PRESERVED RHUBARB

This deliciously simple rhubarb recipe is from Diane Roupe's new book Blue Ribbon Country Canning. Diane is a preserving legend, having won numerous blue and red ribbons and the Iowa State Fair - the real deal in American canning country!

Last year, I was lucky enough to shoot all the photographs for Diane's book. Working on Blue Ribbon Country Canning was an amazing creative endeavor, and so different from my own book project - I loved the challenge of honoring another author's vision through photography. After 12 months, it feels fantastic to finally touch the pages and see all the work that went into the book become a reality.

When shooting Diane's book, I fell in love with her rhubarb and knew I had to share this recipe with all of you. Diane's rhubarb maintains a wonderful tart bite while being just sweetened enough by a bit of sugar. Imagine nestling little bits of puckery ruby-hued rhubarb onto a bowl of vanilla ice cream... yum!


INGREDIENTS adapted from Diane Roupe's Blue Ribbon Country Canning from Egg + Dart Press
{printable recipe}

• 2 1/4 pounds rhubarb
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Trim ends from rhubarb and slice stalks into 2 inch x 1/4 inch batons. Place cut rhubarb in a large stainless stockpot or dutch oven. Toss rhubarb with sugar. Cover and let rhubarb macerate for 4 hours to release its liquid. ( I occasionally stirred the rhubarb during this maceration phase.)

After 4 hours, place pot holding the rhubarb (and all of its released liquid) onto the stove top. Turn the flame to medium-high. Stir regularly while bringing the pot to a boil. Once boiling, count to 10 and remove the pan from the heat. (If you cook the rhubarb any longer, the fibers really break down and the consistency gets soft and mushy like stewed rhubarb. The flavor and texture are still delish, just not as firm as Diane's intention.)

Using a slotting spoon, immediately place rhubarb into jars and pour liquid over the top. Seal jars. For more information on this important phase of canning, please consult Diane's book, or your favorite canning guide. Keep in mind: you can also make this recipe and store the rhubarb in clean lidded containers in the fridge. Unsealed rhubarb should be eaten within 2 weeks.

Let jars cool to room temp and rest for 12 hours.

Serve rhubarb on something sweet and creamy like vanilla ice cream...






I thought you might enjoy a peek at some shots from the book...

 

OOPS... I MADE KUMQUAT MARMALADE

My marmalade was an accident. Let me explain...
 
We have had a major gardening renaissance at our house. After being away for a year and leaving our backyard veggies in the hands of a very kind, but non-gardening Finnish couple, we had some serious work to do. Our fence fell over, everything went to seed, and in many ways we had to simply start over.

Actually, the blank slate has been fun - there is something so soothing and simple about digging in the dirt. We recently planted a Pink Pearl Apple, Seckel Pear and a Blenheim Apricot to espalier along our sunny (rebuilt) fence. Arugula, broccoli raab, Japanese onions and favas are also taking root. Woo hoo!

When we were picking up supplies at Berkeley Hort the other day, I fell for a kumquat. It was sitting there calling out to me with cascades of adorable miniature fruit and lush green leaves. When I asked one of the gardeners about this little tree, she told me that kumquats are known to bring good luck and prosperity - I was sold.

To honor our newest little tree, I wanted to cook up something to share with you. I planned on making candied kumquats. Without a recipe and winging it in my typical fashion, I had marmalade before I knew it.  It was really good and just as a marmalade should be - tangy and thick.

Do you guys eat kumquats? How do you use them? I love that the little citrus gems can be eaten whole. And, I often slice them up and toss them in salads or just pop one in my mouth for a puckery bite.

Note: If you don't have access to kumquats, feel free to use orange peels for your marmalade.




HONEY-CITRUS MARMALADE makes one small jar of preserves
(printable recipe)

• 18 kumquats (or substitute 1 cup sliced orange peel, with as much pith removed as possible)
• 2/3 cup honey ( if you like your marmalade a little sweeter go ahead and add another 1/4 cup)
• 1 cup water

Thinly slice kumquats and remove seeds.

