Jams, Jellies (but no PB Wars): Living Local

[SpoonfulOSugar]

Maybe i don't belong here because i am not growing my own stuff but i love cooking! Italian, greek, french, dutch, thai as long as it is cooking from the start. Except i use boemboes (almost fresh herb mixes i buy in a toko or even the supermarket if they are good)

Yesterday i made nasi goreng (indonesian fried rice) and today i am making ragu with chicken, mushrooms, herbs and rice.

First post in this topic but i sure want to learn from others how they prep food

Cooking from scratch is important to us, too! It often goes hand in hand with buying local (and for the record, we buy much more than we are able to produce ourselves.) Mr.Spoon and I have been making pasta from scratch for a few months now. Gnocchi is still on my list of "want to try" but I got sidetracked with that.

What is a toko? Do you have open air markets?

What are some Dutch specialties you enjoy?

[from the bible belt]

Cooking from scratch is important to us, too! It often goes hand in hand with buying local (and for the record, we buy much more than we are able to produce ourselves.) Mr.Spoon and I have been making pasta from scratch for a few months now. Gnocchi is still on my list of "want to try" but I got sidetracked with that.

What is a toko? Do you have open air markets?

What are some Dutch specialties you enjoy?

A toko here is a shop where they sell just asian products and herbs, it is a lust for eye and nose ;) I don't know if you have them there?

Dutch cuisine is not much to brag about but we have our ways with fresh cauliflower, broccoli and potato's. Normally the dutch wil have veggies, potato's and meat on teh table for dinner. That is all veggies being cleaned yourself, cook and roast your meat.

What i really like is something could hachee. You take good beef and dice it, you toast the meat in butter and add water, add a bay leaf, cloves, pepper and maybe some gingerbread to soften up the meat. Leave it simmering for about 3 hours and serve with cooked potato's. It is a winter dish here for the cold weather and it should warm you, i even put in a little cinnamon for warmth

[from the bible belt]

Today nothing much: greek giros meat with rice and tarziki

I am just thinking about altering the mac and cheese for tomorrow (sorry!) I was thinking about backing pancetta and crumbling it, put mushrooms in it with, cheddar and parmesan and italian herbs.

Somebody here has good advise on that one?

[SpoonfulOSugar]

A toko here is a shop where they sell just asian products and herbs, it is a lust for eye and nose ;) I don't know if you have them there?

Dutch cuisine is not much to brag about but we have our ways with fresh cauliflower, broccoli and potato's. Normally the dutch wil have veggies, potato's and meat on teh table for dinner. That is all veggies being cleaned yourself, cook and roast your meat.

What i really like is something could hachee. You take good beef and dice it, you toast the meat in butter and add water, add a bay leaf, cloves, pepper and maybe some gingerbread to soften up the meat. Leave it simmering for about 3 hours and serve with cooked potato's. It is a winter dish here for the cold weather and it should warm you, i even put in a little cinnamon for warmth

Do you have an Asian background? I live in a small town/rural area, so I don't have anything similar here. In larger communities, there are often ethnic grocery stores which are very authentic.

Meat and potatoes is still very common around here; I spend too much time watching food channels and so I really want to expand my palate.

I've never thought about cooking with gingerbread. I'm not a real fan of ginger, but we are trying to use it more, because it is a good heating spice (like cinnamon) and has some health benefits.

We do make a ginger/lemon/honey mix that we use both in cooking and to drink for sore throats, etc. Mr. Spoon is a big fan of ginger for tummy troubles.

Today nothing much: greek giros meat with rice and tarziki

I am just thinking about altering the mac and cheese for tomorrow (sorry!) I was thinking about backing pancetta and crumbling it, put mushrooms in it with, cheddar and parmesan and italian herbs.

Somebody here has good advise on that one?

We've started using asiago cheese. I can't articulate the difference between it and parm - but the two together taste better to me. :)

You'll have to report back on how that turns out! I think tomorrow we're having lasagna, but we had to make some changes to our plans the last 24 hours and so I'm not sure if we're still doing that.

[from the bible belt]

Do you have an Asian background? I live in a small town/rural area, so I don't have anything similar here. In larger communities, there are often ethnic grocery stores which are very authentic.

Meat and potatoes is still very common around here; I spend too much time watching food channels and so I really want to expand my palate.

