Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 73

Links: Persimmons, Celery Salt, and a Winner

I realized yesterday that I had a choice. I could either let the heaviness of life and current events get to me, or I could embrace the holiday season and fling myself into it wholeheartedly. I decided to open my arms to the light of Hanukkah and the joy of Christmas. Even though I was alone in the apartment (Scott was away visiting his mom, who is still in the hospital in Long Island), I pulled out the menorah and lit the candles for the first night. I also set up our little artificial tree, finally filling the spot I’d cleared for it last week. Welcome to the season of intentional celebration! Now, links!

The most beautiful writing about persimmons, ever.
Quinces.
Pressure canned grapefruit curd.
Homemade celery salt.
Making bone broth.
Apricot jam glazed chicken.
Slow cooker pork with plum jam.
Bean soup mix in a jar.
Date breakfast squares.
Pecan pie energy bars.
Cherry chocolate maple challah. The many branches of the challah family tree.

Thanks to everyone who entered the FARMcurious fermenting set giveaway! The winner is #129/Kris.

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2015 Gift Guide: Kitchen Utensils

The first in series of concise gift guides for the 2015 holiday season. Today, let’s talk about cooking utensils!

I first started collecting cooking utensils when I was in college. Any time I spotted a vintage spatula or a sturdy wooden spoon at a thrift store for a quarter, I’d add it to my basket. In those days, I wasn’t really buying for utility. I mostly selected based on age, price, and quirkiness.

Once two friends and I moved into an off-campus house, my motley collection of spoons, tongs, and spatulas were pressed into service in the kitchen. Rapidly, I developed opinions about what I liked and what needed to be returned to the flow of used goods. Now, nearly 15 years and three cookbooks later, I’ve become something of a utensil connoisseur. Here are the ones that I think are most worthy of your time, money, and gift list.

Microplane Zester – Sturdy, sharp, and speedy, I reach for mine any time I need to grate citrus zest, nutmeg, or hard cheeses.
GIR Perforated Spoon* – Though I have a number of slotted and punctured spoons available, this one feels best in the hand and has become the one I reach for first.
Earlywood Classic Ladle – This ladle has heft and makes even a basic pot of soup feel special. It’s also one of those tools that gets better with time and use. Handmade in Montana.
Perfect Masher – This masher has pointy cutting blades that make a world of difference when you’re pressing cooked apples into sauce or smoothing hunks of stonefruit into jam. I also like their pastry blender.
KitchenPro Silicone Tongs* – I use tongs a lot and since this pair landed in my utensil jar, it has occupied the number one spot. They have just the right amount of resistance and the silicone-coated heads are gentle on cookware, serving bowls, and your food.
GIR Mini Spoon* – I thought this little spoon was sort of ridiculous until I realized I was using it every day. I reach for it any time I make a single serving of oatmeal or heat up leftovers for lunch. Cute and useful is a potent combination.
Koe Premium Silicone Utensils* – The flat-headed spoon you see here is part of a set (this one is my favorite of five) of high quality silicone tools. It’s a vast step up from the nylon cookware sets so often for sale at department stores and would make a very nice gift for a beginning cook.
Mastrad Silicone Spoon Spatula – If I was forced to pick just one utensil to use for the rest of my days, this would be it. It is flexible yet sturdy. Easy to clean (and dishwasher safe). And the unibody means that you never develop mold under the head. I have at least four in my utensil jar at all times.
Utility/Petty Knife – Nine times out of ten, when I have a quick prep job to do, I reach for a utility knife rather than a smaller paring knife. It’s the perfect marriage of maneuverability and durability. If you’re ready to splurge, the one from New West KnifeWorks* is gorgeous and keeps its edge for ages. On the low (but still excellent) end is the OXO 6 Inch Utility Knife.

And now, for the fine print. Most of the links above are affiliate ones, meaning that I earn a few pennies if you happen to use the above link to make a purchase. Anything marked with an asterisk initially came into my life as a review sample. Everything here is worthy of your time and money.

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December Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, EcoJarz, New West KnifeWorks, Fermentools, Mrs. Wages, Hobby Hill Farm, & Mason Jar Lifestyle
November Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, Fermentools, Mrs. Wages, Hobby Hill Farm, & Mason Jar Lifestyle
October Sponsors: Cuppow, Mason Jar reCAP, Fillmore Container, MightyNest, Mrs. Wages, Jar-Z, Fermentools, & Hobby Hill Farm

Low Sugar Apple Ginger Butter

A light, silky apple butter with shot through with fresh ginger. Try it with latkes instead of plain applesauce.