Place honey and water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium flame, stirring occasionally, until the honey has dissolved.

Add the sliced kumquats to the pan. Simmer uncovered and maintain a gentle bubbling for 30-35 minutes. When the mixture of fruit, honey, and water has thickened up, you're all done.

Remove pan from heat, let cool, then scoop marmalade into a little jar. Go ahead and feed yourself a few generous scoops of marmalade on crackers with butter.

Enjoy!

BOLINAS BLACKBERRY JAM

I'm feeling nostalgic these days.

I want my kids to have those memories. You know the ones where you wander through mysterious verdant paths searching for berries to pick. Where you have a basket in hand. A few minor wounds from thorny bushes. Fingers stained with berry juice.  Those memories.



Just after I put together this post to share with you, I got a very kind email that seemed amazingly prescient. Pam Fitch, the dear mom of Paul's best friends, wrote to me about how my husband would pick blackberries in the San Juan Islands when he was a kid visiting for the summer.  Pam would promise to make jams and cobblers, if the kids took the time to pick berries. I guess Paul spent most of his time eating his berries long before any could make it back to the kitchen.  When I shared the email with Paul, we both smiled at our long love of the blackberry hunt. For both of us, the memories are just as sweet as the fruit.

Here's to carrying on the tradition and joy of picking blackberries. Foraged berries may be funkier than those gorgeous specimens we can buy at the store, but we picked 'em ourselves, damn it. Now let's make some jam with our bounty....



INGREDIENTS
(printable recipe)

• 2 1/2 pounds or 5 cups of blackberries
• 3 - 3 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 lemon (zest and juice)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Wash the berries. Place berries  and sugar in a dutch oven or stock pot.

Zest the lemon and blanch the zest in hot water for 2-3 minutes to remove the bitter oils from the skins. Add blanched zest, along with the juice of the lemon, to the dutch oven. Stir everything together.

Set the dutch oven on the stove top over high heat. Stir berries regularly to avoid burning. You want the mixture to cook and bubble away vigorously. Taste periodically for sweetness and add a little more sugar, if you think it needs it. Trust yourself. I personally like my blackberry jam nice and sweet.

While your jam cooks, get your jars ready. A while back, Paul took a preserving class with local jam goddess, June Taylor, who taught Paul a very easy sterilizing technique: place clean jars on a baking sheet in a 250 degree oven while your jam is cooking (for at least 10 minutes). Paul also puts a glass Pyrex pouring cup in the oven along with the jars to sterilize the all the glass. He then washes the lids and seals in hot soapy water. (If you use Weck's glass lids, you can sterilize them in the oven too.)

Set everything aside when sterile and wait for jam finish cooking.

Your jam should be done as it becomes thick and syrupy after about 10-15 minutes of bubbling. There is a whole jamming mystery about achieving the proper set and there is also a lot of subjectivity about this notion. I followed Paul's suggestions and he said to look for the the foam to lessen and the bubbles settle down a bit as the jam reaches the point of doneness.

Scoop hot jam into the jars using the sterile Pyrex pouring cup. Be sure to use a clean paper towel to wipe any excess jam for the lip of the jar before you pop the lids on. Seal immediately and the hot jam locks everything into place.

Enjoy!



makes 6 cups

SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES

If you are anything like me, you find yourself drooling over the huge piles of late summer produce at the market. I am scarfing down peaches, tomatoes, and pluots like they are going out of style. I guess that is the point... these delights of summer are not gonna to be around for long. So let's talk more about preserving. We made pickles last go around, now it's time for preserving tomatoes!

I love the rich, sweetness of an oven-roasted tomato. And I am particularly drawn to the caramelized taste of this slow roasted version. I hope you like it too!




INGREDIENTS
(printable recipe)

• 2 pounds fresh tomatoes (I am addicted to Dry Farmed Early Girls - they may not look fancy, but the flavor is unbeatable in my opinion)
• olive oil
• sea salt
• optional: 1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (or the lowest setting). Slice small tomatoes in half and spread them out over a metal baking sheet. (If you are using big heirlooms, cut them into quarters or even eighths.) Lightly drizzle olive oil over the tops of the tomatoes. Sprinkle generously with sea salt. And I like to sprinkle on a bit of sugar too, just to add to that caramely goodness.

