (Caution: they may overflow, so I put mine on a saucer.) After about 7-10 days the fermenting (bubbling) will have ceased. Tighten the lids and store in a cool, dark place... or refrigerate.

I use Ball plastic lids to avoid the lids getting corroded.

Using Preserved Lemons

Recently I posted about Making Preserved Lemons, and since then, several folks have asked me just how to use these pretties. It's actually a very good question, since preserved lemons are not a typical part of the American Food Culture. Here's some suggestions, and at the end, a couple of recipes.

First, the taste: There is a really intense lemon taste to them, and like fresh lemons, it has a tartness but also a sweetness (and of course, a saltiness since they are preserved in salt). The small is wonderfully lemony, like lemon oil. But the taste and texture is not really like fresh lemons, and I don't have the words to adequately describe the taste. You'll just have to make some yourself and taste... Use it only lightly at first, because the taste can be powerful (and partly depends on the lemons used). You will develop a feel for how much to use, to suit your own taste.

Some prep is necessary for use. Take one out of the jar and rinse it. Pull or cut away the pulp and scrape away the white pith, which can still be bitter... although some folks use both pulp and pith, discarding any seeds. I wouldn't start with pith and pulp in my introduction to preserved lemons, however.

Uses:  

You might start with a lemon vinaigrette. Make your usual  oil and vinegar combo (including any herbs), and add some finely minced preserved lemon peel to taste. 

Add a touch of finely minced preserved lemon peel to roasted vegetables... the kind of veggies where you might brighten with a splash of fresh lemon... such as carrots or broccoli. I use a tad of the juice on just cooked (rather than roasted) vegetables like summer squash, and on seafood, especially salmon and scallops.

Add some to braised lamb shanks, and chicken picatta. Add some to soups and stews, but don't forget to reduce the amount of salt!

Add some to stir-fried or braised greens like spinach, chard and kale. Use it to add a bit of tang to pilafs, pasta, quinoa and couscous. Roasted chicken is wonderful with a wedge or two alongside.  

Slow-cooked meats like short ribs are dazzling with a sprinkling of minced preserved lemon peel.

Add a touch of preserved lemon to guacamole, aoili, and your Sunday Brunch Bloody Mary.

Here's a relish that would be wonderful with roast chicken:

Preserved Lemon Relish
Makes ¾ cup
1 shallot, minced
5 or 6 preserved lemon wedges, seeded and minced
½ cup minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
—Kosher salt, if needed
—Black pepper in a mill
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

Put the shallot, preserved lemon, parsley, oregano and thyme into a medium bowl and toss together gently. Taste and correct for salt if necessary. Add several turns of black pepper and stir in the olive oil. Add the pine nuts and toss gently. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator, covered, for 2 to 3 days.

Variation: Use just a cup parsley and replace the oregano and thyme with a cup minced fresh cilantro leaves. Use chopped toasted walnuts in place of the pine nuts. For a mildly spicy version, remove the stem and seeds of a small serrano, mince it and fold it into the relish.

"Gremolata in its most traditional form is a mix of grated lemon zest, minced garlic and minced parsley. It is served sprinkled over osso buco and similar meat stews. This version uses preserved lemon instead of fresh lemon zest, which adds several layers of flavor. It is delicious sprinkled over soups, stews, grilled poultry, fish and meats and rice dishes."

Preserved Lemon Gremolata
Makes ½ cup
Use about 2 cups, loosely packed, Italian parsley leaves and small stems
5 or 6 preserved lemon wedges, peel only, minced
4 to 5 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

Use a sharp chef's knife to mince the parsley and transfer it to a medium bowl. Add the minced lemon peel and minced garlic, toss and transfer to a small serving bowl or glass jar. Use within a day or two.

Variation: Add ½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Other Recipes:

Fresh Asparagus with Preserved Lemons

Preserved Lemon and Spring Vegetable Risotto

Lemony Orzo Pasta

Summer Pasta Salad Recipe -- Orzo with Lemon and Kale

Guacamole

Tuna Salad with Preserved Lemon

Martini

More recipes on Epicurious

Making Preserved Lemons with Kumquats

Yes, you can find posts on this all over the internet, but it's new to me. I DID try some kind of preserved lemons years ago, but they were in olive oil if I remember correctly. They spoiled, and now I never even put herbs or garlic in olive oil... too risky.

I finally found Meyer Lemons in the grocery store in the next town. The price was right (and cheaper than regular lemons!) so I bought 2 bags of juicy Meyer lemons. They also had kumquats, which grew wild in the neighborhood where I visited my grandfather, and I haven't had any in years. They went in the basket, too.

I shy away from buying foods with a lot of miles to get to me, but sometimes I just can't help myself!

