Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 57

Upcoming Events: Fayetteville, Atlanta, and Nashville!

Attention southern canners! I am headed your way this weekend! If you’re in (or near) Fayetteville (AR), Atlanta, or Nashville, please mark your calendars, sign up for classes, and come out to say hi!

Saturday, August 27 (Fayetteville, AR)

I’ll be offering a canning and preserving demo at the Fayetteville Roots Festival. I’ll be at the Festival Plaza at 2 pm and will have books for sale and signature.

Saturday, September 3 (Decatur and Atlanta, GA)

11:15 – 12 noon, you’ll find me at demonstrating at the Decatur Book Festival. After the demo is over, I’ll be signing books! Then, from 3 to 4:30, I’ll be at Atlanta Botanical Garden, teaching a demo-style class. Registration info here. So much fun in a single day!

Sunday, September 4 (Chattahoochee Hills, GA)

I’ll be at the Bosch Experience Center in Serenbe for a five course Prepared Pantry Dinner. Every course of the meal is based on a recipe from Naturally Sweet. Thanks go to Lyn Deardorff from Preserving Now for making this event happen! 4-7 pm. $75 (which includes a copy of my new book). Get your tickets here.

Tuesday, September 6 (Nashville, TN)

I’ll be teaching a demo-style class at Green Door Gourmet. The class is from 5-7 pm and is $35. We’ll have copies of my books on hand for sale and signature. Register here.

Related Posts:

Upcoming Events: New York! The Berkshires! Fayetteville! Atlanta! Nashville!
Upcoming Events: Headhouse Square! New York! Arkansas! Atlanta!
Upcoming Events: July and August 2016

Links: Wild Jams, Homemade Crackers, and a Winner

I spent the weekend in New York and Western Mass, finding a really good balance between working and relaxing (it’s not always easy to do). I taught at Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett (we’re already talking about doing another class next season) on Friday afternoon, spent Saturday morning demoing at the Great Barrington Farmers Market, and taught again at Hillsdale Home Chef on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday afternoon and evening was spent hanging out with some dear friends. It was so good and was exactly what I needed to shake loose from the tension that’s been haunting me.

Chokecherry jelly.
Wild berry jam.
Pickled peach slices.
Escabeche.
A pint of pickled peppers.
Maple sweetened quick pickles.
Plum balsamic whey sorbet.
Homemade crackers.
Lavender soap (this winter, I want to learn to make soap).
I’m headed to Atlanta over Labor Day Weekend!
This fall, a new magazine is launching that is dedicated to fermentation and curing. It’s called Cured and I’m so looking forward to it.

Thank you for all the enthusiastic entries into last week’s Orchard Road giveaway. I loved hearing about the things you’ve all been preserving lately. The winner of the giveaway is #500/Manda. Stay tuned, I’ll have another giveaway up shortly.

Related Posts:

Links: Nectarine Ketchup, Hot Fudge, and a Winner
Links: Pickled Fruit, Lavender, and Winners
Links: Canning Myths, Co-ops, and a Winner

Peach Habanero Hot Sauce

This peach habanero hot sauce brings sweet, gentle heat to all your favorite foods. Make sure to use peaches at the pinnacle of ripeness for maximum deliciousness.

I am not someone who goes for crazy hot foods. I firmly believe that eating should be grounded in pleasure rather than pain or discomfort. However, I do believe that there’s something uniquely appealing about sauces that allow for the careful, targeted application of gentle heat.

And so, when I develop hot sauce recipes, they are relatively mellow, mild ones that enhance rather than sear. Dealer’s choice, as it were.

That’s all to say that this may well be the most tame peach habanero hot sauce you’ll ever encounter. If you’re someone who likes to be challenged by your condiments, this probably isn’t the recipe for you. However, if you like sweet, easygoing heat, you are in the right place.

For this recipe, I used the peeling technique described in this post (quarter peaches, lay them in a heatproof baking dish, bring kettle to a boil, pour over peaches, rinse with cold water, peel). Once peeled, they went into a big pot with diced onion, a sweet orange pepper, six seeded habaneros (wear disposable gloves!), garlic, vinegar, a little sugar, lemon juice, and salt.

