Preserving Classes - Why take one?

For some reason, people don't very often give me preserves. I guess they think that because I have shelves filled with preserves in my basement that there is no point. But on Thursday of last week I received a lovely bag of preserves from my friend Cheryl. In fact, I never would have met Cheryl if it hadn't been for preserves. She came up to my table at my very first farmer's market last summer and then she attended a couple of my preserving classes last summer. The rest is history.

Last Thursday, Cheryl joined me on a little trip to Tap Phong so that I could ogle expensive kitchen equipment I hope to one day own. On our little adventure together, Cheryl shared 4 lovely jars of jam with me that she had made. An organic strawberry jam that I sampled this morning on toast for breakfast. It was jam packed full of organic strawberries and tasted fresh and not overly sweet. Amazing. I am savouring the ramaining 3 jams; strawberry basil, rhubarb vanilla and strawberry rhubarb.

But the other gift that Cheryl gave me was one I don't even think she realized she gave me. We were winding our way up and down the aisles at Tap Phong and casually, over her shoulder she said 'You know, until I took your classes, preserving wasn't really that interesting to me. You changed all that' and then she proceeded to tell me how she has a pickle recipe she is dying to try out.

'Yes, yes, yes', I screamed inside my mind. That is EXACTLY why I love teaching my classes. My goal is to convert as many people into canners and preservers as possible. To show them how much fun it can be, how wonderful it is to have a pantry full of summer awaiting you all year round and to make jams, jellies or pickles that taste of the fruit or vegetable inside the jar and not of preservatives.

And check this out...Cheryl got busy once again today. Wonder if she will share?

Top reasons for why your jars may have lost liquid during the hot water bath

Ever spend an afternoon or even a couple of hours pickling or preserving something tasty only to be disappointed when you pull the jars out of the water bath canner and see that the liquid level has dropped significantly? When this happens you are often left scratching your head and wondering what went wrong and wondering if it is still safe to eat.

The top reasons for this occuring (in no particular order) are:

• Overpacking your jars. I know we want each jar filled with as much goodness as possible, but it is possible to overpack your jars
• Ensure that after you have filled the jars with brine that you take the time to release air bubbles before sealing the jars
• Accurately measure the head space provided in the recipe. Over filling the jars can cause them to overflow in the hot water bath
• If using the raw pack method ensure the brine or liquid you are adding is still HOT when added to the jars
• Starchy foods tend to absorb more liquid. So make a note to use more liquid when pickling these types of items
• Don't over or under tighter the band on the jars. Over tightening can cause too much pressure to build up inside of the jar as air attempts to escape and under tightening can allow the lid with the sealing compound to float up off the jar in the water bath.
• Ensure that you cover the jars with at least an inch of water during the water bath

Is it still safe to eat?

All is not lost. I wouldn't suggest putting these jars in your pantry and planning on storing them for months. However, if the liquid loss is not significant and if your jars have all sealed properly keep an eye on the jars and eat them up quicker than you originally planned.

July's FoodiePages chef box contains Manning Canning goodness

Chef Sebastien Houle from Restaurant sEb l’artisan culinaire in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec and FoodiePages.ca collaborate on a summer lunch or light dinner.

FoodiePages.ca, the online marketplace where you can buy Manning Canning products and have them delivered to your front door, continues its collaboration with top Canadian chefs and award winning cookbook authors. Its July Chef’s Box is curated by Chef Sebastien Houle from Restaurant sEb l’artisan culinaire (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec) and has everything you need to make a delicious summer meal – including Manning Canning Angry Pickled Garlic.  Recipes and these ingredients are delivered right to your door!

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix from Full of Beans (Bornholm ON) – Kim learned to make gluten free dishes to alleviate the health problems of one of her children.  Today, she`s turned this into an award-winning business.  Her whole romano bean flour is recognized by the Celiac Association as a substitute for wheat.

Pickled Ox-Eye Daisy Capers from Gourmet Sauvage (Saint-Faustin-Lac-Carré QC) – Gérald trains and leads groups to recognize and forage wild edibles, making sure to never threaten the plant population.  The pickings are cooked slowly in small batches to retain their natural flavours.  Ox-eye daisy capers are mild and spicy, and can be used just like a regular caper – with smoked salmon, on a tomato salad, in sauces etc.

 Angry Pickled Garlic from Manning Canning (Toronto ON) – Christine makes each jar by hand, and takes special care in the selection of ingredients right through to the execution of her imaginative recipes.  This pickled garlic is great in a spaghetti sauce or on a charcuterie board.

Cointreau Liqueur Flavoured Honey from Heavenly Honey (Blackburn Hamlet ON) – Bill makes this from traditional Country Garden Honey flavoured with Cointreau, just one of his many popular liqueur-flavoured specialties.  Bill has been making honey with his bees for over 20 years, and never stops innovating!

