What To Do When Your Jam Turns Out Disgusting

Posted on May 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

I was lying in bed the other night, and thought to myself:

I’m going to make rose petal jam. I patted myself on the back for thinking of such a great idea and went to sleep.

I’d never made rose petal jam before even though I’ve seen recipes floating around the internet every once in awhile.  The roses in the garden are beautiful right now, and it seemed like a good enough idea.  I started the recipe and figured I’d thrown in some rainier cherries and some sliced lemon. Everything looked so pretty macerating in the fridge.

I thought about how nice the pictures would look for a rose petal jam.  I thought about how much I like flowers, and cherries.  Everything was going great. and then….I tasted some.

 

Oh my god, vomit.  It’s the most disgusting jam I’ve made in months.  Horrible. And it made me think…  how can I rationalize writing a post that still includes all these roses?

so here it is…

What To Do When You’re Cooking A Batch Of Jam And Realize That It’s Completely Screwed Up

If you get addicted to jamming, you’ll go through an awkward puberty phase where you’re breaking free from all the recipes in the pectin packet and starting to do your own thing.  Things don’t always go well.  These are a couple of the bad things that you might run into along the journey, with my hints for minimizing the damage.

It tastes bitter:

  • Try adding honey or brown sugar.  A cup of honey in a pot of jam can soften up the bitter edge of many citrus fruits.  Brown sugar (or other dark sugars) can help too.

It’s way too sweet:

  • Try adding some lemon juice. The tart flavor may help balance the sweetness.
  • If the jam is only partially cooked, stop cooking it and add more fresh fruit (but no more sugar!).
  • Can it as is…. there are some good applications for overly sweet jam, like using it in smoothies or mixed into yogurt, where you won’t notice the sweetness as much.

You realize, midway through, that the fruit on the bottom of the pot has burned:

  • Stop stirring immediately.  Remove the pot from the heat and, without stirring, pour the jam into a different container.  If you stir everything, the burnt fruit will definitely be in the whole batch and make it taste scorched.   If you separate the ruined part from the jam that was still potentially fine, you might be able to rescue it.  When the jam has cooled down a little bit, taste it and see if the flavors are worth putting into jars or whether it belongs in the compost.

The combination of flavors doesn’t work and it just tastes really gross:

  • Throw it away.  I used to try and save the jars with grand plans about somehow turning them into something edible, but ….  As you know, most jam has a lot of sugar in it.  If I’m going to bother eating sugar, I’d much rather it were from a perfect jar of wild blackberry jam, not that gross jar that’s been sitting in the pantry for a year already.  Yes, if you have a jar of jam with muddled flavors that didn’t turn out how it was supposed to, you can turn it into a really delicious glaze for stir-fried chicken by adding some soy sauce, chopped scallions and cilantro.  You could do all kinds of stuff with it, really. I never end up bothering with those ideas, though, because it usually involves turning what was a really light, healthy dinner into a sugary plate of junk food.   For me, it’s usually better to dump it in the compost and move on.

A last word of advice: 

I’ve found that if I mess up a batch of jam, the best thing to do is stop canning for the day.  If I’m frustrated, I tend to just mess things up even more.  It’s usually best just to go do something else instead and come back to the fruit when I’m feeling inspired and excited again.   I Try to learn from the experience so that I don’t do it again (rose petals are bitter, and so is the citrus pectin I made awhile back = disaster).

To make failures easier to handle, I try to never buy expensive fruit.  If you stick to local fruit when it’s in peak season, the prices should be low and if you mess up a batch or two it really won’t matter very much.  Try to remember that this is supposed to be something fun, and don’t get too worried about messing up a batch.

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Posted in Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Other Preserves

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Get Me Some Crackers: The Cheese Roundup

Posted on May 21, 2012 | 3 Comments

Another month done, can you believe it?

The April Resolution was to make fresh cheese, and it sure was delicious.  I still can’t believe how simple it was to throw together a batch of ricotta, and now that I’ve done that I’m definitely hoping to start tackling some slightly more complicated cheeses.  I suppose that holds true for all of the challenges we’ve been doing– during February, I managed to make a successful loaf of bread, but I’m still working on it and just got the Tartine Bread cookbook in the mail.  My kitchen is cluttered with big bags of beautiful local durum wheat, barley and whole wheat flour that I’ve been experimenting with for a fresh pasta blend.  I’m still trying to find that local source of milk for butter, and it still hasn’t happened, but I’ll keep up my search.

I hope you guys are all learning as much as I am, and having fun eating the projects too….

anyway, without further adieu, I give you: cheese!

Farmers Cheese Four Ways, from Homemade Trade: Aimee, that chive cheese sounds right up my alley…  and your second batch does look an awful lot like paneer. Do you think you could fry it up in cubes, or was it too creamy still?

Fresh Cheese from Grow and Resist: in which Meg faces her fear of cooking milk and successfully pulls off a batch of fresh cheese.  (also: I can’t wait to hear about those rhubarb cocktails… )

Homemade Ricotta and a Super Secret Family Recipe for New York Cheesecake: This cheesecake looks absolutely divine. Seriously.  Let’s all meet at Julianne’s house for dessert, I’ll go fuel up the jet and come get you guys.

