Preservation Link Roundup 4/1/10

All sorts of preservation news from Master Food Preserver Delilah Snell. First, she has a list of food preservation classes for the next couple of months. Most are at her shop, the Road Less Traveled Store, but a few are in other places (Food Preservation Classes, Workshops & Events April and May 2010). I'm doing one at her store on April 18th (fermentation: yogurt, kombucha and vinegar) and we'll be doing another demo together at the Hollywood Farmers' Market on May 16th. There are many classes, so check them out.

Delilah is also making some progress on her root cellar (Root Cellar Upodate). Root cellars are great preservation spaces. Many types of food (often root vegetables, natch) store very well in cool dry spaces and don't need refrigeration. They are also good spaces for many types of fermenation; Delilah will be using her for vinegar.

I haven't talked about cheese much on this blog, but making cheese is a food preservation technique, of course. It is actually appropriate to discuss cheese-making in the spring because we seldom realize nowadays that milk was (and still is, in some cases) a seasonal good. For example, due to seasonal breeding seasons, both goats and sheep produce milk a maximum of ten months a year and usually (much) less.

Slashfood provides some background on a traditional fresh cheese from Italy that is often a featured part of the Easter holiday feast (What is Easter 'Basket' Cheese?). Make your own basket cheese following instructions provided on eHow (How to Make Basket Cheese). It's simple, give it a try.

Not too different from basket cheese is fromage blanc. Know Whey shares a recipe for the cheese and also a wonderful use for it (Fromage Blanc Tart).

What Julia Ate tries another method of milk preservation (Buttermilk). Hers is a good story of how one can have a consistent supply of buttermilk without paying the outrageous prices at the supermarket every time you want to make biscuits, pancakes, fried chicken or any one of thousands of dishes improved by tart, fermented milk.

So, apparently, there is no refrigeration in space. Which means that NASA is big into food preservation for space travel. Slashfood has an interview with NASA's leading food manager for the International Space Station, Vickie Kloeris (NASA Chef Talks About Food in Space).

"All our food has to be processed because there is no dedicated refrigeration," Kloeris explained to Slashfood. "We use freeze drying and thermo-stabilizing, which is like canning but we use pouches. We also use natural form products like cookies and dried fruit."

Read the whole thing.

Oh, Briggsy... enjoys some salami from Mario Batali's dad and is intrigued and entranced by pickled sunchokes (Tuesday Night Pickling Club: Pickled Sunchokes).

Congratulations to Well Preserved on their first published article in Edible Toronto (Our First Published Article – Spring Preserves). It is beautifully layed out, a pleasure to look at. They will be doing an entire series - highly recommended.

I would love to see the various Edible Communities magazines featuring a quarterly preserving feature, preferably written by local preservers.

Backyard Farms publishes a photo of her father's humble preserving shelves and reflects on why she preserves (Where I'm From - Part One).

When I find myself getting too caught up in trying to make something exotic, or longing over designer jars, I think of this shelf with its plain jars and handwritten labels. I think of the long hot summers of work that go into making these, and how good they taste when we eat them in the dead of winter, and I remember why I do this.

Amelia Saltsman, author of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook, provides a market update for Eat LA: there are seedlings perfect for gardeners and also some beautiful purple baby artichokes - perfect for pickling (Spring "Starts" at the Farmers' Markets).

Preservation Link Roundup 3/29/10

Mere hours after I posted my weekly email on making homemade vinegar using "Two Buck Chuck," a cheap an inexpensive, but decent wine, I got the news that some people are suggesting a ~$5 tax per bottle of wine here in California, according to LAist (Initiative to Tax Alcohol Could Bring California Billions — That's Because Your Vodka Will Cost $17 More).

A new initiative that would increase the tax on alcohol was cleared for signature gathering today by the Secretary of State's Office. And it's not a modest tax increase, it's huge. Tax on a six-pack of beer would increase from 6-cents to $6.08. And say goodbye to two-buck chuck--a tax on a 750 ml bottle of wine would go from 4-cents to $5.11

Hopefully they won't get enough signatures to get on the ballot and, if they do, I hope Californians realize what a bad idea this would be, not just for homemade vinegar but for cooking and eating in general.

Know Whey is celebrating sugar making time in the Northeast with a breakfast cake that features two preserved foods: homemade applesauce and yogurt (Sugaring Time: Maple Sugar Applesauce Breakfast Cake). It looks delicious.

I'm wondering if you alter the recipe and substitute in any fruit butter (with a little liquid) in order to alter the flavor and look.

Speaking of breakfast cake, Kevin West reports on the breakfast he makes as a preserver (A Preserver's Breakfast). Here's hoping he feels better soon.

They always say the toughest step is admitting you have a problem, and it appears as if Hitchhiking to Heaven has taken that step (I Need a Canning Intervention).