I simmered everything over medium heat while making dinner, giving it a stir on occasion and breaking up the peaches with my spatula with every turn. Once the peaches were totally tender and the onions were translucent, I used an immersion blender to puree the sauce smooth.

I canned the sauce in some of the barbecue sauce bottles I got from Fillmore Container, though you could just as easily use 12 ounce jelly jars. I look forward to opening one up in a couple months, when it’s had time to mellow even more.

Oh, and in case you missed my post yesterday, this hot sauce was made with peaches from the folks at the Washington State Fruit Commission. I made this Gingery Peach Butter with the other half of the peaches. Nectarine recipes are still to come.

PrintPeach Habanero Hot Sauce

Yield: makes five 12-ounce jars/bottles

Ingredients

3 pounds peaches, quartered and peeled
2 cups apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 small onion, chopped
1 sweet orange pepper, seeded and chopped
5-6 habanero peppers, stemmed and seeded
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup bottled lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt

Instructions

Combine the peaches, vinegar, sugar, onion, peppers, garlic, lemon juice, and salt in a low, wide, non-reactive pan.
Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the contents of the pan are bubbling, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peaches, peppers, and onions are tender.
Remove the pot from the heat and puree using an immersion blender.
Funnel into 12 ounce jars of your choosing, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars/bottles have cooled enough that you can comfortable handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars/bottles can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars/bottles should be refrigerated and used promptly. 3.1http://foodinjars.com/2016/08/peach-habanero-hot-sauce/

Related Posts:

Honey Sweetened Gingery Peach Butter
Honey-Sweetened Roasted Nectarine Compote
Spiced Nectarine Jam

Tomato Classes with Weaver’s Way and Greensgrow

This post is for my Philly-area readers! I’ve been posted and tweeting about my upcoming events in large, round-up posts, but I wanted to take a minute to pull out two upcoming tomato-centric classes and make sure that you all don’t miss them.

On Wednesday, August 24, I’ll be out in Chestnut Hill with my friends from Weaver’s Way for a class focused on safely making and preserving homemade salsa. This class is from 7-9 pm and costs $30. You can register here.

Then, on Saturday, September 10, I’ll be up in Fishtown with the folks from Greensgrow for another tomato-focused class. In this one, we’ll make tomato jam. This one is from 12-2 pm and costs $35. The registration form is here.

In both of these classes, we’ll dig into the nuts and bolts of safe tomato preservation. We’ll talk about acidification, proper use of the boiling water bath, and I’ll talk you through how to preserve tomatoes in other styles. You’ll also go home with small jars of the preserves we make in class, along with a useful packet of tomato canning information.

I hope to see some of you at these classes!

Related Posts:

Upcoming Events – Eating Words! Greensgrow Farm! Local Mouthful Potluck!
Upcoming Classes: Mullica Hill and Chestnut Hill
Upcoming Classes: Brooklyn! Phoenixville! Portland!

Honey Sweetened Gingery Peach Butter

This naturally sweetened gingery peach butter is fragrant, flavorful, and brightly hued. It’s great stirred into yogurt or eaten directly from the jar with a spoon.

A couple weeks ago, the annual box of peaches and nectarines arrived from the folks at the Washington State Fruit Commission. This is the seventh summer I’ve been part of their Canbassador program. I always enjoy the challenge of finding new and delicious ways to preserve all that goodness.

This year, I’ve made four different preserves. Today, I’m sharing a recipe for Gingery Peach Butter. Tomorrow, I’ll have a batch of Peach Habanero Hot Sauce. Next week, you’ll see recipes for Nectarine Conserve and Nectarine Ketchup.

I’ve got a new trick to tell you for prepping peaches. For this preserve, instead of peeling them, I gave them their initial cook in a pressure cooker (an Instant Pot, to be exact). The added heat and pressure helped break the skins down. That made it possible to blend the skins into the pulp for a perfectly smooth puree.

Now, if you don’t have a pressure cooker, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make this preserve. But in that case, you might want to peel the peaches to ensure a lush, smooth texture.

Once your peaches are pureed, you add just a little bit of honey and three heaping tablespoons of grated ginger and cook it down. Wanting to retain a softer texture and brighter color, I didn’t take this one as far down as I sometimes do. That makes it’s a lighter spread, better for drizzling over pancakes and stirring into yogurt.