Check your tomatoes after a couple of hours and see what you think. I have read about people cooking tomatoes in this fashion and leaving them in the 200-250 degree oven for anywhere from 1.5 to 6 hours. I found that they are just right for me after about 3 hours.

You can go ahead and eat the roasted tomatoes right away - they are hard to resist. But if you want to keep a taste of summer for a cold autumn day, place the roasted tomatoes in a jar, cover them with olive oil and keep in the fridge until later.

Enjoy!

Peach Puree

I made this puree out of a sense of devotion to Thomas Keller. For months have been craving his Peach Salad with Marcona almonds. Finally, peach season has begun and I have a chance to indulge.  Usually I don't follow recipes with such precision, but Keller's recipe calls for peach puree as a base for the salad's dressing and Keller brings out the perfectionist in me.

INGREDIENTS
from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

• 2 pounds ripe peaches
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

First peel the peaches. If the skins cannot be easily removed, bring a pot of water to a boil. Cut an X in the bottom of each peach that extends about 2/3rds of the way up the sides. Plop the peaches in the simmering water for 30-60 seconds or until the skins begin to loosen. (My peaches were not super ripe so it took a few minutes in the hot water before the skins were loose.) Remove peaches from boiling water and transfer them to an ice bath.

 Peel peaches......

Remove pits and cut peach flesh into 1/2 inch pieces. Puree the peaches in a blender (Keller suggests a Vita-Mix machine. I just used my regular blender). Put puree through a fine mesh strainer.

Mix puree, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Keller suggests placing a candy thermometer on the pan and cooking the puree at a simmer until it reaches 215-220 degrees. Skim off foam as it appears. (I would suggest keeping an eye on the texture of the puree as it cooks. By the time my puree reaches 200 degrees it was a bit too thick. ) Remove from heat.

Pour puree into a jar and let cool to room temp. Cover and refrigerate for up to one month.

I have to confess, after making the peach salad, I am not sure that I would go to the effort of cooking the peach puree again. It isn't terribly difficult to make, but it felt like one step too many (and led to the dirtying of way too many dishes) just to make a salad. Simply adding diced peach to the dressing will be enough for me next time. Regardless of my lazy tendencies, I felt I should share Keller's recipe with you. The puree does find other uses - like being mixed in with yogurt or spread on toast. And if Keller brings out the perfectionist in you, I wanted you to have access to his complete original recipe.

Makes about 2 cups

Preserved Meyer Lemons

Everyone in Berkeley seems to find access to a Meyer that produces a surplus of lemons. We've made Meyer Lemon Marmalade, Lemon Tarts, and lemon juice goes into just about everything from salad dressing to a cup of tea. A while back, our neighbor, Rich gave us a jar of his preserved Meyer lemons,  introducing us to yet another other means of enjoying the bountiful citrus. If you don't have Meyer lemons, other lemons will work in this recipe.

Preserving lemons is simple, yet they take a month to cure before you can use them. That leaves plenty of time to dream up recipes to put the lemons to good use. One such recipe is Braised Halibut with Pistachios and Preserved Lemons. My mouth waters when I think of how good the dish is.

Let me know if you have other favorite recipes that call for Preserved Lemons. I have a huge jar just starting to cure.


INGREDIENTS
 borrowed from Rich, a beautiful cookbook, Modern Moroccan by Gjille Basan

• 12 lemons (Meyers if you have them)
• 10 tablespoons sea salt

Scrub lemons until nice and clean. Cut a thin slice from the tops and bottoms of 10 lemons. (Set 2 whole lemons aside to juice later.) Cut two deep intersecting slits in the 10 lemon. Make sure each lemon is still attached, but the center should be nice and accessible to receive lots of salt. Heap sea salt into each crevice. Squish salted lemons into a clean jar or two.