This will be my first time entering anything in the [Marin County] fair and I'm kind of spazzed out about it. I'm pretty well set in most of the categories I want to enter: I have three marmalades, three jams, and a conserve, which are the things I do best -- and you'd think that would be plenty. Except I got it in my head that I want a jelly. One really nice jelly.

H2H is having a few problems with the jelling point. This isn't an uncommon problem, especially when you are working with new recipes. Experience really helps, so just keep at it!

And a reminder for my local readers - don't forget to get ready to enter preserving judging at the LA County Fair (Time to Prepare for the Oscars of Food Preservation - Weekly Email).

The Waterbury, CT Republican American profiles Tom Wallace, a local gardener/canner (A Year-Round Gardener Cans It in Seymour).

Last year, the Wallaces canned 237 quarts, 220 pints and 57 half-pints. Since 2000, they have canned 4,336 jars. He stores them in his basement, except the peppers, which he keeps in the freezer.

I'm such a slacker.

The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports on a "Spring Gleaning" (Spring Gleaning: An Evening of Hope and Bounty).

Spring Gleaning was an inspiring event held Sun., Mar. 21, 2010. Hosted by Slow Food, Slow Harvest, Farm to Pantry and Susan and Lou Preston, it was a celebration and collaboration of sustainable farming, gleaning, canning, caring and community

Sounds like a cool idea.

Finally, Nelson's Home Canning Tips makes some loquat jam (Loquat Jam). Loquats are coming into season in Southern California. They are rarely seen in the markets, because they go bad so quickly and don't travel well. They are sometimes seen in the farmers markets, but not often.

Of course, if you live in LA, you've probably seen an incredibly fecund tree or two in the neighborhood. Enjoy the fruit fresh, but preserving them is the only way to enjoy them outside that two or three week window. More on the loquat in a later post.

Slate on Fresh Food - Doesn't Quite Get the Point, Again

Once again, Slate has an article that touches on food preservation (Not So Fresh). In this case, the point of the article is to defend preserved foods from the recent emphasis on fresh and local food.

Take a close look at the policy approaches listed above—farm-to-school programs, foodstamp discounts at green markets, and tax credits for grocery produce sections—each one is designed in large part to improve access to fresh produce. Not just any old produce, but fresh produce—unprocessed, uncooked, and untarnished by industrial machinery. School cafeterias already have frozen carrots and canned peaches. Our kids need fresh, fresh, fresh!

This strategy may seem unobjectionable. Why challenge this devotion to plants just tugged from the warm soil? A single-minded focus on fresh produce distracts us from the bigger problem: Our children are suffering from a lack of any fruits or vegetables whatsoever. Canned, frozen, dried, juiced—anything would help

Well, I agree that preserved foods shouldn't be dissed and should be an important part of our diet. Nevertheless, I understand the emphasis on fresh food.

Nutritionally, preserved foods can be as good as (in most cases) fresh foods and, occasionally, better. So, yeah, we don't need things to be fresh in order for them to be nutritious. Heck, I'm a promoter of (home) preserved foods.

But that isn't really the point of fresh and local. First, fresh usually means unprocessed, which means that real cooking must take place. Cooking is a real key to eating better and more healthy. Learning to cook is a key benefit of fresh. Sure, you can learn to cook with frozen and canned foods, but you learn more by starting from scratch. Once you've learned to cook from fresh, then you are much better equipped to incorporate some processed foods in your meal.

Second, wherever they sell even minimally processed foods, they also sell ultra-processed foods. One of the advantages of encouraging people to shop in farmers' markets is that it keeps them out of the supermarkets where the temptations of industrially processed foods are too great. You can't buy a frozen pizza in any of the farmers markets I've ever been to.

Even within a supermarket, more time and money spent in the produce section means less time and money spent on processed foods. Sure, some of minimally processed foods are a good deal, but too often they are also right next to the ultra-processed foods that, while inexpensive, are not so good from a nutrition point of view.

Third, while processed foods are more convenient, you can take that argument too far, and we have. After all, fast food is the ultimate in convenience and we've seen how well that has worked out. The emphasis on "food deserts" is an attempt to somewhat level the convenience playing field a bit. Fast food and heavily processed foods are conveniently available even in the poorest neighborhoods. Food that you actually have to cook - not so much. So not only does home cooking have an inherent inconvenience factor (you actually have to cook), but access is inconvenient as well.

Fourth, although preserved foods may lead to less wastage, sitting on a shelf for years isn't that great an improvement over the status quo. What is important is knowing how to stock a pantry (fresh and preserved) and how to cook out of one. If you know how to cook, then much less goes to waste. Most of my cooking is actually figuring out how to put what I've already got to use - bits and pieces of this and that, combined into soups, hashes, frittatas and other leftover classics. I am efficient at this because I know how to cook. So, it comes down to cooking again.

