PlanterTomato Vegetable Gardening

Yuzu: Citrus Fruit For Harvest in Winter

A citrus fruit that can be grown in temperate climates and harvested in Winter for holiday recipes.

Yuzu is a citrus fruit that is very popular in Japan.  The fruit looks similar to a tangerine, but is more yellow and the skin is bumpy.   Similar in flavor to a lemon but more delicate, Yuzu was introduced into Japan from China during the Nara period (710-794 AD) and is now a staple in Japanese cooking; Japanese food lovers and cooks will be most familiar with Yuzu as it is the primary ingredient in Ponzu sauce.

Tolerant to 10 Degrees Fahrenheit

Yuzu is unique among citrus fruits because of its extreme cold tolerance.  Unlike other citrus fruits, Yuzu can tolerate cold temperatures as low as ten degrees Fahrenheit.  This means that gardeners in temperate climates (USDA Hardiness Zone 5 and higher) can successfully grow it their garden if they would like to do so.  Yuzu can also be purchased as a dwarf tree and grown in a pot indoors by anyone.  In the garden or inside, Yuzu can be enjoyed year-round:

• Beautiful green foliage 12 months of the year.
• Fragrant flowers in May or June.
• Ripe fruit in December or January.

Growing Yuzu

Depending on where you live, you may be able to purchase Yuzu from your local nursery.  If not, Yuzu can be ordered from FourWinds Citrus Growers and several other suppliers.  One thing to note when searching, the current taxonomic name for this citrus is Citrus ichangensis x C. reticulata but the plant is often sold under it's old taxonomic name Citrus junos.  

As with other citrus, you should grow Yuzu in well drained soil.  In my area, the soil is a miserable clay, so I grow my Yuzu in a SmartPot (a fabric growing bag) that provides great drainage and air circulation to the roots.  Here are basic care instructions:

• Plant in well drained soil.
• Keep soil moist but don't allow the roots to get waterlogged.  The best approach is to provide one deep watering per week (versus many shallow waterings).
• Fertilize with a nitrogen weighted fertilizer -- more "N" in the formula than Phosphorus (P) or Potassium (K).  Apply fertilizer are rates per the manufacturers recommendation.
• Plant or place pot in full sun.  If you use a pot, you can move your tree indoors or to a greenhouse during the Winter to provide additional protection.  This is the only option for gardeners who live in Hardiness Zones 1-4 and is probably also a good option for those living in Zone 5 (the lowest zone where Yuzu can be successfully grown outdoors)

 Yuzu Recipes

If you decide to grow Yuzu, here are some potential uses:

• Candied Yuzu Peel - prepare the same way you would make candied orange peel, but substitute Yuzu.  Since Yuzu is harvested in December/January, this might make a nice treat for the holidays.
• Yuzu Marmalade - just substitute yuzu for orange in Alton Brown's recipe.
• Yuzu Liquor - this is traditionally made by steeping the peel in liquor and then adding back juice at a later point.  The traditional recipe for "Yuzushu" uses 35% alcohol Shochu (Japanese rice liquor) and requires that the liquor be aged for one year.  I have not tried this method of method yet, but I think a faster way to make Yuzu flavored liquor would be to substitute yuzu for lemons in the recipe for Limoncello (made with vodka rather than shochu).  See my prior posting on how to make limoncello for details. 
• Ponzu - A traditional Japanese dipping sauce.

How to Can Sweet Peppers

In this posting, I show you how to preserve sweet peppers.

I grow sweet peppers in my greenhouse and recently took the last harvest of the season.  With lots of peppers on hand, I decided to can them for future eating.  I will probably eat most of these as a kind of salad by just drizzling a little olive oil on top and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Canning peppers is similar to canning other vegetables but there is an important additional step required.  As with tomatoes, the outer skin of the pepper can become quite tough, so it is best to remove the outer skin prior to canning.

Blistering Peppers to Remove the Skin

• Wash and dry the peppers.
• Remove the stem and seeds and then cut the peppers in half.
• Place on a cookie sheet or baking dish and place under the broiler in your oven until the skins blacken.  This will take just a few minutes.
  
• Once cool, you find it very easy to remove the skins.

• You can cut the peppers into smaller pieces or can them as is.  I cut my peppers in half one more time so that each piece is a quarter of a pepper. 

Canning Peppers

1. Clean 1/2 pint canning jars and sanitize the jars, lids and bands in simmering water. (For general instructions on canning, see my prior posting that covers Basic Canning of Tomatoes)
2. Place the peppers into hot jars.
   
3. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 tablespoon vinegar to each jar.
4. Top off the jars with boiling water so that they are filled, leaving 1 inch of head-space.
5. Process in a pressure canner for 35 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  (If you live in a location that is at an altitude of above 1,000 feet, increase processing times accordingly.  You can find a table detailing this in my posting on canning tomatoes. Click here to see table of adjustments)
6. When done, allow canner to return to zero pounds pressure and remove the peppers.
7. Allow them to cool.

You'll find these canned peppers have a wonderful roasted flavor.

How to Can Tomatoes

In this posting, I'll show you how to can tomatoes using both the hot water bath method and with a pressure canner.  By canning your tomatoes,  you'll be able to enjoy produce from your garden all Winter long.

Two Roads to the Same Destination

The hot water bath and pressure canning method of preserving tomatoes preserve food based on the same preservation principles.  Specifically, the tomatoes are preserved using a combination of heat and acid to kill any bacteria that might cause them to spoil.  The difference between the two methods is really one of equipment and timing.  

From an equipment perspective, the hot water bath method is probably the least fussy since it only requires a large pot and an inexpensive wire rack for the pot that keeps the canning jars from making direct contact with the bottom of the pot.  But canning using hot water bath method takes 40 minutes while using a pressure canner takes only 10.  If you have lots of tomatoes to can, you may want to make the investment in a pressure canner.  For more information about pressure canners, see my post "Preserving Your Harvest By Canning."

Regardless of which method you use, the basic preparation steps are the same.

How To Can Tomatoes (Basic Preparation)

1. Make sure your canning jars are clean and there are no cracks or uneven rims that would prevent them from sealing properly.
2. Wash and rinse the jars and lids in warm soapy water to make they are clean.
3. Place the jars into a stock pot and the lids into a saucepan of simmering water to sanitize them. (Don't boil.  Allow the lids and jars to remain in the simmering water until you are ready to use them)
4. Wash and stem all the tomatoes so they are ready to go.
5. Remove the skin from this batch of tomatoes by blanching --Cut a small "X" into the bottom of each tomato with a sharp knife.  Then drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 1.5 minutes to loosen the skin. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and cool them to stop the cooking process and make them easier to handle. (Traditionally, blanching is done by placing the tomatoes in an ice water bath but I find that putting them in a colander and running cool tap water over them works just as well.)  Remove the skin.
6. Using your hands, squeeze out some of the juice and seeds from each tomato so that you are left with large chunks.  (I do this over the sink to make clean-up easier)
7. Put the tomato chunks into pint canning jars and add either 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (you can buy citric acid powder from a canning specialty store or on-line merchant)  The jar should be filled to within 1/2" of the top of the jar.
8. Wipe the lip of the jar with a paper towel so it is free of any tomato juice and cap with a clean lid.
9. Repeat the above procedure until all your tomatoes are in cans and ready to go into the pot or canner.

