techniques |

Canning Tips & Tricks From Your Favorite Bloggers (+ Me!)

10 June 2012 by local kitchen

Do you remember way back in May (3 whole weeks ago) when I said that the time to prepare for preserving was now, because once the season hits, you’ll be overwhelmed? I was right. The fridge is full to overflowing with the first CSA of the season (greens, greens and more greens!), I still have Grandma’s rhubarb to work through, the European Championships and World Cup qualifying have started, and somehow, people still want me to work for a living. […]

Categories: canning, community, preserving, techniques, tools & gear • Tags: canning, cooking, preserving, techniques

How to Make Pumpkin Purée

2 November 2010 by local kitchen

Now that Halloween is behind us, there will be a lot of pumpkins at the markets going for a song. The best pumpkins for eating are the small, 3 – 4 pound sugar or pie pumpkins. While the large, dark orange Jack o’ lanterns do not make for great eating (they are bred for size and skin color more than juicy, delicious flesh), you can often find larger-than-pie-pumpkin pumpkins and winter squash that are delicious and very economical. I cracked open […]

Categories: 100% local, fall, preserving, techniques, winter squash • Tags: cooking, fall, food, how to, local, preserving, pumpkin, recipes, techniques

Labels: A Tutorial

14 October 2010 by local kitchen

I get a lot of questions, comments and compliments about my jar labels: if I buy them (and where!) or if I make them (and how??). I’m very flattered and I want everyone to be able to create their own inexpensive, not-so-labor-intensive, yet pretty labels for her (or his!) fabulous canned goods. Because, after all, presentation is everything in cooking: when I give jars as gifts, I get as many oohs and ahhs over the labels on the jars as I do over […]

Categories: canning, techniques, tools & gear • Tags: canning, techniques

Beanpot

15 February 2009 by local kitchen

Update, February 2013: It’s fun to go back in time and read some of these early posts on the blog. While I can think back to the time when I didn’t cook with dried beans, I had forgotten that I didn’t “cook with beans all that often.” It seems crazy to me now, when rarely a week goes by without a pot of beans simmering away on my stove, but I think that’s the beauty of learning to cook with […]

Categories: beans, heirloom beans, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, techniques