You can imagine, then, how thrilled I was when I got a call from Therese Madden, a reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia, who wanted to do a radio piece on freezing vegetables. The piece aired this morning, but you can also catch a listen here. What excites me about freezing vegetables is how utterly easy is it. In most cases, you blanch the vegetables, cool them off, stick them in a bag, and toss them in the freezer. Some vegetables, like peppers and corn, don’t even really need to be blanched. If you’re feeling fastidious (and I encourage this), you’ll keep a list of what you’ve got in there so you’ll remember to eat it later. And that’s it.

There are only so many ways to say “blanch, cool, bag, freeze,” so rather than repeat myself, I’ll link back to some older posts where I give this same advice, but with pictures. (oooh! ahhh! Oh, wait. They’re just pictures of freezer bags. Still: Illustrations!)

Beet greens, turnip greens, and greens in general (the last with a discussion of canning and dehydrating, too)
How to Freeze Pesto
Green Beans
Applesauce vs. Applesauce (hint: applesauce wins)

Enjoy, and happy harvesting!

Learning strategies for putting up food is more fun in a group. I know I’m still learning—never more so than when I teach. On June 10–12,  I’ll once again be teaching a three-day food preservation workshop on the peaceful grounds of the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. We’ll cover not only the basic techniques of water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, and fermenting, but the ever-so-important questions of how to decide which technique to apply to which foods. We’ll talk about finding reasonable ways to integrate food preservation into our lives and share strategies for estimating amounts.

Registration is limited, so sign-up early! Click through for more details and registration information, or drop me a line at dorisandjilly@gmail.com for more information.

Hence began my rapid descent into Mrs. Wheelbarrow and the Yummy Mummy‘s Charcuterie Challenge. It turns out that curing gravlax is just as easy as Mark Bittman says it is, and hot-smoking salmon isn’t much more difficult. It’s not something that you can rush, but if you have access to salt, sugar, a refrigerator, some rice or twigs, aluminum foil, and a wok, you can do this. Really you can. And, so I’ve been promised, if you can cure salmon, you can make charcuterie. We’ll see about that, but so far, so good.

Let’s start with the gravlax. For the recipe, I turned to Amanda Hesser’s new New York Times Cookbook. Her recipe is basically a repackaged version of a column Mark Bittman published in the Times in 1998. You can find many, many more variations online, but basically, it’s three steps:

1) Mix somewhere between a 1:1 and 3:2 ratio of salt and sugar.

2) Spread this all over a filet of salmon. Throw on some herbs or spices or even smoked tea, then wrap this whole thing up in plastic wrap. Transfer it to a container.

3) Place a weight on top of the fish and refrigerate for somewhere between 12 to 30 hours.

AND THAT’S IT. There’s debate online about whether the weight is really necessary; whether you should let the salmon sit at room temperature awhile before refrigerating it; whether you need Aquavit; whether you can really do it with one piece of salmon, or whether it requires two; but in all cases the basic idea is salt + sugar + salmon + time = gravlax.

I took two pieces of salmon, cut them each in half, and made two different versions. I used about 60% salt and 40% sugar (a combo of raw and regular) and skipped the counter time. One batch had cracked peppercorns; the other had lapsang souchong tea, in an attempt to achieve smokiness. Then, I took half of each batch and smoked it. Yes, really. Here’s the result of my 2 X 2 experiment:

From left to right, that’s the peppercorn gravlax, the lapsang souchong gravlax, smoked peppercorn, and smoked lapsang souchong. Technically, the gravlax is considered raw, while the smoked is considered cooked. Personally, I preferred the peppercorn gravlax, but all were very good.

Now, how do you smoke salmon without a fancy smoker? You rig up a wok, of course. Or, if you’re Alton Brown, you rig up a hot plate, a cardboard box, some sawdust, and a fan. Just watch:

You can also do this in a wok (though keep in mind that the heat may damage it beyond repair). Line an old wok with aluminum foil. Throw in some twigs or woodchips or sawdust or brown rice. Make some sort of drip pan from either more foil or a metal sheet, then put your fish on top of a rack. It should sit about an inch on top of the wood chips. Line the inside of the lid with more foil, then cover and seal up the edges. The idea is to keep the smoke inside the wok, not in your kitchen. Turn the heat onto high and watch what happens carefully. When you start to smell smoke, the salmon’s cooking. Let it cook for about 12 minutes, monitoring closely for smoke. (You can place a wet kitchen towel alongside the edge of the wok if smoke starts to escape.) When you think it’s done, turn off the heat and carefully carry the entire package outside. Open it up, and you’ll find an amazing home cooking project. The trick, of course, is to not set off the smoke detectors in the process. (Sorry about the lack of photos. I was so concerned about preventing smoke that it completely slipped my mind until it was too late.)

