Category: Recipes

Home Canning, aka Food Art

8/5/2013

I love to can food. Not only is it a fun craft to do, and yummy to have things instantly ready to eat, but canned goods are beautiful on display. I have actually canned foods simply for home décor before. I just think it is so artful, especially if you have the opportunity to go to the State Fair of Texas and see the prize winners in the canning entries. The way they pack jars takes a lot of experience and talent, and that is what makes the end product so attractive.

I started canning about 20 years ago, and surprisingly I have not killed a single soul yet. I don’t know why, though. I never studied the USDA food preparation rules like I should have. I was young and would start to read a recipe and then drift off into “Oh I can do that.” Luckily, I have always stuck with water bath canners and acidic products rather than meats, which may be why all my family members survived. My main item to can has always been Salsa, and it always turned out very well without issues. I always add acid, and my jars always ping.

A few weeks ago I joined a canning group on Facebook, and after looking at what everyone else was canning, I got the bug. I wanted to can something. No, that’s not true, I felt like I needed to can. There were pictures to be shared, discussions to be started. I could not be left out. They haven’t even had an opportunity to see how awesome I am yet. But not having gardened this year, I didn’t have anything to can. So I had to buy it. Luckily, I had just recently found a new produce stand in our area, Sugar Acres Produce. The name is cute, the people are good, and the produce is a great quality. The owner happened to be unloading a truck of fresh produce while I was there, so I asked if I could buy a box of tomatoes. He hesitantly told me they were $30 a box. I didn’t care, they were gorgeous, and I said I would take them. Then after I mentioned canning, he said, “You know, If you don’t mind culls that have some nicks in them, I can bring you boxes of those for $11 a box if you let me know in advance.” YES. We will do that, thank you so much. I bought several other things from him, including a 25 pound box of onions, and went home to start my canning weekend.

Of course, the first thing to make was Salsa. I love my salsa. And pretty much everyone who has ever had it does as well. That is one of those things that I have been making for so long that I just know how to make it, and don’t really have a recipe I go by. Which is funny, because as a Virgo I’m not really a “play it by ear” kind of gal. I need firm details. I was always a little frustrated that my Grandma didn’t have a firm recipe for her blackberry cobbler that she could give me, but now I understand. You just sort of, well, see it. You cook by sight, and by smell, and taste. So, there are a few little things I’ve learned through the years to make my salsa fantastic. One is to take some of my tomatoes and roast them before putting them in the food processor. Let them get good & dark, like a East Texas small town girl on spring break. This also makes a bunch of the juice come out of the tomatoes, which will condense the flavor of the remaining product. Scoop the tomatoes out and put them in the food processor. Turn to ON and let the tomatoes turn into a nice dark red sauce.

I take the next half of my tomatoes and run them through the food processor, and add them to my salsa. When I start cooking, I have half roasted tomatoes and half fresh tomatoes. I also roast and chop up several other vegetables and add them to my salsa. Once I get everything together, we start the Pot Of Love. It looks and smells so good. It takes a lot of time but it is so cool watching it come together. I truly enjoy making this, and when I make it I make it in huge batches, as you can see. That is a 12 quart pot.

After the Pot of Love has consummated their flavors, the salsa gives a look and aroma that lets me know it’s ready. We finish with any final seasonings and jar it up. There are not a lot of things that I would jar in quart jars, because there are only two in our household. But we have no problem finishing quarts of my salsa. I really think that I could probably be elected into office here locally with my salsa. It is that good. I jarred up a few pints as well, for those who beg me for salsa and I have to eventually give them some just to shut them up.

I also have a freezer full of blackberries and blueberries from the farms in East Texas. So, I wanted to make something. Jam. Mmmm, jam. I bought some black plums at the produce stand, and cooked them with some blackberries and made Plum-Blackberry Jam. I didn’t use pectin, and it is a little thin but has an amazing flavor.

