This article offers a brief overview of some of the best methods for preserving fresh red or green table grapes. You can preserve fresh table grapes and grape juice by freezing, canning, pickling, drying, or fermenting into wine or vinegar. One pound of fresh grapes is equivalent to two dry pints (four cups whole), three cups halved, 2½ cups purée,… …click to read more…
This sweet-and-sour salad is one of my favorite pantry staples. It can garnish smoked salmon and crackers, quickly season a cabbage salad, accent bean soups or burgers, and accompany grilled or roasted meats. A row of this sunny yellow relish in your pantry brightens dark days throughout the year and brings the sweet scent of summer to winter meals. For more information… …click to read more…
This grilled and pickled eggplant is spicy and well flavored with ginger, garlic, and spices typically used in Indian cooking: cumin, mustard, fenugreek, and turmeric. I find the flavors quite addicting. This eggplant pickle makes a delicious accompaniment to chicken or lamb dishes, or alongside a vegetarian meal of grains and vegetables. If you have no eggplant, use any firm zucchini or… …click to read more…
This smoked pepper and eggplant relish, known as ajvar (pronounced EYE-vahr) is a salsa-like staple in southeast European countries including Croatia, Serbia, and Turkey. There are several styles of ajvar, some using red and others using green peppers. Some recipes simply chop and boil the vegetables, while others roast the peppers to bring out spectacular flavor. This recipe uses roasted sweet… …click to read more…
If you love crunchy pickles, be sure to try this recipe for Half-Sour Pickles, which are extra crisp, refreshing, and not too salty. So why are they called “half sour”? To make pickles by the traditional method, a weak brine of about 6% is used and the cucumbers are allowed to fully ferment, a process that takes 1 to-4 weeks.… …click to read more…
Canning relish recipes are a great way to preserve a variety of vegetables at the end of the season. From one basic relish recipe, you can create two different relishes, one red and spicy, the other green and zesty. Tip: Before you harvest or buy the fresh produce for any canning project, check that you have all of the required… …click to read more…
A rumtopf is a German tradition that layers fruit with rum and sugar. The traditional recipe uses a mixture of fruit, beginning with berries and cherries in spring or early summer and ending with stone fruits like peaches and apricots in early fall. Left to marinate until December, the rumtopf is consumed during the Christmas and New Year holidays. This… …click to read more…
Salted cauliflower retains the flavor, texture, and nutrition of the fresh vegetable. Of course, it becomes very salty. However, many people familiar with salted vegetables consider them to be superior to either canned or frozen vegetables. Salted Cauliflower (food preservation technique) Makes 2-3 cups Ingredients: 3 to 4 cups (1 pound) cauliflower florets (about 1 medium head) 1/3 cup (3.2… …click to read more…
The intensely flavored Italian limoncello liqueur recipe is made in Sorrento, Italy from lemons. While in Sorrento, I purchased a dish towel with a homemade recipe for limoncello printed on it (in Italian, of course). I’ve used the recipe often, and found that it adapts to many other fruits, such as strawberries, cherries, and surprising, also to rhubarb. All of these… …click to read more…
Popular food preservation methods for whole or half cherries include canning, freezing, and drying. Beyond these basic methods, you can preserve cherries in many other interesting ways: making crack seed–a dried cherry snack food, pickling fresh cherries, canning or freezing cherry purée, macerating (soaking) cherries in rum, or making cherry vodka liqueur (Ciliegia Cello). Use any variety of cherry in these… …click to read more…