Mini Motza Mozzarella Kit from Make Cheese (Calgary AB) – Ella interned as a cheesemaker, visiting and working on 25 farms.  She learned about nature, animals, people, and most of all, making cheese.  Now you can `make cheese` too!  You can make 8 batches of mozzarella with this kit!  Each batch takes about 30 minutes!

Chef Houle spent several years as head chef  on some of the world’s largest yachts, including Tatoosh, the 303 foot private yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.  In 2005 he returned to Quebec and opened Restaurant sEb l’artisan culinaire.  His inventive cuisine is inspired by his many voyages throughout the world, while using the very best local products in the Laurentians and throughout Quebec.  Locals and celebrities alike come here to appreciate extraordinary cuisine in a congenial atmosphere.

CHEF’S BOX subscriptions are available online at FoodiePages.ca. The Chef’s Box is $55 per month (either as a single month or a recurring order billed monthly), $150 for a 3-month subscription or $270 for a 6-month subscription.  Each CHEF’S BOX is curated by a top Canadian Chef and contains their favourite foods and recipes, delivered to your door monthly. 

Mint Lime Lemonade

It has been a couple of hot and humid days here in Toronto and working in a commercial kitchen tends to be pretty thirsty work. Yesterday the temperature soared into the 30's and I started my shift in the commercial kitchen at 8am. At any one given time there were a minimum of 5 burners on the go and of course the AC in the building was on the fritz...so you can only imagine how hot it got.

And what did I forget to do? You guessed it, I forgot to drink water and stay hydrated.

It only gets worse from here. After I wrapped up in the kitchen, I went home and unloaded approximately 120 jars of pickled cauliflower, unpacked all the tools I needed in the kitchen and repacked and reloaded the car for the evening's preserving class. It would be another 3 hours in a kitchen over a stove and once again the AC was on the fritz and once again, I forgot to drink water and stay hydrated.

So all day long today I have been thinking about a cool, refreshing drink.

On today's kitchen agenda is mint jelly, which I am making special order for a local butcher shop and while chopping the mint I was consumed with the thought of a mojito but lacked the ingredients to whip one together.

Looking around the kitchen I found lemons and limes, sugar and honey and of course mint. I came up with this and at this very moment I am sitting on my front porch with that cool, refreshing drink I have spent the better part of the day fantasizing about.

Mint Lime Lemonade

Ingredients

7 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1 tbsp honey

1/2 cup mint, chopped

In a small pot combine 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar and over medium heat while stirring on a regular basis until the sugar dissolves, bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and allow the sugar mixture to cool.

Squeeze your lemons and limes and put the 2 cups of lemon/lime juice into a large pitcher. Add 2 cups of the sugar syrup, the remaining 5 cups of water, 1 tbsp of honey and the 1/2 cup of chopped mint.

If you have the luxury of time or perhaps more patience than I, place in the fridge and allow to cool. If like me, you want to drink this the moment it is made, add handfuls of ice, pour and enjoy!

During the monotony

Straw cattle shed on my grandparents farm

When you finally determine efficiencies in your process and begin to produce hundreds of jars of pickles or jams on a daily basis, there are some good things that come with that and then there are some bad or shall I say 'less good' things.

The good things are obvious, such as being able to sell to more stores, be part of more farmer's markets, etc. The 'less good' are things like - you wake up after a busy week in the commercial kitchen and find yourself staring at 1,000 jars that need to be labelled. Hopefully one day I will look back on this post with a warm fuzziness and find myself laughing at how time intensive the process used to be now that I own a labeller and it is all done more or less automatically. But for now, I sit and swear and feel my mind turn to mush as I label jar after jar after jar.

To break up the monotony of this task I will do things like watch tv, get up after every 2-3 cases and get some water, make a tea, read one of my favourite blogs to see what other people have been up to, annoy my dog Betty Boo, call someone, etc. But more and more often in this moments I find myself turning to my gran's journal.

On this day in the years 1937-1942 here is what she found herself doing.

June 20, 1938

So very hot and sultry. Smoke all the way from Peave River. Worst fire in history of the province ravaging North Country. Over to Grandma's in the afternoon. Roy works at shop.

June 20, 1939

Bright sunshine. So under the weather. Roy had to mix bread. 13 little chicks from pig pen. Roy thrown from plow in afternoon comes in sore and stiff. Can 6 qts of rhubarb jam.

June 20, 1940

Cold and windy. Reseeding peas. Roy tilling summer fallow. Cultivate garden in evening. Some things reviving so rows to follow. Beans, tomatoes and cucumbers quite gone. Ray wieghts 17.5lbs

June 20, 1941

Cold and cloudy, strong wind. Light frost this morning. Roy ploughing about sick with cold. Carol and I pick nice lot of strawberries. Children to Rosyth to play ball. Win for once.

June 20, 1942

Rain stopped. Rosemary at school. Garden gorwing fast but so many weeds. Cut out shirts for Kenny. Misfit somehow, must make alterations. Leo walking around in crib.