Book Review & Giveaway for The Canning Kitchen by Amy Bronee Canning has filled my summer for several years now. Sometimes, whether I like it or not. I can’t seem to stop myself from ordering kilos of local fruit year after year that are wrangled into jars so they can grace my table during the dreary Canadian winter. My son can eat a jar of home canned peaches in one sitting and there is great satisfaction in spreading on some of my jam onto homemade bread for my boy. Once you have these treasures in your pantry, it is difficult […]
Blueberry Maple Preserves
Edit – August 2017: I have omitted adding water to the blueberry preserves I made this year because I now prefer a much thicker preserve that is more like a runny jam. I have adjusted the recipe accordingly but you can certainly still add some water if you prefer a more runny syrup. I found that I ended up with one less jar than when I added water. I also now use 1/2 pint (250 ml) jars because we were wasting quite a bit because we didn’t use a whole pint of preserves quickly enough once a jar was opened. […]
Strawberry Preserves with Vanilla Bean
I don’t really know why, but these strawberry preserves connect me with my inner anglophile. Perhaps because it is not a jam recipe which makes it seem much more sophisticated than it really is. Simply saying ‘jam’ with my Canadian accent has a harsh, twangy ‘a’ sound. Whereas saying, ‘preserves’ seems like they belong on a posh table that is being set for a cream tea. This is probably me just grasping at a dream that I could someday live in England. I have a deep longing to live there but I haven’t even visited there. Sad, I know. I […]
Oven Roasted Tomato Ketchup
There are many times when my aspirations heavily outweigh my inspiration. It is times like these that I end up with 25 lbs of tomatoes that I wanted to wish away. They did not, however, turn themselves into the ketchup they were purchased to become nor did they disappear. They continued to ripen and I did not want to throw money away. I made the ketchup using a new technique that I figured out because the recipes I followed last year were, frankly, a pain in the ass. Taste wise they were fine but it was really annoying to try […]
Spiced Plum Chutney
Ordering 10 pounds of plums seemed like a really good idea at the time. When I lifted up that bag and felt the heft of what 10 pounds of plums really is my shoulders slumped with the weight and dread of the work I’d laid out for myself. I look around my and I see boxes, clutter, piles of unsorted papers, dust bunnies in the corners, unhung pictures, and yet I keep giving myself more projects. Hence, Project Plums. Next week is Project Tomatoes (25 lbs local organic San Marzanos have been ordered). I had thought I’d make a simple […]
Notes from my Freshman Canning Summer
Preserving is addictive. I started canning with a rhubarb jam that I had been thinking of and before I knew it I was ordering pound after pound of rhubarb from Bailey’s. When strawberry season hit, I knew I was in trouble. I made so much jam last summer that I sold a lot of it at a Christmas craft and jewelry get together that my mom held at the end of November. I remember being in the kitchen sweating over my stove berating myself about why I have bought so much fruit and then ordering more the next day. I […]