What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)

[TicTac]

@Darienne - Yes, I learned that the sour puckered face way

 

Do you add a lot of sugar to the jelly or is it a sour jelly?  You can thank the birds and their droppings for the sudden wild grape appearance!  They can quickly take over (I keep fighting them off my Austrian Pine and Oak tree) and become an issue if left unchecked!

 

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, TicTac said:

@Darienne - Yes, I learned that the sour puckered face way

 

Do you add a lot of sugar to the jelly or is it a sour jelly?  You can thank the birds and their droppings for the sudden wild grape appearance!  They can quickly take over (I keep fighting them off my Austrian Pine and Oak tree) and become an issue if left unchecked!

 

A lot of sugar.  Ed was almost shocked when I read him the recipe.  Three cups of grape juice and 4 1/2 cups of sugar.   And it's not sweet in a way which I would find difficult.  As in I can't stand Butter Tarts...they make my teeth hurt.

[catdaddy]

Gotta say..That jelly sounds great! I am a firm believer that jam/jelly is a basic food group and wild fruits make the best.

[heidih]

6 hours ago, TicTac said:

Would love to hear more about your usage for the wild grapes.  I see tons of them around and have tried eating them but they are so tiny, with barely any flesh, a huge seed and super sour!

 

Sorry I cannot be much help pertaining to your inquiry, but I would imagine like any stain, the longer you leave it, the harder it will be to remove.

 

 

 

Well let me direct you to my adventure    

 

[suzilightning]

9 hours ago, Darienne said:

A lot of sugar.  Ed was almost shocked when I read him the recipe.  Three cups of grape juice and 4 1/2 cups of sugar.   And it's not sweet in a way which I would find difficult.  As in I can't stand Butter Tarts...they make my teeth hurt.

Years ago when we foraged wild grapes we made jelly we also used quite a bit of sugar per juice, put into small ball jars and, before sealing them, topped the set jelly with a film of paraffin.

[chromedome]

On 9/12/2019 at 11:39 AM, Darienne said:

2.  I've never given away anything like jelly which is "preserved" and presumably not needing cold storage.  I don't know anyone off this forum who does any more.  And I'm terrified about poisoning someone.  I'm not very proprioceptive and fear I'll somehow contaminate the process.  How serious is it if someone eats jelly with 'bad things' in it?  Can you die?  I can't get a straight answer on Google yet.

 

Thanks for the help.   Darienne

You should be fine, as long as the jars sealed properly. The massive quantity of sugar required to set jelly isn't random, it's required in order for the pectin (whether natural or added) to gel. That's because it binds up the available water in the juice, strengthening the bonds the pectin is able to make (a certain amount of acidity is also necessary to make the chemistry work).

A side benefit of binding up all that available water is, of course, that it becomes unavailable to pathogens as well.

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

You should be fine, as long as the jars sealed properly. The massive quantity of sugar required to set jelly isn't random, it's required in order for the pectin (whether natural or added) to gel. That's because it binds up the available water in the juice, strengthening the bonds the pectin is able to make (a certain amount of acidity is also necessary to make the chemistry work).

A side benefit of binding up all that available water is, of course, that it becomes unavailable to pathogens as well.

You are correct CD but I probably will just let this one go by.  Yesterday I gave a jar of grape jelly to the field naturalist and his daughter who came to walk our trail and particularly to see the Butternut trees with nuts on them.  (As I have noted a number of times in posts, Butternuts are on the endangered list in Ontario and the last thing you want is to buy a piece of pin order to build a house and then discover it has Butternut trees on it and bango, you are in trouble with our provincial organization for the preservation of this, that and the other thing, ORCA.   We have at least four but they are not near our house.)

I made them promise to put it right into the fridge.  I just won't give them away any other way.  It's no use.  But many thanks for the encouragement.  

[helenjp]

Darienne, I think it's not just lack of "producer" side knowledge. People who are no longer used to eating home-made jams and jellies are not alert to signs of mold or fermentation. Living in Japan, with our super-humid and warm monsoon season followed by hotter and hotter summers, I no longer feel confident that I can preserve jam or jelly well enough to last a year.

[Darienne]

On 9/12/2019 at 1:08 PM, Shelby said:

1.  Do you have anything like butcher paper that you could place with the slick side up and tape it down to put the grapes on?  That way you could just toss the paper when you're done?  I don't have experience with your kind of counter top, but if it were me, I'd probably clean the stains up after each time....If you get a stain on a stain, I'd think it would be harder to clean off?