How have you been preserving your peaches this summer?

PrintHoney Sweetened Gingery Peach Butter

Yield: makes approximately 5 pints

Ingredients

6 pounds peaches
1 cup honey
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

Instructions

Wash the peaches well. Cut them into quarters and remove pits.
If you have a pressure cooker, heap the peach quarters into the pot, bring it up to high pressure and cook for 8 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally. Once the peaches have cooled a little, puree them with an immersion blender. Pour the peach puree into a low, wide, non-reactive pan.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, peel your peaches and place them in a low, wide, non-reactive pan. Simmer them until tender and then puree.
Add the honey and ginger to the peaches and stir to incorporate.
Set the pan over medium heat and simmer the butter until it has reduced by about 1/3 and you like the consistency.
When you're happy with the thickness of the butter, remove it from the heat and puree it again with the immersion blender to break up any clumps that formed during cooking.
Funnel the finished butter into pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortable handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
3.1http://foodinjars.com/2016/08/gingery-peach-butter/

Related Posts:

Honey-Sweetened Roasted Nectarine Compote
Honey-Sweetened Peach Vanilla Jam
Spiced Nectarine Jam

Giveaway: Mason Jars from Orchard Road

This week’s giveaway comes from our friends at Orchard Road. They are makers of lovely, simple mason jars in three sizes. The quarts and pints come in both regular and wide mouth versions, and the half pint jars come in just the regular mouth variety. Lids and rings are sold separately, and you can choose between traditional two-piece lids or decorative one-piece lids.

All the Orchard Road jars are sold in packs of six and come in sturdy boxes that fully contain the jars. For those of you who struggle to find closet space for your finished jars, having boxes that keep out the light is such a helpful thing.

I’ve had Orchard Road jars in my canning gear for the better part of two years now and I can report that they are as hardworking and durable as you want your jars to be. Additionally, I’m always happy when I run across an Orchard Road jar when pulling gear for various projects, because I find the minimal embossing and general hand-feel to be particularly pleasing.

This week, the Orchard Road giveaway consists of a six-pack of eight ounce jars, the same number of regular mouth pint jars, and sets of both regular lids and bands and decorative caps. Here’s how to enter.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about something you’ve canned recently.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Saturday, August 20, 2016. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, August 21, 2016.
Giveaway open to United States residents only.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: Orchard Road is a site sponsor. In the past, they sent me some jars and lids for testing and photography purposes. They are also are providing the jars for the giveaway winners at no cost to me. Still, all opinions expressed are mine alone. 

You can buy Orchard Road jars at various retail locations, or from Fillmore Container or the Orchard Road online shop.

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Giveaway: Orchard Road Decorative Series One-Piece Lids
Giveaway: Orchard Road Mason Jars
Links: Nectarine Ketchup, Hot Fudge, and a Winner

Upcoming Events: New York! The Berkshires! Fayetteville! Atlanta! Nashville!

Wednesday, August 17 (Collingswood, NJ)

I’ll be at the Collingswood Library, demonstrating a recipe from Naturally Sweet Food in Jars, answering canning questions, and selling/signing books.

Friday, August 19 (Amaganesett, NY)

This particular Friday, you’ll find me teaching a hands on canning class at Amber Waves Farm. We’ll make tomato jam, dilly beans, and quick pickled cucumbers. All students will go home with jars of preserves made that day. The class is from 3-6 pm. $150. Register here.

Saturday, August 20 (Great Barrington, MA)

I’ll be spending a morning at the Great Barrington Farmers Market, demonstrating how to make small batches of honey-sweetened jam, I’ll have copies of my books on hand for sale and signature and a few jars of jam ready for sampling. Look for me between the hours of 9 am – 1 pm.

Sunday, August 21 – (Hillsdale, NY)

In this demo-style canning class, I’ll feature two seriously delicious recipes from Naturally Sweet Food in Jars. We’ll make Caramelized Red Onion Jam (sweetened with maple sugar) and Peach Rosemary Glaze (sweetened with honey).  at Hillsdale Home Chef. 2:30-5 pm. $65. Register here.