Back in October, Janet sent me two boxes. One contained an assortment of apples and the other was filled with fragrant, fuzzy quince. I laid the fruit out on big, rimmed sheet pan and spent a day admiring it (and sniffing the quince for the pleasure of their rosy scent).

Soon though, it was time to get down to the business of preserving. There were enough apples for two recipes (we’ll talk about the quince later). I transformed half the apples into a batch of maple sweetened butter (like this one, but with several tablespoons of apple cider vinegar stirred in at the end for extra tang). The remaining six pounds became this light, gingery butter.

I’ll confess, I’ve gone back and and forth inside my head, debating as to whether or not to actually call this recipe a butter. You see, most of us think of fruit butters as intensely dense things, brown from spices and hours on the stove.

This apple and ginger preserve is light in color and silky in texture. It is zippy and bright where a traditional butter is earthy. But jam isn’t quite right. Neither is jelly, conserve, sauce, or puree. Until I come up with a better name, butter will just have to do.

If you decide to make this preserve, make sure to save those cores and peels left over from prepping the apples. Heap them into a saucepan, add more fresh ginger, and fill the pot with water.

Let it simmer away on the back burner for an hour or so, until the peels so soft and translucent. Once strained, you’ll have an apple-ginger nectar that is delicious sipped warm or chilled. It’s an almost effortless way to get all the goodness from your apples that you can.

In this, the season of latkes (Hanukkah starts on December 6!), I can think of no higher calling for this butter than a top a disc of fried potatoes. However, if your latkes aren’t your thing, don’t think you can write this one off. It’s awfully good stirred into a bowl of steel cut oats and I can’t stop imagining it layered into shortbread bar cookie.

PrintLow Sugar Apple Ginger Butter

Yield: 4 1/2 to 5 pints

Ingredients

6 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup grated fresh ginger (approximately 3 ounces)
1 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
fresh lemon juice to taste

Instructions

Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold 4 1/2 to 5 pints of product
Heap the apples into a large pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add the ginger and water and set the pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Once you see some steam escaping from the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue to cook until the apples are completely tender.
When the apples are fork tender, use an immersion blender to puree them smooth. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the applesauce for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the applesauce turns the color of wildflower honey.
At this point, add the sugar and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so. At this point, the preserve may start to splash a little as it cooks down. If that happens, pull out your trusty splatter shield and set it on top of the pot. If you don't have a splatter shield, another option is to finish cooking the butter in the oven at 300F for half an hour or so.
When the butter is light but spreadable, it is done. Taste it and add some lemon juice if you feel like the sweetness needs some balance.
Once you've decided that it's done, funnel the finished butter into your 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 lid from the pot and slide it off the hot burner. Let the jars cool gradually in the water to help prevent the product from siphoning.
Finally, remove the jars from the canner and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool.
Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature and will keep for a couple of years. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly. 3.1http://foodinjars.com/2015/12/low-sugar-apple-ginger-butter/

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Cookbooks: The Hands On Home & Ferment Your Vegetables

These are two books that have been sitting on the top of my desk-side stack for a while now and I’m so happy to be sharing them with you. Both would make excellent holiday gifts and are going to be in my library for years to come. Let’s dig in.

First up is The Hands-On Home by Erica Strauss (she blogs over at Northwest Edible Life). Organized by season, this hefty, beautiful book touches on all aspects of maintaining a thoughtful home. You’ll find a wide spectrum of recipes in this book, starting with basic fermenting projects and running straight through to homemade cleaning products (my favorite “recipe” page is one entitled An Old-Fashioned Mattress Airing For a Sunny Day).

This is an all-purpose book in an age where most books have a more narrow focus, and I love that about it. It would be a great gift for a friend or sibling who is just starting a homesteading journey, or someone who’s simply looking to bringing a greener, more seasonal awareness to their days.

Amanda Feifer is a fellow Philadelphian and has long been my go-to resource for all my fermentation questions. Truth be told, I learned more about fermenting sitting through one of her demos a few years ago than I’d had in all the reading and research I’d done up to that point.

