Toronto Canning and Preserving Classes

Get your calendar out and grab a pen so that you can mark down these dates. Or if you are one of the very few people with a mobile device (ha), enter these dates in your calendar.

May 27th

June 24th

July 29th

August 26th

September - date TBD

For the second year in a row, I am partnering with The Depanneur to provide the lovely residents of Toronto with several opportunities to learn how to preserve.

On the last Monday of every month starting in May and going until September, I will be teaching classes on how to make jam (including low sugar jams), pickle, preserve fruit, make salsa, etc.

The classes are very hands-on, light hearted and fun and you leave with the basic understanding of how to preserve safely in your own home and more importantly you get to take home the recipe and a jar of what gets made in the class.

Watch this space for more details as they will be coming soon.

St Lucia Inspired Pineapple Jam

If you were to ask my husband what his favourite part of our trip to St Lucia was, you would imagine his response to perhaps include the incredible warmth, the view of the sea from the little house we had rented, the great snorkelling, the fresh fish available at the local restaurants. All good guesses, yet every single one of them wrong.

His answer quite simply would be 'the rum punch'. Even I have to admit that it was the PERFECT thirst quenching drink on days where the weather climbed into the mid 30's.

One evening as an apertif, I ordered their local coconut rum and my tastebuds were very pleased. It is that little glass of coconut rum served with a wedge of fresh pineapple that inspired this recipe.

Pineapple Jam with Rum

1 ripe pineapple, cored and chopped into small pieces

3 cups sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp unsalted butter

3 oz liquid pectin

1/4 cup rum (you can add up to 1/2 cup)

Start by peeling, coring and cutting up the pineapple into very small pieces. Place it into a wide bottom non reactive pot. Add 3 cups of sugar and set aside for an hour, stirring once or twice. You will notice this brings the juices out in the pineapple and help dissolve the sugar.

After an hour transfer the pot to the stove and turn the heat to medium and add 2 tbsp of lemon. Stir the mixture until the sugar has completely dissolved and then add the butter.

Turning the heat to med high ,bring the pineapples to a gentle boil stirring constantly, add the rum and then reduce the heat, cover the pot and let them simmer for 10 minutes. By now you will notice that the pineapple chunks have begun to reduce in size and the mixture has gotten quite liquidy.

Turning the heat once again to med high bring the pineapple mixture to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Added 3oz of liquid pectin and stirred again constantly until the mixture returned to a rolling boil and let it boil for 60 seconds and then turned off the heat.

Leaving the pineapples to cool for several minutes so your fruit doesn't float (stir once or twice) and then ladle into sterilized jars leaving 1/4" headspace and put in water bath for 10 minutes.

My plan is to make this cocount cake, heat some of the jam in a pan and pour over the slices of cake as served. Is it wrong to have that for breakfast?

Gone Fishing

Tomorrow, James and I are off to St. Lucia. Betty already senses that something is up and her ears are down and forward and she is shuffling from one end of the house to the other with a serious pout on her face. But she will light up like a Christmas tree as soon as she realizes that her Uncle Craib is coming to take care of her.

I am having mixed emotions about my decision not to take my cell phone or ipad with me on this trip. I need to disconnect and decompress but as the hour creeps closer I almost twitch with the anxiety of disconnection.

But as soon as I am sitting on the balcony overlooking the Caribbean Sea all will be right with the world.

This post is just to let you all know there will be nothing but silence on the Manning Canning front for the next week. So if you send an email, have an inquiry or need to place an order - please be patient. I will respond as quickly as I can after I have returned.

Until then, enjoy your week and remember with each passing day we are one day closer to spring and gardens and fresh raspberries!

Top 3 Reasons to look forward to Spring

So many wonderful things happened today. First, the clocks went forward so we officially have an extra hour of daylight. For some people, that might not seem like such a big thing. But for me - it really signifies the END OF WINTER. Second, I opened my bedroom window to let in some fresh air and wasn't immediately cold. Third, when I opened the window there was a symphony of bird songs in the backyard. Fourth, I noticed the tulips were starting to poke their heads up in the front yard. Like I said - wonderful.things.happened. Oh yes, they did!

And all of these things started me thinking about all of the things I love about spring. Here are my top 3.

Chive Flower Blossom Vinegar

 Growing Tomatoes from Seed

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

Why are you looking forward to Spring?

Thanks Cuisinart

I am not sure what to make first with the wonderful prize I won last weekend at Crazy for Marmalade. But I am leaning towards making my mom's famous Butterhorns. I am interested to see how this beautiful piece of machinery handles that recipe.

Thanks again Cuisinart for the wonderful donation of this prize.