Using The Pressure Canner

1. Place the jars in your pressure caner and fill so that the water level is about an inch and one-half above the bottom of the canner. (Please note that the amount of water you use for pressure canning is different than that used for the hot water bath method. For pressure canning only a portion of the jar is covered by water)  
2. Place the lid on the canner and clamp down the lid by screwing down the wing nuts that surround the edges of the pot.
3. Turn up your stove to high.  When the water comes to a boil, you'll notice steam coming from the vent on the pressure canner.  Allow the stem to vent for 10 minutes before placing the weight on top of the canner.
4. Cook for 10 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  (Note: As the steam vents from the canner it will cause the weight to make a chattering noise.  If the stove is too hot, it will cause the weight to chatter constantly.  If it's too low, the weight won't chatter at all.  The proper stove temperature is one where the weight chatters briefly about once every minute. )
   
5. Cook for 10 minutes.
6. Now turn off the heat and let the canner to cool down.  You can speed the process along by removing the weight from the top of the canner.  However, the minute you do this, steam will shoot out of the vent.  To prevent burning yourself, let the canner cool for at least 5 minutes before attempting to remove the weight and then do so with a pair of kitchen tongs so that your hand is not near the vent opening.
7. Allow the canner to continue to cool.  You want the pressure gauge to return to zero before removing the lid.
8. Open the lid and remove the jars from the canner.  Allow them to continue cooling on a dry towel on your counter.
9. After the jars have cooled completely, test the seal by pressing down on the center of each lid.  If the center of the lid is pulled down and does not flex, the cans are properly sealed.

Using the Hot Water Bath Method

1.  Fill your canning pot with water and bring to a simmer.
2. As each jar is filled, place onto the elevated canning rack.
3. After all the jars are on the rack, lower them into the simmering water.  The water level should be about 1 to two inches above the top of the lids. (Please note that the amount of water you use for the hot water bath method is different than that used for pressure canning. For the hot water bath method the cans should be completely under water)  
4. Cover and bring the water to a rolling boil.  For pint sized jars cook for 40 minutes.  (Because boiling temperatures vary by altitude, you should adjust your processing time based on the below chart.  I've provided altitudes for some major U.S. cities but you can check the altitude of your town by doing a Google search.)
5.  Once your tomatoes are processed, turn off the heat and uncover your pot.  Let the cans sit in the water for 5 minutes before removing jars.
6. Remove the jars from your canning pot and allow them to continue cooling on a dry towel on your counter. After the jars have cooled completely, test the seal by pressing down on the center of each lid.  If the center of the lid is pulled down and does not flex, the cans are properly sealed.

 
Chart: Adjustment times for canning tomatoes using the hot water bath method.

How To Can Green Beans

In this posting, I describe how to can green beans using a pressure canner.

We had a bumper crop of green beans and with another crop on the way in a few weeks, I decided to put some away for the Winter. An easy way to preserve green beans is to blanche them in hot water and then freeze them in vacuum seal bags. (For more information about this process, see my posting on freezing and vacuum sealers)

An older method of preserving beans is to can them.  Canning green beans results in a product that tastes very different than freezing. Undoubtedly, the taste of canned green beans is less good than frozen, but they have a retro flavor that brings back memories of my grandmother serving green beans for dinner.  (Grandma didn't can her own, she let Delmonte do it for her)  So each year, I put away some canned beans.

How to Can Green Beans

1. Wash your jars and lids thoroughly and sanitize by simmering them in water till you are ready to use them.  Leave them in the hot water and remove one at a time when ready.
2. Wash and de-tip the beans.
3. Cut the beans into uniform size pieces.
4. Cook the beans in boiling water for five minutes. (Keep the water for step #7)
5. Remove the beans and place them into pint sized jars.
6. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to each pint.
7. Ladle hot water from the pot you used to cook your beans into each jar.  Leaving about 1 inch of head-space.
8. Use a clean spatula to remove any air bubbles in can by sliding the beans around in the jars.
9. Wipe the rim and place the sanitized lid on top, screwing till fingertip tight.
10. Place into a pressure canner that contains 2-3 inches of water.
11. Place the lid on the pressure canner and bring it to the boil.  You should let steam vent for 10 minutes before placing the weight on the vent (Use kitchen tongs so you don't get burned)
12. Process the pint sized jars for 20 minutes.
13. Turn off the heat and allow the canner to return to zero pressure.
14. Remove the jars and let cool before storing.

For more information about pressure canners, see my post Preserving Your Harvest by Canning.

How to Harvest, Store And Pickle Garlic

In this posting, I'll describe when to harvest garlic and the easiest, and perhaps the best, way to store it. 

In the Fall of last year, I planted two varieties of garlic:  Inchelium Red a large, medium strength, soft-neck garlic than can store up to 6 months and Purple Glazer, a medium strength, hard-neck garlic that keeps up to 8 months.  This week, I harvested them and placed them into my garage to store.

Harvesting Garlic

Knowing when to harvest garlic is not easy.  It's generally recommended that garlic is ready to harvest when the leaves begin to die back.  This is a good first indicator, but you also want to make sure the bulbs are fully developed.  One way to tell is to scrape dirt away from one of the garlic plants and touch the bulb with your fingers to see if you can feel individual cloves.  If so, the garlic is ready to come out of the ground.

Storing Garlic

Garlic can be stored by chopping it up and freezing it in ice cube trays, drying the individual bulbs, or fresh pickling in vinegar for storage in the refrigerator.  Storing garlic in oil to preserve the bulbs or make infused oils is an attractive sounding idea.  Unfortunately, it is not a safe storage technique and can lead to botulism. 

The easiest method in my opinion is to just store the bulbs in a dry environment at room temperature.  Garlic preserved in this way can last many months, but it does vary considerably by variety.  I specifically choose garlic varieties with both long-storage capabilities and medium strength flavor profiles.

After removing from the ground, I just brush off the bulbs and place them in my garage at room temperature to cure. (Don't cut off the leaves or roots as garlic stores better this way)  During this period the leaves will turn brown and the bulbs begin to dry.  Curing generally takes about 3 weeks.   After that point you can braid the garlic if you like but I don't bother.  I use some string and tie together several heads by putting a knot around the dried stems.  Garlic stored in a cool dry spot can keep many months.

Another approach is to quick pickle garlic and store it in the refrigerator.  Unlike canning that uses heat to preserve food, quick pickling uses ingredients such as salt, sugar and especially vinegar to keep food fresh.  It's primarily the acid in the vinegar that does the trick, so follow the proportions of the recipe carefully;  you want to keep the ratio of vinegar to garlic at the right level to maintain safe preservation.  Once pickled in this way, garlic will last months in the refrigerator.  By the way, you don't want to use traditional canning techniques to pickle garlic, the heat involved severely degrades the taste.

