May Mastery Challenge Round-Up: Cold Pack Preserving
A post shared by Laurie Kane (@lauriehkane) on May 26, 2017 at 7:07pm PDT
The May cold pack challenge is over and it’s time to round-up our results. This challenge wasn’t as popular as those in past months, which I sort of expected. Cold pack preserving isn’t as exciting as some of the other skills we’ve tackled, and for lots of you, it was hard to find good seasonal produce which was appropriate for cold packing. Perhaps it wasn’t the best choice for May. Live and learn!
This month, just 92 people submitted their finished projects. Asparagus was the most popular ingredient to cold pack (which is appropriate since it was in season in many parts of the country in May). Other popular varieties of produce last month were Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, green beans, jalapeños, okra, red onion, and tomatoes.
From the data that you all reported this month, it looks like most of you weren’t moved to make more than one batch. However, from the optional comments, it sounds like a lot of you are looking forward to trying out this skill later in the season when there’s more that’s appropriate for cold packing.
One thing that I found interesting was that many of the participants felt mixed towards cold packing at the start of the challenge. Which I get. It’s not one of the sexier food preservation skills.
Happily, those of you who tried it seemed to shift to the more positive end of the spectrum by the end of the month. Which is always what I’m hoping for!
Here’s hoping that the June jam challenge will appeal to a larger swath of folks and that our participation numbers will be back up in the next month!
A post shared by Heidi Graham (@socks2go) on May 24, 2017 at 7:38pm PDT
Veg
Pickled Brussels Sprouts – BLDRNRPDX
Two Pints of Pickled Brussels Sprouts – Knit at Nite
Spicy Pickled Green Beans – Thoughts and Reflections
Single Pint Spicy Pickled Green Beans – First Things First
Pickled Asparagus (and some cold pack berries) – KT Cool
Cocktail Onions & Pickled Asparagus – Merry Meeting Menus
Dilly Beans – My Bit of Earth
Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns – Sustainable Maine
Pickled Garlic – Brit in the South
Crunchy Dill Pickles – Cooking with Mary and Friends
Carrot Cauliflower Pickles – My Imperfect Kitchen
Pickled Pearl Onions – The Pit Stop BBQ
Spicy Pickled Asparagus – East of Eden Cooking
Pickled Radishes and Fennel – Jarla!
Pickled Pink Turnips – Bubble Tea for Dinner
Serrano Dilly Beans – Grace Lee
A post shared by Southern Fried Yankees (@southernfriedyankees) on May 27, 2017 at 5:59pm PDT
Pickled Lemon Cukes – Casula Mellita
Home Grown Pickled Asparagus – Subcultural Farmgirl
Dilly Beans – Jeanne-Marie Hagan
Spicy Garlic Dill Pickles – Heidi Graham
Pickled Rhubarb – Uncanny Preserves
Small Batch Cucumber Pickles – Laurie Kane
Bread and Butter Pickles – KelKerr
Pickled Asparagus Spears – Jersey Knitter
Hot Garlic Asparagus Pickles – Lynne Curry
Pickled Asparagus with Toasted Curry Spices – Prospect the Pantry
Cold Pack Pickled Green Tomatoes – Maura Sharp
Pickled Purple Asparagus – Ikebana Girl
Pickled Carrots and Asparagus – Victory Canning
Honey Pilsner Pickles – Purlewe An
Dilly Beans – Raya Samet
Honey, Garlic, and Cumin Pickled Peppers – Jen Carr
Carrot and Daikon Slices and Spears – Will Graves
Spicy Garlic Dilly Beans – Southern Fried Yankees
A post shared by Lindsay Murray (@uncanny_preserves) on May 26, 2017 at 11:09am PDT
Fruit
Bottled Guavas – Tandy Sinclair
Portioned Tomato Sauce – The Scholarly Redneck
Cherries in Red Wine Syrup – Morsels & Sauce
Cold Packed Clementines – Muffin Lady
Anti-Gravity Apricots – Cathy Kempf
Pickled Cherries – Stephanie Beauchamp
Sweet Pickled Cherries – Susie Bares
Pickled Pineapple Two Ways – My Savory Spoon
Cinnamon and Clove Pickled Asian Pears – Celeste
Related Posts:
Cold Pack Canning for the May Mastery Challenge
Mastery Challenge January Round-up: Marmalade
Quick Pickles for the April Mastery Challenge