Would I do this again? Totally. I’ve been told that cured and smoked salmon freezes well, so next time I might even do more, just to save myself the effort later. And, of course, I’m now hooked on preserving meat. Stay tuned for duck prosciutto next week!

And the best part? Because the liquid component of the syrup is unadulterated vinegar, you can vary the ratio of peppers to zucchini to your little heart’s content without compromising the relish’s safety for water-bath canning. You’re in much greater danger of burning your fingers from the hot peppers than you are of contracting botulism. If you’re sensitive, be sure to wear gloves while handling the peppers.

One other thing: in honor of my late grandmother, this hot and sweet. Feel free to cut the sugar by as much as half if that’s not your thing.

Hot Zucchini Relish

Approx. 2 pounds zucchini or yellow squash, shredded
Approx. 1/2 pound onions, shredded
Approx. 1 1/2 pound peppers, combination of sweet and hot, shredded
2 c. white or raw sugar
2 c. cider or white vinegar
2 T kosher salt
1 T mustard seed

1) Make your life easier by shredding everything in a food processor. Trust me on this.

2) Combine the sugar, vinegar, salt, and mustard seeds in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in the vegetables and simmer 10 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, prepare a boiling water bath and sterilize 4 pint jars* and lids. Transfer the hot relish into the hot jars and adjust the two-piece lids. Process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.

I made my version with cider vinegar, white onions, and about equal parts (by weight) sweet and hot peppers. The hots ranged from a relatively mild serrano to three surprisingly hot banana peppers and a couple of cayenne. I could stand in the kitchen, eating this on crackers, all afternoon.

*Note: I will swear up and down that this made 4 half-pints for me, but everyone else is getting 4 pints. Maybe my scale’s off? Maybe I was typing the recipe from another dimension? In any case, thanks for the feedback!

I like so many things about this book that it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing. If I had to narrow it down, I’d point to the author’s focus on ingredients rather than method. There’s been so much excitement about canning over the past year—enthusiasm that I share!—that I think some people are missing the point. The point of canning is not just to assemble a pretty pantry, or to recover lost skills, or display hipster credentials. It’s definitely not about making life harder, contrary to the advice offered in one odd little not-quite-a-cookbook. Ultimately, we can to preserve food. And there’s the rub. Canning is not the only, or even the best, way to preserve many foods. Vegetables freeze well; peppers are terrific dried; cabbage was seemingly made for sauerkraut.

Once you get the hang of food preservation, you start to develop a sixth sense for what method might work best for any given food item. You also develop preferences for what you like to eat and how you like to spend your time in the kitchen. Unfortunately, most food preservation handbooks focus on technique, with long sections on water-bath canning, pressure canning, pickling, freezing, and dehydrating. This is great if you’re looking for an introduction to how to make pickles. It’s not so helpful if you’ve got 30 pounds of tomatoes and need to know the pros and cons of freezing vs. canning vs. dehydrating. Vinton’s section on cherries, for instance, includes instructions and recipes for frozen cherries, a sweet refrigerator sauce, a shelf-stable cherry bourbon infusion, dehydrated cherry leather, basic dried cherries, a savory cherry-walnut relish for canning (really a pickle), and cherry preserves. It’s really the most useful and versatile book I’ve seen for people who are dabbling in food preservation because they want to transition to a local foods lifestyle. And everything I’ve made from it is delicious.

My only complaint? It’s too short! I’m as excited about the next person about pickled ramps, but where’s the eggplant? And I do so sorely wish someone would break the ban on pressure canning in “mainstream” canning books. But these are small complaints. It’s really terrific, and if you don’t win the giveaway, you might want to buy it.

So about that giveaway? Leave a comment describing a new technique that you’ve explored this year by Friday, September 24. And—though it’s not required to enter the giveaway—it would really make our day if you could “like” us on Facebook! Just click through and join the party.

This is a versatile, dependable chutney. Last year, I tossed in a lime. This time, for the September CanJam, I went with a more stripped-down version. No lime, no garlic, minimal ginger. And—because it had become increasingly clear that I was never going to use them any other way—I used dried gooseberries instead of raisins . . . but you should feel free to stick to raisins, or even currants. Given the amount of sugar and vinegar in this recipe, it’s fairly flexible and safe to make with other stone fruits, apples, and pears.

