A little elf told me to black out my website in support of Internet freedom. I am not really tech-savvy enough to do that. Instead, I’ll spend some time today urging my congressmen to stop the PIPA and SOPA bills so that I and others retain the ability to express opinions without threat of censorship. Join me?   PS. Is this little elf not the cutest? My grandmother kept a canning booklet from 1935 including [...]

When I finished making candied Meyer lemons, I couldn’t toss the remaining syrup. Lightly lemon flavored, I tried stirring it into a cocktail but it was too thick. Jam-like already, all signs pointed to marmalade. I chopped ten Meyer lemons from my surprise windfall from Green B.E.A.N. into tiny bits, carefully removing the central membrane and seeds. I simmered them with the syrup, water, and seeds in a cheesecloth bundle until the rind softened and [...]

Cranberry sauce is the most neglected dish on the Thanksgiving table. It is over-sweetened to the point of tasting like jam, or worse, dumped and sliced from a can, ridge marks remaining. Why should these tart orbs be subjected to such a fate? Cranberries are easy to obtain fresh in November and full of flavor and vitamin C. It is impossibly easy to make them into an all-natural sauce. And once you do, you’ll find [...]

Thanks to a generous friend who gave me a huge stash of canning supplies, I have a new favorite jar. (What? You don’t have favorite jars? Crazy!) This jar is blue, which is fun, and obviously old. It nearly matches four others I have of the same size and brand. This one is special for a small but significant manufacturing flaw. See what it says under the Ball name? P rfect Mason. The ‘e’ is [...]

My Great Grandma Davis, mother of my father’s mother Joyce, was an old school home cook. She grew a large garden and Grandpa fished to feed themselves fresh and cheap food. Grandma later used her kitchen experience to serve as a school cook for many years in the decades where everything was prepared from scratch on site. Because Grandma lived into her nineties, I grew up knowing her. I remember eating a breakfast of biscuits [...]

You’ve heard the most delightful sound in the kitchen – the popping of lids fresh from the canner – and your jars are completely cooled. Now what? Prepare Jars for Storage Remove the rings and wipe down the outside of the jar with a warm wet cloth or sponge. Often a bit of juice, brine or jam escapes during the vacuum process. Being outside the seal, this can spoil and rust the lids. Wash the [...]

Step 1: Put out a call on Facebook that you are canning. Tell friends you will teach them. Step 2: Offer to entertain their kids with paper mache when friends respond. Step 3: Breathe deeply as chaos ensues when friends and kids come over. Step 4: Enjoy the chatting as you work together to peel and slice ~30 pounds of peaches. Step 5: Give your friends canning confidence as they help fill jars with peach [...]