I also made Honey Bourbon Blueberries, and oh my is that a good sauce. We had it on chicken and pork as suggested, and it is wonderful. A bit tart from vinegar, sweet and fresh from the berries, and just a touch of bourbon flavor. This is a keeper recipe, and will make a very nice gift.

I think my favorite thing to make might be the Golden Pickled Onions. This is by far the easiest recipe, and what I like about them is that they are still crunchy once canned. They have some nice fall spices like allspice and cloves in them and are awesome on a Cuban sandwich.

The Sweet & Sour Peppers were also very easy to make, and like the Onions, they are crispy and tart after being canned. These will be good on a sub sandwich, a Po Boy, a Cuban, or any other kind of sandwich you can make up. Yummy treat of a condiment.

If I were to make two things only, it would be Salsa and this, Hot Pickled Mix. Cauliflower, Onions, Jalapenos, and Carrots. I love this stuff. I like to add okra when I can find it, too. The carrots are so much better in sticks than in round slices, they are just more munchable. The longer you let this sit, the hotter it will become.

This is our canning pantry as of right now. If I can anything else, I have to find somewhere else to keep it. But I sure love seeing it like this.

0 Comments

East Texas Berries

6/9/2013

7 Comments

I love living in East Texas during the summertime. There are several things that we do pretty much every single year. One of them is getting fresh crawfish, straight out of the pond, from the crawfish farm in Frankston. Another is berry picking. There are several berry farms around East Texas that have blueberries and blackberries available for you to pick your own, and when is the last time you went berry picking? It’s not about the price of the berries because I don’t really know that you save any money. It’s about the experience of wandering through the rows and rows of berries in the early morning, with the dew still on the ground, and seeing beautifully delicious berries everywhere. You pick a while, you eat a while, and you pick some more. The baskets are peck baskets, and you would be surprised how long it takes to fill one up. We usually stay until one of three things happen: 1) I have filled up all the baskets I have money for, since it’s Cash Only, 2) I get so hot that I can’t stay out there anymore, or 3) I see a snake. Whichever comes first, that’s when I call it a day.

Yesterday I had to drop off two puppies at the vet to get a little “work” done, and since we were in Athens anyhow we decided to travel on East to Larue and pick some blueberries at The Blueberry Basket, a farm I’ve been going to for over a decade. I took my trusty sidekick Libby along with me because I thought she would enjoy the outing. When we got there, the place was deserted. There was only one family there. I went inside and asked the man running the store about picking berries. In his broken English, he directed me to the blackberries instead of blueberries, which was fine by me. So Libby and I took our basket and headed for the blackberry fields.

Libby eating berries. Silly dog.

I was so disappointed as I drove past what used to be pristine blueberry orchards and saw that half of the fields are dead and gone. Even the rows of blackberries that remained were horribly kept. Lots of dead canes, the grass hasn’t been mowed, and there are tons of weeds growing in the rows. But we did manage to find enough plants with some nice, huge berries to fill a basket. Libby seemed bored at first, but I handed her a big juicy blackberry to try and she actually ate it….and apparently liked it, because then she started her own berry picking. She followed me down the row and was scavenging overripe berries off the ground. And she continued to eat berries the whole time we were out. I got a huge basket full of berries, didn’t see any snakes (a miracle, considering how overgrown everything was), and when I paid the man I told him he may want to charge me extra for all the berries Libby ate. He laughed with surprise that a dog would eat blackberries. I paid him the $10 for a peck of berries and we left.

As I said, I have been going to this same farm for over ten years. It used to be a wonderful place to take your family on the weekend, and we went every year. But several years ago I guess the elderly people who ran the farm couldn’t keep up with it anymore, and it was sold to a Somalian family. They have not kept the property up whatsoever since they have had it. I would not dare take a child there now. Besides everything I already mentioned, the place is crawling with fire ants. I was even worried about Libby getting into the ants, they were that bad. It’s very sad to see this place run into the ground when I know what great potential it has. Hmmm, maybe we should buy it? Plenty of room for a dog rescue. :)

Now back on the road, I am craving blueberries. I had my heart set on blueberries, and although I love my blackberries, it’s just not the same. So about that time, Libby and I are cruising down the farm road listening to the local Bluegrass station on the radio and what do you know, they play an advertisement for Echo Springs Blueberry Farm. I know exactly where it is, so from Larue we head north towards Brownsboro and I am already salivating.