Happily, now she can be your fermentation resource as well, because her book Ferment Your Vegetables has arrived and it is spectacular. As the title suggests, it focuses on vegetable ferments and includes a wide assortment of recipes for kraut, kimchi, kvass, sauces, and pickles. She also digs into fermenting in crocks (a departure from the small batch approaches earlier in the book), ferments made without additional salt, and other ways to culture your veg.

Amanda is currently giving away five copies of her book. Get in on the action here.

 

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Cookbooks: Wild Drinks and Cocktails by Emily Han
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December Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, EcoJarz, New West KnifeWorks, Fermentools, Mrs. Wages, Hobby Hill Farm, & Mason Jar Lifestyle

It’s the start of a new month and that means that it’s time to thank the companies that help make this site possible. As we head into the holiday season, please do think of them for your making and gifting purposes!

In the top spot, we’ve got Cuppow! They are the creator of the original mason jar travel mug topper and the BNTO, a small plastic cup that transforms a canning jar into a snack or lunch box. Right now, they’re offering 25% off everything in their online shop AND free shipping using the code SAVE25.

Fillmore Container is a family-owned business based in Lancaster, PA and sells all manner of canning jars, lids, and other preservation gear. They also publish a blog that is a very useful resource for canners. Did you see all their useful gift guides?

EcoJarz is new to the sponsorship roster, but is a long-time friend of Food in Jars. They make an array of products designed to fit on top of mason jars, including a stainless steel shaker ball, a pour-over coffee kit called Dose, a set of grater and slicer lids, and stainless steel storage lids.

Mrs. Wages makes pectin, vinegar, and more canning mixes than I can count. Their website is an incredible preserving resource and I can’t say enough good things about their salsa mix. Sign up for their newsletter for monthly installments of canning goodness.

Fermentools offers a brilliant fermentation starter kit that involves a heavy-duty glass pickling weight, an airlock, a lid with a reusable rubber seal, and mineral-rich salt. Get one (or several!) to help turn your CSA goodies into naturally fermented pickles.

Hobby Hill Farm is back for another month. Based in Powhatan, Virginia, they sell locally made jams and preserves, homemade pretzels, candies, and cheese making kits. What’s more, if you’re in the area, owner Sharon regularly teaches cheese making classes around central Virginia.

Mason Jar Lifestyle is a one-stop shopping site for all the jar lovers out there! They’ve gotsilicone drink lids, fruit infusers, silicone jar seals (great for those times when you want to ensure that your jars aren’t going to leak), copper regular mouth lids (fun for gifts!), and even pin cushion toppers.

If your company or small business is interested in becoming a sponsor, you can find more details here. I offer discounts for multiple month purchases and am always happy to work with your budget.

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Small Business Saturday Deals for Jar Lovers
November Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, Fermentools, Mrs. Wages, Hobby Hill Farm, & Mason Jar Lifestyle

Giveaway: The Classic Fermenting Set from FARMcurious

Over the last couple years, I’ve fallen hard for fermentation. This time of year, I regularly have jars of cabbage, carrot slices, or cauliflower quietly bubbling away on my counter. And though my first food preservation love will forever be jam making, making pickles with nothing but veg, salt, and a week or so never fails to feel like delightful magic.

In the beginning of my fermentation experiments, I didn’t have any dedicated airlocks or specialized weights. And generally, my ferments turned out just fine. Thing is, particularly in the case of sauerkraut, I found that I always had to toss the upper half-inch of cabbage, because it was brown, dried out, or even worse, a little slimy and moldy. However, when I started adding airlocks and weights to my process, I noticed that whole product stayed good.

One such airlock set-up I like a lot is the set from FARMcurious. It combines the pour spout lids from reCAP with a specially sized stopper that fits the spout in the lid and the stem of the airlock. You fill up a wide mouth jar with your prepared produce and salt (or brine), settle a weight on top (if you’re using one), and twist on the FARMcurious airlock system. A little water in the airlock and you’re good to go!

I know you’re getting gift giving messages from all sides right now, but if someone you love wants to get started fermenting in the new year, either the classic FARMcurious Fermenting Set (that’s the one pictured here) or their Ultimate Fermenting Kit (in addition to the lids, airlocks and stoppers included in the classic set, this kit also includes weights and a copy of the fabulous book Fermented Vegetables, prettily packaged in a gift box).

