6th Annual Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus

I have never been a very lucky person. In fact, I think the last time I won anything (other than a Free Donut) would have been back in Grade 3 or 4. Our school participated in the MS Readathon and I won 2 tickets to see The Edmonton Oilers. To this day, I remember the thrill of winning. How my heart picked up speed and I felt my face redden as I walked to the front of the library to receive my prize.

All of this came flashing back to me when I heard the words ‘Christine Manning’ announced as the 2^nd place winner (two times) this weekend at the 6^th annual Mad for Marmalade held at Fort York. I had decided when I heard about the marmalade competition that I was going to enter. It would be the first time I entered a preserving competition and as silly as it may sound, I was rather nervous. I entered my marmalades in 2 different categories; Traditional Seville Orange Marmalade and Citrus Combo, where I decided to enter a relatively new recipe that I had adapted - lime cilantro marmalade.

Photo courtesy of: Sarah B Hood

I initially found out about Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus from Sarah B. Hood’s blog. Her preserving cookbook 'We Sure Can' has gotten a LOT of use in my house, so I was excited to see that she would be leading a workshop and sharing some of her tips for how to make Blue Ribbon Marmalades. Sign me up!

The morning was spent with Sarah in her workshop which was situated in one of the barrack’s at Fort York which was a surprisingly cozy and comfortable space. She shared some tips that I frantically wrote down for future reference and we all shared a jar of her fabulous Orange Marmalade and her Grapefruit Marmalade. It was an informative and enjoyable session and I was happy to have been a part of it.

Then we returned for a great demo by Chef Emily Richards. She created a couple of dishes for us using Citrus juices that filled the hall up with amazing scents and got everyone’s stomach grumbling. After a delicious lunch, it was time for the competition announcements. They started with the 3^rd place winners in each category and when I didn’t hear my name mentioned there I almost stopped paying attention. Thankfully, I didn’t because both of my entries received a 2^nd place prize and I took home two fabulous Emile Henry Salt Pigs.

Photo courtesy of: Sarah B Hood

I learned something about myself on this day. I may have aged a lot since grade 4, but one thing has not changed – I still felt my heart pick up speed and I am certain I felt my face turn red as I walked up to get my awards.

Then, when I thought the day couldn’t possibly get any better, I ended up winning the door prize which was a fabulous, sexy Cuisinart. It was definitely my day ;).

Super Spicy Pickled Celery

It all started over the Christmas holidays. You see, my family all lives out in Alberta so my husband and I needed to start alternating where we spent our Christmas in order to keep it fair. And this year, we spent it here in Ontario. It was an amazing holiday, but there were a few days where I felt a little bit of the ol' homesickness start to creep into the everyday. For quite a few years I had been going to my Nona's house for Christmas. It was usually a small gathering, just my mom, aunt and uncle and my sister Deb. Well Deb and I started to create a few of our own traditions and one of them was the Christmas Caesar.

So I found myself thinking about family, about my nona and sisters, nieces and nephews - you know, all of the really important things. And then I started to crave my sister's Caesar's. This all led to me experimenting with pickled celery recipes, which you may have read about here within the pages of my blog. I came up with two recipes that I thought were really good. One of them perhaps a touch too spicy for the every day consumer, so I thought I would share it here on these pages. If you like spicy, then get ready!

Super Spicy Pickled Celery

3 bunches of celery

6 cups pickling vinegar

2 cups water

1/2 cup pickling salt

1 tsp dill seed (per jar)

1 garlic clove (peeled and whole) per jar

1- 3 whole chili peppers (per jar)

Sterilize your jars and warm your lids following safe canning instructions.

Wash your celery thoroughly and then chop the stalks to the desired length depending on the shape of your jar and place into jars leaving a minimum of a 1/2" clearance.

Combine the water, vinegar and salt in a non reactive pot, stir well and cover. Place over medium high heat and bring to a boil ensuring that all the salt dissolves.

Place dill, garlic and chili peppers in each jar with the celery and pour the vinegar mixture into the jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Run a plastic knife down the inside of the jars to release any trapped air bubbles and then wipe the rims and threads with a damp close and seal with your already warmed lids.

Place the jars in your hot water bath and process at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the hot water bath and allow jars to cool completely on the counter. This will age nicely in approximately 2 weeks.

For your reference I used 2 whole dried chilli peppers in mine and they were what I would consider super spicy. Yields between 5-7, 500ml jars.

Marmalade is back and Pickled Celery has arrived

It has become a bi tof a tradition that every winter when the Seville Oranges arrive my mother in law and I get together for a day and make marmalade. It is from a cookbook that her mother had and her mother's mother had before her. The spine is cracked and the pages have yellowed, but the recipe is still as good today as it was the day it was printed.

This year was no different, except this year we weren't just making marmalade for our personal use, this year I was making it in preparation for the farmer's market. I was amazed last year at how many customers loved the flavour of this old fashioned marmalade and was not going to arrive empty handed for this year's market.

But the creating did not stop with marmalade this weekend. I have been working on a recipe for pickled celery for a while now and have landed on a recipe that I think is perfect. I already have some on the shelves that has been aging for a few weeks now and next weekend it will be time to deliver it to The Meat Dept. So get your tastebuds prepared and have clamato juice on hand, because these babies are going to have you craving Worchestershire and Tabasco Sauce!

3 tips for delicious marmalade

My mother in law makes a mean traditional seville orange marmalade. Perhaps it is because she is Bristish and it is in her dna? Whatever the case, her marmalade is the first that I have ever liked. Generally speaking I have found marmalade to be too bitter but the marmalade that she packs into her jars has a deep orange flavour that over rides the bitterness.

There are a few tips I have learned through making marmalade at her side and a few I have picked up along the way as I experimented with marmalades made with meyer lemons, pink grapefruit and even limes.

If you are planning on making marmalade, I have a few tips to share:

• briefly soak your citrus peels or zest in water before making your marmalade. This helps remove some of the bitterness from the peels
• add between 1/2 tsp to a full tsp of unsalted butter to the marmalade as it cooks. This will reduce the amount of foam that needs to be skimmed off at the end. You will end up with a nice clear marmalade.
• Take the little extra time to supreme your oranges. You will notice a hige difference as the final product will taste more of fruit and less of the pith.

No go forth and make marmalade

The Insight Project: Hacking into the food industry with Matt Basile

I was unbelievable excited about a week ago when a Google alert popped into my mailbox and one of the articles was about a food entrepreneur workshop being hosted by The Insight Group. As a small business owner, I have many challenges that I struggle with on a daily basis - especially since I also have a demanding full time job that limits my availability to concentrate on my small business. Each day there are things on my to do list that range from sorting out nutrition facts and bar codes, distribution, finding suitable and available commercial kitchen space right down to creating invoices and labelling jars.

There are days where it feels like an insurmountable task. So I had literally only read the first paragraph of the article and I was excited already. A day with like-minded entrepreneurs who were perhaps struggling with some of the same things as I was sounded like an amazing way to spend a Sunday. Count me in! The fact that it was being hosted by Matt Basile, creator of Fidel Gastro was the icing on the cake. I had followed his evolution and loved his guerrilla approach to successful business.

I applied and this morning found out that I have been accepted as one of the 10 participants. My mind is already spinning with questions and ideas. For anyone out there who might be in a similar situation to myself – there are still 2 spots left so make sure you jump on this chance. Applications are being accepted until Friday, February 8th and the session is being held this Sunday.

Hope to see you there!