 

 

No one has ever said to me...wow, you have such a good sense of proprioception.  We even gave up living in a fair sized trailer because I could not live in that confined area without bumping and banging and hurting, etc.   And yes, the index finger on my left hand is healing where I cut right into it while snipping the grapes off the vines a few days ago, thank you. 

No, no the butcher paper would not help.  You can't put it on the floor and the walls and the other stuff in the kitchen.   Oh, and my ruined t-shirt.   Grape juice is insidious.  I'm so much better off making ice cream.  

 

But I am having a lot of fun.

 

 

[Darienne]

5 hours ago, helenjp said:

Darienne, I think it's not just lack of "producer" side knowledge. People who are no longer used to eating home-made jams and jellies are not alert to signs of mold or fermentation. Living in Japan, with our super-humid and warm monsoon season followed by hotter and hotter summers, I no longer feel confident that I can preserve jam or jelly well enough to last a year.

Good point, helenjp.  A few folks are coming out to the farm to collect grapes to make jelly.  I asked one thing of them...please educate yourselves as to what the other berries (toxic) on the farm look like...mainly Virginia Creeper and Buckthorn.  Also Dogwood.  At least know exactly what you are looking for:  grape vines...leaves, berries, tendrils, etc.  So one couple was coming a few days ago.  Had  she done it?  No.  Not in the slightest?  Will she do it now that I have made it clear again?  I doubt it.  Am I now nervous turning them loose on the farm?  You bet.  That means I have to accompany the couple in this process.  Am I slightly annoyed?  Yes.  

 

You ask yourself...well why didn't they turn up the afternoon they said they were coming?  I won't answer that one, but Ed keeps reminding me....50%....50%...

[heidih]

12 hours ago, Darienne said:

No one has ever said to me...wow, you have such a good sense of proprioception.  We even gave up living in a fair sized trailer because I could not live in that confined area without bumping and banging and hurting, etc.   And yes, the index finger on my left hand is healing where I cut right into it while snipping the grapes off the vines a few days ago, thank you. 

No, no the butcher paper would not help.  You can't put it on the floor and the walls and the other stuff in the kitchen.   Oh, and my ruined t-shirt.   Grape juice is insidious.  I'm so much better off making ice cream.  

 

But I am having a lot of fun.

 

 

Oh no now I am imagining Stephen King blood splatter!!!   If freaked my friend out that I just bought her 12 yo "On Writing"  https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816

[Darienne]

The grape jelly is finished.  I didn't keep a close count but I know it's nearly 40 cups in the end.  The grape mess will be cleaned from stem to stern and now it's time to do the apples.  And it's a bumper crop again.  One of the branches is touching the ground.  But at least it's not breaking off as one did a couple of years ago.  And yes, we are having the backyard apple trees professionally trimmed, but it's too late for some aspects of it.    The Mac just grows too high and they can't trim it with their equipment.  

 

Thanks again to all who helped me so much in this endeavor.  

 

 

[TicTac]

Apple picking season!

 

We are heading to Avalon Orchards in Innisfil in a couple weeks when their Liberty apples are ready (my absolute favourite varietal!).

 

But the real reason I go there is for their fresh pressed unpasteurized cider....mmmmmmmmm!  Hope you have an apple press handy!

 

 

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Well, I didn't make it, but I canned it:

That is one gallon of, to my mind, the best BBQ sauce in the world.  It's from Short Sugar's BBQ in Reidsville NC.  It's the sauce that I grew up on and every single review I've read about it - including the one in the Southern Foodways Alliance Oral Histories mentions the uniqueness and deliciousness of the sauce.  We buy gallon jugs of it (they recycle their Texas Pete jugs and just slap a SS's label over the TP label) on trips to NC.  I haven't run out of this stuff in probably 30 years!  One of my worst fears is that they will go out of business during my lifetime.  😁

[kayb]

I think I'm going to make a big batch of Vivian Howard's Blue Q blueberry barbecue sauce and can it, and put it in Christmas baskets. I do love that stuff.

 

[Smithy]

13 hours ago, kayb said:

I think I'm going to make a big batch of Vivian Howard's Blue Q blueberry barbecue sauce and can it, and put it in Christmas baskets. I do love that stuff.

 

 

I still haven't made it, and it's still on my list to try. Thanks for the reminder.

[kayb]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I still haven't made it, and it's still on my list to try. Thanks for the reminder.

Do NOT neglect the final step, to brush the chicken (or pork) with the sauce after taking it off the grill. It's important.

 

[lemniscate]

On 8/16/2019 at 6:30 PM, kayb said:

I am fascinated by the potential to brine olives and press olive oil.

 

Well, you *can* press olive oil at home.   I did.  BUT, wow, what a lot of work.