(Have you started fermenting things yet for this month’s challenge? The topic is so broad, I’m curious to see what everyone comes up with.  Remember, posts are due by June 15th, and anyone that’s new to the party is free to join at anytime.  Just e-mail me a link to the url of your post by the due date.  My e-mail is thejamgirl@gmail.com.)

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Posted in Cook It 2012

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Cook it! 2012 May Resolution

Posted on May 17, 2012 | 12 Comments

It’s that time again… In case you’re just showing up to the party,  this year a little group of us decided to tackle a different kitchen project every month.  It began as a New Year’s Resolution, a decision to devote some time to learning new skills and having fun messing around in the kitchen.  So far, we’ve made pasta from scratch, baked bread, made fresh butter and fresh cheese.

Now that the sun is out and the garden is starting to grow like crazy, I thought it would be a good idea to get away from dry goods and dairy and start doing something with all these veggies.   Which brings me to the May resolution–  to keep it really broad, let’s just say…. the goal is to ferment something.  It could be something with vegetables, like sauerkraut or kimchi, or it could be wine, beer, kombucha, sourdough bread…  whatever.

I haven’t done nearly enough projects involving fermentation and I wanted to devote some time to learning about this ancient method of food preservation.  Wikipedia says that there’s evidence that people were fermenting beverages in Babylon around 3000 B.C.   (After doing manual farm labor in the sun all day, my brilliant insights regarding this are:  Holy crap.  That is a long time ago.)   The whole concept of it is magical, that you can take some cabbage or cucumbers or whatever and combine them with salt and then wait awhile and *poof* the vegetables preserve themselves.   I love the simplicity.

I’m also drawn to the fact that the produce isn’t really cooked, (unlike preservation via canning) so it will be higher in vitamins and minerals.  And, as you may know, the process of fermentation also creates all of the beneficial microorganisms that make for healthy digestive systems.

– and that last phrase, right there, is why I think I haven’t bothered much with fermentation in the past.   It wasn’t a conscious decision at all.  I fell in love with jam-making and all those jewel-toned jars so easily.  Discussions about jam usually mean talking about apricots and strawberries, and whether or not Weck jars are worth the price.  It seems like chatting about fermentation, on the other hand, almost invariably fast forwards right to conversations about pooping.   If you google kimchi and start researching health benefits, you get a couple sentences into the article and then hear about how eating kimchi helps prevent yeast infections – because really, nothing says “domestic goddess” like healthy girl parts.

So, yeah, health benefits aside, I’m really just doing this because I wanted a way to preserve all these spring vegetables.

The ferment that I made first this month is a traditional napa cabbage kimchi.  Kimchi doesn’t have to be made with napa cabbage, but there’s something about the texture of the fermented cabbage that I really love.  I started small with this project, doing a mini-batch since I don’t own any big fermenting crocks.

Small Batch Kimchi

This recipe is adapted from The Hungry Tigress’ Kimchi Primer, since I know absolutely nothing about making kimchi but she seems like she’s got it down pretty well.  This version is (I think) somewhat traditional, but I used easter egg radishes from my garden instead of asian daikon radishes.  It’s also a little heavy on the radish part since I had a lot of them and they needed preserving.

cook time: 25 minutes active cooking, and then a couple days to ferment

makes: about 2 quart jars

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium sized napa cabbage
  • 1 bunch of radishes
  • 1/2 c.green garlic tops, spring onion tops or scallions, diced
  • 1 tbs. paprika
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 tbs. ginger, grated
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • about 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

for the brine:

  • 1/2 c. sea salt
  • 2 quarts filtered water

Wash the cabbage and slice it into two inch squares.  Wash the radishes, remove the tops, and slice them into very thin rounds.  Combine the salt and water in a large nonreactive bowl and stir well to combine.  Add the cabbage and radishes to the brine.  To keep the veggies from floating, put a plate on top of them and then cover the whole thing with saran wrap.  Leave it out at room temperature overnight to soak.

The next morning, drain the vegetables, reserving the brine.  Mix together all of the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl (the minced garlic bulb and ginger, green garlic tops, paprika, sugar and cayenne).   Pour this mixture over the cabbage and radishes.  Give a few stirs to make sure everything’s nicely combined.

Transfer the seasoned vegetable mixture to two clean quart jars* and cover with the reserved brine.  Screw on lids and set in a warm, dark corner somewhere in your house.  For the next few days, you’ll need to open the jars and stir them with a clean wooden spoon or chopstick  (to make sure everything is fully submerged in the brine).   The kimchi takes anywhere from 3-6 days to ferment.  It’s hard to describe exactly how you know that it’s fermented, but if you taste it every day, you’ll know when it’s there.  How? Because it tastes awesome. You’ll know.  Once it’s fermented, move it to the fridge.  This will slow everything way down and keep the flavors and textures from changing too much.  Once the kimchi is in the fridge, it will last for months and months.

