Preservation Link Roundup 3/11/10

Creative Canning makes what she considers an overly sweet bacon jam (Bacon Jam). Because of the presence of meat, this has to be pressure canned. Would love to play with this for a new take on a traditional breakfast.

I like to keep home canned garbanzos in the pantry so I'm never more than 10 minutes away from some hummus. This recipe for hummus using roasted beets sounds good and looks even better. Thanks to Farm to Table for mis-reading a recipe and coming out with something that sounds even better than the original (Roasted Beet Hummus).

Kitchen Jam shares a bit of their recipe development process as they work towards a submission for the March Can Jam (Patient Jam: Working on a Recipe). Rhubarb and red onion ... sounds like a good combination.

What Julia Ate uses marmalade in a quick bread (Marmalade Quick Bread). I love using marmalades in baked goods, because they bring those bits of chewy rind to the party, adding texture and flavor bursts to whatever you add them to. I love also that Julia is using some marmalade that set a little too hard. Sometimes a jam won't come out exactly the way you'd like. I don't usually adjust and reprocess mine ... I simply try to figure out ways to use it as is.

Hmmm ... now I'm thinking of adding some orange marmalade to brownies.

The Kitchn wonders what to do with pickled peaches (What Can I Do With Pickled Peaches?). They point to a Chowhound topic for some answers (Uses for Pickled Peaches?). In addition to the uses found there I would suggest using them with game birds such as duck, goose or even quail. They would be a nice addition to wild rice. Why not use them in a pork, ham, or turkey sandwich? Definitely a different flavor for a burger. With some basil, mint, onion and garlic, you'll have a nice bruschetta. Or think cheesecake, 'nuff said.

The LA Weekly's Squid Ink blog provides their weekly market report with a look at all the wonderful chanterelles in the markets (What's in Season at the Farmers Market: El Niño Chanterelles). As the report notes, they pickle very well.

Silicon Valley's Mercury News profiles artisanal preserve maker June Taylor Jams (Lady Marmalade: Berkeley's June Taylor Turns Jam Making into an Art Form).

Taylor's production facility and storefront on Berkeley's Fourth Street are named the Still-Room, a nod to the space in a traditional homestead or great house where women made preserves with plants from the garden. Taylor hopes that this Still-Room will become a gathering place and learning center to pass along the arts of handcrafted foods, canning, pickling, and preserving — a philosophy as irresistible as grapefruit-lavender marmalade. Yum.