Let lemons sit jarred for 3-4 days allowing the skins to soften. Then press the lemons again and cover them with juice squeezed from the two remaining lemons. Be sure the curing lemons are completely covered with juice.

Store in the refrigerator for at least a month before using. As needed, pluck a preserved lemon from the jar, rinse off salt and use as directed by your recipe.

P is usually the preserving-guy in our house - it was fun to have my turn.

Dandelion Preserves

365 Dandelion Flowers.

I love the poetry of this recipe to celebrate the first day of Spring.

Why not get out there tomorrow and find a sunny dandelion patch?

My friend Meg gave me a mason jar of Dandelion Jelly. Just returned from France, she was filled with great rustic food inspiration. In France, Meg spent her days making chestnut sausage with pork from her neighbor Regis' lovingly-raised pig. My mouth waters every time Meg and I talk food.

Of course P had to try making some dandelion jelly himself: he cannot resist anything foraged and preserved. I was happy because this jelly is delicious with a bright springy flavor very reminiscent of local honey. We'll have to pass some on to friends and continue sharing the beauty of Spring. After 365 days of waiting, we need to celebrate.

INGREDIENTS

• 365 ripe yellow Dandelion flowers
  
• 6 cups water
• 6 cups sugar
• juice of one lemon
• Pectin (Recipe revision: follow directions on your pectin box. Use approximately 8 teaspoons pectin for this recipe. You can adjust your levels according to how thick you like your preserves: more pectin=jelly while less/no pectin=syrup.)

Find a protected patch of dandelions that have not been sprayed with pesticides. Pick 365 blossoms. Wash thoroughly.  Snip off green base of each flower so that you have only petals for the jelly. Place petals in a large bowl or dutch oven.

Pour water into the pot with the dandelion petals. Add lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, let cool. Transfer dandelion petals and the liquids to a bowl, cover mixture with wax paper and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, return mixture to dutch oven. Add sugar. Bring to a vigorous boil and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to incorporate sugar. Remove from heat, let liquid cool to a manageable temperature. Strain out petals and discard. Add pectin, return liquid to a boil for another 5-10 minutes.

(Please note we are having some consistency (a looser set) issues with P's recipe. Please bare with us as we try to tweak the directions. Meg, my original Dandelion Jelly inspiration, shared some of her wisdom and the lovely Sarah at Toronto Tasting Notes is doing some recipe testing with her abundant dandelions. Sadly, that moment in Spring has already passed for us here in Berkeley. I will have to wait until next Spring. If any of you experienced preservers out there have suggestions, we are always open. Thanks!)

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

When we moved into our house, there was a beautiful Meyer Lemon tree set in this great nook between our bedroom and the kitchen. The tree was thick with green leaves but was not getting enough light to produce plentiful lemons. Besides, that nook looked like just the place for a hot tub. The tree had to go, but we were not prepared just to chip it up for the compost bin. Instead, we decided to pull it up and transplant it, in our friends' yard. The process was laughable, involving four adults, lots of burlap, and a horse trailer. By the time we got the poor tree into the ground at its new home, the adults were down about a pint of blood each and the tree was clinging to life and very little root soil. I gave it a five percent chance for survival.

Needless to say, the plucky citrus did more than survive; in the years since its traumatic move, it has thrived, filling a corner of Amy and Doug's yard with green and producing baskets of lemons. We just got another delivery juicy lemons and the goal was to make all things lemony for as long as we could. One choice we had to make was to jar up some marmalade.

Here is how I did it the second time. I have to admit the first go around was more fun because I had great friends helping, but I think the second batch was better for being a lot sweeter.

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced Meyer lemons
6 cups water
7 1/2 cups sugar






Start by preparing your lemons. Slice each in half, from end to end. Use a sharp knife to cut out the core. Run your fingers along the missing core to remove all seeds. Save the cores and seeds in a double-thick piece of cheese cloth. You will be cooking that satchel of core and seeds with your marmalade to provide pectin which you need to firm up your delicious brew. Take each lemon half and slice it into half rounds. The thickness of your slices are a matter of taste. How big do you like your peels to be in the marmalade? I like to keep my slices irregular so that I get all sorts of peels in my marmalade. Take all your lemon slices, your satchel of pits and cores, and put them in a glass or ceramic bowl. Add the water, cover with parchment paper and put in the refrigerator overnight.

