Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sweet and Crunchy Pickles






 

 



My mother in law  would make the most fabulous sweet pickles. Every summer my father in law would plant cucumbers and mom would make crunchy sweet pickles.































Here is the information she has given me on making pickles and this is how I make my pickles



Choose pickles that are grown for pickling

Pickling cucumbers are not smooth green like salad cukes they have a prickly skin

Sweet Pickles are best when sliced into rounds and not spears

Do not peel cukes just wash thoroughly and slice by hand about 1/8" thick

Soak cucumbers in a large plastic food grade container with pickling lime mixture
I use Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime

mix 1 cup of lime to 2 gallons of cold water in the plastic container and add cucumbers

let cucumbers soak in mixture for 2 hours or overnight

Next remove cucumbers from lime water and discard lime water

Rinse cucumbers in fresh cold water 3 times

Soak cucumbers in fresh ice water for 3 hours

Mix the following items together in a non reactive pan ( I use my enamel canning pot that I purchased from Amazon)





8 cups white vinegar
8 cups sugar
1/2 jar pickling spice (McCormick brand is best)

Bring to a boil and add cucumbers (be sure to drain off all water) to vinegar mixture

Bring back to a boil and turn off heat
Let sit in vinegar mixture for 5 to 6 hours or can be left overnight

Pack pickles in sterilized jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes

Pickles are ready to eat or can be stored for 2 years or longer. Be sure lids sealed by removing ring and checking each seal -- dry the jar around the seal and replace the ring

I have tried several bread and butter pickle recipes but I love the crunch of this sweet pickle.

 These pickles are great chopped and added to potato salad or tuna salad.  R likes these pickles on hamburgers and sandwiches.  Alone as a side dish or added to a salad or sandwich this is one sweet eat.  I hope you will try this pickle recipe and let me know how you like it.

Monday, June 23, 2014

How to Freeze Watermelon



Watermelons are at an all time low price of $3.00 for a seedless melon.  In Florida at this time of the year there are people selling watermelons on every corner.  We have found the secret to buying sweet melons.  Only purchase one and take home for a taste test.  If its only okay tasting then we try another corner selling melons but if it is super sweet and just about the best we have ever tasted then we go back (with in a few hours)  and buy 5 or 6 at a time.  So that is what happened and now I have a load of super sweet watermelons. 

Freezing watermelon is simple and if done properly then the melons will taste great when thawed.  This is how I freeze watermelons.


For a fast summer treat I use an ice cream scoop and make large melon balls, stick a Popsicle stick in the ball, put in freezer on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  After the balls freeze I transfer to a freezer bag. 

Watermelon Popsicles are only good for a short time in the freezer .Over time the watermelon will loose its texture when stored in this way.  I only freeze enough for a few weeks of snacks.  Kids love this cold treat and I love that it is only fruit no extras added. An easy treat to have on hand to serve by the pool in the summer.

For longer frozen storage

Cut watermelon into large chunks
Mix 1/2 cup sugar to 1/2 gallon water to make a syrup
Place chunks in quart size freezer bag
Pour enough of the prepared syrup in bag to cover watermelon chunks
Remove excess air from bag and close
Place bags of watermelon on sheet tray in freezer (this help them to freeze flat)

To serve frozen watermelon

Remove from freezer and place in fridge to thaw
Before serving pour out syrup
Syrup can be used to flavor tea or to infuse water  (remember it contains sugar)


The texture is not the same as a fresh melon but in the winter when melons are expensive or not available it is nice to open up the freezer and take out a bag of watermelon. Its like taking a bag of summertime out of your freezer.







Saturday, June 14, 2014

Southern Style Pepper Sauce

If you live in the south or grew up in the south then you are familiar with Pepper Sauce. It's not a hot sauce such as Tabasco sauce where the peppers are fermented then made into a sauce. This pepper sauce is simple and delicious and has many uses. Simple as in collecting peppers, putting peppers in a bottle, pour in white vinegar, and put on a cork. Well that sounds like just infused vinegar and basically yes that is what it is, but if you are a southerner then it is just plain ole peppa sauce. 

What the heck do you do with this you ask?   Well in the south we put it on collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, (you get the point - add it to greens). Pour a little pepper sauce on cooked greens or add to greens while they cook.  Pour a little sauce  on black eye peas and it takes them to new level of goodness.  Pepper Sauce can be used in any recipe that calls for vinegar as part of the seasoning.  Pepper Sauce can be added to olive oil to make a  salad dressing,  add to ketchup to make a spicy sauce, and I have even added a splash to a Bloody Mary. Really the sky is the limit on uses for this stuff.

When I was a child every house had a bottle of this special brew sitting in the middle of the dining room table.  A bottle of pepper sauce on the table was as essential as a salt and pepper shaker.

 Just as you fill your salt and pepper shakers you can also add more vinegar to the peppers in the bottle.  Over time the peppers will loose their flavor or rather the heat but the bottle of pepper sauce will be good for a year or so before that happens.

Here's how I make my pepper sauce.

1.  Gather peppers from garden (or no garden just buy at grocery store)  I like a mixture of red and green but sometimes green is all I have .  I also like to use cayenne peppers but any hot pepper will do.