Fifth, fresh connects us closer to where our food comes from. Community gardens and farmers markets are excellent examples, but even simple, fresh produce ties us closer to the origins of our food than a can or a waxed frozen carton (not to mention ultra-processed foods). Although the author of the Slate article complains that we are confusing nutrition and culture, that is sort of the point. Preparing and eating food is, inevitably, a social act. Food is a huge part of our, of every, culture.

The more we rely on industrially processed foods, the more we undermine our connection to the social and cultural elements that kept human beings on a healthy diet for thousands of years. Frozen and canned food is less than 150 years old. Our social and cultural relations to food were built on fresh, not processed. Although processed foods have become part of our culture, we've gone a little bit overboard and an emphasis on fresh is a welcome corrective.

Sixth, and finally, as a promoter of home food preservation, you need to start with fresh in order to preserve in the home. So, let's bring preserved foods into the pantry, but let's also learn how to make them ourselves. I use plenty of commercially preserved foods in my cooking. But it is my cooking, and I know how to preserve many of the foods myself. Knowing how to preserve fresh, makes me more efficient at using the fresh as well as the preserved results.

So, yeah, I think that Michelle Obama should invite me (or any food preserver) into the White House Garden to demonstrate some old-school food preservation techniques. But that doesn't mean I think the emphasis on fresh is wrong.

You can go overboard with the emphasis on fresh, true, but the pendulum is a long way away from going to far in the other direction.

What the emphasis on fresh needs is an equal emphasis on cooking. I think it is sort of assumed sometimes, but it needs to be more explicit.

Preservation Link Roundup 3/26/10

Sharon Astyk, author of Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Preservation and Storage, will be hosting an online course in food preservation starting April 15th (Food Storage and Preservation Class!). The cost is $150 (there are some scholarships) and you can pay with barter.

The New York Times Fashion & Style section provides yet another article on the growing popularity of kombucha (A Strange Brew May Be a Good Thing). Although you can buy kombucha more readily, making it is so inexpensive, costing nothing more than brewing tea with a little sugar and having some patience.

Food Forward, a group that gleans or harvests otherwise unused fruit in Los Angeles, reports that they're "Can It" initiative has its first product - preserved meyer lemons (CAN IT’s! First Vintage is here).

If you recall, about a week ago Put a Lid On It pickled some beets - but not simply for the beets, but so that the beet brine could subsequently used to make pickled eggs. Well, now the pickled eggs are ready (Pennsylvania Pickled Easter Eggs). Looks like a great recipe. I'll be writing more on pickled eggs next week.

The Pickle Blog from Rick's Picks (an artisan pickle maker in NYC) has an interesting book to read, Pickled Potted and Canned, a history of food preservation (Pickled, Potted and Canned). I look forward to Rick's forthcoming review, but it is definitely going on my wish list right away.

This is cool. The LAist reports that urban farming has taken a big step towards legality in Los Angeles (Fruit & Flowers Go Legit: Ordinance on Urban Farming Approved). What this means is that (hopefully) soon small-scale urban farmers will be able to legally sell their produce and flowers in Los Angeles. This can only be good for food preservation.

Preservation Link Roundup 3/19/10

Big Black Dogs makes carrot cake jam and pairs it with carrot bread (Carrot Bread with Carrot Cake Jam). That sounds great ... it also makes me think of other things it would go well with. How about carrot cake pancakes with a smear of cream cheese and carrot cake jam? Or simply use it as a glaze for caramelized carrots? I like doubling (or even tripling) down on flavors sometimes.

Well Preserved is canning multiple alliums, onions and leeks (Pickled Onions – Coming to a Sandwich Near You and I’ve Sprung a Leek ... a Pickled Leek). There are some very interesting things going on here. I think the use of malt vinegar in the pickled onions is an excellent idea. Malt vinegar isn't used much in pickling, because of its intense flavor and color, but with the right ingredients it can be genius. This sounds like one of those cases.

Malt vinegar is basically made from beer (sans hops), so it has an affinity for ales and things that go with ale. I'm thinking sharp cheddar, sausages, that sort of thing. How about as a garnish for a cheddar/ale soup?

The other thing that is interesting is that WP pickled not only the white/light green parts of the leeks, but the leaves as well. I've never actually used the leaves of the leek for anything other than a flavoring agent in soups and stock. I didn't really think they were edible due to their fibrousness. I would love to find out whether pickling changes the texture enough to make them readily edible.

What Julia Ate is also working with alliums. Coincidence? I don't think so. A great flavor combination is the result (Roasted Garlic and Candied Ginger Jelly). Originally, though, it wasn't a jelly ... it was a syrup. Julia explains why her original didn't set and why. You always learn more from your mistakes than your successes. And then, she reprocesses, and success! I usually don't recommend reprocessing, but this was definitely a good call.

