Lil and I made Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s rugelach for a cookie exchange last week. Lil loved rolling peach, blueberry peach, and sour cherry preserves with almonds in the rich butter and cream cheese dough. She even made her own creation, chocolate with no nuts. The recipe is time consuming and made me break up with...
Read more →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...
Read more →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...
Read more →Homemade jam is a perfect canvass for creativity. Fresh seasonal fruit packs plenty of flavor on its own but thanks to the high acid content, fruit jam can be safely canned with herb and spice additions. Tired of the same old peach jam I usually make, I asked the family for new ideas. Lil...
Read more →In partnership with Wild Goose Creative, I am pleased to announce a new series of home preserving classes. Join me on third Tuesdays from 6:30 – 8:30 to preserve local fresh foods by freezing, canning, drying and curing. Each workshop will include hands on experience, tastings, recipes, and a sample to take home. Schedule...
Read more →Our family spends countless hours harvesting and preserving foodstuffs for times when they are unavailable fresh. We preserve tomatoes, cook up jam, press cider, can applesauce, and dry herbs summer through fall. Our winter stores for 2011-2012 began Sunday, just as the winter of 2010-2011 violently passed on. Alex chopped and I hauled ash...
Read more →My friend Jill (and her friend Maya) are writing Friday Five posts on their blog Itinerant Foodies. It’s a great idea for a quick post before the weekend and starting today I’m going to steal it! This week, I want to share five things that are aging in the house. Sometimes I feel like...
Read more →Homemade flavored liqueur is one of the simplest ways to preserve the flavor of fresh fruit. I posted a recipe for cranberry liqueur last year, but one can make liqueur with any fruit with the following simple method. Local, in season fruits make the best liqueurs because they have the strongest fresh flavor. Choose...
Read more →In Canning Week 2010 day 3, I share a bit about canning vegetables. View a lesson on pectin and recipe for peach jam from earlier in the week. Tomorrow I’ll discuss pickles. The massive harvests are starting, and they aren’t limited to sweet fruits. Something has to be done with mountains of tomatoes, corn,...
Read more →It’s canning week! I have five days of recipes, tips, and theory ready to share. Whether you are a beginning canner or looking to advance your skills, stay tuned this week. First up, pectin! As a self-proclaimed homesteader, I am asked all sorts of questions that I would never think of myself. My friend...
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