If you would like to try pickling garlic, here's a simple recipe from AllRecipes.com. 

Some Good Garlic Varieties

Garlic can vary dramatically in flavor and storage capability.  Some garlic will have a mild flavor, others can be almost white hot.  Likewise, there are some varieties that are better for storage.  Perhaps the best approach is to choose one long-storage variety and one that has a flavor profile that you really like.  That way you get the best of both worlds.

Mild Flavored: Siberian, Purple Italian, Rogue River, Belarus.

Medium Flavored: Inchelium Red, Purple Glazer, Chesnok Red, Georgian Crystal.

Strong Flavored: Leningrad, Lorz Italian, Ajo Roja,Georgian Fire, Music, Kilarney Red, Polish Hardneck

Long Storage: Burgandy, Creole Red, Locati, Nootka Rose, Rose du Var.

Home Canning Makes A Comeback

The following article on the resurgence of canning appeared in the Sept. 10, 2010 issue of the Palo Alto Weekly.  The author used PlanterTomato as a resource when conducting research for the article and was kind enough to quote me.

Yes, they can by Robin Migdol

As home canning enjoys a surge in popularity, devotees say it's not hard to make pickled veggies, jams and jellies

The thought of canning, or preserving fruits and vegetables in glass jars, may bring to mind a bygone era of life on the family farm and women cooking over a hot stove all day long. But in a modern Palo Alto kitchen simmering with the sights and smells of pickled beets, it's clear that canning is not quite a lost culinary art.

"Beets are something people don't enjoy at all if they're plain," says lifetime home canner Rosalie Shepherd as she prepares the reddish-purple vegetable for canning. "You can pack them in water, but pickling adds flavor."

Shepherd is part of a dedicated community of canners, made up of home cooks, gardeners, foodies and people who think it's just plain fun to preserve their favorite fruits and vegetables as jams, jellies and sauces. For those who prefer their food to be of the least-processed variety, canning offers the enticing option to prepare even staple items such as green beans and applesauce at home.

Canning has enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years, as baby boomers and young families have shown an increasing interest in the homemade foods of their parents' and grandparents' times. Jill Rakestraw of Mountain View, who makes jams and jelly, and cans tomatoes, said that she is no longer alone in her love of canning.

"I started canning five years ago. I would just do it on my own, but now all my girlfriends want to learn how to can — one had her mom mailing cans from Texas," Rakestraw said. "People's moms did it and now they want to go back to it."

Recipes instruct cooks to boil jars and lids to sterilize them, then combine their fruit or vegetable on the stove with other ingredients, such as spices, pectin for jellies, pickling salt or sugar. The mixture is then poured carefully into the jars and the lids twisted on. The jars are submerged in more boiling water or a pressure canner to ensure that they are completely sealed. Preserves can then be stored for anywhere from several months to a year.

Though canning has been done for generations, it's often stuck with a reputation for being a long, laborious process that only an experienced cook, or one with a lot of time on his or her hands, could perform. Canning recipes found in cookbooks and blogs warn cooks of the risks of botulism from unsterilized jars, lids not sealed properly, using water that hasn't reached the correct temperature and a host of other potential problems.

"If you've never seen it done it can be scary to take it on. There's hot steam involved and it can seem dangerous," said Mark Delman of Palo Alto, who writes a canning and gardening blog called "Planter Tomato." "I always put canning off to the side because I had no experience, but I decided last June I needed to try it. It is so easy it's ridiculous."

Foster City resident Jennifer Wong agreed that canning is not as labor-intensive as it is often made out to be.

"It's become a lot simpler. You don't have to have fancy equipment," she said. "You can just make small batches and it doesn't have to take two days."

Experts recommend that new canners start out conservatively, with fruits and vegetables that most everyone likes.

"I always tell people to grow and can the thing they like to eat the most," Delman said. "Tomatoes are usually a good choice. Everyone loves them, they preserve beautifully, and you have a lot of flexibility — you can make chili, pasta and more."

Sue Cannon of Santa Cruz, who cans artichokes, pickles and jam, said berries are good for beginners because they already contain pectin, which creates the thick texture characteristic of jams and jellies. She said it's important to be organized throughout the process.

"Try to come up with an assembly line so that everything remains hot," Cannon advised.

The canning process invariably includes sharing one's goods with others. Many canners say that one of the aspects they enjoy most about their craft is connecting with families, friends and communities through food.

"My grandma had always given us jars of jelly every year when we would come to visit her. Every one of our holiday meals included canned green beans with bacon in it and she always made her own pickles," Cannon said. "I thought (canning) connected me with my family."

Steve Rasmussen, owner of the Milk Pail Market in Mountain View, said he enjoyed making applesauce once with his family.

"We peeled the apples and cored them, put it on the stove, added cinnamon and mashed it up. As a home-grown experience it was great, and the kids loved it," Rasmussen said.

Santa Clara County's Village Harvest, which harvests unwanted fruit and donates it to charitable food organizations and hunger programs, makes preserves for fundraising. Canning groups also host exchanges so friends can share each other's creations.

In the end, it's all about the food. Canners say grocery-store produce simply can't compare with the taste of freshly preserved fruits and vegetables. Delman said the lack of fresh garden produce in supermarkets is a major reason why many have turned to canning at home.

"Even tomatoes at a good grocery market don't taste like tomatoes out of a garden because they're bred for longevity and ability to be transported, not flavor," he said. "People are frustrated that they can't get good-quality food."

For those willing to learn and experiment with canning, the literal fruits of their labor seem well worth the effort. Wong said the best part of the process for her is admiring the pleasing aesthetic of her work.

"The fruit tastes fresher and the texture is more intense," she said. "I love putting the finished jars in a line on the counter and seeing how pretty they are. The colors are incredible."

Info: Websites with more information on canning include:

* www.plantertomato.com: Mark Delman's blog, with product reviews and tips for canning and gardening

* www.freshpreserving.com: The website for Ball, which sells canning supplies

* www.pickyourown.org: Lists of you-pick farms, along with canning directions and crop calendars

For detailed instructions on canning, please see my previous postings on Preserving Your Harvest: Canning and Canning Tomatoes & A Quick Pasta Sauce Recipe.

Canning Tomatoes & A Quick Pasta Sauce Recipe

In this posting, I describe how to can tomatoes using a pressure caner and provide my wife's recipe for a quick, light pasta sauce you can make in about 25 minutes.

I consider this week to be the close of our 2010 tomato growing season.  This week we canned our last batch of tomatoes, bringing the total amount squirreled away for winter to 45 pints; that's enough to make a meal a week from now until the beginning of next year's season in late June.

While some gardeners prefer to make and can tomato sauce, we prefer to can the tomatoes themselves and use them as an ingredient in recipes.  This gives us the flexibility to use the tomatoes in a variety of dishes such as ratatouille, pasta sauce, lasagna, chili, etc.

Some tomato varieties such as Amish Paste and San Marzano are considered specifically as canning tomatoes.  They are meatier with less juice and therefore produce canned tomatoes that that yield a thicker sauce.

