Tag Archives: preserve

Canning, Food Storage

How To Preserve Nuts

Leave a comment

This is so easy!

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.

Take whatever nuts you want to store. Shell them or just make sure there are no bits of shell or debris.

Place the nuts in whatever size jars you want and place new lids and rings on.

Place your jars on a baking tray (for stability), and bake for one hour. Remove and let cool.

As long as they are sealed, they will store almost forever.

Dinner, Level 1, Levels 2 And Above, Lunch, Recipe, Soups

Chicken Soup and Canned Chicken Broth

Leave a comment

I did not grow up eating many root vegetables, so when I found a recipe for chicken soup that included parsnips and turnips I was highly skeptical. After I made it, I was hooked! There can be no chicken soup (or broth) without them! In this video, I am not only making soup but am canning broth. For the specifics on the equipment (and tools) you will need, please read my Home Canned Meat post. I am not including a nutritional analysis with this recipe. This recipe is so variable and I have no way of knowing how many carbohydrates are in the strained broth.

Chicken Soup and Canned Chicken Broth Recipe

For the broth:

  • 2 to 3 pounds of chicken (either whole pieces or leftover chicken carcass)
  • 2 parsnips, roughly chopped
  • 3 to 4 turnips, roughly chopped
  • 2 to 4 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 to 4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
  • 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves , roughly chopped (optional)
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
  • Water, to cover

For the soup:

  • 2 to 3 pounds chicken meat (either from the broth or fresh)
  • 2 to 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 to 4 celery stalks, sliced
  • 1/2 to 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 to 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (optional) 1 to 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
  • Water, to cover
  • Optional ingredients for soup: 2 to 3 zucchini, spiralized 3 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced or 1 to 2 cups of dry rice or 1 to 2 cups of dry pasta (bow ties, rotini, egg noodles, etc.) or 1 to 2 cups of chopped greens (spinach, beet greens, kale, etc.) or Matzo balls or 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh dill, minced 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Place all of the ingredients for the broth in a large pot (or slow cooker, electric roaster, or pressure cooker). Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium or medium low (you want it at a slight boil). Depending on your cooking method, let cook for 4 to 12 hours (you want everything cooked to absolute mush). Strain the broth from the solids, making sure to remove all bones.

Place the broth back in the pot. If you used whole pieces of chicken, separate the meat from the bones (once cooled enough to touch).

If you are going to can your chicken broth, you can evenly distribute your chicken meat between all of your jars and top with broth or just leave the meat out. Process in a pressure canner for the recommended pressure (and time) per your elevation. Remember that this broth can be used just like store-bought chicken broth. You do not want to over-season the broth prior to canning it to allow you the flexibility to use the broth however you wish.

Now, if you aren’t canning your broth, throw the rest of the ingredients in the broth, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium. Let it boil until everything is cooked. BAM! You have soup for days! 🙂

Canning, Dinner, Food Storage, Lunch, Preserving, Pressure, Recipe

Home Canned Meat

Leave a comment

Canning meat at home is one of the easiest canning you will ever do! The only special items you need are a pressure canner (not a pressure cooker), jars and pickling salt. If you want to keep canning after you try this, I would also suggest a tool set. I will be including links to these items on Amazon but, aside from the pressure canner, you can get most of these at a local store. This is the picture I took at Ace Hardware. LOOK AT ALL OF THESE GOODIES! I have never seen so many canning supplies in person! There were so many I ended up buying more than I intended (they had 1/2 gallon jars!!!!).

20200312_105638

This is my pressure canner.

Presto Canner
It’s a Presto 16-quart pressure canner and holds 7 quart jars (16 quarts is the total liquid the pot holds). There are times I wish I had a bigger one but it would make it too heavy to move around if I did have a bigger one (which means, maybe, I should get a second one). Now, even though mine isn’t the largest, it IS heavy. You cannot use canners on glass top stoves! If that’s what you have, you could use them on a stable/secured turkey fryer base (you don’t want it tipping over), a propane grill, or a tabletop electric burner (as long as it can handle the weight). You need your heat source to be easily adjustable, so wood or charcoal would be much more difficult.

Pickling Salt
Pickling salt: why do you need this? Well, table salt has iodine and anti-caking agents (which can change the color of the foods and leave liquids cloudy), whereas pickling salt is just that: salt. Officially, this is the only salt you can use for canning. Unofficially, I have used kosher salt and never had any issues.

Now, you will need jars. For meats, I like to use pint or 12-ounce jelly jars. They are perfect for a meal (or adding just a little meat to a dish). Every grocery store I have been to in my area has canning jars but if your stores don’t, here’s a link to the best deal I found on Amazon. You don’t need anything fancy. How many jars will you need? It depends on how much meat you want to can. Roughly 1 pound of raw meat will fit in a pint jar.

