I like papayas. They remind me of the Dominican Republic, where I spent a week two years ago sitting on the beach, drinking rum cocktails, and watching people kite surf. (No kite surfing for me, thanks. I like my neck.) Here in West Philly, where we’re blessed with a large immigrant population, you can find [...]
Attention all canjammers! The focus of the February Tigress Can Jam is CARROTS.
Got that?
Yes, carrots.
The Tigress and I made this choice with both excitement and trepidation. The excitement because vegetables are new territory for many water-bath canners; the trepidation because carrots are a low-acid food, and therefore come with certain [...]
Herewith begins my contribution to the Tigress Can Jam! If you’ve missed it, the canjam is a yearlong canning challenge. Each month, canjammers will be asked to create a water-bath friendly recipe based on a seasonal ingredient. Tigress started us off gently, with citrus. I assumed—rightly as it turns out!—that this would turn into a [...]
A belated Happy New Year to all! I am finally beginning to unfurl from my winter break hibernation. What better way to start the new year, I thought, than with a canning double feature: beef stock AND beef-vegetable soup? As an added bonus, the soup is the perfect vehicle for any number of vegetables that [...]
There are some spectacular onion confits and jams floating around the internets right now. This one is an onion and rosemary confiturra from Serious Eats, via The Kitchn, that I heard about through a round-up post on Consider the Pantry (got that?). It’s a luscious combination of red onions, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, white [...]
Apparently great minds think alike. Yesterday morning I made a big batch of tangerine marmalade, as, apparently, did the folks at Put Up or Shut Up! The ingredients are pretty similar (there are only so many ways to combine tangerines and sugar), but there’s still plenty of variety in the technique. Pros of their version: [...]
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! When you’re done eating that turkey, be sure to make a stock. BUT—and this is a big but—unless you have a pressure canner, please don’t attempt to can it. Unlike fruits, tomatoes, and tomatillos, stock is a low acid food, which means that the temperature of boiling water is not enough to [...]
Last year, you may recall, I made a lot of applesauce. When I had time, I canned it; when I was lazy, I just stuck it in the freezer. Nine months later, we’ve been eating lots of each. The results?
No contest.
The canned applesacue is sooooo much better than the frozen. It has excellent texture, a [...]
IgnitePhilly was awesome! Thanks so much to the crew for inviting me, to all of you who came out to pack the room, and to the other presenters for putting on such a great show. There was so much clamour and din at Johnny [...]