While we did grow some canning paste tomatoes (San Marzano), most of the tomatoes we preserved (Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Black Krim etc.) are considered slicing tomatoes.  When used in canning, they produce a thinner sauce but one with a very wonderful sweet flavor.

How To Can Tomatoes

• Wash and stem all the tomatoes so they are ready to go.
• Measure out the amount of tomatoes you need for the jar you plan to fill.  I can the tomatoes in pint sized jars and find that starting with 1 quart of whole tomatoes yields just the right amount of tomatoes for each pint.
  
• Remove the skin from this batch of tomatoes by blanching --Cut a small "X" into the bottom of each tomato with a sharp knife.  Then drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 1.5 minutes to loosen the skin. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and cool them to stop the cooking process and make them easier to handle. (Traditionally, blanching is done by placing the tomatoes in an ice water bath but I find that putting them in a colander and running cool tap water over them works just as well.)  Remove the skin.
• Using your hands, squeeze out some of the juice and seeds from each tomato so that you are left with large chunks.  (I do this over the sink to make clean-up easier)
• Put the tomato chunks into canning jars and add either 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (you can buy citric acid powder from a canning specialty store or online merchant)  The jar should be filled to within 1/4" of the top of the jar.
• Wipe the lip of the jar with a paper towel so it is free of any tomato juice and cap with a clean lid.
  
• Repeat the above procedure until all your tomatoes are in cans and ready to go into the pressure caner.
• Place the jars in your pressure caner and fill so that the water level is about 1.5 inches above the bottom of the caner. Cook for 10 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  Remember that you start your timer only after the pressure in the caner reaches 10 pounds of pressure.  For more detailed information about the using a pressure caner, see my posting on Preserving Your Harvest By Caning.
  
• Remove from the caner and let cool.
  

Sharon's Pasta Sauce

My wife Sharon created this recipe specifically for our canned tomatoes.   The recipe creates a lighter, thinner sauce that we prefer.   The quantities listed below are approximations; feel free to adjust the seasoning to your own tastes and the ingredients you have on hand.

• Mince 4 slices of pancetta (Italian Bacon)
  
• Add some olive oil to a pan and cook the pancetta until lightly brown over a medium heat.
• Chop one small onion and add it to the pan.  Cook til translucent, stirring so that the pancetta and onions do not burn.
  
• Mince 3 cloves of garlic and add it to the pan.  Cook about a minute.
• Add 1 pint of caned tomatoes to the pan along with 1/2 cup red or white wine.
  
• If you are using dry oregano, add a few pinches to the pan now.  If using fresh oregano, add it about 2 minutes before removing the sauce from the stove.
• Cook on a low to medium heat for about 15 minutes.  This allows the flavors to mix and some of the water in the to evaporate to thicken the sauce.

Bon Appetit.

Preserving Your Harvets Part II: Canning

In this post, I explain some basics of canning.  If you are considering caning for the first time, this post will save you time doing research and give you a "quick start" guide to the process.

This is the first year that I've done caning at home and began the process with a sense of fear and dread.

Unlike freezing with which everyone has some experience due to the universal presence of the refrigerator, canning is a process that is a bit of a lost art for many of us; grandma canned, but her knowledge and skill wasn't transmitted to the next generation.  As a result, many of us have only fearful thoughts of canning (messing up and getting botulism or being scalded by hot steam, or exploding pressure caners etc.)

Well put your fears to rest.  It's not that hard or scary.  If I can do it, you can as well.  So here's the information you need to get you started.

The Hot Water Bath Process

This is the easiest and requires the least equipment.  It is generally used for preserving fruit, jams and jellies, tomatoes and pickles.  You can preserve a lot with the hot water bath method, but not everything (I elaborate on this below)

To can using the "hot water bath" method:

• Wash your vegetables and do the basic food preparation.  The prep. will vary depending on the vegetable or fruit you are preserving.  (For example, if you want to can tomatoes, you'll remove the skins by cutting an "X" into the bottom of the tomato with a knife and boiling for 1 minute.  The skin will then peel off easily) 
  
• Put your fruits or vegetables along with the proper additives into jars.  The additives (lemon juice, vinegar/spices, or sugar syrup) aid in food preservation and allow you to can at lower temperatures.  The proper additive will vary depending on what you are preserving, but will be listed in your recipe.
  
• Wipe of the lip of the jar with a clean paper towel and screw on the top.  (The lids should be sanitized by first boiling them in water)
  
• Place the jars into a pot so that the water which completely covers the tops
• Boil for 10-50 minutes depending on what you are canning and the size of the jar you are using.  You can find processing times listed in the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, your pressure caner instruction manual, or at cooking and caning web sites on the internet.
  

Equipment for Hot Water Bath Canning

The only equipment you need to do hot water bath canning is a large stock pot, a pair of canning tongs to remove hot jars from the pot, and special canning jars. 

These canning jars are made of thick glass to withstand the heat of the canning process and a special lid with a rubber gasket seal.  Canning jars are manufactured by two companies (Ball and Kerr) and are widely available at hardware stores, Wal-Mart and other retail locations.

The Bad News about Hot Water Bath Canning

Now here's the rub... The hot water bath process is good for many, but not all, canning applications.  Specifically, it's good for jams and jellies (sugar syrup additive used), canned tomatoes (lemon juice additive used) and pickles (vinegar and pickling spice additive used).  

If you want to preserve green beans, but don't want to add vinegar and pickling spices which will alter their flavor, boiling water alone will not be sufficient to prevent your food from spoiling.  You'll need to heat the food you are preserving to a temperature above that of boiling water and will need a pressure caner to accomplish this.

Pressure Canning

Pressure canning is a process which allows you to heat your canned vegetables and fruits above the temperature of boiling water (212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius).  As I mentioned above, by canning using higher temperatures, you're able to preserve a wider range of fruits and veggies and to forgo the use of additives in some cases.

Pressure canning works by using steam to do the preservation.  Under pressure, steam can reach much hotter temperatures than boiling water --generally temperature between 228 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (107-118 degrees Celsius).  

I should also mention that pressure canning can be used to do all of the same foods that can be done using the hot water bath method, but to complete the canning process faster because you're using a higher temperature.

Pressure Caning Process

• To do pressure canning, you prepare your fruits or vegetables according to the recipe you are following.  This will be very similar to the hot water bath process.
• Fill the pressure caner with water so that the water level is about 1.5 inches above the bottom of the pot. 
  
• Place your jars into the pressure caner.  You will put the jars onto a rack that sits just above the bottom of the pot in your pressure caner that prevents the cans from sitting directly on the hot bottom of the caner.
• Lubricate the metal seal on the cover of the caner with a little Vaseline to prevent sticking and then screw down the lid being careful to gradually and evenly tighten opposite wing nuts.  This ensures that the cover will be properly sealed.
• Bring the the water to a boil.  You'll see steam escaping from a small vent at the top of the pressure caner.
• Place a weight (supplied with your caner) on the vent using a set of kitchen tongs so you don't get burned by escaping steam.  The weight will have settings for 5-15 pounds of pressure.  Use the setting specified in your recipe. (I describe the function of the weight in the last section of this post for those with inquiring minds)
  
• Steam for the time given in the recipe.
  