I started out with the method I see a lot, which is quartering each lemon almost all the way through, and packing a tablespoon of non-iodized salt inside before putting them in the jar. Then I remembered this blog post, where he cuts the lemons all the way through, and adds a variety of spices (like star anise and black pepper) as well as salt. The neat thing he does is make use of the salty residue when all the lemons are used up, by dehydrating the salty liquid and crushing it in a mortar/pestle to use to flavor other dishes.

I mashed down the lemons a couple of times, and the next day I quartered them, added spices (cinnamon, star anise and peppercorns) and more salt. More occasional mashing, and now they are releasing more juice. Last, I added kumquats cut in half, and more salt. 

After another day or two, I put them in a smaller jar (didn't do it earlier as my masher wouldn't fit in the opening of a smaller jar), put a lid on, and I'll store them in a cool place for a month before using.

Fiona's Belgian Pears, with Options

There are blogs all over the internet highly touting Fiona's Belgian Pears, and since I had a glut of pears, I decided to make some. Surely, they couldn't be as good as the raves, but good nonetheless. And I had LOTS of pears.

Original Belgian Pears Recipe

The first batch I made with small pears a neighbor gave me, and followed the recipe exactly. I posted about them here. Then, because they really were wonderful, but a bit too sweet and short of pear taste, I made a batch with the larger, sweeter pears, using just half a cup of sugar. They were sweet enough that I probably could have left out the sugar altogether. It was a small trial batch and made just one quart, with a dish of them left over for my dessert. They did not look nearly as caramelized as the ones from the original recipe but the taste was similar, just not overly sweet.

Feeling adventuresome, I got a bottle of plum wine and made another small batch, using 6 ounces of plum wine, 2 ounces of champagne vinegar, and again, no sugar. I was hoping the pears would take on a pretty pink color from the wine, but they did not. They were sweet, and had a subtle taste that must have been from the wine.

Next up, pears using red wine to poach... and twice wine as much as in the plum wine batch. With all the batches, none have had enough liquid to cover all the pears sufficiently in the jars. I also added almost a cup of sugar, 3 ounces of champagne vinegar, and 2 small cinnamon sticks.

I started turned them half an hour into the process so they would get evenly colored and cooked. 

Somehow I didn't take a photo of the finished pears in the pan before I canned them, but here's a few on a plate. YUM!

So, here's a line-up of jars of the various Belgian Pears. Left to right: Original Recipe, Minimum sugar recipe, plum wine recipe, and finally red wine recipe.

Close-up of the pears in red wine on the right, my favorite of the bunch. YUM!

Damson Plums

Local Damson Plums from Crozet, Virginia

I am out of town, house-sitting for a week, and visited the local farmer's market Saturday. One man had Damson plums, and I bought 2 gallons. They look like wild Damson's (size and shape) but taste sweeter, like the tame ones. (I didn't think to ask him while I was there. Duh!)

I found some really interesting Damson chutney recipes online and I LOVE chutneys! I'll have to decide if I want to make Damson and Ginger, Spiced Damson, or a more traditional plum chutney with a bit of orange Juice & peel plus lemon juice & peel. I may be able to make two runs if I have enough plums after I get home and weigh out enough for a gallon of Damson Plum wine!

I will post photos and recipes when I make whatever I decide. For now, they will go in the freezer.

Homemade Pectin from Apples

Ready to cook

It's always nice to know we can make our own pectin for jams and jellies if necessary, and there are several advantages: cost, convenience and no potentially dangerous chemical preservatives. See my post here for more details on commercial pectins.

The best pectin is made from citrus peels and seeds, but many of us don't live where citrus grows. If we had to buy the citrus fruit to make pectin, it would get very expensive. However, the next best thing is apple pectin, and apples aren't expensive. You may even have an old apple or crab-apple tree nearby, providing free apples.

The most important thing about making apple pectin is to use UNRIPENED apples. (The amount of pectin goes down as fruits ripen.) If you are making something with peeled and cored ripe apples, you can save those skins and seeds for pectin; most of the pectin is the seeds and skins, but it's better if you have green (as in not ripe, not as in green in color) apples, which contain more pectin. I picked a small bucket full from an abandoned tree on the roadside to make this apple pectin.

To cook the pectin:

Wash and stem the apples. Do NOT remove the core, but do cut out any bad spots. Add to a large pot and pour on just enough water to almost cover or float the apples. I brought my crockpot into my office so I could work, and not have to watch a pot on the stove. My crockpot doesn't hold much, so I had to do mine in 3 batches; I quartered the apples so they would fit easier in the crockpot but if I had used crab-apples I probably would have just halved them. 