Wednesday, August 24 (Chestnut Hill, PA)

I’ll be back at the Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House with the team from Weaver’s Way Co-op for the final class in our summer preserving series. In this one, we’ll make Easy Tomato Salsa and will talk all about safely canning tomatoes. 7-9 pm. Register here.

Saturday, August 27 (Fayetteville, AR)

I’ll be offering a canning and preserving demo at the Fayetteville Roots Festival. 2 pm! More details to come!

Saturday, September 3 (Decatur and Atlanta, GA)

11:15 – 12 noon, you’ll find me at demonstrating at the Decatur Book Festival. After the demo is over, I’ll be signing books! Then, from 3 to 4:30, I’ll be at Atlanta Botanical Garden, teaching a demo-style class. Registration info here. So much fun in a single day!

Sunday, September 4 (Chattahoochee Hills, GA)

I’ll be at the Bosch Experience Center in Serenbe for a five course Prepared Pantry Dinner. Every course of the meal is based on a recipe from Naturally Sweet. Thanks go to Lyn Deardorff from Preserving Now for making this event happen! 4-7 pm. $75 (which includes a copy of my new book). Get your tickets here.

Tuesday, September 6 (Nashville, TN)

I’ll be teaching a demo-style class at Green Door Gourmet. The class is from 5-7 pm and is $35. We’ll have copies of my books on hand for sale and signature. Register here.

Saturday, September 10 (Philadelphia)

I’m returning to Greensgrow to teach a class that is focusing in on canning tomatoes. We’ll make honey sweetened tomato jam and talk about to ensure that your preserved tomatoes are safe and delicious. 12-2 pm. $35. Register here.

After that, I head to California for a handful of events. I’m still nailing down all the details, but here’s where you’ll find me!

September 15 – Pacific Grove, CA! Canning demo at Happy Girl Kitchen. More details to come!
September 17 – Healdsburg, CA! Canning class at The Shed. 1-3 pm. Details here.
September 18 – San Francisco! Fort Mason Farmers Market. More details to come!
September 19 – Fremont, CA! Canning demo and Q&A at Dale Hardware. 6:30 pm.
September 20 – San Francisco! Canning demo, Q&A, and book signing at the San Francisco Public Library. 6-7:30 pm. Latino/Hispanic Rooms A&B.
September 21 – Oakland, CA! Canning demo and book signing at Pollinate Farm & Garden. 6:30-8:30 pm. $17.50. Sign up here.

Related Posts:

Upcoming Events: Headhouse Square! New York! Arkansas! Atlanta!
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Links: Nectarine Ketchup, Hot Fudge, and a Winner

Summer is flying by. Earlier tonight, I canned up a batch of nectarine ketchup, pureed some white peaches for fruit leather, and cut up every last remaining piece of stonefruit in the the kitchen to make a final batch of jam. The coming week is going to be all about tomatoes and cucumbers, so I’ve got to clear the decks. I hope your kitchens have been equally active! Now, links!

Nectarine butter.
Someone else’s version of nectarine ketchup!
Peach butter.
Watermelon rind pickles.
Five ways to preserve beets.
Pickled purslane.
Spiralized fridge pickles.
Rainbow carrot sesame pickles.
Bread and butter pickles.
On canning chicken.
Peach almond quick bread.
Homemade hot fudge sauce.
All the tomatoes.

And a couple things of mine…

A guest post featuring a couple of my recipes on Bounty from the Box.
The latest episode of Local Mouthful, the podcast I co-host with Joy Manning, is live and in it I talk about my favorite summer seafood and the apron that has made me love aprons again.

The winner of last week’s Fillmore Container BBQ Sauce prize pack is Jennifer Garnette! I’ve got another terrific giveaway coming your way later this week, so stay tuned!

Related Posts:

Links: Pickled Fruit, Lavender, and Winners
Links: Canning Myths, Co-ops, and a Winner
Links: Poached Tomatoes, Spicy Beans, and a Winner

Sweet Cherry Compote on Freshly Preserved Ideas

This sweet cherry compote, flavored with fresh rosemary and plenty of lemon zest, is the perfect way to extend the deliciousness of cherry season. And if cherry season is already past in your area, try it with frozen cherries! 