• When the cooking time has elapsed, turn off the stove. 
  
• Let the temperature/pressure gauge of your caner return to 212 degrees Fahrenheit/0 pounds of pressure.
• Gradually remove the hot weight from the pressure caner using a kitchen tongs so you don't get burned.
• Open the top and remove your preserved cans.  Allow to cool.

Pressure Caners & How They Work

There are two devices on the market - pressure cookers and pressure caners.  If you are canning fruits and vegetables, you want to buy a pressure caner.  Both devices work on the same principle of using steam to do the heating, but caners are larger and designed for caning jars.  Cookers are too small and the USDA warns against using them for canning.

A good brand of pressure caner is All American but there are other good brands on the market.  You can buy a variety of different sized pressure caners, but a  21 quart pressure caner is a good size for home caning applications.

The caner is basically a stock pot with a lid that can be screwed down to hold in pressurized steam. The lid of the caner has a gauge on it that will tell you the pressure in pounds per square inch (PSI) and the temperature within the pot.  There is also a small vent pipe on the top of the pot that allows steam to escape.  You control the pressure withing the pot (and hence the temperature) by regulating the amount of steam that is able to escape through this vent pipe.  You regulate the pressure by placing a small weight (supplied with your pressure caner) on top of the vent.  My weight has three settings on it and allows steam to escape so that the pressure in the pot is 5, 10 or 15 PSI.

If you are an experienced home caner, please feel free to add comments to this post.

      

Preserving Your Harvest Part I: Freezing & Vacuum Sealers

With summer vegetable harvest in full swing, we have more vegetables right now than we have bellies to fill.  Not a bad problem since it means we can put some of the surplus away for the winter.

In the next few postings, I'll cover some of the options you have to preserve your harvest and the equipment you need to do so.

In this first of the series on food preservation, I'll cover how to freeze vegetables and vacuum sealer machines.

Freezing

We are fortunate enough to have a deep freezer in our garage.  We originally purchased it because we buy meat in quantity and get a discount.  However, we have extra space and this allows us to put away frozen vegetables as well.

Freezing is remarkably easy to do and is a great way to store carrots, peas, corn, squash and even eggplant.  The procedure for freezing is simple. 

The key is to blanche the vegetables first to stop enzymatic activity within the vegetable which would cause deterioration.  Blanching is a cooking process where you first drop the vegetables in boiling water for a short period of time (generally 1-3 minute) and then transfer them to a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking process.  You leave them in the ice water bath for the same amount of time that they are in the boiling water.  The boiling and cooling time depends on the type and size of the vegetable.   You can find blanching times for common vegetables at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Storage Options

One the vegetables have been blanched and cooled, you can transfer into a plastic food storage bag. 

1. Freezer Bags: You can buy plastic bags from the grocery store as long as they are identified as "Freezer" bags, not just plastic bags.   Vegetables stored in these bags will stay fresh for at least 3 weeks.
2. Vacuum Seal Bags: For long-term storage, freezer bags will not due the trick.  You'll need to use a food vacuum sealer machine and special vacuum sealer bags.  The vacuum sealer machine removes air from the bag and increases the shelf life to 8-12 months for blanched vegetables.

Vacuum Sealer Machines

Chamber Vacuum Sealers: The best machines are commercial grade chamber vacuum sealers.  These devices work by placing the bag into an internal chamber.  They create the strongest vacuum and have the ability to seal liquid items like soup.  Because they are designed to seal liquids, they are also better at sealing items like meat and fish which can give off alot of juice (blood) which can get sucked into the pump of other styles of vacuum sealers and foul them.

Unfortunately, these chamber style machines are also very expensive.  The smallest and cheapest of these devices is about $1700.  I looked in vain for months on eBay hoping to find a used model and finally gave up.  If you are a hunter or fisherman freezing lots of meat each year, you may want to bite the bullet and buy one of these chamber vacuum sealers.  Personally, this was way to expensive for me so I decided to buy a suction vacuum sealer.

Suction Vacuum Sealers:  Unlike chamber vacuum sealers, the bag in suction-style vacuum sealers hangs outside the machine.  You can find these machines at retail stores and on the internet and they generally cost between $150-$500 depending on the model.

The most common of these is FoodSaver brand.  My internet research on this brand showed that consumers had mixed feelings about these machines.  The older (and simpler) machines seemed to be favorably reviewed, but the newer models which automatically stop the vacuum and seal the bag, appear to be more spotty; I found lots of complaints that these machines only lasted a year or less before breaking.

In the end, I decided to purchase a brand called the VacUpack which cost $279.  What sold me on this particular model was that it a totally manual (less stuff to break) and it has a drain built in so that if you accidentally such fluids into the machine, the fluids will be drained onto the counter rather than being sucked into the pump.  

I've been using the VacUpack for several months and do like it, although it's too early to tell whether it will last longer than other brands of suction vacuum machines.

A Note On Vacuum Bags

The VacUpack comes with bag materials on rolls and also bags of predetermined size that are sealed on one end.  The roll material offers the advantage of allowing you to create bags of whatever size you want and the material is cheaper to purchase.  However, I did not find the quality of the rolls to be particularly good.  They just didn't seal as well as the pre-formed pouches. 

My recommendation is just to buy the pouches from VacuPack.  The more you buy, the cheaper they are.  In quantities of fifty, 6" x 10" Vac Strip pouches are $.34 each and 8" x 12" pouches are $.42 each.

If you have used a vacuum sealer or have experience freezing vegetables, please post a comment so that others can benefit from your knowledge.

________________________________________________________________________________

A chamber style vacuum is shown below:

A suction style vacuum sealer is shown below:

Curing and Smoking Bacon at Home with Mesquite or Alder Wood

An experiment in smoking bacon with non-traditional woods.

In a prior posting, I provided a recipe and instructions to cure and smoke your own bacon.  I really like this recipe because it provides a perfect balance of the flavors that make bacon so incredibly wonderful -- fatty, salty, and sweet.

As I also mentioned in that  posting, I am not a big fan of apple wood for smoking bacon and so for my first batches were made using hickory wood.

Hickory is the traditional choice and the wood used to make most store-bought bacon.  However, there are other wood options and I thought I would try some of these to see if I liked the results. When I made our most recent batch of bacon I smoked half in mesquite wood and the other half in alder wood. 

Mesquite Wood

Mesquite is a drought-tolerant deciduous tree that grows primarily in Texas and the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

If you're from Texas, where barbecue is traditionally done using mesquite, you're going to love mesquite smoked bacon.  But you don't need to live in "The Lone Star State" to find mesquite wood or enjoy mesquite smoked bacon.  Mesquite chips are widely available at stores that sell barbecue grills. Mesquite gives a distinct and extra smokey flavor to bacon. 

Red Alder Wood

Alder is a deciduous tree in the birch family.  In the United States, red alder grows primarily in the Pacific Northwest. 