Home Canned Meats

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Notes

Notes

Home Canned Meats
Ingredients
Meat: beef, game, chicken, pork, fish
Pickling salt: 1/2 – 1 teaspoon per quart jar
White Vinegar
For wiping jar rims
Instructions
Wash jars and lids.
Cut meat into cubes. Place in a clean jar, packing the meat down to ensure there are no air pockets. Continue to fill, leaving 1 inch of space between the meat and the rim of the jar.
Pour 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of pickling salt on top of meat (amount of salt depends on your tastes).
Pour some vinegar on a paper towel and wipe the rim of the jar (this is to ensure there is no residual fat or liquids from the meat). Place lid on top of the jar, then screw on the ring. Do not over tighten the ring or it will be virtually impossible to remove later.
Process in your pressure canner for the amount of time required (I am at sea level, so I process at roughly 12-15 pounds pressure for 90 minutes). Turn off heat and allow the natural release of pressure (let sit until the pressure gauge is at 0).
Remove jars from canner, placing them on a towel. Let them cool (and seal).
Remove the rings, wash the jars with soapy water, write the contents and date on the lid, then store in a cool, dark place.
As long as the seals hold, these should last for at least a year.
Canning, Dinner, Food Storage, Low Carb, Lunch, Preserving, Pressure, Recipe, Supplies

Homemade Corned Beef

Leave a comment

I can’t believe I didn’t post about this!  I made homemade corned beef last year, leaving out the sugar and the pink salt, and it was fantastic!  I thought, well, I could make this, then can it so I know exactly where it came from and what was in it.  I haven’t gotten around to canning this because it usually doesn’t last that long!

Anyway, if you are interested (I wanted to see if I could and I did), here is how I did it:

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/home_made_corned_beef.html

And here is how to can it (ever since I canned that chicken, I prefer raw canning meats):

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2011/05/canning-corned-beef-brisket.html

There you go!  Give it a shot (even if you only do one).  It really wasn’t as difficult as my brain said it would be!

Preserving, Recipe, Weeds

Candied Orange Peel And Other Goodies

Leave a comment

I know this isn’t what I have posted for quite some time but I made Candied Orange Peels for the first time.  They were not labor intensive, just time consuming.  They were well worth it!  My goal is to have enough candied fruit to eventually make my own Panettone.  At the bottom of this page are recipes for other candied goodies!

I decided to make candied orange peels because I bought a five pound bag of oranges and no one was eating them (and eventually I want to have enough candied fruit to make panettone).

So, I pulled out the old trusty Joy of Cooking and got busy!

Candied Citrus Peel

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Notes

Notes

Candied Citrus Peel
  • Peel of 3 oranges, 2 grapefruits, or 6 lemons, removed in large strips
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (I used honey)
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
Wash the oranges, then peel them (I used the meat of the oranges for marmalade).
Add water to cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain, cover with fresh cold water, and simmer until tender.
Drain, refresh under cold water, and remove any remaining pulp or pith by scraping it away with a spoon (now, I tried this with one of our “good” spoons and the edge wasn’t sharp enough. So, I pulled out one of the spoons I set aside for my husband to put in his lunch box).
Cut the peel into 2 X 1/4-inch strips. Combine 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (honey) and 3/4 cup water. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the fruit peel and cook very gently over low heat until most of the syrup is absorbed (if your stock pot isn’t the best, like mine, place it on top of a cast iron griddle. This works great and have never had any scorching).
After about 12 hours the orange peels absorbed most of the sugar/water mixture. I drained the peels into another pot, thinking I could use the orange syrup for something (not sure what though).
To dry the peels, I propped up an old window screen I use for drying. I lined the screen with wax paper, poured the second 1 cup of sugar on the paper, scattered the drained orange peels on the sugar, and tossed them to ensure even coverage.
I put more wax paper over the top and weighed it down. It took about a week for them to get dry enough (the recipe says to let dry one hour then place in the refrigerator. I didn’t like that, so let them completely dry).

I ended up with about a gallon and a half of candied orange peels (1 1/2 gallon sized Ziploc freezer bags). I’m storing them in the freezer (just to be safe). I reserved the orange sugar, thinking I could use it for something! 🙂 You know those orange slices by Brachs? These taste just like those, just a bit more tart. My step-daughter loves them!

Candied Ginger

Print Recipe
Notes

Notes

Candied Ginger
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 water
  • 1 piece fresh ginger, sliced or julienne
Peel, cut into coins or make long strips (julienne). Immerse in simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water). Cook 15 minutes or till translucent. Dry on cake rack over paper until almost dry. Roll in sugar and place on parchment paper to dry.