*I like to sterilize my jars for fridge pickles and ferments because, I mean, it can’t hurt, right?

And then you can have stuff like this for breakfast.  I was making a small bowl of basmati rice with some kimchi, and J. looked at it and said “you should put an egg on that” and man oh man oh man oh man was he right.  Kimchi is good as it is, but it into rice with warm egg yolk  it will definitely put a grin on your face.  Salty, creamy, warm and spicy, it’s hard to beat as far as quick meals go.

Kimchi Breakfast Bowl

serves: 1

cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 c. steamed basmati rice
  • a few tablespoons of kimchi
  • 1 egg, cooked however you like, seasoned with fresh cracked black pepper (sunny side up or over easy works best for this)
  • any of these: chopped fresh scallions, dried or fresh chilis, a tiny splash of ume plum vinegar or soy sauce, leftover chicken, some salted peanuts or cashews, fresh cilantro….. (whatever ya got)

Combine the kimchi and rice in a bowl.  Top with the egg. Garnish with whatever toppings you have on hand and feel like eating.

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To be included in the fermenting round-up, send me an e-mail at thejamgirl@gmail.com with the link to your post by June 15, 2012. If whatever you’re making hasn’t fully fermented yet, just tell us your plans and what you’ve done so far.

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Posted in Cook It 2012, Pickling and Fermenting, Uncategorized

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Gratitude & Improved Chocolate Plum Jam

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 9 Comments

This is my favorite way to use up jam right now.  chocolate-plum jam with cowgirl creamery mt. tam cheese = i’m eating it for breakfast, whether that’s an appropriate breakfast or not.  eggs be damned. Cowgirl Creamery cheese is insanely expensive but 100% worth every penny and totally delicious.*  Chocolate plum jam, on the other hand, is dirt cheap if you make it when there are lots of plums around.  The original recipe, which I wrote last summer, is here.

Since I am so incredibly happy and humbled to be up on Freshly Pressed today, I want to share a few tweaks that I think make it even better.  This is absolutely one of the best jams I’ve ever made and I hope that you bookmark it for when the plums come in so you can make it too.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading.  I can’t say it enough.

Improved Chocolate Plum Jam

Cook Time: oh, an hour or so

Ingredients:

  • 6 c. santa rosa plums, diced
  • 5 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1/4 c. cocoa powder
  • 2 tbs. lemon juice
  • 2 tbs. pomegranate vinegar (any fruity vinegar is good- raspberry, balsamic, etc.)
  • 1 sprig of fresh sage (4 or 5 leaves)

Bring boiling water canner to a boil.  Combine all the ingredients in a large, nonreactive pot.  Cook on high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the plums from sticking and burning.  Cook until the jam reaches 220 on a candy thermometer, or whatever your preferred method of testing for gel point is.  (I realized my candy thermometer is a piece of crap and not accurate at all, so I’ve just been doing the sheeting method with the spoon I stir the jam with- click this link for a picture if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

Before you put the jam into jars, you can remove the sage leaves if you want.  I actually gave the whole thing – sage leaves and all – a zap with my immersion blender since I was using frozen plums that didn’t have much in the texture department anyway.  Purée it or leave it chunky – either way is fine.

Pour the hot jam into clean half pint jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace.  Wipe rims and screw on lids.  Process half pints for ten minutes (adjust for altitude if necessary).

*they didn’t pay me to say that or anything, the Cowgirl Creamery people definitely don’t know who I am.

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Posted in Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Other Preserves, summer

I Love Rhubarb

Posted on May 6, 2012 | 23 Comments

I’ve spent the last few weeks totally fixated on rhubarb.  Before I move on to something new (there were cherries at the market last Saturday), I thought I’d gather together all the different crap on my computer desktop into one convenient spot.  These are the highlights from the great rhubarb extravaganza of 2012.

Jam

I’ve made many, many jars of this basic rhubarb jam that I posted a few weeks ago.  It’s a simple recipe that uses rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice, and it’s the perfect blank canvas for experimenting with different add-ins like vanilla beans, lavender, rosemary, cardamom….   (As the rhubarb season has progressed, the jams have gone from bright red to pale pink to greenish-brown….. )

Know what makes me really happy?  Greek yogurt + rhubarb jam + a drizzle of honey + granola.  You gotta do it.  It’s like dessert, but healthier.

Syrup:

Rhubeena, from The Hungry Tigress, should be considered a pantry staple like tomato sauce.  It’s that good. Before the rhubarb season is over, I also need to make this Rhubarb-Lime syrup, from Hitchhiking to Heaven, because  citrus sounds like the perfect partner for rhubarb.

Cocktails:  

Rhubarb Mojitos: a classic mojito pumped up with rhubarb syrup

Rhubarb Granita Cocktails: ridiculously good frozen cocktails made with rhubarb granita, vodka and soda.  (The other night, while I was drinking one of these, I decided that they’re the best fruity cocktail that I’ve ever had in my life, ever. I love these. They’re dangerous.)(We’ve also made Local Kitchen’s Rhubarbitas, because apparently, you know, I drink a lot and really like rhubarb.   I love me a fruity pink cocktail, what can I say).