Cook down until the skins and solids are really mush, stirring occasionally to prevent burning or sticking. I started mine on high in the crockpot, and after maybe an hour, turned it to low for 2 or so hours more. Strain the pulp through some cheesecloth or butter muslin. Let it drip, overnight if necessary; don't force it, or you will have cloudy pectin which will make your jelly cloudy.

How much pectin to use in a jelly or jam recipe depends on the strength of the pectin you just made. Once the pectin is strained and cooled, you can easily test the strength. Pour some rubbing alcohol in a small container, and drop in a teaspoon of the cooled liquid pectin. If it coagulates into a jelly-like mass that can be pulled out intact with a fork, it is strong enough to jell perfectly. If none can be picked up with a fork, you need to cook it down more. If it just some of it can be picked up by the fork, it will still jell, but loosely. Pectin strength depends on how juicy your apples were, how ripe, and how much water you added.

The test mix of rubbing alcohol and pectin is POISONOUS... do not add it back to the pot, or leave it where a child might drink it!!

After all mine was strained and tested (poor jell), I put it back in the crockpot and cooked it down by maybe 1/4, and tested again. (My photo of the jelled blob was too out-of-focus to use. I have mentioned before I'm not a photographer!)

Pour the hot liquid pectin in sterile canning jars, add lids and rings, and place in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from water bath and allow to cool. (You could also put it in small plastic containers and freeze.)  Remove rings and wash the jars in warm soapy water. I never store home canned foods with the rings on them. It's easier to see a failed seal if the rings have been removed before storing. The canned pectin will keep for several months on a cool, dark shelf in the pantry.

It's really rosy colored, but not in the photo. Sorry.

To use the apple pectin:

When using homemade pectin, you can't just follow the proportions of fruit and sugar found on the chart in a Sure-Jell package; you have to understand something about what makes pectin jell. Basically, there are two factors: the amount of sugar, and the amount of pectin. Too little of either one, and you end up with syrup. It is possible to compensate for less sugar with more pectin, or the other way around... but you can't stray from the recommended ratios very much.

It is much easier to calculate how much homemade pectin to use if you will test the fruit or juice you have cooked for jam or jelly. (See here for a list of high, medium and low pectin fruits which will give you an idea of pectin that may be in your fruit.) It's just like testing your homemade pectin before you canned it. Put 1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol in a small container and add 1 teaspoon of the cooked fruit/juice. If it makes a jelled blob, your fruit is high in natural pectin.

If it doesn't make a blob, add 1 tablespoon homemade pectin per cup of your cooked fruit/juice, and test again, and if necessary, do it yet again until you get a jelled blob the consistency you want in your jam or jelly. Remember, the container with the rubbing alcohol is POISON, so do not add it back to the cooking jelly; dispose of it promptly and properly to avoid a hazard.

If the juice contains enough pectin, you will add from 3/4 - 1 cup sugar PER cup of juice. (Don't forget to figure in the amount of homemade pectin you added.) If the pectin tested slightly less than firm, use 2/3 - 3/4 cup sugar per cup of juice. (Too much sugar coupled with low pectin will make syrup.) You also need to add a bit of acid, like the juice from one lemon to help the jam/jelly set.

When you think that your fruit-pectin mixture is about right, mix in sugar with the cooked fruit. Stir constantly over high heat, especially with jam, to keep it from burning on the bottom of the pan. After the mixture comes to a full, rolling boil, let it boil for about a minute. If you don't leave it in a rolling boil for a full minute, it may not set. (It needs to reach a temp. of 220ºF to set at sea level...  that is the jell stage; adjust temp.higher if you are in the mountains; use a candy thermometer if you are unsure.) It will foam... and you can skim the foam before pouring into hot jars. I always add about a teaspoon of butter just as it begins to boil; it eliminates almost all the foam and doesn't affect the jelly.

Note: Some recipes suggest equal amounts of homemade pectin to the juice if the juice is low-pectin. I'd just test and keep adding pectin until I got it really close...

If you are unsure if you have enough pectin, cook your recipe longer, and test for jell with a dab on a frozen saucer, just as you do with natural high-pectin fruits without added pectin. (Testing and adjusting the pectin content before adding sugar seems easier to me.)

Pickled Garlic Scapes

I didn't plant garlic last fall to harvest this summer, first time in years I haven't grown garlic. I need a new bed with better drainage, although most years the bed I have is adequate. Last year I lost about half my garlic, shallots and leeks to a wet year and poor drainage.

I seldom used all my scapes when I grew garlic, and many went to waste. This recipe for Pickled Garlic Scapes came in a newsletter from Southern Seed Exposure and it sounds delish. They adapted a recipe for dilly beans found in Sandor Katz's book Wild Fermentation. These are not naturally fermented like Katz would do (which would be healthier and full of lactic acid) but made like today's vinegar canned pickles.