Cactus Candy

Print Recipe
Notes

Notes

Cactus Candy
Yield: 6 servings
From: Arizona Cookbook
  • 3 c Granulated sugar
  • 1 c Water
  • 2 tb Orange juice
  • 1 tb Lemon juice
Select prickly pear cactus (or small barrel cactus if you own this type of cactus, since it’s illegal to remove it from the desert). Remove spines and outside layer with large knife. Cut pulp across in slices one-inch thick. Soak overnight in cold water. Remove from water, cut in one-inch cubes and cook in boiling water til tender. Drain. Cook slowly in the following syrup until nearly all the syrup is absorbed. Do not scorch!
SYRUP for 2 QUARTS of CACTUS CUBES
Heat all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Then add cactus. Remove cactus from syrup, drain and roll in granulated or powdered sugar. For colored cactus candy, any vegetable food coloring may be added to the syrup.

Coltsfoot Candy

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Notes

Notes

Coltsfoot Candy
“An enjoyable way to soothe a cough”
Yield: 4 Servings
  • 1 liter Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) leaves
  • 600 ml Water
  • 450 g Sugar
  • 450 g Golden syrup
  • 50 g Butter
  • 2 1/2 g Baking soda
Boil the washed coltsfoot leaves in the water, and drain off the liquid. Put the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a pan and add the liquid. Bring to the boil, stirring, then continue to boil until a little of the candy turns brittle when dropped into a bowl of cold water. Take off the heat and add the soda Beat the mixture very well until it is almost stiff, then pour into a shallow, oiled baking tray. Allow to set, then break up into pieces and store in a jar.
Avril Rodway’s ‘Food From The Countryside’

Peppermint Candy

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Notes

Notes

Peppermint Candy
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh peppermint leaves
  • green food coloring (optional)
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until very stiff. Add the confectioners sugar and beat until very thick. Gently fold in the peppermint. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 250F for approx. 35 minutes or until dry. Allow to cool. Keep stored in airtight containers.
Canning, Food Storage, Potatoes

Canning Potatoes

2 Comments

Yesterday, I canned my first batch of potatoes. I will be canning both red potatoes and sweet potatoes. I purchased two 10 pound bags of red potatoes (I figured this was the best choice, since the only other option was russet potatoes) and two 10 pound boxes of sweet potatoes.

This was one of the easiest things to do! I left the skins on, cut them in half or quarters (depending on their size), and followed the directions here: http://jordansfarm.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/canning-potatoes/. They all sealed beautifully and only two sucked up some of the water (the jars are about half full of water) so those will be used first (miss paranoid here).

The 20 pounds of red potatoes filled 19 quart jars (with a few left over so I could enjoy them with dinner) and 20 pounds of sweet potatoes filled 14 jars (actually 16 but I did not want to pressure can 2 jars so mashed sweet potatoes were for lunch and dinner the next day).

Further down on the web page above page is instructions for canning sweet potatoes. That is how I will be doing the sweet potatoes tonight:

Sweet Potatoes canned:

Boil first for about 5 min. so as the skins will rub off.

Leave small ones whole/ or cut,

Pack into jars

Fill with water or med. syrup (med. syrup: 3 1/4 cup sugar and 5 cups water= 7 cups syrup)

Leave 1 inch head space, remove air bubbles

Pressure can 10 pounds for:

Pints: 1 hour 5 minutes
Quarts: 1 hour and 30 minutes

I packed in syrup but a light syrup instead. I went looking around for light syrup recipes that would allow me to incorporate honey. I found this page (http://www.pickyourown.org/sugarsolution.htm), and it turns out you can replace half the sugar with honey! That’s what I did!

I love fresh sweet potatoes but after seeing how the red potatoes bleached out (no longer red) I am afraid of blah, bland sweet potatoes. I have not tried the sweet potatoes yet but last night we had corned beef hash with the canned red potatoes. I cubed them, put plenty of oil in the pan, let it brown without moving it around much, then removed them from the pan. We added them back right before the eggs were set. They tasted wonderful! They did not have that canned potato smell when we opened up the jar, and tasted just like boiled potatoes right out of the jar!

Canning, Food Storage, Preserving, Recipe

Miss Parloa’s New Cookbook 1882

Leave a comment

One of the biggest treasures I have found online is from Michigan State University. It’s a site called Feeding America and features over 70 American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. I really can’t begin to tell you how much computer space I have in old cookbooks. If only I could have physical copies of them ALL.

Here’s one of the first I found (and tried recipes from). Please consider investigating the old cookbooks that are out there still. They can be invaluable, especially since they teach us so many things we have lost over the generations.

Miss Parloa’s New Cookbook: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking. New York:
C.T. Dillingham, 1882, c. 1880.

Here are just some of the recipes, which are fantastic!