2. Wash peppers and trim stem end.  I do not remove the cap but I do cut the stem off at the beginning of the cap.  I have seen pepper sauce made with the stems on but I prefer to cut these off.


3. Sterilize your bottle of choice.  This year I am using a wine bottle but last year I used a very old Gin bottle.  Just put bottle in boiling water to sterilize. Drain bottle and let cool.

4. Pack peppers into the bottle.  Tap the bottle as you pack to settle the peppers in the bottle. I usually pack peppers up to the beginning of the neck of the bottle.


5. With a funnel pour in white vinegar or your vinegar of choice until it covers the peppers.

6. Cork and decorate or just let the beauty of the peppers be the decoration


7. Give your sauce time to infuse the pepper flavor-  usually a few days will do.




This bottle of pepper sauce is over a year old. As you can see the vinegar is almost gone but the peppers still look good.  Since I am making a new batch of pepper sauce I am not filling this and I will discard the peppers when all the vinegar has been used. 


The pepper sauce is beautiful in the bottle and with a ribbon and nice cork it will work beautifully as a gift. 

No matter where you live this pepper sauce is worth a try.   Give your food a little extra spice or make some great sauces with it. 


.  Here is where this blog has been featured
Mama Kautz

Monday, June 9, 2014

Clean and Can Fresh Pineapple

How excited I was to find pineapple for $.99 each at the grocery store, so I brought home five.  The fresh pineapple were beautiful , the color was perfect and the tops still had a lot of green in them. One was eaten as soon as it was brought into the kitchen,-- we had to do a taste test

Pineapple corers are expensive and I feel I loose too much of the fresh fruit.  The corer slices deep into the pineapple so that the eyes are cut at the same time.  Cleaning the pineapple by hand leaves more of the pineapple and turns the whole pineapple into a beautiful shape. The cleaned pineapple could be used on a fruit platter as the center piece.


Fist cut the leafy top and the bottom off of the pineapple, next thinly slice off the brown husk or bark , and finally the little eyes.  To remove the eyes or little brown hairy parts use a paring knife and cut each eye out.  As you cut out the eyes you will notice a spiral pattern occurring. This way of cleaning leaves more of the pineapple fruit.  After cleaning the pineapple slice the fruit into quarters and then slice out the inner core from each section.  Do not throw out the core because this will be used in making the syrup for canning the pineapple.

Prepare the canning jars by washing and placing the jars in the canner filled with water and let water boil to sterilize jars or sterilize jars by using the dish washer.  Next prepare the syrup to pour over the pineapple. Cut the core pieces into one inch pieces and place in a stock pot or large boiler with two quarts of water and two and half cups of white cane sugar.  This will make a light syrup. Amounts can be adjusted according to the amount of pineapple to can. Four pineapples will make approximately 8 pints of canned pineapple chunks.

Cut the pineapple into chunks and fill sterilized jars with chunks and add hot syrup leaving one inch air space.  Remove any air bubbles using a butter knife or any utensil that is flat like a butter knife. Run the knife around the inside of the jar to remove the bubbles. Place the seal and rim on the jar and place in the hot water canner.

Place the pineapple in the water bath canner and process for 15 minutes for pints. After the 15 minutes place the jars on the counter to cool.  Listen for the pop as each lid seals.  Store the canned pineapple in a cool dark spot such as a cabinet. 

Notice I remove the jar rings from my canned jars.  First the rings seem to rust if any moisture gets in between the ring and the jar.  Second if the jar seal is broken then I know the minute I pick up the jar and I discard the contents immediately. 

During the summer pineapple prices are normally lower than any other time of the year.  It is a great time to stock up and can as much as possible. 


This post was featured on the following


Mama Kautz

Monday, June 2, 2014

Making Hot Sauce

Finally I have red peppers in my garden and I am making hot sauce. Today I gathered 1 oz Casabella peppers, 3 oz. Cayene peppers, 6 oz Jalapeno peppers, one 6 oz Cubanelle pepper, and one 2 oz. Anaheim pepper for a total of one pound of fresh peppers. 



After I picked and washed my peppers I cut off the stem, cut the larger peppers into smaller pieces and put them in my food processor



 After the peppers were processed I stood back making sure my nose was not close to the peppers.  It only takes once to learn small lessons in life. The peppers will take your breath away if you inhale the fumes.  It is best to wait a few minutes after processing and then open the lid. 

After carefully opening the processor I poured the pepper mash into a wide mouth mason jar.  To the jar of peppers I added the brine.  The brine consists of one tablespoon of pickling salt to two cups of room temperature water.  Mix the salt in the water and pour over peppers just enough to cover the peppers.  It is important to use pickling salt because the salt does not contain iodine and mixes easily with the water. Now the mixture has to sit for several weeks until it goes through the fermentation process.  A coffee filter and a rubber band covering the jars helps keep unwanted stuff out but still lets air in.  Air is important for the fermentation of the peppers.

Now begins the hardest part of making hot sauce--waiting for the sauce to ferment.  Each batch of sauce has a different flavor and a different level of heat so you do not know what you get until its ready. 

After a few weeks I will put the mash through the vegetable seive and bottle the sauce.  So please check back with me in a couple of weeks for an update.


I am pleased this post was featured on God's Growing Garden
http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/p/great-blog-train.html" God’s Growing Garden

Jalapeño Peanut Brittle