Rhubarb Fruit Leather:

Making rhubarb syrups means that you’ll end up with some leftover cooked rhubarb pulp.  It depends on how long you’ve cooked the pulp, but sometimes there’s still a lot of flavor left in there.   I was pleasantly surprised by the way the rhubarb leather turned out;  the flavor in the pulp that was definitely a bit on the bland side concentrated in the oven and came out perfectly sweet, tart and bright by the time it was finished dehydrating.   You don’t need to own a dehydrator to make leather — it comes out fine in the oven using a cookie sheet with raised sides.

Cook Time: 8 hrs. or so

Ingredients:

  • a couple cups of cooked rhubarb pulp leftover from other recipes
  • lemon juice to taste
  • sugar
  • cooking spray or neutral flavored oil

Heat the oven to 150 degrees or the lowest setting available.  Use a blender to puree the rhubarb pulp.  Taste it, and add a splash of lemon juice if it needs some brightness.  Add a bit of sugar to taste, but remember that the flavors will concentrate and sweeten in the oven, so be careful not to overdo it or it will come out really sweet.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet with neutral oil or cooking spray, and then pour the rhubarb puree onto it.  The puree layer should be about 1/4″ thick.  Put it in the oven until it’s dry and looks like fruit leather, somewhere from 6-8 hours.  (Check it more often when it’s almost done so it doesn’t get too dry).

When it’s done, peel it off the cookie sheet and cut it into convenient sized pieces.   Theoretically, it will keep for a long time at room temperature in a jar or a tupperware, but we ate ours in just a couple days.

Desserts:

Everyone knows about rhubarb pie, but there are so many other sweet treats that you can make with rhubarb.  Like this cake (or is a tart? or a pie?):I give you: strawberry rhubarb kuchen, which is what happens when you stumble onto this recipe for Rhubarb Krack from the Hungry Tigress (which is an adaptation of  Cakewalk’s Rhubarb Kuchen recipe) and realize that you don’t have enough rhubarb to make it but if you just substitute some strawberries for part of the rhubarb, things could still work out well….There’s not really much point in writing the recipe out again since two other talented ladies have already done it.  The only information that really matters is that you can substitute some strawberries for the Tigress’ recipe if you don’t have enough rhubarb, but that it’s probably wise to reduce the sugar since strawberries are pretty sweet on their own.  I used 1 c. of sugar for the filling instead of 2 c. and it was plenty sweet for my taste.  (I also used all-purpose flour, not the whole wheat pastry flour that the recipe calls for, but it was only because I didn’t have the whole wheat on hand.)

I’m pretty sure this recipe would be amazing with any ripe fruit.  I’d love to try it with peaches, or pears, or plums….  That custardy fruit layer is really just everything I could ever want out of a dessert.

I wish I could say that I’m done working on rhubarb recipes, but I’m totally not. (I definitely still want to make the rhubarb mostarda from What Julia Ate and this Rhubarb Custard Pie from Saveur.) and I really haven’t experimented enough with all of rhubarb’s savory applications….  It’s a vicious cycle of rhubarb, it’s true.

Okay, I gotta go get a slice of that pie….

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Posted in Baking, Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Other Preserves, Spring

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Tomato Starts for the Ukiah Farmers Market Tomorrow 4/28

Posted on April 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Tomorrow we’ll be loading up a bunch of tomato starts to bring to the Ukiah Farmers Market (so exciting, right?)…

Our tomatoes are all heirloom and specialty varieties that will grow well here in Northern California and look beautiful both on your dinner plate and in your garden.  The seeds that we use aren’t certified organic (many of these varieties aren’t available as organic seed) but we grow them completely organically from day 1.  We’ve grown almost all of these varieties here on the farm, so if you have any questions about them, feel free to ask.

This is the list of varieties we will be bringing tomorrow; the selection will change over the next few weeks. (The descriptions are taken exactly from the Baker Creek seed catalogue, none of them are my own writing- I thought it would be helpful for all of the market customers to see the full description written by the folks that are working hard to keep all of these great varieties around for generations to come).   Hope to see you at the market tomorrow!Ananas Noire: (Black Pineappple) A most exciting new tomato, it is wonderful in every way.  This unusual variety was developed by Pascal Moreau, a horticulturist from Belgium.  The multi-colored, smooth fruit (green, yellow and purple mix) weight about 1.5 lbs.  The flesh is bright green with deep red streaks.  Everyone loves their superb flavor that is outstanding, being both sweet and smoky with a hint of citrus.  The yield is one of the heaviest we have ever seen!

Big Zebra: “New! A stunning tomato that looks much like a giant version of our popular “Green Zebra,” this 8-10 oz. beauty has a vibrant green and deep gold striped skin, with delicious red-streaked, green flesh.  A superb home and market tomato, a must for all who love the beautiful and unique.  One of the most amazing tomatoes we have grown; so groovy and retro looking! 80-90 days.