I've never thought about cooking with gingerbread. I'm not a real fan of ginger, but we are trying to use it more, because it is a good heating spice (like cinnamon) and has some health benefits.

We do make a ginger/lemon/honey mix that we use both in cooking and to drink for sore throats, etc. Mr. Spoon is a big fan of ginger for tummy troubles.

We've started using asiago cheese. I can't articulate the difference between it and parm - but the two together taste better to me. :)

You'll have to report back on how that turns out! I think tomorrow we're having lasagna, but we had to make some changes to our plans the last 24 hours and so I'm not sure if we're still doing that.

No i am not asian by origin but i have still a quit a bit moorish blood in me (i even look like a andalusian "girl"), but i like cooking and i have been to asia a few times for a few months all together (indonesia, thailand, malasia, singapore).

Like you i have plans but no mac and cheese here today, i have to think the recipe through a little bit more but i will make it although not the american way ;) I liked the jamie oliver version though.

Today i am going to cook dried lentils, make a sauce with good chorizo backed, adding plumed tomatoes and fresh ones and sofrito, put in a bit ras el hanout (morrocan herbs) for taste and smell. Put it all together in one pan and serve it with fresh bread to eat it.

We like it here at home

ETA: this channel is very popular here youtube.com/user/24kitchen

[Looneybun]

Lol, I was hoping this would be a canning thread - I just took a batch of strawberry balsamic jam with thyme out of the canner!

I'm really fortunate to live in a small town in coastal BC where we can afford a house on a quarter acre. We've been here four years and I've single handedly* transformed the yard from a blackberry tangle littered with car parts into a productive food garden. I have eight beds, plus flowers all along the fence line and a strawberry patch along the back alley. We have mature pear, plum and apple trees all in full swing and this year I grew tomatoes (my favourite!), garlic, peas, onions, beans, zucchini, butternut squash, radishes, arugula, rainbow chard, cabbage, kale and carrots. Plus the herbs; I have Rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, chives, parsley, mint and basil. It's been really dry so some things haven't done as well as in previous years. I'm looking at you, carrots and cabbage! We have a few organic farms around that can supply eggs and pork (I eat mostly vegetarian but I do like bacon sometimes). I still buy dairy and all my grains, dry pulses and legumes and various other household things that don't grow up here, like lemons. And chips. I am a fiend for chips. We even have a craft brewery round the corner so beer can be not just in my hundred mile diet, but in my hundred yard diet!

We are super fortunate to be here and we could definitely never afford a place with garden space in a city. Before we married I lived in Sydney, Australia and I had a little tomato and herb operation on my tiny balcony.

Since we arrived here I have become a canning machine. This years roster includes the above mentioned strawberry balsamic jam, plum sauce, plum jam, tomato chutney, onion jam, pear chutney and maybe some blackberry jam if I haven't missed the boat on that. I usually pick wild, but the droughty summer has given us these dry hard blackberries in many of my usual spots. I'd love to try making hard cider, but I've said that before and not gotten round to it.

Tell me about your jams and jellies!

*my husband lined the pond, but I dug it and everything else that needed digging/cutting/schlepping!

[SpoonfulOSugar]

No i am not asian by origin but i have still a quit a bit moorish blood in me (i even look like a andalusian "girl"), but i like cooking and i have been to asia a few times for a few months all together (indonesia, thailand, malasia, singapore).

Like you i have plans but no mac and cheese here today, i have to think the recipe through a little bit more but i will make it although not the american way ;) I liked the jamie oliver version though.

Today i am going to cook dried lentils, make a sauce with good chorizo backed, adding plumed tomatoes and fresh ones and sofrito, put in a bit ras el hanout (morrocan herbs) for taste and smell. Put it all together in one pan and serve it with fresh bread to eat it.

We like it here at home

ETA: this channel is very popular here youtube.com/user/24kitchen

It sounds like you cook with lots of spices and some heat? Sounds very good. Do you bake your own bread?

Lol, I was hoping this would be a canning thread - I just took a batch of strawberry balsamic jam with thyme out of the canner!

