Soul & Stomach

And we hope you like jammin too.

Think beyond morning toast.  The underestimated jam deserves far more attention.  Think about mid-winter meat glazes of peach or plum.  Consider as filling for the perfect layered cake–cherry jam has become our birthday cake filling favorite, with apricot a close runner-up.  Spike your morning smoothie or yogurt parfait, bake sheets of fruit bars, and have every flavor for pb and j covered for the year’s lunches–all this with jam.

Jam has been historically a most excellent preservation of most fruit for millennia.  There’s a scene of outdoor jam cooking over an open fire on a farm in Tolstoy’s Anna Karinina that is both romantic and realistic.  All the women of Levin’s farm from head mistress to youngest girl take turns stirring, patiently stirring, the fruit of summer’s end over flames.  It is a beautiful, annual tradition of the harvest.

The process of preserving jam is today made easier by using pectin, but the process is  doable without pectin, though takes far longer, stirring and scraping at a full boil until the congealing sugars cause the fruit to thicken.  My older children chide me for my apparently constant instruction to “scrape the bottom.”

Scrape we must to keep the sugars of high heat bubbling fruit from sticking and burning in seconds.  For jam is easily burned, easily spoiled in huge batches with even a speck of burned flavor.  Though pectin makes cuts the second full boil to a mere ten minutes, it’s advisable to use an apron and heavy sleeves or mitts to keep from being burned by splatters of boiling sugary fruit.  The canning process is good hard work, not for the faint.

Here’s how to take your fresh fruit of almost any kind to preservation.

Seedless white grapes

…and the jam they make.

~Plum Jam Double Recipe~

13 cups chopped ripe plums

9 cups sugar

2 packages powdered pectin

1 T butter, to reduce froth when boiling

7-8 pint jars, new lids and bands

Yield: about 7 pints (plus a little jar for immediate tasting)

~Set out and have ready: funnel, jar lifter, large spoon, cloth to set hot jars, clean cloth for wiping jar rims.

~Rinse plums; pit and chop , measure and place in a large sauce pot.

~Fill canning pot and place all jars inside, setting burner on high to boil; this sanitizes, heats them for jam and gets your water going.

~Measure sugar into large bowl and set aside.

~In a small bowl, place lids and bands, ready to pour boiling water over to soak.

~Add pectin and butter to plums and combine; turn on high heat and be ready to constantly stir.

~While stirring and checking mixture, remove hot jars to a towel and pour boiling water over lids and bands.

~Bring fruit mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that does not lessen when stirring) while stirring and scraping bottom of pot; stir in all sugar.

~Return to a full rolling boil, careful not to get splattered, using oven mitts or large lid to shield yourself; boil for timed 7 full minutes, again constantly stirring and scraping bottom; then test lifting the spoon to check if fruit is congealing.

~Remove jam from heat and immediately pour into prepared hot jars using funnel; leave 1/4 inch headspace.

~Using a clean cloth dipped in the boiling water bath, wipe rims of each jar (even a speck of fruit unseen on the rim can compromise sealing); secure lids with bands finger tight.

~Place pints in boiling water canner for 10 minutes; remove back to towel and tighten bands when cooled enough to touch.

~Let stand until sealed, or without movement for at least 12 hours.

Love from our kitchen to yours!  Gina @ Soul & Stomach

Simmering plum jam

…and preserved for the pantry.

Just in case society crumbles, the pantry is packing.

Worried about warding off winter scurvy?  An easy fix ~ juice and can all the freshness of fall.

After the more lengthy work of sauces, salsas, chutneys and such, processing remaining fruits in the juicer is a super simple plan.  Juicing with a three segment steamer saps all the softer fruits into sealed jars for winter with little effort.

We use yellow and purple plums, apricots, peaches, grapes and cherries, all pictured here for perusal.  Grapes off the vine are perhaps best of all, breaking down fastest and sweetest, needing no sugar added for the canning process.  Our grapes are pink and white varieties so the juice cans a pretty pastel pink.

The astoundingly easy part of this canning recipe is that no water bath boil is needed!  Juicing fruit into hot jars and capping with seals and bands is slick and simple organic goodness.

Grape Juice Recipe ~ Canned

Ingredients/supplies:

Grapes, plentiful, at least a box full (or any soft fruit or combination)

5 quart canning jars, lids and bands

Steamer

~Pack the top of the steamer to the brim with fruit, fill the bottom with water and turn on high to boil.

~Set quart jars on a baking sheet in oven below the range on 190 degrees.

~Set timer to 30 minutes to check middle segment for filling.