Tea for Joy hosts a craft evening for her church group and they make some beautiful jars of lemon curd (A Lemon Curd Craft Evening). Once again, we see that canning is a great social activity. However, I must note that the recipe for the lemon curd they use calls for sealing with wax and no processing. This is not recommended. The National Center for Home Food Preservation does have a tested recipe for Canned Lemon Curd.

Guava paste, like dulce de membrillo, is a fruit cheese that has a number of culinary uses. The Kitchn lists ten ways to use it (Fun to Say, Fun to Eat: 10 Ways to Use Guava Paste). Of course, you can buy your guava paste, or membrillo, but when the fruit is in season, it is easy to make your own. You can also make fruit cheese from stone fruits (mmmm .... plum cheese), apples, pears and probably some others I can't think of off hand. So, consider the list as a stepping off point for using other fruit cheeses as well.

The OC Weekly's food blog, Stick a Fork in It, notices the local sugarcane showing up in farmers' markets (At the Farmers' Market: Sugarcane). Juice, strain and use as a syrup for canning local fruit for a locavore delight. Sugarcane isn't that difficult to grow either. Thirty years ago when I was growing up, my grandmother grew it as a treat for us grandkids.

The female half of Those Mathiases and Their Adventures in Kansas did a lot of canning with mom when young, but didn't take it up as an adult. Until now, that is, sort of (On Canning).

I. Do. Not. CAN.

And then I realized something.

We don't have moms or grandmas that live closeby to gift us with such delicacies. Fail.
We don't live under the old landlords that brought down the best raspberry jam ever made. Fail again.
And, the result? We don't have freezer jam. And it's not coming anytime soon. Epic fail.

So I did what any girl would do. I made my husband do it.

If my blogging is a little shorter, slow or otherwise not up to my usual standards, I have an excuse. I have been building some raised bed planters so that I can more easily grow and harvest more food, some of which will definitely end up in cans.

Preservation Link Roundup 3/14/10

March Can Jam Update:

All Types of Cooking, and a Whole Lot of Canning Here! wanted to work with a more unusual allium and ramps weren't available, so she searched and found cipollines to pickle (Allium......Yum!). Cipollines are an Italian pearl onion with a saucer-like shape. They're small and sweet and add a distinctive look to any plate. I usually use them whole in braises and stews or roasted as part of mixed roasted vegetables, but they are very versatile - just keep them whole (or mostly whole) for their unique appearance. Pickling them is a great idea.

Kitchen Jam riffs on a red onion marmalade by adding blood orange juice and rhubarb (March CanJam: Red Onion & Rhubarb Jam).

Miss Can Jam herself, Tigress in Pickle, silences some red onions with extreme prejudice (Onionz Limone Chutney).

this little chutney packs a powerful punch, and definitely has an eastern flair. i would say skip the ubiquitous chutney & sharp cheese pairing with this one and go right for the curries, stir-frys and one dish indian and southeast asian inspired meals. or simply use it stirred into a rice or grain as the exotic flavoring agent.

Not every preserve is a success. Case in point: Hitchhiking to Heaven had to leave the room while cooking her entry in the Can Jam (Garlic and Green Chile: Never-Again Jelly).

Yielded only 3 half-pints of jelly and one slightly nauseated cook.

Yeah, I guess you'd have to be a garlic lover for that one.

Although the result wasn't exactly what they wanted, at least Three Clever Sisters wasn't nauseated by their onion-fennel-red pepper pickle (Can Jam March Challenge: Alliums). If they didn't like red pepper, they could have simply left it out.

As a Disneyland Resort cook, I was happy to hear that Put a Lid on It (a chef herself) was impressed with the food served at our sister park, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and decided to recreate a pickle (actually, more like a chutney, I think) that came with the bread service (Sweet Onion and Lime Pickle).

A couple of quick notes. Although this pickle is most likely safe for canning it hasn't been tested. Also, the processing time seems a bit short. And, if you are processing for only five minutes, the jars must be sterilized prior to use. Jars do not have to be sterilized (only clean and hot) if the processing time is ten minutes or longer.

Other notes. If you are ever at a Disney park and like the food, you don't have to reverse engineer the dish, unless you want to. Please feel free to ask for the recipe. You will get it. They might have to email or mail it to you later, but they'll get it to you.

Also, Disney's California Food & Wine Festival will be taking place April 16 - May 31. Not a bad way to spend the day. And I'm not just saying that because I work there.

The Atlantic's Food Channel publishes an ode to homemade fruit wines (In a Fruit Wine, Comfort and Validation).

I swear to God, if you blindfolded me I would not be able to tell it apart from a decent Amontillado. Smooth, a little caramel, but with a bright acidity I did not expect in a wine that looked like maple syrup. It is, for all intents and purposes, a fine sherry. Made from Costco raisins. In a plastic bucket.

