Tag Archives: preserving

Summer in Your Mouth

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Strawberry Preserves with Vanilla Bean

Really good strawberry preserves is like putting summer in your mouth. Bright and fresh. Eating it on from-scratch biscuits is one of my favorite breakfast foods. It’s simple, I don’t need utensils to eat it, and there’s minimal cleanup. We planted a strawberry bed years ago and happily gather all the berries it puts forth to make this wonderful preserves.

 

Buttermilk biscuits

I’m not big on sweets but love (too much so according to my circumference) bread and pasta so I’m cutting back. From-scratch biscuits with homemade preserves are definitely carb worthy though. That’s my new catch phrase – carb worthy. So now if GC asks “would you like a ham sandwich on some of that styrofoam tasting white grocery store bread?” I’d say “no thanks honey, it’s not carb worthy”. But if GC asks “would you like a sandwich made with some of our home-cured bacon and warm from the garden red tomatoes on some of your awesome homemade whole wheat bread?” then “yes please!”

 

Get the difference?

 

Now, GC normally doesn’t describe sandwiches so vividly….okay actually never, but I know what he means when he says “ham on white or BT on your bread?”

If you have never canned before I suggest getting Ball’s Blue Book to learn how. It’s what I learned from years ago and still refer back to.

 

Please remember the #1 rule of cooking – READ THE ENTIRE RECIPE FIRST!

 

Strawberry Preserves with Vanilla Bean adapted from Ball’s Blue Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 qts. Strawberries
1 pkg. powdered pectin
¼ cup finely chopped lemon
¼ cup water
6 ½ cups sugar
1 vanilla bean

 Split vanilla bean and scrape out seeds. Combine the bean pod and seeds with all the ingredients except the sugar. I put everything in a bowl and leave in the frig. for a day to infuse more of the vanilla. It’s not a standout flavor but in my opinion does add something extra to regular strawberry preserves. Fish the bean pod out of the strawberry mixture.

 When ready to process, bring strawberry mixture to a boil, stirring often. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved and return to a hard boil (one that can’t be stirred down). Boil hard for 1 minute and remove from heat. Skim the foam if there is any. Stir another 3 minutes to spread the fruit out evenly. Ladle into hot sterilized jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Adjust the 2 piece caps and process 15 minutes in a water bath canner.

 

Buttermilk Biscuits these are the biscuits my Dad made almost every Sunday morning

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. soda
1/4 cup butter or shortening
3/4 cup of buttermilk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and soda in bowl. Cut in butter until mixture looks coarse like cornmeal. Stir in buttermilk until all sticks together. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 5 or 6 times gently. Flour your rolling pin and roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out with whatever you have handy, I use either a 2-inch biscuit cutter, a glass or sometimes I just cut into squares. I usually get 9-10 biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees F. until tops are golden brown and sides are splitting.

Enjoy!

Got Apples? Make Apple Butter

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Last weekend GC and I visited a nearby orchard to pick up some apples. It was a beautiful crisp fall day – flannel shirt weather – with big blue skies. Fall makes me want to whip up things like apple butter, applesauce and maple-apple jam. It’s been a busy week around here so I finally got around to making the apple butter today.
I think mixing different varieties of apples produces the best flavor so I purchased Arkansas Blacks, Golden Delicious, Rome, and Winesap apples.  Since the Arkansas Blacks were a new variety for me I just had to eat one fresh. Oh boy was it good with its sweet/tart flavor and crisp bite!  I think I’m in love—I may have to plant a couple of Arkansas Black trees.
Apple butter was on deck first, so I hauled out the crockpot and got started prepping the apples. I used about 14 for this batch.
Wash, peel and core; after peeling I just cut the 4 sides off around the core then slice each. I save the peels and cores to make apple jelly later. Just bag them up and freeze them until you are ready for them.
On Halloween weekend I was in Maryland for a family Halloween party and my lovely cousin sent me home with some great apple cider. I poured a cup in the crockpot and added the cut up apples. Water can be used also if desired. I’ve seen some recipes that liquid is not included though I’ve not tried it. Turn on low, cover and let sit for about 8 hours. Stir occasionally.
The apples should be breaking down pretty easily at the point so I let a bit cool on a spoon. I’m tasting for sweetness here. I don’t like adding sugar right off the bat because it really depends on how sweet the apples are as to how much to add. For mine, I decided to add ¼ cup of brown sugar and added the following spices: ¼ tsp. ground cloves, ¼ tsp. nutmeg, ¼ tsp. salt and 1 tsp. of cinnamon.
If you like it chunky just mash the remaining apples or you can use an immersion blender, food mill, food processor or blender to smooth it out. Leave lid off and cook on high until apple butter is thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
It can now be canned, frozen or eaten fresh. I chose to freeze this batch in small canning jars instead of canning like I normally do since I  plan to send a jar home with various family members and they will not last long anyway.
Enjoy!