 

Picking olives isn't bad, at least the ones you can reach.  Then sort and clean, not hard.

 

Grinding the olives down to paste is OK, if you have the right equipment.  Some use a garbage disposal bought and used exclusively for grinding the olives into a container.   I used my electric meat grinder and it did alright.

 

The paste needs to be agitated (Malaxation) for about 40 minutes to get the olive oil globules to separate.   I used my Kitchenaid with the paddle attachment.

 

Then, the paste was placed onto cheesecloth in the press so it makes a flat round.   Cheesecloth was wrapped over the top of the round.  The round was pressed and repressed (after flipping) several times until as much liquid was removed as possible. 

 

The juice is then left to rest to allow the oil to float on top of the olive juice.

 

I did maybe 3 lbs of olives, and got.............a scant 1/4 cup of oil.   It's good oil.   But it would take weeks to get a full bottle at this rate. 

 

I think I'll stick with brining.  

Edited September 25, 2019 by lemniscate
spelling (log)

[Darienne]

Processing the apples.   Not wall-to-wall fun.  Mostly because there are so many, even after giving some away, and it seems as if it will never end.  Apple juice (kinda ciderish straight from the apple), apple sauce, apple slices dehydrated, apple leather, with and with sliced almonds, apple cake (freezer).  

 

One strange thing...the apples seem to have no fruit flies either in the garage awaiting processing nor in the cellar where Ed is doing his part...including leaving peels, cores, spent pulp from juice making, etc.    Any ideas?  I've long thought that the fruit flies come with the fruit from the grocery.  Could this be true and that's why even the 'leftovers' don't have flies.

 

OTOH, while picking falls this morning, I got stung, again.  Never saw the varmint, but the melody lingers on....

[chromedome]

3 hours ago, lemniscate said:

 

Well, you *can* press olive oil at home.   I did.  BUT, wow, what a lot of work.

 

Picking olives isn't bad, at least the ones you can reach.  Then sort and clean, not hard.

 

Grinding the olives down to paste is OK, if you have the right equipment.  Some use a garbage disposal bought and used exclusively for grinding the olives into a container.   I used my electric meat grinder and it did alright.

 

The paste needs to be agitated (Malaxation) for about 40 minutes to get the olive oil globules to separate.   I used my Kitchenaid with the paddle attachment.

 

Then, the paste was place onto cheesecloth in the press so it make a flat round.   Cheesecloth was wrapped over the top of the round.  The round was pressed and repressed (after flipping) several times until as much liquid was removed as possible. 

 

The juice is then left to rest to allow the oil to float on top of the olive juice.

 

I did maybe 3 lbs of olives, and got.............a scant 1/4 cup of oil.   It's good oil.   But it would take weeks to get a full bottle at this rate. 

 

I think I'll stick with brining.  

 

 

Apparently, like sunflower seeds, there are some kinds you eat and some kinds you press for oil.

https://californiaoliveranch.com/table-olives-vs-olive-oil-olives/

[lemniscate]

9 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Apparently, like sunflower seeds, there are some kinds you eat and some kinds you press for oil.

 

I believe it!   I'm fairly sure the going landscape olive around here is the Mission.  My next door neighbor may have either the Kalamata or Nicoise version due to the size of the olives on his tree.

Edited September 25, 2019 by lemniscate (log)

[ElsieD]

I don't know if this counts as preserving or not, but the contents of these ice cube trays were once 8 pounds of onions.  These caramalized onions are destined mainly for future grilled cheese sandwiches but I suspect they will also find a home on top of the odd burger.  These were cooked for 28 hours in a slow cooker.

[Darienne]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I don't know if this counts as preserving or not, but the contents of these ice cube trays were once 8 pounds of onions.  These caramalized onions are destined mainly for future grilled cheese sandwiches but I suspect they will also find a home on top of the odd burger.  These were cooked for 28 hours in a slow cooker.

 

Looks lovely.

I'm so tired tonight I can't recall if I already posted about our ten pounds of onions which were sliced and dehydrated for winter cooking use.  I still can't slice very well, and so I just dip into my dried source.

[ElsieD]

I've never heard of nor seen dehydrated onions.  Did you dry them in a dehydrator and how do they reconstitute?

[Darienne]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I've never heard of nor seen dehydrated onions.  Did you dry them in a dehydrator and how do they reconstitute?

I dried them in a dehydrator this time, but I've also done them in the oven.  They are reconstituted by being basically thrown into whatever I am making that calls for chopped onions.  With some small consideration given for liquid measurements.  In so many recipes it would make no never mind.