Carbon: 90 days Winner of the 2005 ‘heirloom garden show’ best tasting tomato award.  These have won taste awards coast to coast in the last few years, so we were proud to locate a small supply of seed.  The fruit are smooth, large and beautiful, being one of the darkest and prettiest of the purple types that we have seen.  They seem to have an extra dose of the complex flavor that makes dark tomatoes famous.

Cherokee Purple: 80 days An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre-1890 variety; beautiful deep dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very large sized fruit.  Try this one for real old-time tomato flavor

Copia: 80-90 days  One of our most unique and beautiful large, striped tomatoes, these have lovely fine striped of glowing gold and neon red.  Inside the flavorful flesh is a mix of red and yellow that is swirled together in various combinations.  This new variety was developed by Jeff Dawson and named in honor of Copia, the American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts, of Napa, CA

Cuor di Bue: 70 days This oxheart type Italian heirloom has been a favorite in Italy for many years.  Beautiful 12 oz fruit have a delicious sweet taste; similar to the shape of a heart; great for fresh eating or cooking.  Large vigorous vines.  Hard to find.

Dr. Wyches Yellow: 80 days This heirloom was introduced to Seed Savers Exchange by the late Dr. John Wyche, who at one time owned the Cole Brothers Circus and used the manure of elephants to fertilize his heritage gardens.  The 1 lb. fruit is solid and smooth; their color is a glowing tangerine-orange that always stands out in the kitchen or off the vine.

Fox Cherry: Delicious large, red heirloom cherry tomatoes that seem to be one of the best-tasting large cherries around.  The vining plants are very reliable; even in years when the wilt kills about everything else, these seem to do great.  The fruit weigh about 1 oz. each and are perfect for salads.

Great White: 80-85 days Large, 1-lb giant, creamy white fruit, this tomato is superbly wonderful.  The flesh is so good and deliciously fruity, it reminds me of a mixture of fresh-cut pineapple, melon and guava.  One of our favorite fresh-eating tomatoes! Fruit are smoother than most large beefsteak types, and yields can be very high.  Introduced by Gleckler’s Seedsmen.

Hillbilly or Flame: 80-85 Days A huge, bi-color heirloom: brilliant yellow color with red marbling.  Very large with a rich, sweet flavor.  Beautiful when sliced.  An heirloom believed to be from West Virginia.

Lollipop: 70 days Delicious, light yellow translucent cherries.  The flavor of these is really good– both sweet and fruity.  Plants set good yields.  A real winner!

Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge: 80-90 days Stunning tomato is a vibrant, tangerine orange with shocking true purple splashed in various amounts over its upper half.  This is one of the few domestic tomatoes that have true purple pigment, although research is being done with wild purple tomatoes.  These have a mild taste that make them good for snacking.  Fruit weighing 4-10 ounces were produced in abundance and tended to turn more purple as the season progressed.  Some fruit may not be very purple, coloration varies.

Paul Robeson: 90 days This famous tomato has almost a cult following among seed collectors and tomato connoisseurs.  They simply cannot get enough of this variety’s amazing flavor that is so distinctive, sweet and smokey.  7-10 oz. fruit are a black-brick color.  Named in honor of the famous opera singer star of “King Solomon’s Mines,” 1937. This Russian heirloom was lovingly named in his honor.

Placero: A flavorful, small tomato from our friend Herb Culver.  He colected this tomato in Cuba from a man named Orlando at Mission Mundial.  This tomato also is said to have a very high beta-carotene content.  Tasty, red fruit grow on very productive plants.

Pink Brandywine: The most popular heirloom vegetable! A favorite of many gardeners; large fruit with superb flavor.  A great potato-leafed variety from 1885! Beautiful pink fruit up to 1 1/2 lbs. each!

Plum Lemon: 80 days Bright canary-yellow 3” fruit looks just like a fresh lemon.  … This variety was collected by Kent Whealy, of Seed Savers Exchange, from an elderly seedsman at the Bird Market in Moscow.  Delicious, sweet taste.

Purple Calabash: 85 days.  May be the most purple of all the “purple” tomatoes; a deep purple/burgundy and very colorful! The shape is also exciting, with the 3” fruit being very flat, ribbed and ruffled.  Flavor is intense, sweet and tart, with a lime or citrus taste.  A most uniquely flavored tomato! The plants give huge yields.  This tomato resembles tomatoes pictured in 16th century herbal diaries.

Riesentraube: 76-85 days This old German heirloom was offered in Philadephia by the mid-1800s.  The sweet red 1 oz. fruit grow in large clusters, and the name means “Giant Bunch of Grapes” in German.  It is probably the most popular small tomato with seed collectors, as many enjoy the rich, full tomato flavor that is missing in today’s cherry types.  Large plants produce massive yields.

Violet Jasper: When these little Oriental jewels ripen, your eyes will be stunned with color.  They have pretty violet-purple fruit with iridescent green streaks! Fruit weigh 1-3 oz., are smooth and have good tasting, dark purplish-red flesh.  This variety will also amaze you with its yield: It’s not only high, but incredibly high, being one of the most productive tomatoes we have grown.