Peach Chutney

7 1/2 pounds peaches, peeled and coarsely chopped (or even squeezed)
1 pound raisins, currants, or dried gooseberries
3 3/4 c. cider vinegar
1 1/2 pound brown sugar
3 T mustard seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole clove
5 small fresh hot peppers, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1″ piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1) Toss everything into a very large pot. This will need to cook for a long time, so you’re looking for your thickest, heaviest pot to ensure even heat distribution. Stir everything together and bring rapidly to a boil. Turn the heat town to medium and walk away. Occasionally return to stir a bit. Cook for about 2 hours, or until everything is gooey and a deep, dark brown.

2) Meanwhile, heat a boiling-water bath. Prepare your jars and lids. I needed 6 pints (actually 5 pints and 2 half-pints, for gifts). When the chutney is ready, transfer the hot chutney to hot jars. Adjust the two-piece lids and process for 15 minutes in the boiling-water bath.

Q. I am new at canning! My confusion comes from this: I make my own fire roasted salsa. I fire roast the fresh tomatoes, chiles and garlic cloves. I blacken all of these then blend together. All I add for seasoning is salt. I want to can this mixture, but I’m not sure if I have to add an acid? I really don’t want to change the flavor. What do I do? Should I use a water caner or pressure caner? And for how long do I process this? —KP.

A. Alas, KP, no, this recipe is probably not safe as is. Most fresh salsa recipes are not safe for canning in a boiling-water bath unless you add a significant quantity of acid. The issue with water-bath canning is always whether your final product will have a pH of 4.6 or less (remember, the stronger the acid, the lower the pH). Tomatoes are borderline, and chiles and garlic are definitely low acid. When you can a salsa, you’re basically making a relish: chopped vegetables doused in acid. How much acid you need to add will depend on the exact ratio of tomatoes to chiles to garlic.

My best advice would be to compare your recipe to an approved recipe for regular salsa (you’re unlikely to find one for roasted) and adjust accordingly. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has one that’s 50/50 tomatoes and chiles and uses a total of 1 1/2 vinegar for 6 cups of vegetables. I’ve also developed a recipe for roasted tomato salsa that I believe to be safe for water-bath canning. It’s mostly tomatoes, with a few onions and dried peppers. It includes 1/2 c. lime juice for 8 pounds of tomatoes, which works out to about 1 T. per half-pint, which is twice the normal tomato acidification rule (1 T. lemon juice per pint). I’ve seen similar recommendations for acidifying tomato sauce that includes onions, so this should be enough to keep it safe.

I wouldn’t recommend pressure canning a tomato salsa, even a roasted one. Water-bath processing times vary somewhat, but the most common recommendations call for boiling your salsa for 10 minutes before transferring to the jars, followed by 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

So what is a goat to do? Turn to Twitter, of course. Last year, zoecancan was kind enough to point me to an incredibly helpful article in the peer-reviewed journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. Since it’s behind a paywall, I’ve reproduced the abstract below:

Three studies were conducted to evaluate the safety of tomatillos and products containing tomatillos canned by the water-bath processing method. In the first study, plain tomatillos were processed for 25, 37.5, 50 and 62.5 min. In the second study, five tomatillo/onion combinations were prepared while five tomatillo/green chile combinations were prepared in the third study. pH evaluations were conducted to determine safety in all studies using pH 4.2 as the cut-off value. No differences in the pH of plain tomatillos were detected due to processing time. All jars of plain tomatillos had pH values below 4.1. All combinations of tomatillos/onions and tomatillos/green chile containing more than 50% tomatillo had pH values below the 4.2 cut-off value. Results of the three studies indicate (1) acidification of plain tomatillos is probably unnecessary for canning by the water-bath processing method and (2) combinations of acidic tomatillos and low-acid onions or green chile must contain more than 50% tomatillos to have a pH low enough for safe water-bath processing.

So, based on this, I feel pretty comfortable saying that it’s safe to water-bath can this version of salsa verde, or in fact any version of salsa verde where the quantity of tomatillos (by weight) exceeds the combined weight of onions and/or peppers and herbs. The acid safety cut-off is a pH of 4.6, so at 4.1, this is plenty acidic (remember that a lower pH means higher acidity).

For the recipe, along with instructions for water-bath canning (for the scientific), pressure canning (for the conservative), or freezing (for the squeamish), click here. This time, 2 pounds made 4 half-pints. It scales up, so, if you’ve got a bushel full of tomatillos, knock yourself out!