For making bacon, Alder is definitely the more off-beat choice of the two woods I tested.  Alder is recommended widely for smoking pork, but in candor, my prior experience with alder wood has been exclusively as a wood used to make salmon on the grill. 

I was a bit surprised at how well alder works for bacon;  it gives the bacon a slightly sweeter and more mild flavor than either hickory or mesquite. 

You can find alder chips at local grill stores, but it is less common, so you may need to hunt around to find a supplier.

In the future, I'm going to try cherry, pecan and other woods to see if I can arrive at a personal favorite.  But any way you smoke it, bacon is pretty terrific stuff.  I can't wait for fresh summer tomatoes to make bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Recipe for Curing & Smoking Bacon

For the recipe and step-by-step instructions on how to cure and smoke bacon at home, see my original post "Bacon, Proof of the Existence of God."

Three Radish Varieites & A Pickling Recipe That's Great for A Vodka Martini

In this posting, I'll describe three radishes I'm growing this year and provide a very unusual recipe to pickle them.

Radishes are a great thing to grow in your garden because they are easy to grow, quick maturing, and among the first things you can harvest in spring.  I've already described how to plant and grow radishes in a my posting on French Breakfast Radishes, so I won't cover that here.  However, I did want to tell you about the varieties I'm growing and provide a novel way to pickle them which will allow you to store them for about 1 month.

Three Radishes Compared

Our old standby radish is the French Breakfast.  It's a beautiful radish with a white bottom and a red top.  We've planted these for years, so I wondered if other varieties would be as good, or perhaps, even better.  So I planted French Breakfast, White Icicle and Saxa to do a taste test.  All are heirloom varieties, but they have very different appearances.

The French breakfast is a oblong radish with a white bottom and a red top.  The White Icicle is shaped like a carrot but is pure white with a little green at the top.  Finally, the Saxa is a round, bright red European variety that is reputed to mature in just 3 weeks. (see photo)

I harvested my radishes when they were about 30 days old and did a taste test.  I found all the radishes to be mild flavored with a bit of a spicy, radish after taste.  In candor, it would be hard to tell these apart in a blind taste test.  The only real difference I noted, was that the Saxa radish was firmer and more crunchy than the rest. 

At this point, if I were forced to pick just one radish I could grow, the Saxa would win by a whisker.  One thing that I would mention, was that based on just one experience growing Saxa's, I did not find them to grow any faster than the other varieties and they produced smaller radishes.  

Now on to a really unique way to preserve your radishes.  This recipe comes from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon.  I've shared some of her other recipes with you such as how to cure bacon, and I highly recommend Ms. Solomon's book;  it's fast becoming a go-to source for preservation ideas in our family.

Recipe:  Quick Pickle Radish with Lemon

Ms. Solomon's recipe calls for Daikon radish, but I found it to work quite well for all of the radishes mentioned above from a taste perspective.  I would concede that white radishes such as Daikon or White Icicle, make for a better presentation because they don't turn pink during the pickling process as do the French Breakfast and Saxa.  That said, all made for very good tasting pickles.

What makes this recipe so surprising is that the flavor profile of the pickle is dominated by lemon, so it's has a very bright taste.  You would not know you are eating radishes if I didn't tell you.  In my opinion, I would serve these to close a meal because of the nice, light, lemon flavor.  Or perhaps as a nice additive to a vodka martini.

The recipe is so simple, it's ridiculous.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds radishes
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemons
• 1 cove minced garlic
• 3 (2 inch) pieces of lemon zest

Instructions:

• Place the radishes in a colander in the sink and toss with salt. Let rest for 15 minutes to extract some of the water.
• Mix the sesame oil, honey, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic in a bowl and set aside.
• Rinse the radishes and dry with a paper towel.
• Add the radishes to the pickling mixture you created.
• Add the lemon zest.
• Place into a Ball jar and let marinate at least 1 hour.
• Refrigerate to store.  Lasts up to 1 month.

These are really quite good and the lemon flavor is a real eye opener. 

Not Radishes, Again!

I just planted another type of radish called Watermelon Radish which has a green skin and a red interior.  I'll let you know if I like them in a subsequent posting.

Bon appetit.

Making Sauerkraut At Home: You May Want To Hire A Professional Taster

Learn the results of my recent attempt to make sauerkraut at home and get the recipe to make your own.

In two prior posts, I discussed how I learned about lacto-fermentation and provided the recipe and tools I used to make my first batch of sauerkraut.

Well it's four weeks since I started the first batch, so I wanted to let you know the results.

The Eagerly Awaited Day

This was the first batch of sauerkraut I've ever made.  In fact, it's the first time I've ever tried lacto-fermenting.  So my wife and I were both eager and, a little anxious about the results.

The recipe I used says that the cabbage needs to ferment in a crock for four to six weeks.  We decided to open it at the earliest opportunity.  If a disaster occurred, we wanted to know about it as soon as possible.

I removed the heavy Harsh crock from the garage and set it down on the kitchen counter.  I then opened the lid and the unmistakable smell of sauerkraut floated into the air.  I then peered inside.

The sauerkraut had indeed become compacted under the weighting stones and the brine used to preserve the cabbage formed a 3 inch lake above it.  But.....

Gasp!  White colonies of mold had formed within the crock and were floating like little islands on the sea of sauerkraut brine (see below photo)

Let's Get Mikey To Try It

We had read in books that it was common for some mold to grow on the surface when lacto-fermenting.  The recommendation from these books is to just skim the mold off the surface, the sauerkraut would be fine.

Well, It's one thing to read advice like this in a book.  It's another thing to look down into a crock and contemplate whether eating what lies beneath is going to give you botulism. 

I should probably mention that I'm a bit of a germaphobe to begin with.  Add to that the fact that in our family, I'm the one that has to "go first." 

This is no exaggeration.  When we made preserved lemons and they needed to sit on the counter, unrefrigerated for several days, I was the first to try them.  Likewise, when my wife made gavlocks, a Swedish recipe that is made by curing raw salmon in a mixture of salt, sugar and dill (no cooking), I was the one who had to try it first.  Yes, on countless other potentially stomach-mangling eating experiences, I've been the one to go first.

As I contemplated the mold floating on the surface of the brine, I heard the words I most dreaded, "You go first"

What's the Worst Thing That Can Happen

So I skimmed off the mold floating on the surface, and reached into the crock with a set of kitchen tongs.   I removed the weighting stones and some of the sauerkraut floated to the top.

Removing this first sample, I placed it into a bowl and steeled myself for the first taste.

It looked like sauerkraut and it smelled like sauerkraut.  But would it taste like sauerkraut?  Would it send me to the hospital?

The first taste was like very mild sauerkraut.  Good, but a little less "sauerkrauty" then I would have expected. 

I took a second sample from lower in the crock; Darn if it wasn't the real thing!  Absolutely delicious fresh sauerkraut. 

I suspect that the lacto-fermentation process acts a little unevenly, with cabbage at the bottom fermenting faster than that above it. 