The good folks at FARMcurious want to share the fermenting love and so are offering up one of their classic Fermenting Sets. They also want you to know that they’re not just an online shop. They offer a world of resources for the home fermenter, including an extensive archive of fermentation support and FAQ and lots of recipes to help you incorporate your ferments into your daily meal prep. Make sure to follow them on social media for more tips, tricks, and promotions. They even run a Facebook community for users of the FARMcurious fermenting set.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Oh, and just one more thing. If you like what you see on the FARMcurious shop page, make sure to use the code “foodinjars” for 10% off your purchase. Now, on to the giveaway!

Leave a comment on this post and tell me something about your fermenting habit. Have you tried it? Or are you still curiously reading up on the subject? Did you have a project go spectacularly right or wrong?
Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Sunday, December 6, 2015. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Monday, December 7, 2015.
Giveaway open to United States residents only. Void where prohibited.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: The folks at FARMcurious sent me the set you see here for review and photography purposes at no cost to me. No additional compensation was provided. All opinions remain my own.  

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Links: Cranberries, Mason Jar Cozies, and a Winner

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and that you’ve had a surfeit of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I must confess, this was not my most joyous Thanksgiving weekend on record. My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for the last week and so we spent much of the holiday and its weekend with her. Scott and I did slip away for a dinner with my relatives on Saturday, but our hearts remained with Joan and her health struggles.

Now, some links.

Cranberry sauce with marmalade.
Cranberry breakfast cookies.
Cranberry orange granola bars.
Filling a crock with cabbage for kraut.
Collard stem pesto (I love a waste prevention recipe)
Beans and greens (a beloved combination).
Pressure canning chicken stock.
Brown sugar shortbread (great with a dab of tart jam or tucked in gift boxes).
Love these mason jar cozies for teacher and neighbor gifts.
Come holiday season, a snack box is a great way to always be ready for guests.
I’ve really been enjoying the Simple Matters interview series over on Reading My Tea Leaves. This conversation with Camille Storch (of Wayward Spark and Old Blue Raw Honey) is particularly nice.

The winner of the Hobby Hill Farm Fresh Yogotherm giveaway is #161/Doris. Enjoy, Doris!

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Small Business Saturday Deals for Jar Lovers

Hey friends! I hope everyone had a really terrific Thanksgiving and that you’ve got that turkey carcass simmering into stock as I type (instructions for canning stock here!). Some of my favorite online retailers and site sponsors are offering deals and discounts through the end of the weekend and so I thought I’d round them up here, for your shopping enjoyment.

Cuppow: They’re offering 25% off everything with the code 25OFF through November 30. Plus, they’ve got three new colors and have just introduced the blue and pink lids to fit wide mouth jars, so there’s plenty of fun new stuff to tuck into your favorite jar lover’s stocking.

Mason Jar Lifestyle: Get 30% off everything on the site with the code holidayshopping30  through November 30. Lots of good gift possibilities!

EcoJarz: Everything on their site is 30% off with the code BFS2015. If you spend more than $65, they’ll take an additional 10% off your order. Good through November 30.

Hobby Hill Farm Fresh: Get 10% off your order with the code FIJ.

GIR: Makers of fabulous silicone products for the kitchen, they’re offering 25% off purchases of $50 and 30% off orders of $100. No code required. And, if they’re out of the color you want, know that the discount also applies to their gift cards.

Craftsy: All online classes are $19.99. I highly recommend Alana Chernila’s The From Scratch Kitchen class, as well as Rachel Saunders’ Jam and Marmalade class.

Thermoworks: All of their durable, useful thermapens are marked down through November 30. If you need a quick reading thermometer, make sure to get over there during this sale.

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April Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, Spice Ratchet, Mighty Nest, and Fermentools
December Sponsors: Cuppow, Spice Ratchet, Fillmore Container, MightyNest, and More!

Giveaway: Yogotherm from Hobby Hill Farm Fresh

I’ve been making yogurt at home off and on for years. I started doing it because I was trying to reduce the amount of plastic that was coming into my kitchen and all those quart tubs seemed like a good place to start. I kept doing it because I found that it was easy, immensely satisfying, budget friendly, and produced delicious yogurt. I often suggest homemade yogurt to friends and blog readers who are looking for an easy and satisfying homemade dairy project.

