Tag: preserving

#marmapalooza2014 Labels!

8 February 2014 by local kitchen

Because I love you, because I love marmalade season, (and because I’m procrastinating doing the dishes), I made you some labels: simply download, print, and write in the variety of marmalade in the space on the left. Ta-da! Your marm has never looked jazzier. I use the 2 ½-inch round labels from Avery: this download fits the white labels, #5294, but should also fit generic label brands that come 12 to a page. (I like the brown kraft labels as well, […]

Categories: 100% local • Tags: canning, cooking, labels, marmapalooza, preserving, winter

Kumquat & Meyer Lemon Marmalade with Chile & Kaffir Lime

7 February 2014 by local kitchen

It’s been all marm, all the time around here for the last week or two, what with Meyer lemons, Rio Red grapefruit, and blood oranges, kumquats and Kaffir limes all rolling around my counter tops. And trust me, there are worse things than having 40 lbs of California and Texas citrus perfuming the kitchen in the midst of a snowy, snowy Polar Vortex New York winter. I’ve been enjoying a lot of citrus fresh: grapefruit for breakfast, blood orange as an afternoon […]

Categories: canning, citrus, preserves, preserving • Tags: canning, cooking, food, preserving, winter

Candied Fennel Stalks + Fennel Frond Salt

17 January 2014 by local kitchen

I’ve been on a bit of a fennel kick lately: not that I would ever consider the dreaded “D” word, but it’s nice to have something crisp and fresh and sweet yet mildly grassy after the excesses of the holidays. Fennel is pretty amazing in that every part of the plant is edible: bulb, stalks, fronds, seeds and pollen; and while they all have that distinctive licorice-y flavor, each part of the plant tastes subtly different, and the overall flavor is […]

Categories: fennel, preserving, quick & easy, spring, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Foraging & Feasting + Giveaway Winner

12 December 2013 by local kitchen

Do you remember when I told you about a new foraging book, written by herbalist Dina Falconi and illustrated by artist Wendy Hollender, right here in Accord, NY? Well, I reached out to Dina and Wendy, who are also the publishers, Botanical Arts Press, and they were kind enough to send me a review copy and a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader. I was so excited to receive my copy and I was not disappointed: it is a […]

Categories: 100% local, foraging, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, foraging, giveaway, local, preserving, wild food

Plum Jam with Preserved Lemon

6 October 2013 by local kitchen

Plums always remind me of my dad. He would eat them by bucketful in summer: if I think of him in summertime, I see a plum in his hand, one missing a great big Dad-sized bite. I sometimes wonder what he would think of this wacky preserving-canning creature I’ve become. He died many years ago, when I was just out of college and still finding my way in the world. I started cooking as a teenager, so I’m sure I […]

Categories: canning, fall, jams, plums, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Nectarine Meyer Lemon Butter

29 September 2013 by local kitchen

As promised, the nectarine Meyer lemon butter recipe. It’s a simple one: a nice pile of nectarines from the farmer’s market, a bit (a very little bit) of sugar, and two precious Meyer lemons, hoarded from my visit to Karen in August. This has become my preferred method for fruit butters: coarsely chop unpeeled fruit and soften at a low simmer until you can push it through a food mill; strain the juice from the pulp and reduce the juice […]

Categories: canning, citrus, fall, peaches, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Plum Pie Filling

21 September 2013 by local kitchen

Pie filling: some of the easiest preserving you’ll do, and my go-to when I have a lot of fruit that I need to put up in a hurry. Pie fillings are great because you don’t have to achieve a gel, so there are no limits on how much (or little) sugar you can add, how long you cook it for, whether you want to toss in some booze or juice or a bit of fancy flavored vinegar. You can simply […]

Categories: canning, fall, plums, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, pie, preserving, recipes

Sriracha-Pickled Eggplant & Summer Squash

15 September 2013 by local kitchen

It’s been an easy eggplant year: we’ve only gotten a few pounds in the CSA this season, scattered over the last several weeks. After last year’s Eggplantocalypse, I’m grateful, especially with all of the traveling I’ve done this summer (although I have some friends who will lament the loss of quarts & quarts of eggplant bacon). Since Tai won’t eat it, and eggplant is not my favorite either, it’s a struggle to use it up when we get loads, but this […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, eggplant, pickles, preserving, summer, zucchini • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Restaurant-Style Tomato Salsa