Fruit wines may sound sort of weird, but you can actually make some darn fine stuff. Even from Costco raisins.

Rufus and Clementine really wasn't bothered too much by Slate's condescending take on the revival of canning (Market.Watch | 12Mar10 & The Slam Reax).

The Slate article got under my skin, primarily, because it hurt the feelings of people I’ve come to respect, who felt attacked for practicing the traditions they hold dear. I had less of a problem because I kind of knew who she was talking to and about. It didn’t bother me, personally, because I’ve come to really enjoy doing it. Period. Whatever.

Mahlzeit (a German salutation, often preceding a meal, especially lunch) isn't so sure that food preservation is part of the solution (Apostate).

Food preservation, also, struck me as naive in its economy of scale. Is it really better for a million local households to each have a dehydrator ($80) and a couple of freezers ($200 to $350 each), and a pressure canner ($200 to $600), and a vacuum sealer ($150)?

Investing in these devices doesn't make sense unless you're going to use them, sometimes for several years. So, yeah, if everyone used them and account for the cost over several years, I think it does make sense.

Last week I pickled and canned local asparagus for a demo at the Hollywood Farmers' Market. Now, fruit detective David Karp reports in the LA Times that California's asparagus growers are shrinking in the face of Mexican and Peruvian competition since asparagus is a labor-intensive crop (Market Watch: Hard Times for California Asparagus).

The New York Times Magazine runs an interesting article with a feminist take on locavorism, what one author calls Radical Homemakers (aka a manifesto for "tomato-canning feminists") (The Femivore’s Dilemma).

Local artisanal canner Valerie Confections gets some press from NBC Los Angeles Feast - not only are they making farmers' market sourced preserves, but they will be doing some classes in the near future (Canning with Valerie Confections). Very cool.

Finally, with Easter right around the corner, Within My Means makes a kumquat chutney that she has fond memories of serving for the holiday (Easter-y Kumquat Chutney). Although it isn't a canning recipe and should be refrigerated, it sounds good to me.

Preservation Link Roundup 3/9/10

Doris and Jilly Cook decide to go a little tropical in the middle of winter; they couldn't resist buying a beautiful 3lb papaya and drying it (Dried Papaya). The flavor was a little cardboardy.

There are several potential reasons for this. One is that it simply wasn't a sweet fruit. Peak papaya season in the Northern Hemisphere is from early Summer to early Fall. The papayas obviously have to travel a long distance to make it to Philadelphia, and there is a good chance they came from the Southern hemisphere. Consequently, it is a fair probability that the papayas were picked unripe and firm. Although they will eventually turn yellow, the flavor and sugars will simply never develop properly. Also, in general, the larger the fruit, the more subtle the flavor.

When ripe, the fruit is soft to the touch, like an avocado. This is the perfect time for drying. Overripe, not so good. Underripe, also not good. A good sweet fruit, properly ripe, is very nice dried all by itself. It is common to soak them in a sugar syrup as well, or to even candy them. What Julia Ate suggested some lime juice, and that is an excellent suggestion, as is a little salt. Add some chile powder to the salt and lime and you have papaya pico de gallo. Delicious, absolutely delicious - fresh or dried.

Papayas work well in fruit leathers in combination with other fruits such as orange, kiwi, passion fruit, mango and pineapple.

And don't throw away the black seeds. Clean them and dry them and they make a slightly bitter substitute for black pepper. Frequently they are used in salad dressings and soups.

Ithacan held a food preservation workshop and over sixty people showed up to learn canning, pressure canning, drying, fermenting and cellaring, reports Ithaca's Food Web (Home Food Preserving Workshop Attracts Interest). Props to the organizers in Ithaca! Keep up the good work!

Wouldn't a community canning center be a great place to host such workshops in Los Angeles?

The Cosmic Cowgirl is surprised that she likes carrot cake jam (Carrot Cake Jam, Wha?).

Do you like dollhouses and canning? Then perhaps you'll like this miniature canning set for dollhouses from Reutter Porcelain (Reutter Miniatures CANNING SET Kitchen Cookware, Dishes). You could probably craft a nice little gift or ornament for your favorite canner from this.

Joe Pastry has put together a great primer on the the science of and making of yogurt. If you are at all interested in making your own yogurt, get thee hence:

• Culture Maven
• The Fresh-Fermented Dairy Tradition
• Yogurt Recipe
• So Where Does Yogurt Come From Then?
• Making Yogurt Step One: Choosing the Milk (best yogurt I ever had was from sheep's milk)
• Making Yogurt Step Two: Heating the Milk
• Making Yogurt Step Three: The Starter
• Making Yogurt Step Four: Fermenation
• Dude, Where's My Lactose? I and Dude, Where's My Lactose? II
• Garden on the Inside

We end today's post on a bittersweet note from Food in Jars, who savors the memories of a Southern California childhood as she finishes off some plum jam (Mourning the End of a Jar).