Pickled Garlic Scapes
Ingredients:
Garlic scapes. Trim by snapping off the tough flower end and breaking into lengths that will fit into quart jars with at least half an inch of head space. We get 1 or 2 pieces per scape.

Salt
Whole dried chili peppers
Celery seed
Dried dill
White vinegar (champagne/white wine vinegar is less harsh and smoother than distilled vinegar)
Water

1. Thoroughly clean as many glass quart canning jars as you think you'll be filling - make your best guess.

2. Place in each jar: 1 tsp. salt, 1 whole dried pepper, 1 Tbsp. dill, and a small pinch of celery seed. Then pack each jar as tightly as you can with the trimmed garlic scapes standing on end.

3. For each jar, measure 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water. Bring the vinegar-water mixture to a boil, then pour it into the jars over the scapes, up to one half inch from the top of the jar, being sure all scapes are covered. Top off all jars, leave about a quarter of an inch of headspace; make more brine if necessary.

4. Close the jars with new lids, then place them in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes to heat process. Once the jars are cool, make sure the seals are good by checking that the button at the center of the lid doesn't pop.

"While you can let the flavors meld for a few weeks, we think these are pretty tasty after just a few days. You can skip the last step and keep the jars in the refrigerator and they'll stay good for several weeks. But if you do this step, you can store them for years without refrigeration."

They sound yummy enough that I will make some next year when I grow garlic again, but I will do a natural fermentation.

Blueberry Lavender Jam

Michelle, over at Big Black Dog posted a lovely recipe for blueberry-lavender jam. I would not have thought about adding lavender to blueberries, but it sure does sound yummy. Hop on over and take a look!

Using Red Raspberries

Due to the excessive amounts of rain lately, I’m picking a few more red raspberries than I really expected, after so many canes were lost when a maple tree fell on the patch destroying most of the mature canes earlier this year.

I’m picking only about a cup a day; even so, I still won't harvest many berries. Next year the new canes from this summer should produce at least a quart a day, maybe even half a gallon daily! With so few red raspberries, I won’t have enough to make my favorite Peach Melba Jam. The jam is easy: fresh peaches and raspberries. Since my older family members cannot eat anything with small seeds, I juice the raspberries and use the juice straight in place of whole berries.

The taste is reminiscent of Peach Melba although the original recipe was raspberry sauce and fresh peaches over vanilla ice cream, developed by a French chef in London to honor the Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba around 1892. (You can deliberately make Peach Melba Jam thinner, to make a sauce for ice cream.)

I should have enough raspberries to make a small batch of raspberry vinegar. I love a splash of raspberry vinegar on green salads, and also on lightly steamed veggies. It is especially good splashed over a chiffonade of baby Brussels sprouts lightly sautéed in butter until just barely tender.

Raspberry Vinegar
To make raspberry vinegar, I start with a base of champagne vinegar. You could use white wine vinegar but I think the champagne vinegar is slightly more subtle. To a quart of vinegar, I add about a quart of raspberries over low heat, and barely warm them, just until the mash starts to give off a little steam. (I mash the berries with the back of a wooden spoon while they are starting to heat.) Be sure to use a non-reactive pan!

Put the whole cooked mash into a jelly bag and let drip overnight. I generally use 2-3 layers of butter muslin in place of a jelly bag. Do not squeeze the straining bag or your vinegar will be cloudy. After it has drained overnight, toss the pulp and re-heat the juice to about 150ºF just to be sure you didn’t pick up unwanted airborne bacteria overnight. Pour into sterilized bottles. (I generally taste mine before bottling, adding more vinegar if the raspberry taste is too overpowering. I seldom need to add any, depending on the berries that year.)

Save several whole raspberries to place in the bottom of the bottles for decoration, if you so desire. I use 8 oz. glass bottles, as a little raspberry vinegar lasts a long time. Cap, and store in a cool, dark place. It is ready to use immediately and will store for a year or more.

The hill out back has wild black raspberries, but it has been too wet to climb the hill to see if they are ready to pick. The wild blackberries farther up the hill should produce abundantly later this year, thanks to a cool (no frost) Blackberry Winter, which they need to set fruit, followed by plenty of spring rain. I will make my much-requested Wild Blackberry Savory (jelly).

On the plate with the raspberries in the first photo above are a few black currants. Last year the plants were new to my garden, and before I could pick them in sprigs, the birds got them. So I’m picking a few this year as they are ready. I won’t have many this year either since I recently transplanted the bushes again, to be next to my new red currants. I hope to pick enough black currants to use in a scone recipe.