Next day, take out your yummy concoction and pour it into your jamming pot. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook on high heat until your sliced peels get soft, about 20 minutes. Take out the satchel and set it aside to cool. Before returning the mixture to a boil, you are going to want to squeeze out as much of the pectin as you can from the satchel. Then discard it to the compost. Now, add your sugar. When I made my second batch, I started with six cups of sugar and kept adding half cup portions until I reached the flavor I wanted, at 7 1/2 cups. The marmalade is sweet, but there is still plenty of lemony tang. I think the marmalade now sits at a perfect equilibrium, but I am guessing these are subjective matters. Once all the sugar is in, return the mixture to a boil and cook at high heat until you bring the marmalade to a temperature of 221 degrees, to insure a good set. This last part took me about 10 minutes.

While your marmalade is going through its final boil, prepare your half-pint jars to receive the golden gift. I used the oven this time, cooking my jars at 250 degrees for 10 minutes, and washing the lids with hot soapy water.

When the marmalade reaches 221 degrees, transfer it immediately into jars and seal. I got a bit more than 8 half-pint jars. Fantastic and beautiful. They make excellent gifts for the New Year.

We started 2010 eating the marmalade with homemade biscuits.

Pear Jam with Cinnamon and Red Wine

It's Paul here. Log-in woes have me writing from E's account, but this is my latest jam post, the second pear recipe stemming from the bounty of fall and the beautiful coastal town of Bolinas. The pear base for this jam came from some gnarled old trees in Bolinas, and the red wine is from the town's most famous wine maker, Sean Thackrey. This one is his red blend called Pleiades. It is delicious and balanced: a great wine for drinking. The jam from this recipe is so flavorful, with a gorgeous, deep red color.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 pounds ripe, but still firm pears
• 3 cups agave nectar or 4 1/4 cup of sugar
• Juice from one small lemon
• 1 1/4 cups red wine
• 1 cinnamon stick

Peel the pears, remove the stems, halve them, core them, and cut each half into slices. In your jamming pot, combine the pears, agave or sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer, then pour the scrumptiousness into a bowl. Cover with parchment paper and put into the refrigerator overnight.

Next day, bring the jam to a boil, while you sterilize your jars and lids. Skim the surface of the jam to remove the foam. Bubbles are not a problem, you just want to get rid of the foam. Add the red wine and return the jam to a boil and continue cooking at a boil for about 10 minutes, stirring gently. Skim as you go, as necessary. After 10 minutes of cooking, gently lift out the pear slices and cinnamon stick. Divide the pear slices into your jars. Boil the syrup for about 5 minutes. Finally, fill the jars with the syrup and seal.

As you can see, we have already tried the jam on waffles. We did not get the picture, but substituting yogurt or creme fraiche for butter with the waffles and jam is an amazing variation on this theme. Sooo good.

This recipe is from Christina Ferber's wonderful book of jam recipes, Mes Confitures.

Pear Jam with Ginger

My mother-in-law lives out by the beach, and she has a neighbor with a very happy pear tree. "You should come out and pick some pears, you guys. They are delicious." So she kept telling us for few weeks. Free pears, picked ourselves... sounds like another jamming opportunity. Out we go, with my copy of Christine Ferber's jam book, and a box full of half-pint jars and lids. With the pears safely in hand, it was time to chose some recipes. I decided to make two different jams, and I will share the first today.


