Preservation Link Roundup 2/22/10

Yogurt (aka, fermented preserved milk) is an amazing thing. Too often people just eat it straight (not a bad thing), but it really has to be considered a cooking ingredient to make full use of it. Well Preserved strains their yogurt to achieve a thicker, Greek-style yogurt (labneh) that they use to make tzatziki (Tzatziki, Thickening Yogurt and Other Favourites…). Tzatziki is wonderful stuff and good on a whole bunch of different things, like sandwiches, baked potatoes, fresh, roasted or grilled veggies and as a side to meats. With a little creativity you can use it with many different dishes and with a few small variations, you've got an Indian raita.

Channel 11 in Atlanta reports on an incredible-sounding local conference by Georgia Organics (Georgia Organics asks you to "Reclaim Agriculture"). The keynote speaker was Carlo Petrini, founder of the international Slow Food Movement. Education tracks included food preservation, of course.

The session on growing your own fruit and using fruit trees and bushes in your landscaping is completely packed. Not surprising after a Georgia Organics fruit tree sale held in January, "The sale was a huge success and we were just so excited about the response, just delighted to see that so many people came out and were interested. There are close to 2500 new fruited tree plants in Atlanta now that people can enjoy," says Lindsay Bonfanti, Georgia Organics intern and organizer of the sale.

The article doesn't mention it, but it isn't a coincidence that Georgia also has several community canning centers.

Big Black Dogs made some lovely-looking pomegranate molasses cookies (Pomegranate Molasses Cookies). Pomegranate molasses is another of those secret ingredients that you can use to lift ordinary recipes into something unique. Do you (or a neighbor) have a pomegranate tree? You can make your own molasses with the excess juice and can it.

The Canning Across America blog is back after a couple of months of inactivity with a discussion and recipe for lemon-rosemary marmalade (Now is the Season for Making Marmalade). Rosemary is a great addition to a Meyer lemon marmalade as it takes the flavor to a more savory dimension. Still good for sophisticated desserts, it would also pair well with a variety of entrees and side dishes.

A late February Can Jam post trickles in.

Plot 22 (as in community gardening plot) makes dilled carrot pickles - with multi-hued carrots (Tigress’ Can Jam February: Dilled Heirloom Carrots)! The purple carrots do bleed into the liquid (the anthocyanins that make the color purple are water soluble), but they look great anyway!

Speaking of anthocyanins, Stresscake made blood orange marmalade with a shot of crème de cassis (A Bit ‘o Jarred Sunshine … Blood Orange Marmalade). Sounds like a winning flavor combination to me. I'm also intrigued by her suggestion of using Campari as a flavoring as well. Campari is fairly bitter, so it might match up nicely with a sweet orange marmalade. It would probably be too bitter for a bitter orange marmalade.

And to tie together the first and last items, be sure to check out Stresscake's recipe for Marmalade-Yogurt Cake (I Could be a Parisian ... Marmalade Yogurt Cake).