~When middle segment is full of juice, open oven and pull out rack with jars still on baking sheet (this is to catch spills of burning hot juice); open hose and fill to 1/2 inch from top of jar; seal with lids and bands and place aside to cool and seal.

~First filling will probably fill two quarts; Reset timer for 20 minutes and repeat.

Total yield is usually 5 quarts.

Love from our pantry to yours!  ~Gina @ Soul & Stomach

Harvest time ~ busy and abundant are the key words of these weeks.  The canner and dehydrator fill up every day.  Trees and gardens overflow as the days grow shorter.  The sun’s giving us the hard working energy we need for high gear preservation of fresh fruits and vegetables.  And the joy that comes with harvest inspires the work of cooking, freezing and preserving.

Harvest can be overwhelming when all the produce seems to be ready at once.  Planning food production and preservation at summer’s outset is an asset now when timing is key to putting up all that’s been grown and gathered.  Utilizing all you have, wasting naught, tis the goal.  

Tomatoes must be used fresh—refrigeration saps their complex sweet flavor.  Herbs can be brought inside and potted for winter or hung dry and then crumbled and jarred.  Root veggies and hard fruits are stored easily.  But as tomatoes are top priority, we often start here.  And after making dozens of different salsa recipes through the years, I know this is a useful canner, which I offer as solid and adaptable. 

Tomato Salsa for Canning, Max Batch

Tomatoes, about 5 gallons, diced

Onions, about 6-7 diced

Garlic, about 20 cloves, or large 2 heads, diced

Vinegar, 1 1/2 c white wine or cider

Peppers, spicy: jalepenos recommended, about 10 diced

Peppers, sweet: bells, pablanos or banana peppers, 5-6 diced

Salt, 2 T plus to taste

Cilantro, 1-2 bunches fresh chopped (equalling 1-2 cups) stems and all                                                                                               

This recipe is designed for a double batch of salsa in a 20 quart roaster, designed to fill the water canner  twice.  Cut the recipe in half for one batch made in an 8 quart sauce pot which will yield 7 quarts of salsa to fill the canner once. 

As usual, be sure all lids, bands and jars are washed and hot, sitting in boiled water water when ready to process.

For best, fresh flavor, combine all ingredients in a 20 quart roaster or large sauce pot and bring barely to a simmer; do not simmer longer.  This will retain the chunky salsa and not thin it out. No worries about flavors combining—they will in the canning process and in the pantry with the slight pickling process that occurs with vinegar based salsa.

Fill hot jars to 1/2 to 1 inch of head space from top and close with hot, new seals and bands.

Process in a boiling water canner: quarts for 25 minutes, pints for 15 minutes.

Remove and let stand 12 hours, checking seal before putting up in pantry.

Sustainable Tips:

Hopefully your garlic is plentiful and punchy for this recipe.  I find the spice of garlic to be one of the most important flavors in good salsa.  Planting garlic in the fall, be sure get it in before the ground freezes, covering with staw for extra insulation.

Cilantro is easy to grow in a kitchen herb garden or outside.  It grows very quickly, and can be reseeded regularly.  Cilantro is entirely useful, roots, stems, seeds, leaves and all!  The seed is a super sweet one called coriander very common to East Asian curries and pastes.  It is good to have on hand for grinding and adding to dry rubs or for reseeding when your cilantro greens get low.

Love from our kitchen to yours ~Gina @ SoulandStomach

It’s like a bit of cherry pie in every bite.  Jam on toast has never tasted closer to the well loved desert.  And this canning jam is easy as pie, even for the novice canner.

Unlike the sweeter varieties, sour cherries are a breeze to pit.  So preparing this jam is a matter of a little gouge with the finger and a pop of the pit, a course chop, and the recipe is on its way.

We enjoyed using this jam in some experimental mini pies with leftover dough from a real-deal cherry pie.  It worked well for a quick sweet treat.

As with all canning processes, set out all supplies ahead of cooking.  Use fruit that is fully ripe for proper acidity level, and discard any fruit that is marred by insects or significantly browned.

This recipe and method is a double batch, which has been made multiple times with good results.  Often, jam recipes call for not doubling, and this is true because boiling times change based on amounts processed.  So, the key to success in this double batch, designed to efficiently fill a standard seven space canning pot, is to follow the recipe and timing exactly.

~Sour Cherry Jam~

8 c sour cherries, pitted and chopped

9 1/2 c sugar

2 packages pectin

1 T butter

7 pint jars, new lids and bands

Yield: 7 pints (plus a little extra for immediate tasting)

~Set out and have ready: funnel, jar lifter, large spoon, cloth to set hot jars, clean cloth for wiping jar rims.

~Rinse cherries; pit and chop cherries, measure and place in a large sauce pot.