Echo Springs Blueberry Farm is the exact opposite of the farm we just left. Professional, manicured, pristine, and absolutely packed with people, as any good farm should be on a Saturday morning. It is also in the direct sun, so Libby and I opted to buy our berries already picked. I went in the store and walked around and looked at all of the baked goods for sale, the jams and jellies, and the flavored coffees. Somehow, all I wanted were berries, and a lot of them. I looked at their price list, and asked for a flat of berries for $35. The sweet young girl who waited on me said, “You know, the 10 pound box is really a better deal. It’s $30 for ten pounds, and the flat is only about 9 pounds and it’s $35.” Aaahhh, honesty. How refreshing! I thanked her and said we would take the 10 pound box. After a small wait, another very nice young lady came out with our box of berries but didn’t just hand them to me. She set the box on the counter and opened it and said, “Why don’t you try your berries.” I did, and almost went into a coma of delight. Like nothing else, oh how I love the taste of fresh blueberries. We closed the box and I checked out, and then the girl asked if she could carry the box to my vehicle for me. What customer service! Since they were extremely busy I told her I would carry it and she could help someone else. Now, you don’t get the same price for picked berries as you do if you pick them yourself, but considering I got about 8-10 quarts of blueberries for $30 and didn’t have to be in the sun for an hour sweating like crazy, it was well worth the money. I took our box of berries, put them in the truck and showed Libby what we had, and I think I may have actually been giggling as we left.

When I got home, Mark was so excited he met me at the truck saying “What did we get?” He knows berries mean I’m going to cook, and it just so happens that he loves to eat. When I told him he was getting a cobbler, he took my face in his hands and gave me a teary “I love you.” I know how to make my baby happy.

The first thing I did was rinse the blackberries and put a couple of handfuls of them into a jar, fill it with vinegar, and set it in the sun to make Blackberry Vinegar. I do this with some berries every year because it makes the very best Blackberry Vinaigrette salad dressing and it’s easy. After it steeps, strain the liquid and the vinegar will keep for quite a while.

I rinsed all of the remaining berries, and got several quarts—5 quarts of blackberries, and 8 quarts of blueberries. I am not sure at this point what all I am going to make, but I know I’m making my best cobbler recipe ever, which is Blackberry-Blueberry Cobbler Supreme. This is the best recipe I’ve ever made and it is cobbler the way I like it.

OK, a little discussion about cobblers. Why do they all have to be so different? When you order “cobbler” from a restaurant you never know what kind you are getting. Some people’s cobbler isn’t much more than a berry filling with some biscuit-type dough on the top. That’s not enough for me, I need more. I am happier with a cobbler that has both a bottom and a top crust, but my favorite type of cobbler is the type in which the dough rises up and surrounds the berries similar to a cake. And that is what this recipe is. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Blackberry-Blueberry Cobbler Supreme

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup sugar
¾ cup milk
2 cups blackberries
1 cup blueberries
½ to ¾ cups sugar
2 cups grape juice or water

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl stir together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat margarine or butter and the 1 cup sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Beat until smooth. Spread batter evenly over the bottom of a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish.

Sprinkle blackberries and blueberries over batter, then sprinkle with the ½ to ¾ cup sugar, depending on the sweetness of your fruit. Pour grape juice or water over fruit. Unless you have grape juice on hand, water turns out an equally tasty cobbler.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Some of the fruit should sink toward the bottom as the cake rises to the top. Cool 30 minutes…..OK that’s just crazy talk. This cobbler has never lasted that long in our house without being torn into!

7 Comments

Home Canning, aka Food Art

East Texas Berries

Archives

Categories