For years now, my favorite method for keeping the yogurt warm during the culturing stage was to use a cooler. However, it was also the cooler that often deterred me from making yogurt. In my apartment, the only space large enough for a cooler is up at the top of my hall closet. To pull it out or put it away again involves a step stool and the momentary relocation of the things living in front of it. Sad to say, but the dread of playing tetris with my storage area was often

Thankfully, Sharon from Hobby Hill Farm Fresh came to my rescue, with the suggestion of the Yogotherm. It’s a product she uses in many of her classes, and has been the solution to my previous yogurt making resistance. The design is simple. It’s a food-safe plastic tub, nestled into an insulated canister.

You can either pour your heated and inoculated milk into a jar and set it into the Yogotherm, or you can pour it directly into the tub. The canister keeps the milk at the ideal temperature for the culture to take hold and transform the milk into yogurt.

I’ve been making one quart at a time in my Yogotherm. I slowly warm four cups of organic whole milk to 180 degrees F. Once the milk reaches that temperature, I either set the pot into a sink full of cold water or (if I’ve used a pot that doesn’t handle radical temperature chances well), I pour the warm milk into a stainless steel bowl and let it cool for a moment or two. I’ve found that brisk whisking while the milk is cooling brings the temperature down quickly. Just make sure to watch the temperature so that it doesn’t cool too much.

Once the milk is around 120 degrees F, pull it out of the cold water and whisk in the culture. For my first batch, I used the yogurt culture that Sharon sent along with the Yogotherm. For subsequent batches, I’ve saved a few tablespoons of the yogurt from the previous batch to act as the starter for the next.

Then I give the Yogotherm a quick rinse with boiling water to warm and clean it, nestle my jar into the canister (the container is made of food-safe plastic, I just like the ease of being able to pull the jar right out and pop it in the fridge when the yogurt is done), and pop the lid on. Because I like a tangy yogurt, I let it culture for five to eight hours, but for a less tart version, you can stop the culturing as soon as the milk thickens.

This week, Hobby Hill Farm Fresh is offering a special deal on the Yogotherm. It’s on sale for $46.95 (down from $57.95) and will ship with packets of two different yogurt cultures and a jar of their house brand preserves. Additionally, I have one Yogotherm pack (same as what you’d get if you bought it) to give away this week.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your gateway DIY project. Yogurt making? Bread baking? Canning? Or something else?
Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Saturday, November 28, 2015. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, November 29, 2015.
Giveaway open to United States residents only. Void where prohibited.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: Sent me the Yogotherm you see here, as well as a few yogurt cultures, for review and photography purposes at no cost to me. No additional compensation was provided. All opinions remain my own. 

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Sponsored Post: Give the Gift of the MightyFix from MightyNest

During my visit with my parents earlier this week, we spent some time talking about the coming holidays. Mostly, the conversation was strategic. We mapped out transportation, thought through menu ideas, and traded thoughts on what to get my sister’s two young boys. We also talked about gifts for one another, but kept coming back around to the reality that we all have pretty much everything we need.

And so we struck a deal. This year, we’re only giving gifts that serve a purpose. Bars of good soap are great, but useless appliances are not. Edible gifts are a-okay, but no one needs another sweater. And anything that helps keep our kitchens clean and running smoothly are always welcome.

If you find that your family feels the same as mine, may I suggest the MightyFix from my friends at MightyNest? It’s a monthly subscription service that sends full sized non-toxic products for the kitchen and home. It costs $10 a month and ships for free. What’s more, anything your recipient wants to add to their monthly order from MightyNest will also ship for free.

It’s a gift that continues to give all year long, which means that your favorite cousin or your best friend will get monthly reminders that you’re thinking about them. When the MightyFix was first launched, I bought a subscription for my sister, and she’s really appreciated the various shipments she’s gotten. It’s included things like Bee’s Wrap, a set of reusable Produce Bags, a stack of six Tidy Dish Cloths, and lunchbox-ready leakproof Stainless Steel Containers.

Because of the popularity of the MightyFix, the folks at MightyNest are only able to offer a limited number of subscriptions. If it’s something you’re interested in getting for a friend, I’d suggest you subscribe sooner rather than later. They are offering 6 month, 9 month and 12 month subscriptions. And, if you’re one of the first 250 people to use the widget below to sign up, you’ll get a holiday bonus in the form of credit that you can use for your own MightyNest purchase.

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