What memories is your food preservation building for your family (and children, if you have them)? One aspect of eating locally and seasonally that may not get enough attention is that we are building memories of place and time by doing so. How often do we associate holidays with particular foods? If you eat locally and seasonally, then different times of year will be associated with different foods and places in your memory.

Food preservation can let us access those memories through taste and smell, two of the most powerful memory senses as they tie directly into our hippocampus memory center.

I remember when I picked those tomatoes from the backyard. I remember when the orange tree was weighed down by bushels of fruit. I remember ...

Preservation Link Roundup 3/3/10

Doris and Jilly Cook experiment with and discuss using commercial-style jars with 1-piece lids (Jars and Lids). There are pros and cons, but you may consider using them if you plan on selling your jars or give them as gifts.

The LA Times' Daily Dish points out a couple of local tomato growing classes starting up this weekend (Tomato Time: As Tomato Season Approaches, a Variety of Growing Classes are on Offer). Growing your own is an excellent skill to learn and a great way to ensure a plentiful amount of tomatoes for canning.

Speaking of tomatoes, the Horticulture Department of Fullerton College is holding its annual tomato and pepper plant sale this weekend (Friday - Sunday) (2010 Tomato and Pepper Sale). Learn how to grow them and then buy them this weekend.

Residents of Richmond and Wayne counties in Indiana are enjoying a series of 100-mile potluck dinners, in which all the dishes are prepared with local ingredients gathered within a 100-mile radius, according to the Palladium-Item (Interest Grows in Locally Produced Food). Given that "it's been months since the last farmer's market", preserved food plays a big role in the local ingredient list.

Much of the food at the February 100-mile radius potluck came from the Baxters' CSA, The Clear Creek Food Co-op or home gardens. Families froze or canned produce during the summer so they could have some in the winter.

At the potluck, Earlham professor Carol Hunter informally demonstrated how she cans her own fruits and vegetables. Hunter learned the skill from her mother, who was a home economics teacher, but noted that the skill is largely being forgotten.

Angela Fraser, an Associate Professor/Food Safety Education Specialist in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Clemson University has written a brief 20-page introduction to home food preservation (Introduction to Home Food Preservation). It is a great quick overview of the topic.

The cover story for the New York Times Dining section this week is on raising and harvesting rabbits (Don't Tell the Kids). Raising rabbits is not too difficult and can be quite economical, since they breed, like, well, you know. By coincidence (?), Food Curated (an excellent short documentary series on various producers of food on the East Coast) just posted an episode on rabbit breeding (Farming and Breeding Fresh Local Rabbits for New York City Restaurants).

Why all the rabbit love on a food preservation blog? Rabbits are excellent for pressure canning (Selecting, Preparing and Canning Meat: Rabbit or Chicken). It was one of the specialties of my great-grandmother.

Anarchy in a Jar uses their jam to make a free-form tart, or crostata (How to Jam #3: Jam Crostata). I find that these are really great for individual sized servings, i.e., making a whole bunch of mini-crostatas. For larger tarts, I prefer a traditional shell made in a tart pan. Still, a large crostata is a beautiful thing. Both pie fillings and conserves are also an excellent filling for a crostata. And for real decadence, why not have a bottom layer of ricotta cheese topped with jam in the crostata?

Might I also suggest brushing the top of the crostata with an egg wash to make it all nice and shiny when it comes out of the oven? Powdered sugar is a nice topping, but a crystallized sugar, like turbinado, sprinkled on top before baking also makes a lovely topping and adds texture.

Big Black Dogs is giving away an Nesco/American Harvest dehydrator (Nesco/American Harvest Dehydrator Giveaway). All you have to do is comment on the blog post. There are also a number of ways to get more entries, such as tweeting a link, following the RSS, etc., etc., etc.

Whether you win the dehydrator or not, you may want to consider reading this brief primer on dehydration from Positively Prepared (Why Dehydrate Food?). Probably the earliest food preservation method, dehydration is not used nearly as much as it can be.

Two Frog Home continues their pantry series with a few hints on using the food in your pantry (Pantry Stocking :: Using It).

Paris-based pastry and ice cream expert David Lebovitz makes an unusual marmalade (Bergamot Marmalade Recipe). Kevin West had some trouble using bergamots as a small part of a more traditional marmalade. I wonder what he would think of this recipe? Will he give it a try?

Preservation Link Roundup 2/20/10

February's Carrot Can Jam is coming to an end, with plenty of interesting results.

Doris and Jilly Cook try a chutney recipe, but aren't entirely happy with it (Apple Carrot Chutney). Chutney's are like that. Sometimes you find an amazing new flavor, other times ... the flavor is amazing in a different way. It also sounds as if D&J will be discussing one piece lid systems.