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve teaming up with the folks at Ball Canning (much like I did last year) this summer. The goal is to help spread the word about the many pleasures of home canning. As part of our collaboration, I developed a series of five recipes that will live on the Ball Canning Tumblr. It’s called Freshly Preserving Ideas and it’s bursting with good ideas.

So far, we’ve shared three of the recipes I developed for them. They are Blackberry Lavender Jam, Garlicky Pickled Green Beans, and Heirloom Tomato Chutney. Today, I bring you recipe number four! Sweet Cherry Compote with Rosemary and Lemon.

Now, I realize that fresh sweet cherries are a bit hard to come by this time of year. However, you could just as easily make this preserve with frozen cherries. Don’t pass it up just because the season for fresh cherries is past. These cherries are delicious with roast meat or spooned over homemade ice cream.

Disclosure: I am a paid ambassador for Ball Canning. They compensated me for the development of this recipe! 

Related Posts:

Garlicky Pickled Green Beans on Freshly Preserved Ideas
Online Canning Tools and Tidbits from Ball Canning
Giveaway: The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving + Mason Jar Lifestyle

Fig Mostarda

This fig mostarda is a delicious and unconventional way to preserve this season’s crop of fresh figs!

Sometime in the middle of July, I got an email from the folks at California Figs. They were writing to see if they could send me some fresh figs from the new crop that was just coming into the market. There were no strings attached to the offer and no blog posts were required, they just wanted to send some figs*. As it happens, one of my guiding principles in life is to simply smile and say “thank you, yes please,” any time someone wants to give me fresh figs.

A box from California Figs arrived two weeks ago and contained a bounty of figs. Four flats, each containing a different variety (Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Sierra, and Tiger figs, for those of you who are curious). It took me a week to work my way through them, but through steady preserving (and a good bit of snacking), I turned those four flats into five different preserves.

I’m going to dole these recipes out over the next couple weeks (I’ve been doing a LOT of preserving lately, so it’s going to be mostly recipes around these parts for the next month or so). The first recipe I have to share is this one for Fig Mostarda. Mostarda is a traditional Italian preserve, typically made by candying fruit in a simple syrup that’s been spiked with potent mustard oil.

We can’t get concentrated mustard oil in the US (it’s the primary ingredient in mustard gas and so it a controlled substance) and so the preserves that I call mostarda are more like chunky jams, made pungent with a liberal application of mustard seeds, a touch of cayenne pepper to tickle your nose, and cider vinegar to lend a certain tanginess.

Mostardas as I make them are really great condiments to eat with cheese (I have a feeling that this one would pair really nicely with a crumbly cheddar) or dolloped alongside a platter of cold grilled vegetables (I am imagining it with charred onions and summer squash). Oh, or what about spooning it into a freshly baked gougere that’s just been torn in half? Heaven!

The recipe starts with two and a half pounds of figs, which isn’t an impossible amount to obtain (in the past, I’ve kept my eyes peeled for figs at Trader Joe’s. They’re often affordable enough that I can buy a few pounds without too much pain). I used black mission figs, but if you have access to a fig tree, use those. The color will be different, but the flavor will still be good.

One more thing about figs. It’s always important to use recipes that have added acid, as their pH is typically a bit too high for safe canning. I used a goodly amount of vinegar to ensure that this mostarda is safe, but if you’re winging your fig jam, make sure to acidify them like tomatoes and use 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice for every pint of product that you’re canning up.

PrintFig Mostarda

Yield: makes five half pints

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds fresh figs
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

Wash and trim the stems if they've gotten hard. Quarter the figs and set them in a low, wide, non-reactive pan.
Add the sugar to the figs and stir to combine. Let the figs and sugar macerate for several hours, until there is a goodly amount of liquid in the pan.
When you're ready to cook, prepare a boiling water bath canner and five half pint jars.
Add the apple cider vinegar, mustard seeds, salt, and cayenne to the pan and stir to combine.
Set the pan over high heat and bring the fruit to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fruit softens and the liquid thickens. Towards the end, you will need to stir even more.
Once you're happy with the consistency of the mostarda (it should be softer than a jam), remove the pan from the heat.
Funnel the mostarda into the prepared jars. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortable handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly. 3.1http://foodinjars.com/2016/08/fig-mostarda/

*I think they knew that I wouldn’t be able to resist writing about what I made.

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