Ingredients

2 3/4 pounds pears
1 3/4 cups agave nectar (or 2 3/4 cups of sugar)
7 oz local honey (I used some made by hard-working Sacramento Delta bees)
Juice of one small Meyer lemon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons pectin (I use Pomona's Universal)
2-3 tablespoons sugar (to use as a mixer for the pectin powder)



Prepare the pears by peeling, coring, and removing their stems. To core them, I sliced them into quarters and quickly cut out the core, seeds and all. Next slice each quarter thinly, against the grain, making short rather than long slices. In your cooking pot, combine the pears, agave, honey, lemon juice, and grated ginger. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Turn off the heat and pour the sweet goodness into a bowl. Cover with parchment paper and put in the refrigerator overnight.
Next day, pour the mixture back into your cooking pot, and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the pectin, mixed with a few tablespoons of sugar, to keep it from staying chunky in the jam. Bring your jam back to a boil and cook it on high heat for about 5 minutes. Remember, you want the jam to reach 221 degrees to insure a nice set. Feel free to skim off any unsightly foam from the top of the jam. If you do, return the jam to a boil before carefully pouring the jam into your jars. This recipe should produce about 3 pints of jam.
As you can see from the photo above, we are enjoying the jam with warm biscuits (gluten-free, of course) right out of the oven.

Fig Jam with Local Honey and Bay

More of the plenty from our hard-working fig tree. This recipe is poached from my sacred jamming text, Mes Confitures: the Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber. If any of our dear readers have questions about the more technical aspects of making jam, please feel free to send me some questions. I am just a neophyte, but I am getting better, and I have some good resources.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds brown turkey figs (I think any variety would be great)
2 1/3 cups of agave nectar (or 3 1/4 cups of sugar)
3 1/2 oz floral honey (use local honey because it will help with your hay fever)
6 bay leaves
Juice of one Meyer lemon
1 1/2 teaspoon pectin (I use Pomona's Universal Pectin)
1 tablespoon sugar

Remove the stems from the figs and cut the fruit up into thin slices. In a glass or ceramic bowl combine the fig slices, honey, lemon juice, and bay leaves. Let the fruit macerate for 30 minutes.
Put the mixture into a preserving pan. We were lucky enough to get a beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven for our wedding; I like to use this for all my jams. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Then turn back into the original bowl, cover with a piece of parchment, and refrigerate overnight.
Next day, you will have a decision to make. My recipe does not call for any added pectin, which is a gelling agent extracted from citrus fruit. This is the stuff that makes jams more or less solid. I think that my decision to use agave nectar (lower glycemic index) compels me to add a bit of pectin as I am cooking the jam. Otherwise, my finished product ends up being too thin. I use Pomona's Universal Pectin, and tend to use less of the mixture than the company recommends. I add about one and a half teaspoons to this recipe, mixing it with one or two tablespoons of sugar before adding. Mixing with the sugar helps keep the pectin from staying chunky in your jam (that's unsightly). If you use sugar instead of agave, try to jam without the pectin.
Now, you can bring the jam to a boil and continue cooking on high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring gently. Jam must reach 221 degrees in order to set properly. Use a candy thermometer to check. Remove the bay leaves and return to a boil. Put the jam into sterilized jars immediately and seal.

This jam is delicious accompanying duck or pork. We served it with some duck liver and pork pate and Mary's Gone Crackers (gluten-free), and it was unbelievable.

Plum Jam

Here's my latest jam recipe:
Wild Bolinas Golden Plums with Meyer Lemons, Wild-flower honey, and Agave.
First, slice two lemons finely and stew them with 1/3 cup of agave and 1 cup of water, until the slices start to look translucent, about 5 minutes. Into the same pot add about two and a half lbs of plums, whole. You can use any plums, I would guess. I just like to collect them from around the neighborhood for free. With the plums add 4 oz of honey and 3 1/2 cups of agave, along with the juice from one lemon. Bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes then put the whole concoction into a glass or ceramic bowl and refrigerate overnight (covered with parchment paper).
Following day, remove the pits; huge pain, but it must be done. Next, bring your jam to a boil (get it up to 220 degrees); skim off any froth. Now, put the jam into jars. For all the preparation of the jars-boiling, baking, sterilizing-just check your grandma's cook books. I'll post the instructions for that another time.
You should get about 6 or 7 half-pint jars of jam.
Delicious.