It isn't do chua, but Food in Jars makes a similar carrot and daikon pickle (February Can Jam: Pickled Carrots and Daikon). Most do chua is made with julienned vegetables, but FiJ cut their veg on a mandoline, making for a different appearance and texture. This is something you can often do to add a little variety to your pickles. For example, instead of pickle "chips," why not pickle "batons"?

Kitchen Jam uses a trick that I like to pull, adding chipotle to sweet jams (February Can Jam: Spicy Carrot-Apple Chipotle Butter). The smoky heat of the pickled, smoked jalapeños pairs very well with fruit flavors, particularly berries. One of these days I'm going to try to make a mostarda with chipotles.

Oh, Briggsy has a meandering (in a good way), link-filled post that eventually gets around to a Can Jam recipe (February Can Jam: Carrots! Pickled Mexican-Inspired Carrots with Onion and Jalapeño). These are a favorite of mine ... I add them to beans, rice, even guacamole (gives it some texture).

There are other things to can than carrots. For example, mushrooms.

Granny Miller (no relation), explains how to can mushrooms with a pressure canner - actually, a pressure cooker is used (which is definitely not recommended) - but everything else is kosher (Home Canning Mushrooms And A Modified Rant). The rant has quite a few interesting facts as well:

Pennsylvania has been growing and producing mushrooms since the 1890’s, and historically mushrooms have been the Commonwealth’s most valuable cash crop. Last I checked Pennsylvania produces over 35% of all fresh mushrooms sold in the United States; and that number is down from 50% just 3 years ago.

Pennsylvania mushroom farmers not only produce a valuable crop, but they also purchase and recycle large quantities of manure, straw, compost and other farm products. Not to mention that Pennsylvania mushroom farmers have found a good use for old coalmines.

Mushroom farming sounds like a good part of a green farming system. I should learn more about it.

If you don't have a pressure canner, no worries. Why not pickle those mushrooms? National Center for Home Food Preservation: Marinated Whole Mushrooms.

Living the Frugal Life has some good instructions on making seed vaults using mason jars (Being Thrifty - Or Doomerish - With Seeds: Creating Your Own Seed Vault). The labeling information is particularly good.

Diner's Journal from the New York Times reports on a movement to plant an edible garden outside of City Hall (Plans for Real Growth at City Hall). Not a bad idea, but I would love to do some preserving out of these public gardens.

I missed this locavore backlash article that came out last week in the New York Times (A Balance Between the Factory and the Local Farm). I love this quote:

Some of these so-called locavores may think they are part of a national movement that will replace corporate food factories with small family farms. But as much of the East Coast lies blanketed beneath a foot or more of snow, it’s as good a time as any to raise a few questions about the trend’s viability.

First sentence, strawman ... hello. Second sentence ... gee, I guess when the East Coast was buried under snow 200 years ago and locavore was the only choice, everyone just starved to death. Or, maybe, they had something called "food preservation". Hmmm...

Just another locavore backlash article that takes some cheap potshots without actually delving into the mess that our current agriculture system is in. How about more analysis and solutions and less snark?

Finally, a sad note. The last sardine canning factory in the U.S. is closing (Stinson Canning Facility is Closing). I'm a big fan of sardines and they have quite a history here in the U.S., especially in California (Cannery Row, anyone?). Part of the problem is that we've been stripping the oceans of too many fish:

Over the past 6 years, annual total allowable catch levels of herring have decreased by 50% - from 180,000 metric tons in 2004 to 91,200 metric tons for 2010.

We've really messed things up. And our fisheries continue to suffer.

Preservation Link Roundup 2/18/10

Slashfood passes on the news that the European Food Safety Authority is concerned that one or more of the flavorings in artificial smoke flavor may be toxic to humans (Smoke-Flavoring in Some Foods May Be Toxic).

The European Food Safety Authority examined 11 smoke flavorings used in the European Union and found that several of the flavorings had chemicals in them that could cause cell damage in high quantities.

Time to go back to real smoke flavor.

One way to add real smoke flavor, without actually smoking something, is to use actually smoked salt. Coincidentally, smoked salt is the flavor of the week for Anarchy in a Jar (Flavor of the Week: Smoked Salt). Just be sure your salt is actually smoked. Also, note that there are various flavors of smoke. Alder and applewood are quite different.

Stick a Fork in It, the OC Weekly's food blog, promotes making preserved lemons (Cliché-Killing Preserved Lemons).

A tagine is a good trial dish for a first batch, to taste the lemons in what may be thought of as their natural environment, but if they become a standard flavor in your kitchen, you'll find yourself chopping them up to add into just about any dish.

Hmm, that sounds familiar.

The SF Gate reports on the seed trends for gardening this year (Seed Trends - Food Gardening, Pickling). What's hot? Food, particularly food that can be preserved.