I'm really fortunate to live in a small town in coastal BC where we can afford a house on a quarter acre. We've been here four years and I've single handedly* transformed the yard from a blackberry tangle littered with car parts into a productive food garden. I have eight beds, plus flowers all along the fence line and a strawberry patch along the back alley. We have mature pear, plum and apple trees all in full swing and this year I grew tomatoes (my favourite!), garlic, peas, onions, beans, zucchini, butternut squash, radishes, arugula, rainbow chard, cabbage, kale and carrots. Plus the herbs; I have Rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, chives, parsley, mint and basil. It's been really dry so some things haven't done as well as in previous years. I'm looking at you, carrots and cabbage! We have a few organic farms around that can supply eggs and pork (I eat mostly vegetarian but I do like bacon sometimes). I still buy dairy and all my grains, dry pulses and legumes and various other household things that don't grow up here, like lemons. And chips. I am a fiend for chips. We even have a craft brewery round the corner so beer can be not just in my hundred mile diet, but in my hundred yard diet!

We are super fortunate to be here and we could definitely never afford a place with garden space in a city. Before we married I lived in Sydney, Australia and I had a little tomato and herb operation on my tiny balcony.

Since we arrived here I have become a canning machine. This years roster includes the above mentioned strawberry balsamic jam, plum sauce, plum jam, tomato chutney, onion jam, pear chutney and maybe some blackberry jam if I haven't missed the boat on that. I usually pick wild, but the droughty summer has given us these dry hard blackberries in many of my usual spots. I'd love to try making hard cider, but I've said that before and not gotten round to it.

Tell me about your jams and jellies!

*my husband lined the pond, but I dug it and everything else that needed digging/cutting/schlepping!

Hey, good to "see" and "meet" you! You sound like you have an extensive project going on.

I feel very inadequate for canning. 1) I dislike heat and 2) I'm really worried about doing it right. I'm much more comfortable freezing produce.

So, this summer I've frozen fiddleheads, beans, cauliflower, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, and cherries. I've made strawberry and peach freezer jam, and conventional raspberry jam. I've used wine vinegar to make strawberry vinegar, and chokecherries with rum for what will become a cordial. What's next is likely to be crabapple jelly.

We've just now gotten tomatoes ripening. I'm not sitting outside urging them to hurry - but I am wondering if we are going to beat the frost by much. I may have to do a green tomato option.

I know it's popular to combine herbs in sweet preparations, but I haven't tried that. What did you use for the strawberry balsamic thyme?

Love all the different perspectives! So glad people sharing.

[Looneybun]

I've always been a big fan of sweet and savoury combinations. The strawberry jam was 5c of crushed strawberries (I'd frozen my June harvest so the crushing was half done for me), 1/4c balsamic, 1tb finely chopped fresh thyme, 3c of white sugar and a packet of low sugar pectin. It's a quick cook jam - you bring everything but the sugar to a rolling boil, dump in the sugar and boil for one minute, then put it into hot jars and process.

It's sweet enough that you can have it on scones or toast, but has enough of a savoury note that it pairs well with cheese or chicken/pork.

I've never tried fiddle heads and I think I'd like to. Being relatively new to North America there are quite a few things I've never encountered or am nervous about trying. How do you use them? Just steamed like regular veggies?

Green tomatoes are lovely fried, and they also make kickass relish (another great reason to eat cheese!).

I'm also guilty of being an amateur bread baker. I worked in a bakery in high school and I never lost my love for good fresh bread. At the moment I'm favouring long rise, no-knead breads. King Arthur flour has a great recipe for no-knead oatmeal bread that is substantial and flavourful. Bread is deceptively easy. A lot of people think it's hard because you have to do a bunch of waiting, and you can find a lot of Internet bickering on proofing, steamy ovens, crust and crumb and whatnot. In reality, rising and proofing times are just times where you can wander off and do something else. No-kneads are especially convenient as you can keep the dough in the fridge for up to a week and just proof and bake it whenever you've got time. You will learn and make adjustments as you go, no doubt, but you'll still nearly always end up with something tasty to eat with each try. Even if you end up with a mistake you've got what Terry Pratchett calls "dwarf bread" - bread that can be used as a weapon. Keep it by your bedside in case of intruders in the night or keep your dog busy for a half hour! :wink-kitty:

[ArmchairTurnip]

I've never tried fiddle heads and I think I'd like to. Being relatively new to North America there are quite a few things I've never encountered or am nervous about trying. How do you use them? Just steamed like regular veggies?

Green tomatoes are lovely fried, and they also make kickass relish (another great reason to eat cheese!).

Fiddleheads are really great - they taste very green and mineral-y, like concentrated spinach. I've only eaten them in New England, and then only seasonally.

