What's Cooking, Wiz??
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It is the end of rhubarb season. We've eaten some as sauce (I never did get around to making a rhubarb pie), but there's something I really love to have in the pantry: rhubarb-carrot-orange marmalade. Made with organic fruit and carrots and organic sugar, it is simply yummy on toast, in sandwiches or spread between layers of angel-food cake.
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When I began gardening back in 1975, I also began learning to cook and preserve food. Canning isn't difficult. You just have to do it carefully, mindful of cleanliness and correct processing techniques and times. This is a water-bath canner; the device you see beside the jars is a jar lifter for removing the cans from the boiling water. I also have a pressure-canner which is used for low-acid (generally non-fruit) foods. In August I'll be canning some tomatoes and dehydrating many more, pickling some beets and green beans (yummy!); in September perhaps I'll make applesauce and watch the bees buzz at my windows, drawn by the smell. Corn, soybeans, kale, swiss chard and brussels sprouts will go in the freezer. Potatoes will be dug and stored in bags in the cellar, onions and garlic go in a dry, dark place next to the cellar stairs. All year long we will enjoy the fruits of these labors.
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My parents' and grandparents' generations were quick to adopt "modern" ways, and so these days not too many people preserve food. It's a shame, because you just can't buy some of the wonderful things you can make. In these jars you can see the orange bits of carrot, and the lighter bits of ground whole oranges, all of them swimming in a sweetened rhubarb sauce. As the book Putting Food By says, "This recipe is as good and honest as it is 'out of the way'."
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I dream of a garden replacing every lawn, of plates and cellars filled with organically grown food. Yes, it's a bit of work, but it's gratifying work and it makes so much sense. Imagine the healthy, great taste. Imagine the peaceful quiet of suburbia without the drone and pollution of lawnmowers. Imagine...
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Resources:
- Putting Food By, by Janet Greene, Beatrice Vaughn, and Ruth Hertzburg. ("To 'put by' is an old, deep-country way of saving to 'save something you don't use now, against the time when you'll need it...')
- The Ball Blue Book This is the most comprehensive how-to book on food preservation, featuring gourmet and special diet recipes, along with classic home canning and illustrated step-by-step instructions.
11 comments:
My mother canned food every summer (nothing like garden green beans in the middle of January!)....and Jay and I were just talking about the future. I want to experience growing my own food at least once in my life.
I don't think Chicago does it, but Evanston (the suburb to our north) has garden plots you can sign up for~ for free. Problem is, there is a huge waiting line. I think that says something.....
I've only eaten rhubarb is pie...but that sure is yummy! And we can some stuff, but freeze a lot of stuff. It is great to have things to pull from that were made with garden-fresh ingredients.
One of my friend's parents has cans and cans of vegetables and fruit preserves from their little garden. They could live off that stuff for a year at least!
When we lived in student housing, we used to have a little garden plot. We grew lots of sunflowers, and peas, and spinach. They were good.
My Grandmother did mondo canning, so this post takes me back! She also wove her own rugs out of old rags. Wish I still had one...
Hey....my mother wove rugs, as well. I'd forgotten....
I discovered rhubard preserves about a year ago. YUM. I can't get enough. I think it may be too hot here to grow rhubard but I'll check it out.
WOW! This looks SO good, all I have done is stew rhubarb, oh and a crumble, this year. Your pix (how didn't the lens steam up?)remind me of my B&B days when I would spend the whole day cooking one thing after another, siting at the kitchen table with drop in friends and cups of coffee between times. It's so satisfying and creative and undervalued.
Rhubarb-Carrot-Orange Marmalade
6 cups raw rhubarb, diced
3 cups ground raw carrots, well-scrubbed (use food processor)
2 unpeeled medium oranges, seeded
3 1/2 cups sugar
1. Place the rhubarb in a large stainless-steel pot.
2. Grind the carrots in a food processor and then add them to the rhubarb.
3. Seed the oranges (hold them over the pot or processor so you don't lose any juice), then grind them in the food processor until uniformly-sized smallish bits. Add them to the pot.
4. Add the sugar, mix gently, cover and let sit overnight.
5. Bring to a simmer and cook (covered, or remove cover if too watery) for about 2 hours "until thick."
6. Fill clean canning jars leaving 1/2" headspace, seal, then process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. (Note: if you have never canned anything, you really must read the Ball Blue Book or something "official" on canning basics).
This yields about 4+ pints of marmalade. I usually double the recipe. If you aren't a canner, and you have freezer space, you might be able to freeze the cooked jam, probably in 1/2 pint (1 cup) amounts.
I use all organic ingredients.
My mom still cans (interesting that one ‘cans’ in a glass jar). Many quarts of beans and tomatoes, some whole some seasoned as sauce. She freezes (after blanching) field peas and pigeon peas. And of course there is the asparagus.
OHHh, wow I almost forgot. As a kid, my mom and a bunch of friends would go to the farmers market early (like 4 am) and buy tomatoes and peppers, we’re talking bushels. By the time they got home at 5 or 6, the men would have about a dozen charcoal-grills going. They’d roast peppers for hours, each one was wrapped in several sheets of newspaper and placed in a paper bag for about an hour (for steaming). Then the kids would open up all of the peppers and peel the skins off. They got sliced and the seeds removed and a good dosing of olive oil and lots of garlic, then frozen. We ate roasted peppers as a side dish like you’d eat green beans or mashed potatoes.
My mouth is watering so bad now, I’m gonna drown. Thanks Wiz, for the great trip down memory lane. I need to grow some peppers next year...
DNR - Omigod! Eating "roasted peppers as a side dish like you'd eat green beans or mashed potatoes" sounds fabulous!
I think I'm an amateur food preserver compared to your mom.
Everyone else who has commented: I'm so glad to have stirred a few memories and thoughts of good food. Now I think I'll go have a bite to eat!
Rhubarb pie is WONDERFUL!
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