Yellow Brandywine: 90 days Superbly rich and delicious tasting large fruit, the golden variety gives good yields and, in our opinion, the fruit are better tasting than pink brandywine.  Large potato-leaf plants are very sturdy and deep green.  This heirloom is delicious any way you eat it!

Yellow Pear: 78 days Very sweet, 1 1/2” yellow, pear-shaped fruit have a mild flavor, and are great for fresh eating or making tomato preserves.  Very productive plants are easy to grow.

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For some tomato growing tips from serious experts, I recommend reading this great article from Love Apple Farm. 

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Posted in Gardening, Spring, summer

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This One Is Dangerous: Rhubarb Granita Cocktails

Posted on April 26, 2012 | 4 Comments

So I’m in the middle of a pretty intense obsession with rhubarb- I’ve made a ton of jam, rhubarb syrup, rhubarb mojitos, and most recently this rhubarb granita.Granitas are simply frozen syrups that you stir during the freezing process, making a texture something like a snow cone. ( The Los Angeles Times has an article here explaining the general process.) They’re almost are always a good idea- they’re sweet and cold, the perfect treat for a hot day.

This granita is superpowered, though.

It’s already amazing because it’s made of rhubarb…. but this granita also has vodka in it.  Throw some in a glass and top it with sprite or seltzer water, and you now have one of those deceptive cocktails that definitely doesn’t taste as strong as it really is.  Fizzy, sweet and tart, cold….  it’s the perfect cocktail for a sunny afternoon.  Whenever I put recipes up here for the whole internet to see, I like to taste them one last time to make sure I have the measurements right.  That means that right now (9:42 a.m.) I’m having to remind myself that drinking vodka cocktails before breakfast is never, ever a good idea.

oh, but what a breakfast it could be….

(no! step away!)

seriously though, these are addictive.  Serve it at your next party and all of your guests will love you.

Rhubarb Granita 

I got the idea for this recipe here, from A Crafty Lass’s recipe for Rhubarb Slush.  I didn’t really follow the recipe, so I’m not 100% sure, but I think her version is more like frozen rhubarb jello.  I omitted the gelling step, changed a couple ingredients, and figured a basic granita would be just as good.

Cook Time: oh, with time in the freezer included, about a day- but don’t let that scare you- it’s easy.

Makes: a lot- almost a gallon

Ingredients:

  • 8 c. rhubarb, chopped into 1″ sections
  • 2 quarts of water
  • 2 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. lemon juice
  • 1/2 c. strawberry jam
  • 2 c. vodka
  • for serving the cocktails: sprite, 7-up, ginger ale, seltzer…. anything fizzy will work

Step 1: Make the rhubarb syrup

Combine the rhubarb, water, sugar and lemon juice in a large pot and cook on high heat until the rhubarb is soft, about 20 minutes.  Strain the mixture through a colander, reserving the rhubarb syrup.  (Save the pulp- it still tastes good and you can put it in quick bread, mix it into yogurt, make fruit leather, etc.)

Combine the rhubarb syrup with the strawberry jam and the vodka.

Step 2: Make the granita

Pour the rhubarb-vodka mixture into a large, shallow dish.  Cover with saran wrap and place in the freezer.  (If you don’t have enough space in the freezer for a large dish, it really will work ok in a bowl too.  It just might take longer.)    Most granita recipes will tell you to stir the liquid every 30 minutes, but I didn’t do it nearly that often and it turned out fine.   The idea is that you don’t want to let it freeze solid.  I stirred mine with a fork every hour or two, then let it freeze overnight and gave it another stir in the morning.

Step 3: Cocktails

Top with seltzer water, sprite, ginger ale, whatever you like, and drink immediately.  The granita will last awhile (days? weeks? but who could let it sit in there that long without drinking it?) in the freezer, but the texture may change a little, becoming more frozen.  You can always let it thaw for awhile to soften it back up and it should be fine.

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Posted in Spring, summer

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Mint Syrup & Rhubarb Mojitos

Posted on April 25, 2012 | 81 Comments

This project started out as an attempt to preserve spring herbs.When I first started my garden, years ago, I was working with this bare hillside covered with brush and weeds.  I didn’t really have any experience with garden planning and made some strange choices, once of which was to plant a whole bunch of mint.  I liked the idea of mint growing around my garden without me having to do anything, and since it would spread I figured it would take over the space from all the weeds.

Yeah…

That was about the dumbest idea I’ve ever had.  Now we have mint everywhere.  Don’t plant mint in your garden.  Put it in a container, not the ground.  The roots are so invasive, and even when you think you’ve dug them all up, they come right back.  God forbid you run a rototiller through it — then all of the roots split into little pieces and sprout new plants, and instead of having a million little mint plants you have ten trillion of them.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to use this ridiculous amount of mint, to turn it into something that would actually make it worth the space in the garden.  Later in the summer, it shoots up pretty purple flower spikes and I put it in our bouquets for the farmers market.  I wanted to find a culinary use for it, though, so I figured I’d make a mint simple syrup since mojitos are a staple around here during the summer. Oh yeah, that beautiful shade of baby poo green? That’s why most people put green food coloring in their minty canned goods.