Even if you end up with a mistake you've got what Terry Pratchett calls "dwarf bread" - bread that can be used as a weapon. Keep it by your bedside in case of intruders in the night or keep your dog busy for a half hour! :wink-kitty:

This made me think of the Nanny Ogg Cookbook, which if I recall correctly contains two recipes for dwarf bread: one with fruit, one without. I have never mustered the courage to try it (though I have made Bananananana Surprise.)

[sawasdee]

Farmers' Market Saturday here!

Tomatoes (strawberry and a large yellow heirloom)

Brussels sprouts

New potatoes

Peas

Cucumbers

Also, I'm starting to pick cherry tomatoes off our containers.

Any suggestions for cooking the brussels sprouts?

What are you all working with for produce right now?

Try gently frying the halved brussels with chopped bacon or pancetta, and scattering with chopped almonds....

[from the bible belt]

Try gently frying the halved brussels with chopped bacon or pancetta, and scattering with chopped almonds....

Don't forget garlic! I never had them with almonds but that is because it doesn't go with garlic in my taste

[formergothardite]

The first persimmons were ripe today! We don't usually do much besides eat them, but I found a recipe for persimmon pudding that I might try this year. The muscadines and wild pears aren't doing great this year. I think the drought has impacted them. So no muscadine jelly or pear preserves this year. :cry: I am excited that my dad might have found someone who has a pawpaw tree and will let me try one.

[blessalessi]

We picked apples today and I made a pie using some apples and some home grown gooseberries from the freezer that we picked in July. :D

My tomatoes are finally ripening but the leaves are already wilting. The weather has been too damp and inconsistent for a good crop. I may have to experiment with some "fried green tomatoes" recipes this year. For now though, we are enjoying some deliciously fleshy Italian plum tomatoes with every meal.

ETA: For some reason, my sentences sound as boring as if Sarah Maxwell wrote them. I must go to bed and pray for Jesse's woodpile. That is all.

[blessalessi]

Also, I have huge sunflowers in all the gaps in my borders. Can common sunflower seeds be saved and eaten, or do you need to grow special varieties?

Last year I saved some seeds for sowing this year, and I shook the rest out for the birds. The birds have just eaten all my young radishes, so I am feeling less generous and wonder if I can roast some seeds for myself this year. :)

[SpoonfulOSugar]

For the brussels sprouts, it ended up that Mr. Spoon flash fried them and then we had them with bacon over risotto. (Everything tastes better with bacon.)

Fiddleheads are harvested in spring - when the ferns are still coiled. It takes a bit to clean the husks off. They can be cooked pretty much like asparagus, but I found some varying guidance about that because apparently they can make some people sick (due to a chemical, so some guides say boil the **** right out of them.) I'm not a fan of overcooking.

I'm excited to read about all the regional produce people are working with!

I still want to make some crab apple jelly, but my motivation has disappeared. :(

Has anyone done any cooking with rose hips? I've been reading some about them, and I think I'd like to try, but I can't make up my mind.

I did harvest a few heads of dill, and am now picking tomatoes and cucumbers here. Nothing did really well - we went from a cold wet July to the hottest August on record.

[Arete]

We are in full on tomato preservation mode here. For background, we are a family of Greek Americans, each of who maintains a garden or at least several pots of herbs if we are apartment or condo dwellers. The food grown is shared by about 4 households and multiple singles. We all have to help wash, preserve, weed, hoe, and maintain. For example, about 50 pounds of tomatoes are coming my way to can this weekend, the cans will be shared with my sister and cousin.

We will extract the very last thing the gardens will give up. The weekend they are put to bed I spend with my great aunt making pickles. Every baby eggplant that is not going to make it, green tomatoes, small carrots, some cauliflower, etc has to get washed, chopped, and quickly heat shocked in vinegar and poured into jars. Don't open for another month, store above freezing. Pickle sides for roasts and other proteins through out the winter. Herbs are either dried or frozen, depends on the type. I have never bought jelly or marmalade, something is going to be made communally. This year peaches were excellent at an excellent price, so peach and blackberry marmalade for my peanut butter this fall/winter. If the tomatoes fail, no preserved tomatoes for any of us. It's what we can produce in the yards, some years we have things and some years the growing is a bust. The years you can make sausage and pepper in January from the peppers you froZe in January, it's nice.