No matter, I filled six 16 ounce Ball jars with sauerkraut and topped them off using sauerkraut juice ladelled from the crock.  My strong suspicion is that the flavor will both intensify and even out over time.  Once filled this way, jars of sauerkraut will keep in the refrigerator for many weeks.

Oh, I'm happy to report that neither I nor my wife became ill as a result of this experience.  Quite to the contrary, it's inspired us to try our hand at lacto-fermenting other veggies like carrots, onions, cucumbers and squash.

I think you'll be surprised how easy it is to make sauerkraut and other pickled vegetables and you'll be impressed by the results.

Give It A Try

For more information about lacto-fermentation and the recipe and tools needed to make sauerkraut, check out my previous two posts on this subject:

Wagner Never Ate Sauerkraut from A Can

How to Make Sauerkraut & Other Pickled Vegetables

 

Grocery Gardening: An Interview With Jean Ann Van Krevelan

An Interview with book author and blogger Jean Ann Van Krevelan on growing and preserving vegetables.

The Interview was recorded on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at the San Francisco Flower and Garden show where Jean Ann Van Krevelan was a featured speaker. 

PlanterTomato (PT): I'm here at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show with Jean Ann Van Krevelan.  Jean Ann is a gardening expert and author of several books including "Growing Food: A Guide For Beginners" and her recent book, "Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing, and Preserving Fresh Food."  She also writes and produces several blogs whose content is nationally syndicated on web sites such as the Chicago Sun Times, USAToday and the Wall Street Journal.  Jean Ann, thanks for speaking with us today at PlanterTomato.

Jean Ann Van Krevelan (JAVK):  Glad to be here.

PT:  Why don't we begin by learning how you personally became involved in vegetable gardening?

JAVK:  I became involved in gardening in general about ten or eleven years ago when my grandmother passed away and I had to take care of her home and prepare it for sale.  She was a great gardener and I needed to care for the yard. 

Through this, I really developed a love for digging and planting and watching things grow.  But gardening became meaningful to me in a number of ways and the depth and symbolism of it is what is important to me.  I think this is true of most things in life; if you make a certain recipe because it's something your mother always made, it's got deeper meaning.

In the last 3 or 4 years I've planting full vegetable gardens.  For many years prior to that, I had inter-planted some vegetables into my flower borders, but I found increased meaning and purpose in growing vegetables because doing so made the food I cooked taste better. I wanted to take the food I made back to the source.

PT: So the vegetables you grew came out of the recipes you were using.

JAVK: Yes and it's absolutely the case that certain fruits and vegetables just taste better when you grow them yourself.  There's no magic to this, it's just that the varieties you grow at home are ones that have not had the taste bred out of them. 

For example, raspberries are very fragile and don't travel well.  The ones you buy at the store have been hybridized to stick together long enough to be sold.  Mine fall apart, but they taste fantastic.  But remember all I need them to do is to get from the raspberry canes to my back door.  Eating my raspberries is like eating a totally different fruit.

PT:  I completely agree.  Of course many people get involved in gardening but don't go on to write a book.  How did that transition occur for you?  

JAVK:  I followed a logical progression.  First I wanted to just grow vegetables so they would taste better.  So I started growing my own vegetables.  Then I improved on he recipes and decided I wanted to share these recipes with others so that they could do the same thing.

My entree into garden writing was blogging.  I knew that eventually I would want to write a book but I didn't know were to begin so I decided to just start writing and publishing it myself.  I did that for about six months and then I decided to write my first book which I self published.

The first book was inspired by what I had published in my blog but by then I had a second blog called Portland Foodie which is where I published my recipes. 

PT:  Lots of gardening and cookbooks have been published, what makes your new book, "Grocery Gardening" different than other books you would find on book store shelves?  

JAVK: "Grocery Gardening" is my second book.  I combined all the recipes and gardening information in this one book.  This book tells you exactly what to do from the time you put seeds into the ground till you put it on your plate. 

When we put this book together, we wanted it to be a fresh food book; the conversation is about growing some of your own vegetables, but it you don't grow it, we offer advice on how to make sure it's fresh when you buy it, and also on how to store food so you can have it in the winter.

PT:  So if I understand your correctly, your encouraging people to grow as much as they can at home, and if they can't grow it at home, then you give them advice on how to choose the best and freshest produce at the grocery store.

JAVK:  Actually, I don't say grow all you can grow.  I tell my readers to try to grow something and see how that goes.  If that goes well, then add some more things. 

In the book, we talk about all sorts of ways to buy produce.  Yes, in the grocery store, but also farmers markets, CSA's, co-ops, many different places.  Sometimes we forget that we don't always have to go to the grocery store to purchase food.

PT: Let's say I purchase your book, become inspired and decide to become a first time gardener.  What advice would you give me about the types of vegetables to grow?

JAVK: The first thing I would tell you to do is to sit down and plan out your garden.  Sketch out your garden, list the vegetables you want to grow, think about it, and then cut back the list by two-thirds.

Also, plant things that are going to be an easy win -- lettuce, radishes, beets, even tomatoes can be easy to grow depending on where you live.  Beans are also a good choice because they're hard to kill.  Plant things that are going to give you some immediate "warm and fuzzies". 

Nobody likes drudgery.  If you start with too much, that's too hard, then next year you wont' be growing at all.

PT:  Let's say I've followed this advice for a couple of years and now I'm a more seasoned gardener, what advice would you give me now?

JAVK:  (laughing) Plan your garden and then cut it back by two-thirds!  Every year I look at seed catalogs and I want to order lots of seeds.  But by the time August rolls around, I'm pretty tired from all the weeding, planting, and it's hot and difficult to garden.  My recommendation is to always under plant.  Your going to plant more than you need.

PT:  I hate to say it, but I'm as guilty of over-planting as anyone.  My eyes are always bigger than the amount of space I have to grow things.

Although, for me personally, I don't get too bothered if something I plant doesn't work out.  For me, I see the advantage of growing lots of things is that, if any one thing fails, it doesn't really matter very much because there's something else that can be harvested.  But I understand your point

JAVK: And keep in mind that when you harvest that food, it's not going to look like the picture you saw in the seed catalog.  Those glossy photos that have been retouched, just like super model pictures have been retouched.  When you pull some lettuce out of the ground and it has a few holes in it and it's a little dirty, that's exactly how it's supposed to look.

You shouldn't get into gardening with the expectation that everything is going to look perfect, you need to understand that that is not what is really happens.

It's not that you shouldn't grow multiple types of vegetables or multiple varieties, just don't get so overwhelmed by the process that you stop gardening.

PT:  A fair point.  Is there a vegetable that you think is overlooked or under-appreciated by most gardeners?

JAVK:  Yes, there is.  My favorite vegetable of all time is kale.  What is not to love about kale? Yet, so many gardeners have no experience with kale.  It is one of the easiest veggies to grow.  You can plant it in late winter and you can plant it again in late summer for a fall harvest. Two crops and all it needs is water and a little compost and it's going to grow.