I’d never made anything like this before, so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.  It’s good, but if you’re using it for mojitos I think it works better in addition to the fresh mint than it does as a substitution for the fresh stuff.  The flavor in the cooked syrup is definitely very minty but loses some of that fresh brightness that the leaves originally had.

So while that whole project was going on, I was also working on rhubarb things and finally made the Tigress’s recipe for Rhubeena, (rhubarb syrup), which is something I’ve been meaning to do for ages now.  It came out perfectly – it’s everything that the mint syrup isn’t, actually.  It tastes tart and bright and turns a stunning shade of hot pink. At this point, my mediocre herb-preservation project joined forces with the power of rhubarb to make some absolutely stellar cocktails.  You don’t necessarily have to use rhubeena to make these- any rhubarb product you have around will work.  I even made a couple using some rhubarb pulp leftover from a totally different project.  Rhubarb jam would work.  Technically… you don’t even need to use rhubarb as the fruit flavor.  You could substitute any fruit product that makes you happy:  blueberry jam, apricot butter, chopped fresh strawberries… whatever you want.  The rhubarb is amazing, though, and I highly recommend it. It seems like everyone always looks forward to summer for fun stuff like grilling and fizzy cocktails and eating outdoors.  Spring has always seemed like a some kind of preparatory period leading up to summer, but recently I’ve been thinking that, you know, the weather right now is totally beautiful, the garden has plenty of nice things going on, and – most importantly – late July and August on a farm tend to be so busy that there’s not much time to stop and enjoy everything.  I’m embracing spring as the time to celebrate.  The sun is back out.  Make a cocktail and clean the grill off, no reason to wait.

(I know, I know, it might still frost/snow/sleet etc., I’m starting the party early anyway).

Mint Simple Syrup

Thanks to Cindy from SB Canning for helping me make sure that this project would be safe to can (she’s pretty smart about that stuff).  Lots of recipes on the internet for mint syrup that goes in the fridge, but I wasn’t sure if it would be shelf stable.  This recipe should work for other culinary herbs as well.

cook time: oh…. 40 minutes including processing time?

makes: a little over 3 half pint jars

Ingredients:

  • 3 c. water
  • 3 c. sugar
  • 1 huge bunch of fresh mint, washed thoroughly: I don’t mean the little teeny bunches that they sell at the grocery store- I mean a big huge handful!

This recipe comes together pretty quickly, so you might as well start by bringing the boiling water canner up to a boil right off the bat.

In a nonreactive pot, combine the sugar and water.  Cook on high heat, stirring for a minute or two, to dissolve the sugar.  Add the mint into the pot and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat.  Remove from heat and strain through several layers of cheesecloth or a jelly bag.   Pour into clean half pint jars leaving 1/4″ headspace and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

 

Rhubarb Mojitos

cook time: 5 minutes

makes: 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

  • ice & seltzer water
  • 2 ounces rhubeena
  • 1 ounce mint simple syrup*
  • 6 or 7 fresh mint leaves
  • 3/4 of a lime
  • 1 ounce rum

Cut the lime into wedges.  In a pint glass, combine the rhubeena, mint syrup, and rum.  Squeeze the lime wedges into the glass to release the juice and then throw them right in there with everything.  Add the mint leaves.  Add some ice.  Top with seltzer water.  Mix well.

*In the past I haven’t bothered making mint syrup for mojitos, but I think it actually made a significant improvement in the cocktail to do it this way.  If you don’t want to can a big batch, you could just infuse a small batch of simple syrup with some mint leaves and put leftovers in the fridge.

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Posted in Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Other Preserves, Spring

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How To Preserve Radishes

Posted on April 22, 2012 | 12 Comments

Radishes aren’t really a vegetable that screams out for preservation.  They’re usually eaten raw, after all.  The problem is that I compulsively preserve all of the produce we grow, and in the springtime this invariably means that there will be the odd bunch of radishes that goes unsold at the farmers market.  The unsold produce usually makes its way into our meals for the week, and yes, baby greens with thinly sliced radishes and mustard vinaigrette tastes wonderful after all of the kale we’ve been eating all winter, but we can only eat so much salad before that gets old.  True, you can also roast them in the oven and toss them with brown butter for something more unexpected.  When the temperature starts to spike up into the 80s during the day, however, roasting things for dinner just doesn’t seem very appropriate.

Over the years, I’ve managed to find a few ways to preserve the bounty of spring radishes.  Radishes are so delicate that one heat wave can ruin them —  leave them in the garden a few days too long and they turn tough and unpleasantly spicy.  It’s much better to pick them at their peak, right away, and turn them into something tasty while they’re still fresh and perfect.  These preservation methods will help extend the season a little bit, so that you don’t have to figure out how to do crazy things like eat a whole bed of radishes in four days.