8 September 2013 by local kitchen

Every year it seems, I try out a new canned salsa recipe: one glance at the tomato page will tell you that plenty of them have made it to this space. Some, like salsa verde and grilled corn salsa, earn “instant classic” status and are a must-make on the yearly canning agenda. Others, like basic red salsa and roasted tomato & chipotle salsa, get tweaked slightly every year, depending on availability of ingredients, my schedule and mood. But despite having so […]

Categories: canning, cilantro, hot chile peppers, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Indian-Spiced Pickled Green Beans

18 August 2013 by local kitchen

A couple of months ago, I bought an enormous bag of dried curry leaf from Mountain Rose Herbs. It was one of those things: I’m either just not thinking, or I forget how very light dried herbs are, and I buy a 4 oz bag only to end up with a bag of dried herbs bigger than my head. After the bag-of-oregano-the-size-of-my-torso incident, you would think I would learn. You would be wrong. The truly pathetic thing is, I know […]

Categories: canning, green beans, pickles, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, pickles, preserving, recipes, summer

Cherry Key Lime Marmalade

7 August 2013 by local kitchen

Does anyone still have cherries? No? Me neither. Maybe Newfoundland? Or wait: my homies in Saskatchewan, this one’s for you! I’m late with cherries this year: as usual. Seems to be a recurring theme. (Another recurring theme? I think I’m going to miss blueberries this year. AGAIN. Sigh.) In happy news, Fishkill Farms finally had a productive cherry season: we’ve only been waiting four years. In unhappy news, they were charging $7/lb: for pick-your-own. And while I had lots of […]

Categories: canning, cherries, citrus, preserves, preserving, summer, year round • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, summer

Black Currant Jam

11 July 2013 by local kitchen

Last summer at about this time, I drove up to Rhinbeck to hang out with Julia and help her out with a jam demo she was hosting at the weekend farmer’s market. She made a simple black currant jam that day. Simple, in that it consisted of only two ingredients and took about 10 minutes to make; but the flavor? The flavor was anything but. I dream about that jam: rich, complex, layered; sweet, savory, tart, spicy; almost umami in […]

Categories: canning, currants, jams, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, jam, local, preserving, recipes, summer

Tepary Bean, Sausage & Chard Soup

19 June 2013 by local kitchen

The verdict is in and the peoples: they like the chard. The professional chefs, recipe developers and cookbook authors? Not so much (except for Martha Rose, who, as ever, is awesome. The other Martha gets a nod too, mostly for the cool, seasonal, by-ingredient recipe index she’s got going on.). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I just don’t understand why everyone in the culinary world has a love affair with kale, but ignores her milder, softer, […]

Categories: garlic, heirloom beans, kale & leafy greens, sausage, spring, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Honey-Sweetened Rhubarb Rosemary Jam

15 June 2013 by local kitchen

At the farmer’s market this morning, I convinced a woman to buy the last of the rhubarb and freeze it for a pie. She was hovering near the rhubarb box and asked the vendor how long rhubarb would be in season. The vendor (clearly not a farmer, and new to the stand) said she wasn’t sure, but she thought the season was short (it’s not). I told the woman that rhubarb likes cool weather, so when it gets really hot, […]

Categories: canning, jams, preserving, rhubarb, rosemary, spring • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb, sugar-free

Blubarb Jam

29 May 2013 by local kitchen

Blubarb. Bluuuuuuuuuuubarb. Sounds like a particularly dense cartoon pirate, doesn’t it? I picture Barney, in a white, puffy Seinfeld shirt and an eye patch. With a rakish sword at his side, of course (if he can find a sword belt to fit around that rather prodigious middle. He’s probably been eating too much blubarb jam.). So: blubarb. Blueberry + rhubarb = blubarb. Wild Maine blueberries, in this case, harvested last August, frozen, and sold to a grateful locavore, who missed […]

Categories: berries, canning, jams, preserving, rhubarb, spring, summer, year round • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb