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

[Katie Meadow]

A friend has come back from Turkey. He makes a great dinner every Friday after Thanksgiving, and often cooks something that represented the food on his most recent trip.He's also into meat, so I have no doubt he will be grilling kabobs, and using lamb and/or beef. Usually he wants no help. He keeps his menu pretty secret until the day. However, this year He's asked me to make some Turkish style pickles to go with, maintaining that they were served various kinds of pickles at every meal. He loves the escabeche that I have made for him.

 

I did a little research on line and discovered that delis and restaurants in Turkey, as well as many home cooks, make a 4-week fermented production, which isn't happening on my watch. So I want to make some quick pickles, a red cabbage pickle and a mixed pickle of some kind. Strangely, the few recipes I found used just about no spices, just vinegar and salt and water, with minimal use of garlic and no fresh herbs. That sounds so plain! I do have some fresh dill, and that might be a worthy addition, but if anyone out there has any suggestions as to what makes Turkish pickles Turkish, do weigh in.

[heidih]

these came to mind  https://www.davidlebovitz.com/pickled-turnips-turnip-recipe/

[ElsieD]

2 minutes ago, heidih said:

these came to mind  https://www.davidlebovitz.com/pickled-turnips-turnip-recipe/

 

I love those things.

[Katie Meadow]

53 minutes ago, heidih said:

these came to mind  https://www.davidlebovitz.com/pickled-turnips-turnip-recipe/

Sold! Brilliant reference. And I will use my dill. I think of dill pickles as what I grew up with, but turnips will be new. I'll do a mixed pickle of carrots, beets and turnips. My friend said that there was a wide variety of vegetables used in the pickles he was served, and I'm just assuming that people used whatever was available and looked good. Surprisingly he claims there were never cucumbers. Clearly DL's experience must have been similar. Weirdly I asked another friend who was in Turkey maybe ten years ago claims that she never saw or was served any pickles. 

 

As for cocktail hour, Jeff will do something unexpected with some kind of Turkish alcohol.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Katie Meadow (log)

[TdeV]

I've just started pickling (thanks to @gfweb) but never done preserves, so pardon these questions. When making shelf stable food (e.g. jam) does one boil the glass jars? What makes a "canning" jar? I.e. could "ordinary" glass be used for canning?

[heidih]

22 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I've just started pickling (thanks to @gfweb) but never done preserves, so pardon these questions. When making shelf stable food (e.g. jam) does one boil the glass jars? What makes a "canning" jar? I.e. could "ordinary" glass be used for canning?

 

I would visit the USDA preserving site. Pretty much the gospel of canning in the US. . They can be a tad overcautious but its the government

https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html

[TdeV]

@heidih, links don't seem to work.

Just to be clear, ordinary glass can/cannot be heated in the same way a Bell or other canning jar can?

[chromedome]

2 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@heidih, links don't seem to work.

Just to be clear, ordinary glass can/cannot be heated in the same way a Bell or other canning jar can?

They're not tempered glass, so they're susceptible to thermal shock. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Personally, having gone to the requisite effort, I prefer not to risk the ignominy of scraping a batch of mixed jam and glass shards into the trash.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

@heidih, links don't seem to work.

Just to be clear, ordinary glass can/cannot be heated in the same way a Bell or other canning jar can?

 

Sorry - are you not in the US? The Ball jars for instance come with specialed lids that seal. A classic high five is "oh the jars all popped" - sound when they seal as they cool. My jammy friend based on assurances just does the gass in dishwasher and boils the lids. My understanding is that ordinary glass like recycled from marmalade can be touchy.Here is a Ball jar. Aside from that there are numerous sites and books. Like foraging - be safe. 

Edited December 8, 2019 by heidih (log)

[chromedome]

Oh, and fwiw the link works fine for me.

[heidih]

Oops forgot images  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

@heidih, links don't seem to work.

Just to be clear, ordinary glass can/cannot be heated in the same way a Bell or other canning jar can?

As remarked upon by others it is not worth the risk. 

[kayb]

My mother, who canned everything, said she'd use non-regulation jars in things that don't need pressure canning, but just waterbath, so jams, jellies, pickles. Like others have said, I don't. I've had to clean up after a broken jar before. It ain't fun.

 

Also, be sure to check the top rims of your jars for any cracks or chips. If they have either, discard them.

 

[Katie Meadow]

Standard canning or "Ball" jars are cheap when purchased from a hardware store by the dozen and can be used year after year. If you are making jam or something with acid and sugar and are not instructed to boil the filled jars in a bath it is still a very good idea to sterilize the jars and the lids (not the rings) by covering them with water and boiling them for a bit of time. I usually keep them at a boil for ten or fifteen minutes and don't remove them from the hot water until just before filling. I agree with all the above that using regular glass jars is a bad idea.

 

Most fruits for jams are seasonal and therefore you want to keep them for many months, sealed. I always count the pops of the lids to make sure they are sealed, and if any one jar doesn't pop properly, I just use that one first.  Good advice above about checking for chipped rims; those jars won't seal adequately. And a word of caution: don't re-use lids, just the rings.

 

If I were @Shelby and had a great garden I would can all kinds of stuff that needed a water bath. I've done it, and it's a lot of work, not to mention it is typically done in hot weather and you really work up a sweat. Not for the faint-hearted. Plenty of grannies on the farm have always done the heavy lifting of canning, but I would prefer to sit on a screened porch in a rocker and read a novel now that I've achieved granny age. Still waiting patiently for those babies, though!

[TicTac]

While by no means was I preserving these due to an overabundance -

 

I did try my hand for the first time at making pickled turnips (in the middle eastern style) and they came out fantastically!

 

I also ran into a Russian couple loading a small shopping cart with our local farmers cabbages - me being me; I had to ask - "guessing someone is making sauerkraut!?" to which they laughed and confirmed.  After some further chatting, I recognized why my initial batch failed (far too much salt) and she gave me some guidance and pleased to say my first successful batch has now been tasted!  Though there is still a bit of a cabbage flavour, it is certainly fermenting and turning sour (the more the better!)

 

Did I say how much I like pickley things!?

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

14 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

it is still a very good idea to sterilize the jars and the lids (not the rings) by covering them with water and boiling them for a bit of time.

 

It is no longer recommended to boil the single-use metal lids, assuming they have been purchased since 1969 when Ball switched from latex, which required softening to create a good seal, to plastisol, which does not need that step. 

In the questions on this page, Ball says they have never recommended boiling (212°F) lids, only simmering (180°F) 

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

It is no longer recommended to boil the single-use metal lids, assuming they have been purchased since 1969 when Ball switched from latex, which required softening to create a good seal, to plastisol, which does not need that step. 

In the questions on this page, Ball says they have never recommended boiling (212°F) lids, only simmering (180°F) 

Okay, good to know. Thanks.

[kayb]

2 hours ago, TicTac said:

While by no means was I preserving these due to an overabundance -

 

I did try my hand for the first time at making pickled turnips (in the middle eastern style) and they came out fantastically!

 

I also ran into a Russian couple loading a small shopping cart with our local farmers cabbages - me being me; I had to ask - "guessing someone is making sauerkraut!?" to which they laughed and confirmed.  After some further chatting, I recognized why my initial batch failed (far too much salt) and she gave me some guidance and pleased to say my first successful batch has now been tasted!  Though there is still a bit of a cabbage flavour, it is certainly fermenting and turning sour (the more the better!)

 

Did I say how much I like pickley things!?

 

 

 

Best sauerkraut I ever made was when I bought four big heads of cabbage at the farmers market, came home, and made kraut that day. Those cabbages were better than six pounds each! I had more than 20 pounds of shredded cabbage, and my poor food processor was panting, and the kitchen floor and counters had cabbage everywhere! I went six weeks with it in a food grade plastic bucket, with one of those brewer's air-lock releases fitted into a hole I'd drilled in the top; perfect vessel. I'm down to one jar left (yeah, I know it kills the good probiotics when you can it, but I wanted shelf stable). Know that I'll be making more next  spring!

 

[Darienne]

22 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Most fruits for jams are seasonal and therefore you want to keep them for many months, sealed. I always count the pops of the lids to make sure they are sealed, and if any one jar doesn't pop properly, I just use that one first.  Good advice above about checking for chipped rims; those jars won't seal adequately. And a word of caution: don't re-use lids, just the rings.

 

I mark the popped lids with a black marker checkmark and the rest...either they didn't pop or I'm not sure...with black marker X. 

[curls]

This Thanksgiving some of the family that lives in Rochester can down to help us celebrate. Since they were driving, I asked if they would mind bringing some apples from their favorite farm store Schutt's Apple Mill.... They brought a wonderful selection of cooking and eating apples. The majority of the cooking apples because applesause (I reserved a few to make baked apples). This made for one of the best applesauce batches I have canned in years.

 

 

cook's treat  🙂

[MelissaH]

Oh yes, Schutt's does a terrific job. For those of you who are looking to order apples, my local place (70 miles from Schutt's, about a mile and a half up the hill from my house) also does a great job: https://ontarioorchards.com/

 

I regularly send my parents their dried apples.

[blue_dolphin]

The other day, I made a batch of the pink grapefruit marmalade from David Lebovitz's blog.  I used the extra rinds to make a batch of the candied grapefruit peel that he also featured recently.  

I'm very happy with both.  Perfect balance of sweet, bitter and citrusy flavors.  I'd considered adding rosemary to the marmalade but followed David's recommendation to make it as is and am glad that I did. 

I'm going to try his slightly different recipe for candied orange peel from his book, Ready for Dessert (recipe online here) in the next few days and then use both peels to make the Pane del Pescatore from the Il Forniao Baking Book (recipe online here.) The recipe calls for candied lemon and orange peels but I figured I can sub grapefruit for the lemon.   Those sweet, crumbly breads were one of my favorite treats to pick up from Il Fornaio in my old neighborhood.  Hope I can recreate them.

 

I was surprised at the bright orange color of the marmalade, seen here on my breakfast photo from yesterday where you can see the orange compared with the light pink of the fresh fruit:

 

The peels looked fairly orange when they came out of the syrup:

 

but the sugar coating mutes that somewhat:

 

[lemniscate]

3 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 I used the extra rinds to make a batch of the candied grapefruit peel that he also featured recently.  

 

I made a batch of candied peel from the white grapefruit a while back.  I found eating it makes my mouth numb.   Grapefruit juice does not do this to me though   I did find if I drop a piece of candied peel into my citrus base cocktails, it amps up the flavor and add a bit of sweetness.  So my peels are now in the cocktail cabinet.

[blue_dolphin]

5 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

 

I made a batch of candied peel from the white grapefruit a while back.  I found eating it makes my mouth numb.   Grapefruit juice does not do this to me though   I did find if I drop a piece of candied peel into my citrus base cocktails, it amps up the flavor and add a bit of sweetness.  So my peels are now in the cocktail cabinet.

 

I'll have to keep that cocktail idea in mind.  I saved the syrup thinking of using it in some hot toddies....you know....for medicinal purposes 🙃

I get a little tongue tingle from these but not really numbness but I've only had a few nibbles so far. 

[Darienne]

Candied citrus peels.  My first thought is always to dip them in dark chocolate.  Yummm.