And is beautiful.  There are so many architectural forms of kale like dinosaur kale, Italian kale and other forms of kale.  You can eat it when it first comes up in a salad or, when it gets older, you can cook it and add it to all kinds or recipes.  

It's one of the greens that's full of nutrition but has no bitter taste, so it's easy to eat.

PT:  Well on this one, you're preaching to the choir.  Kale is one of my family's favorite vegetables.  Our kids love it in a recipe called White Bean Kale Soup.  It's a very simple soup to make.

The other thing I like about kale, is that it is so winter hardy that you can grow it throughout the year, especially here in Northern California.  However, you can also grow it in the winter in much colder climates.  

JAVK: Yes, definitely.  

PT:  You mentioned earlier that your book also covers preserving food. Well there are lots of methods like freezing, and caning and lacto-fermenting. What advice do you give readers about the ways they can preserve food.

JAVK:  The book focuses on canning, freezing, dehydrating, and creating root cellars for storage. If you've never done any preserving before, freezing is pretty easy.  About as easy as dehydrating.

But there are a couple of things you need to know when you freezing food.  Most vegetables need to be blanched, shocked in cold water, and then dried before freezing.  It will be even better if you have a vacuum sealer that will take the air out of the freezer bag.  You can store frozen vegetable like this for years and it will be as fresh as when you put it into the bag.

With dehydrating, you want to make sure that you purchase a dehydrator with multiple temperature settings so you can control the heat and also one that has multiple trays so you can expand as needed.

I personally don't use my oven to dehydrate.  A dehydrator uses far less energy and doesn't heat up my house.

PT:  OK, I'm convinced I need to get your book.  Where can I buy it?

JAVK:  You can get my book at Lowes, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Borders, you can order it from Amazon.com.  It's pretty easy to find.  And it's also easy to read.

I have three other co-authors who partnered with me on the book and it was our determination that it was going to be approachable.  We wanted it to be simple, easy-to-read, and easy-to-use.

PT:  Well thank you very much.  This has been fun and very interesting.

JAVK:  Thank you as well.  

You can find additional organic gardening and information at Jean Ann's web site, From Gardener To Farmer.

PlanterTomato shares Jean Ann's appriciation for Kale.  For more information about this under-rated veggie, check out my prior postings "From Russia with Love" and "Chard Versus Kale Challenge."

How to Make Sauerkraut & Other Pickled Vegetables

In my last post, I described how I discovered fresh sauerkraut and why I decided to make my own.

Before I march off and explain how to make sauerkraut, I want to mention that the same lacto-fermentation process can be used to preserve tomatoes, beets, green beans, cucumbers, cabbage, peppers, onions and carrots.  If you buy a special crock (recommended) you'll be able to use it for a variety of vegetables that you harvest from your garden, not just cabbage.

For a background on the process and for a a variety of recipes, you should consider buying Making Sauerkraut and Other Pickled Vegetables at Home by Klaus Kaufmann.  The book costs under $10 at Amazon.com and the author has a reassuringly German name (A sauerkraut book from someone named Hernandez or Dubois just wouldn't seem authentic)

While you can make your sauerkraut in other containers a Harsch Fermentation Pot is built for the process and is very convenient.  It's a stoneware crock that has a deep groove running around the rim. (See pictures below)

You fill the groove with water after placing the lid on the crock.  The water acts as a barrier to prevent bacteria and other airborne nasties from getting into your veggies during fermentation.  If you've made beer or wine before, you may be familiar with a device called a fermentation lock.  The groove on the Harsch works just like the fermentation lock.

The Harsh pot comes in sizes ranging from 5.0 liters (1.25 gallons) to 50 liters (12 gallons).  I purchased the 7.5 liter size which easily accommodates 2 cabbages.  Unless you run a catering company that serves ravenous Huns, the 7.5 liter size is going to be plenty big.

To make sauerkraut:

• Create a salt solution by boiling water and adding 4 teaspoons of non-iodized salt for every quart of water.  Let this come to room temperature.
• Remove any dirty or wilted leaves from the cabbage.
• Weigh the cabbage.
• Cut cabbage into shreds and place in large mixing bowl.
• Add non-iodized salt at a rate of 1 teaspoon per pound of cabbage.  Mix.
• Place cabbage in Harsh pot.
• Press down on cabbage with a tamper or your fist to crush the cabbage slightly so that it begins to juice.
• Place weighting stones on the cabbage (These come with your Harsch pot and help keep the cabbage compressed during fermentation.
• Add room temperature salt solution.
• Cover Harsh pot and add water to the pot's groove.
• Leave the fermenting pot in your house at room temperature (68-72 degrees) for 2-3 days.
• Transfer Harsch Pot to a cool place (60-65 degrees) for another 4-6 weeks. ( Keep groove filled with water during this time)

I put my first batch up a few days ago, in a month or so, I'll let you know if my first attempt was a success.

Wagner Never Ate Sauerkraut From A Can

My wife returned home from trip to our local farmers market and she had a treat for me in the shopping bag.

"What is it?," I said.

"Fresh sauerkraut," she exclaimed. "It's made by lacto-fermenting cabbage and it's supposed to be very healthy for you.  The man selling it at the market told me that it aids digestion.  People lined up at his stall and paid $1 a shot just to drink the juice."

In all candor, my first reaction to this "treat" was not entirely positive.

First, I tend to be suspicious of faddish health foods, and lacto-fermentation certainly sounded like the kind of thing that should be placed in the "Way too California" file along with Birkenstock sandals, mung bean sprouts and wheat grass juice.

Second, my digestion is fine, thank you very much.

And finally, $1 a shot for sauerkraut juice seems outrageous when you consider that Absolut Vodka can be purchased from any liquor store for less.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike sauerkraut.  It's just that we don't cook German style foods very often.  So the only time sauerkraut finds its way into my mouth is when there's also a hot dog in the general vicinity.

My "treat" sat in the refrigerator for several days until guilt and fear of spoilage finally caused me to dip a fork into it.

Oh my goodness....  The clouds parted and sunlight filled the room. Wagner himself appeared in the flesh, sang an aria from Tannhauser and then lectured me on what a sham my whole sauerkraut-eating-life had been.  

In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised by how amazingly good fresh sauerkraut tastes.  In fact, it bears no resemblance to the sickly white shreds that are pasteurized into submission, bottled and then sold at the grocery store as sauerkraut. Blah!

A quick search of the Internet revealed that sauerkraut is made using just three simple ingredients: water, salt and cabbage. 

Well I have plenty of fresh cabbage in my garden -- more than I can use , so I began thinking about making sauerkraut as a way to both preserve my cabbage and extend its use.  And fresh sauerkraut is yummy enough to be a side dish for a variety of foods, not just a hot dog topping.

My internet search also revealed that the same lacto-fermentation process used to make sauerkraut, can be used to preserve carrots, beets, cucumbers, onions and other vegetables.  In fact, lacto-fermentation predates pickling as a way to preserve foods. 

Now that got me thinking.  Before I knew it, I was on my way to making my own sauerkraut. 

In my next post, I will describe how my wife and I made our first batch and how you can as well.