~Fill canning pot and place all jars inside, setting burner on high to boil; this sanitizes, heats them for jam and gets your water going.

~Measure sugar into large bowl and set aside.

~In a small bowl, place lids and bands, ready to pour boiling water over to soak.

~Add pectin and butter to cherries and combine; turn on high heat and be ready to constantly stir.

~While stirring and checking mixture, remove hot jars to a towel and pour boiling water over lids and bands.

~Bring cherry mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that does not lessen when stirring) while stirring and scraping bottom of pot; stir in all sugar.

~Return to a full rolling boil, careful not to get splattered, using oven mitt or large lid to shield yourself; boil for timed 3 full minutes, again constantly stirring and scraping bottom.

~Remove jam from heat and immediately pour into prepared hot jars using funnel; leave 1/4 in headspace.

~Using a clean cloth dipped in the boiling water bath, wipe rims of each jar (even a speck of fruit unseen on the rim can compromise sealing); secure lids with bands finger tight.

~Place pints in boiling water canner for 10 minutes; remove back to towel and tighten bands when cooled enough to touch.

~Let stand without movement for at least 12 hours.

~Love from our kitchen to yours!  Gina@ Soul & Stomach~

This is the first of three recipes utilizing the year’s bounty of cherry goodness.

The spring came early, spared us frosts that devastated last year’s harvest, and blessed us with abundance.  Now is the time to preserve, bake and cook up the cherries.

This recipe recommends itself as simple and flavorful, using a substantial ammount of cherries.  The method written is for a slow cooker, however, it would work just as well to marinade the chicken chilled for 2 plus hours and then grill.

~Bing Cherry Chicken Marinade~

1/2 c honey

2 c pitted and finely chopped bing cherries

2 T balsamic vinegar

1/2 c onion, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 c lemon juice

1 t thyme, crushed

1 t salt

1/4 t black pepper

6-8 pieces chicken on the bone

Yeild: about 6 servings

~Pit and chop cherries; chop onion and garlic.

~Combine well with all ingredients in a small bowl.

~Place chicken in slow cooker; pour marinade over chicken and set on low for 4 hours.

~Serve over rice or with vegetables.

~Love from our table to yours! Gina @ Soul & Stomach~

The savory winter roast ~ can you be topped?  According to the teenage boys who shoveled out our snow socked driveway, there is no beating this recipe.

Of course there are many versions and methods of the chuck roast, but this recipe received its honing from years of many experiments and further consultation with Thomson’s Custom Meats.  Praise to the local butcher and ranchers providing us with all natural, home bred beef of finest quality and cut for this amazing, winter entree.

In the meat shop this week the conversation centered on chuck roast methodology, with butcher Chris Thomson confirming the method herein.  Searing until almost burnt allows the meat to hold it’s moisture and reach maximum tenderness while wine brings out the natural flavors in the beef, providing just enough sweetness to compliment savory herbs.  The deglaze, often left out of recipes I find, is a must for bringing out the best of your slow roast.

In the deep winter months, this rich, balanced meal rightly uses available roots left in the pantry, and gives us the adequate energy to keep on shoveling.

Thank you to Chris and Diana Thomson at Thomsons Custom Meats for only the best, locally bred, https://www.facebook.com/Thomsons-Custom-Meats-213625848678720/.

Classic Chuck Roast Recipe

~Crock Pot method recommended but a Dutch Oven also works

1 beef chuck roast, 2 1/2-3 lb.

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper

2 large onions, halved then sliced in 1/2 in. wedges

6 cloves garlic, halved

5 good sized potatoes, pealed and sliced in 2 in. pieces

1 1/2 c carrots, baby or chopped

3/4 c red wine

2 c beef broth, hot

1/2 t additional salt

herbs: 2 T total crushed, dried oregano and marjoram, 2 pinches of thyme or 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

Note: if using dried herbs, sprinkle liberally on roast as it sears; if using fresh herbs, add to slow cooker along with vegetables; both are recommended.  

~Prepare vegetables by cleaning and chopping and set aside; prepare hot broth, add wine and salt and set aside.

~Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet; pat roast dry and cover liberally with salt, pepper and herbs if using dried varieties.

~Sear roast until almost burnt on both sides and edges; remove roast from cast iron to slow cooker and set on low.

~Add all vegetables to slow cooker, nestling garlic atop and within the roast and root vegetables around edges and atop.

~Deglaze skillet with broth combo, scraping all bits from edges and pour over roast.

~Add fresh herbs if desired.

~Cook on low for 5 hours; turn to warm until serving.

Yield: 8 servings

Stay warm and enjoy!

~Love from our table to yours, Georgina @ Soul & Stomach~