Refrigerator PicklesRadishes make perfect pickles.  They’re so crunchy already, and when you put them in a brine in the fridge they’ll stay crisp for weeks.  Spiced with white wine, green garlic and fresh herbs from the spring garden, these pickles are majorly addictive.Pickled Radishes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Makes: 1 quart

Ingredients:

  • about 2 bunches of radishes
  • 1 c. pinot grigio
  • 1 c. white vinegar
  • 1 c. water
  • 3″ section of stem from green garlic  (or fresh garlic tops, or scapes would work too)
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 small sprig of fennel
  • 1 sprig marjoram
  • 1 sprig oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
  • 1 1/2 tbs. kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 tbs. sugar

In a nonreactive pot, combine all of the ingredients except the radishes.  Bring everything to a boil and then let it simmer for a five minutes to infuse the brine with the fresh herbs.  Turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit after this- warm is fine, but boiling hot could cook that radishes a little bit, and we don’t want that.  Meanwhile, cut the radishes into smaller pieces.  Depending on the size and shape, you can cut them into halves, quarters, wedges or rounds (whatever makes you happy).  Pack the radishes into a clean quart jar.*  Remove the cooked herbs from the brine and discard. (If you want, you can throw a sprig of something in the jar, but I like to grab a fresh sprig).  Pour the brine over them.  Screw on the lid and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.  (The radishes take about three days to taste properly pickled.)As the radishes sit in the vinegar, the red from the outside of the roots will dye the whole thing a vibrant shade of hot pink.

*Sterilize the jar to make the pickles last longer in the fridge.

Radish ButterThis is my most favorite radish recipe ever.  This year, I used it for our ugly radishes that didn’t make it to the market.  Any that are split, cracked or sat in the garden a few days too long can just be thrown right in with everything else to make this delicious spread without compromising the quality of the final product. It’s simple, too.  Just puree the radishes with your favorite kitchen appliance for pureeing things and then mix them together with softened butter and fresh herbs.  Basically, the plan is to cram the whole early spring garden into one compound butter and then eat it on toasted sourdough bread.

This lasts for a week in the fridge, and we’ve had success freezing it but I’m not sure how long it really lasts yet. (I’ll come back and update, I promise!)  So far, those jars only sit in the freezer for a week or two before we’ve polished them off.

Radish Compound Butter

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Makes: 3 half pint jars

Ingredients:

  • about 16 radishes
  • 1 1/2 c. salted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 tbs. chopped fresh marjoram
  • 1 tbs. thinly sliced garlic greens (from the growing tops of the garlic in the garden)
  • 2 tbs. chopped fennel fronds
  • fresh cracked black pepper

Puree the radishes in a food processor (or whatever you use.)   Add in the butter and the fresh herbs and mix until everything is thoroughly combined.  Season with fresh cracked black pepper to taste.

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Posted in Pickling and Fermenting, Spring, Vegetarian

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Paula Deen Would Be Proud Of Us

Posted on April 18, 2012 | 1 Comment

The time sure flies when you’re having fun…

So far, Cook it! 2012 has brought us all shapes and sizes of handmade pastas, a beautiful assortment of breads, and the most recent undertaking, fresh sweet butter.

Truly, nothing really says luxury like warm bread slathered with butter made from the best grass-fed cream.   I still haven’t found a local source for dairy other than the natural food store, but hopefully something will appear soon.

Or…

Maybe I need to get a cow?

Or a goat?

As usual, I loved reading the collection of everyone’s projects.  It is a constant inspiration to see the great things that other people are cooking.

Belated Bread and Butter, from Snowflake Kitchen: a touching post about making bread and butter as kitchen therapy during sad times.

Butter, and Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Garlic Shrimp, from Homemade Trade:  Aimee, you had me at mashed yukon gold potatoes with fresh buttermilk.  That should be a food group all to itself.

Buttermaking, from Oh Briggsy: green garlic compound butter sounds like something I could eat on pretty much everything.  More importantly, this post managed to find the theme song for the March challenge: C.R.E.A.M., from the Wu Tang Clan.  (In case you don’t have it on your iPod already, it stands for “Cash Rules Everything Around Me,” which is perfect since making good butter requires the best quality cream, which really does involve shelling out the big money.  Nice song choice, Briggsy…)

Calendula Butter, from Bunchberry Farm and Dogwood Designs:  Lots of nice ideas for using calendula in this post, including a charming calendula butter.   (Scones + calendula butter + jam =  sure sounds good to me)

Homemade Butter and Buttermilk Rum Pound Cake, from Adventures of the Kitchen Ninja: that pound cake looks divine, and that stoneware bundt pan that you scored for free at the dump? I’m jealous.

(On How Not To) Make Butter, from Grow and Resist: My favorite part of this post is that me and Meg’s four year old had the exact same thought process.  Shaking the cream in a jar = boring.  KitchenAid mixer = powerful superior technology.  You could have had the exact same shot of me dumping the jar of cream into the mixer….
And with that, we move on to the April project: cheese!

Happy cooking, everyone…

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Posted in Baking, Cook It 2012, Spring, summer, Vegetarian

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