Pickled Beets

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • beets boiled, skinned, and sliced
Per Each Beet
  • 1 onion slice
  • 1 tablespoon horseradish grated
  • 6 cloves whole
  • vinegar to cover

Method
 

  1. Cut boiled beets in slices. Lay these in a large glass jar or earthen pot.
  2. For every beet, put in one slice of onion, on tablespoonful of grated horseradish, six cloves, and vinegar enough to cover.
  3. The beets will be ready to use in ten or twelve hours. They will not keep more than a week.

Pickled Blueberries

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • blueberries fresh or frozen
  • molasses to cover

Method
 

  1. Nearly fill a jar with ripe berries, and fill up with good molasses. Cover, and set away. In a few weeks they will be ready to use.

Spiced Currants

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 3 pounds sugar
  • 1 pint vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons clove
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 pounds currants

Method
 

  1. Add all of the ingredients (except currants) to a large pot and bring to a boil. Stir until thickened.
  2. Stir in the currants, and cook for 30 minutes.

Pickled Cucumbers, No. 2

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 600 small cucumbers
  • 2 quarts peppers
  • 1 1/2 cups pickling salt
  • 1 cup alum
  • 3 gallons cider vinegar
  • 3 pints water
  • 1/4 pound whole cloves
  • 1/4 pound whole allspice
  • 1/4 pound cinnamon sticks
  • 2 ounces white mustard seed
  • cabbage leaves to cover

Method
 

  1. Wash and wipe six hundred small cucumbers and two quarts of peppers. Put them In a tub with one and a half cupfuls of salt and a piece of alum as large as an egg.
  2. Heat to the boiling point three gallons of cider vinegar and three pints of water. Add a quarter of a pound each of whole cloves, whole allspice and stick cinnamon, and two ounces of white mustard seed, and pour over pickles.
  3. Cover with cabbage leaves.

Salt Fish Recipes

To Cook Salt Codfish

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • salt cod
  • water

Method
 

  1. The fish should be thoroughly washed, and soaked in cold water over night.
  2. In the morning drain the fish and add fresh water. Turn on your burner to high, until it comes to a boil. As soon as the water comes to the boiling point, reduce to a simmer.
  3. From four to six hours will cook a very dry, hard fish, and there are kinds which will cook in half an hour

Salt Fish with Dropped Eggs

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pint cooked salt cod flaked
  • 1 pint milk or cream
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 6 eggs
  • 6 bread slices toasted
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste

Method
 

  1. Put milk on to boil, keeping half a cupful of it to mix the flour. Whisk in flour with 1/2 cup of milk. Once the milk boils, whisk in flour/milk mixture.
  2. Add the fish, season with salt and pepper, and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
  3. Heat water in a pot on medium high heat until it boils. Break each egg onto a small plate, then let the egg slide into the water. Poach all six eggs until desired doneness.
  4. Place the toasted bread on a platter. Pour the fish cream over each slice, then top with a poached egg.
  5. Garnish the dish with points of toast and parsley.

Salt Codfish, in Puree of Potatoes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 6 potatoes large
  • 3 cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 slice onion
  • 1 pint cooked salt cod
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon flour

Method
 

To Prepare The Potatoes
  1. Pare the potatoes and boil half an hour; then drain off the water, and mash them light and fine. Add the salt, pepper, one tablespoonful of butter, and the cupful of milk, which has been allowed to come to a boil. Beat very thoroughly, and spread a thin layer of the potatoes on the center of a hot platter. Heap the remainder around the edge, making a wall to keep in the cream and fish.
To Prepare The Fish
  1. Put the pint of milk on to boil with the onion. Mix flour and butter together, and when well mixed, add two tablespoonfuls of the hot milk. Stir all into the boiling milk, skim out the onion , add the fish and cook ten minutes. Season with pepper, and if not salt enough, with salt.
  2. Pour into center of the potatoes, garnish the outer ring with parsley, and serve.

Notes

This is a nice dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Salt Fish Souffle

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pint cooked salt fish finely chopped
  • 8 potatoes medium sized
  • 3/4 cup milk or cream hot
  • 2 eggs whole
  • 2 eggs separated
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste

Method
 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Pare the potatoes and boil thirty minutes. Drain the water from them, and mash very fine; then mix thoroughly with the fish.
  3. In a small saucepan, scald the milk or cream. Then add this, butter, salt, and pepper to the potato mixture.
  4. Let mixture cool while you beat the two whole eggs. Add to potato mixture, spread in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes.
  5. Separate the last two eggs, setting aside the yolks. Beat the yolks. In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites to a stiff peak, then fold in 1/4 teaspoon salt and the yolks.
  6. Remove baking dish from oven, spread egg white mixture over the top, then return to the oven to brown. Serve.