Since last year, Josh Kirschenbaum, product development director for Oregon's Territorial Seed Co., has seen a jump in sales of vegetables for home preserving, including pickling cucumbers and saucing tomatoes.

In other trend news, Jarden Home Brands, owners of Ball and Kerr, report that they beat expectations and saw increased profits, according to Reuters (Jarden Profit Beats View, Sees Sales Growth).

With an average price of $30 for its products, Jarden has managed to appeal to consumers looking to entertain in their homes or cook their own food while saving money. Products geared to home canning and fishing, for example, had strong sales, [Chief Executive Martin] Franklin said.

If you do a lot of canning, Two Frog Home has a good tip to save money: buy canning lids by the case (Bulk Canning Lids). Other ways are to save money is to buy on sale (usually late fall), or special order through an ACE Hardware (but see if you can negotiate a discount on a full case). If you don't plan on using a full case, why not split a case with a canning friend?

Chef Talk has a nice primer on canning meat using the raw pack method (Hot to Can Meat AKA Jar Meat).

Carrot Can Jam update:

Breadexperience.com provides a great description of her pickling process for baby carrots (Pickled Baby Carrots: Tigress Can Jam #2).

Local Kitchen (local, that is, if you're from New York's Hudson Valley) struggled with the can jam because she didn't want to make more marmalade and doesn't like carrot pickles. So, after some searching, she modified (safely, I might add since she used more acidic ingredients than the original tested recipe) a recipe for carrot pepper salsa (Can Jam: Apple Carrot Chilé Chutney). Looks and sounds great!

Preservation Link Roundup 2/12/10

As anyone who knows me knows ... I am a huge fan of pickles. So how excited was I that I could express my fandom on Facebook? Very. Express your fandom: Can this Pickle get More Fans than Nickleback?.

The Kitchn, has a good idea for keeping your freezer nice and full of a variety of home frozen meals without hitting the frozen foods aisle in the supermarket (Great Idea! Start a Freezer Meal Cooperative).

A group of six (or more) people decide on a certain amount of meals for a six-week period. Angie's group does 12 meals. Then each person prepares two of the meals, and freezes enough for all six people in the group. (It's obviously a lot easier to prepare and freeze a lot of one or two recipes, rather than 12 recipes!)

Then they distribute the frozen meals among themselves, and everyone has a frozen yet homemade meal for their family twice a week.

Ah, convenience! One of the wonderful things about food preservation plus, in this case, community ... another benefit of food preservation if you share it with others.

Food Safety News reports on a new food preservation technique developed at Washington State University (New Technology Extends Food Shelf Life).

Juming Tang, a professor in the WSU Department of Biological Systems Engineering, led a team of industry, university, and U.S. military scientists to create this technology. The outcome not only results in food with a longer shelf-life, but also food with better flavor and nutritional value when compared to more traditional food processing methods such as canning....

The team's Microwave Sterilization Process technology submerges the packaged food in pressurized hot water while concurrently heating it with microwaves at a frequency of 915 MHz--this frequency penetrates food much more deeply than home microwave ovens. This combination eliminates food pathogens and spoilage microorganisms in five to eight minutes and produces foods with much higher quality than conventionally processed products.

It doesn't sound as if this technique will be reaching the home soon, if ever, but I like keeping up with food preservation news.

Dancer and local foods activist Leda Meredith has a guest post on the Farm to Table blog on how food preservation and local foods go together (Why Food Preservation is an Important Part of Eating Local and Two Ways to get Started). She's preaching to the choir. I also like that she has a recipe for a fermented fruit chutney, something I've never tried, but will now.

Delilah Snell visits a friend's mother's garden and kitchen and helps in making some fermented dills and lemon curd made with agave syrup rather than sugar (A Rainy Afternoon with Joanne - Lemon Curd Recipe). The curd isn't for canning, but can be kept in the refrigerator or longer in the freezer. There are cannable curds, but because they contain butter and eggs (generally a no-no in canning), their shelf-stable life is only 2-3 months.

My curds usually don't last that long, so I don't bother canning them.

Food (Preservation) Rules

In his book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, food author Michael Pollan famously coined a call to action for how and what we eat: "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." After studying nutrition and the ways food is produced in this country, he came to the conclusion that what and how we should eat is not really all that complicated. Rather than focusing on the complexities of carbohydrates, ratios of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats, and the benefits of dietary fiber, he figured out that we can improve our physical health, benefit our environment and, at least in my view, cultivate our souls, by following his simple call to action.

Of course, such a simple saying leads to many more questions. "Eat Food"? Of course we eat food, what else would we eat? What Pollan means by "Eat Food" is to avoid things that are edible, but designed and developed by food scientists, made with ingredients chemically derived from corn and soy, and things no one keeps in their home pantry. In other words, