Chutney Recipe

At this time of year, when apples are in season, I like to make Mango-Apple Chutney. This chutney is fantastic on grilled pork chops! I make a large batch in my slow cooker and preserve the chutney in half-pints.

Mango-Apple Chutney
makes approx. 4 pints

2 c. apple cider vinegar
6 c. apples, skinned, cored and cut in chunks
2 c. mangoes, skinned and cut in chunks
2 c. dark brown sugar
1 c. golden raisins
1 tbsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. mustard seed
1 c. slivered onions
1 tbsp. orange zest

1. Pour vinegar in slow cooker. Cut fruit into vinegar. Mix in remaining ingredients.

2. Cook on high for 2 hours, covered. Lower heat to low and cook for 5 hours, uncovered. Stir occasionally.

3. If preserving, process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

Peach Preserves

Fragrant boxes of ripe peaches were everywhere at the farmers market this weekend. I couldn't resist! I decided to try making peach preserves - something I love but have never made before. Looking through recipes, I found that most called for a large amount of sugar. The average amount was 2 cups per pint! I don't like super sweet jams and preserves; I want to taste the fruit. I found a low-sugar recipe and tweaked it to my liking. The result was delicious!

Spiced Peach Preserves

makes about 3 1/2 pints

12 c. fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced

3 c. sugar

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

8 oz. liquid fruit pectin

1. In a large pot, combine peaches, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.

2. Continuing to stir occasionally, boil for 15 minutes and, using large spoon, crush peaches into smaller chunks.

3. Add liquid fruit pectin to boiling mixture.

4. Boil for an additional minute, stirring, until mixture thickens.

5. Remove from heat and put mixture into prepared jars.

6. Preserves can be stored in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. If canning, follow canning procedures and process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes. Canned preserves can be stored up to one year.

I would encourage you to try canning. The Ball company makes canning supplies and sells instructional books. They also have a website, which I've listed under Helpful Websites on the right, along with The National Center for Home Food Preservation's website. (Sterilization and proper procedure are important when canning. Follow instructions carefully!)

The Taste of Summer

It was worth the wait. The first ripe tomato from my garden was eaten with much ceremony and gratitude. Nothing tastes of summer like a sun-ripened tomato. Every day, more tomatoes appear, promising a bountiful, if late, harvest. I ate the first plump treasure in a Caprese salad. It made a perfect summer lunch.

                                      

Caprese Salad

serves 1

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

1 large tomato, sliced thinly

3 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

1 fresh basil leaf, thinly sliced

Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Arrange slices of tomato and cheese on a serving plate. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil dressing. Sprinkle with basil.

The Egg Recall

The current salmonella outbreak, linked to eggs, highlights the dangers of factory farming. Two egg farms are the source of salmonella infecting several states (13 states at last count.)  When you read how many brand names these eggs have been sold under, you understand how food packaging can give the illusion that there are more companies producing our food than actually are. The FDA is warning that the salmonella scare isn't over, and more brands may be recalled. To keep up-to-date on the recall, there are several websites that you can consult, including the two below:

Egg Safety Center

Federal Food Safety Information

In my opinion, this egg recall underlines the importance of finding quality, local sources for our food.

Tomatoes!!! (Finally)

Better late than never! My five tomato plants are starting to bear fruit!! I've counted 20 of the little jewels growing and more blooms are coming on. All of this is happening in spite of my overzealous pruning. My parents stopped by one day and tried to hold back their laughter while they explained my mistake. My plants resembled tomato trees instead of the bushy plants they should be. My dad pointed out that a "sucker" is a small branch growing in the V formed by two larger branches. These are the only branches that should be pruned.

Next year I will know better! But all is not lost and soon I will be tasting a homegrown tomato from my own garden!

Putting Up Food

Preserving food at home, or "putting up food," was once a necessity. Now it is considered to be an almost-lost art. My mother has always canned garden veggies, and I remember well the hiss of the canner on the stovetop. (Her canned green beans are fantastic!) There has been a renewed interest in canning and freezing foods in recent years. And with the current concern about the safety of commercially canned products in our grocery stores, I expect more and more people will be interested in how to preserve summer's bounty for the rest of the year.

I recently read an interesting article about community canneries. In some small towns around the country, there are places set aside for community members to preserve their own food. Canning classes are offered, and the equipment is shared and maintained by town citizens. What a neat idea! Here is a link to the story:
Community Canneries

The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a wonderful website, full of information about how to preserve foods. There are instructions on how to can, freeze, dry, cure, smoke and ferment foods. There are also instructions on making jams and jellies. If you are lucky enough to have a garden that is producing more food than you can eat, or if you want to stock up on veggies at your local farmers' market, check out this website. Be sure to follow instructions closely. If foods aren't preserved correctly, they are not safe to eat.
How to Preserve Foods at Home

Eating in Tune with the Seasons

There are no seasons in the American supermarket. Now there are tomatoes all year round, grown halfway around the world, picked when it was green, and ripened with ethylene gas. Although it looks like a tomato, it's kind of a notional tomato. I mean, it's the idea of a tomato.

- Michael Pollan, from Food, Inc.

Today it is hard to imagine that everyone once ate only fresh produce that was in season. There was a time when you couldn't get a fresh tomato in the middle of winter. Many of us don't even know when certain foods are in season, because they are always available to us at the supermarket. But there are many benefits to eating seasonal foods. You can buy them locally, supporting your local economy and reducing the energy needed to ship those foods. When foods are allowed to ripen naturally in the sun, they contain more vital nutrients than their artificially ripened imitators. And they just taste better! Below is a link to Sustainable Table's webpage about seasonal foods. At the bottom of the page, you can enter your state and the season, and a list of seasonal produce for your area will be brought up. It's a great tool to re-teach us how to eat in tune with the seasons.

Seasonal Produce Guide