[Arete]

Just wanted to add, now that I have read this entire thread, that I think I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE.

New Jersey girl here. Farmer's market on Friday and Saturday. Farm stands on the county roads that operate on the honor's system: gather your produce from what is available in the bins, drop the cash into the lockbox. Container gardener. Support all local family's backyard gardens, from which I get a cut. Eggs from local growers. So I am plugged into the local growing movement/lifestyle from May to November every year. After that our local produce shuts down because our growing season does.

Pork and chicken are available to buy locally, it is too expensive for me to consider. We do not have local beef, but I do know families that will buy a half a cow online, and split with another family or two to be able to obtain organic beef.

I really try to source as much produce as possible locally when it is in its growing season. Any tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zukes etc I use right now are local. Eggs will stay local until the markets shut at the end of Nov. I use either local honey or honey relatives send from Greece. I wish I could afford local meat, but not possible. As is I have been culling more and more meat from my diet, as the pricing for just basic organic are becoming untenable. While it is not local, I am trying to buying legumes grown by small US producers.

Winter comes and I am back to produce from the supermarket, but I am religious about staying within season. No berries, no melons, no zukes or cukes. Before the shutdown I will buy winter squash that gets stored in a cold closet. From the store it is a lot of oranges, clementines, grapefruit, more winter squash, lots of cabbage, avocado for a treat. Beets every week, and whatever greens are bundled and on sale. In the spring I will add in lettuces and fresh peas. Oh, and a head of broccoli or cauliflower every week.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

How is everyone? What are people working on?

We're coming to the end of the growing season here. Our tomatoes are shutting down even though we haven't had a frost. (We have had one by now about 1/3 of the time.)

DH got 15 pounds of onions today. We're considering making an onion jam or marmalade.

The big project the last couple weeks has been spaghetti sauce, which is more Mr.Spoon's project than mine. He buys a 5 gallon bucket of seconds (tomatoes) and then throws in onions, peppers, and lots of herbs. It's a base, and then when we open the jar, we'll spice and season it up depending on what particular flavor profile we want.

AreteJo - you're even more local than we have become. Although I try to live seasonally, sometimes I just want fruit that I know is not logical.

[formergothardite]

I meant to update this and say I finally got to taste a pawpaw. I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed. It isn't bad and it is one of those fruit that tastes better the more you eat it, but it looks just like a mango and so my head kept saying it should taste like a mango. It doesn't. It tastes like a lemon banana. It is really hard to describe. You cut them open like you would cut open an avocado because there are three large seeds in the middle. It is a very interesting fruit and while it isn't one of my favorites, I still want to figure out a way to grow some. 

[Cartmann99]

Our tomato plants shut down for several weeks, but they are producing again! My husband says he thinks they were heat stressed, and the cooler weather has made them happier. I know it's just a matter of time until we have our first freeze, but I am enjoying the best of both worlds right now.  

[SpoonfulOSugar]

I meant to update this and say I finally got to taste a pawpaw. I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed. It isn't bad and it is one of those fruit that tastes better the more you eat it, but it looks just like a mango and so my head kept saying it should taste like a mango. It doesn't. It tastes like a lemon banana. It is really hard to describe. You cut them open like you would cut open an avocado because there are three large seeds in the middle. It is a very interesting fruit and while it isn't one of my favorites, I still want to figure out a way to grow some. 

Interesting!

I got to taste a persimmon.  It's an acquired taste, I think.  The texture was a bit mushy for me, and the seeds were definitely a distraction.  My husband was more interested in cutting the seeds to predict the winter.  I can see using it as a flavoring with something like pumpkin.  I meant to do more research on them, but I got sidetracked.  Maybe soon. 

Our tomato plants shut down for several weeks, but they are producing again! My husband says he thinks they were heat stressed, and the cooler weather has made them happier. I know it's just a matter of time until we have our first freeze, but I am enjoying the best of both worlds right now.  

I would love to be in your shoes!!!  We're having daytime highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s.  *sigh*  I moved all the plants inside that we thought we could over winter.  My mother has given us a grow light setup which I am hoping will keep everyone happy.

I was going for fennel fronds, but I found aphids on them this afternoon, so now I'm irritable.  For the time being, that planter is out in the breezeway.  I manually rubbed off the aphids I could see.  I'll look at them again in a couple days and am going to check all the other plants.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.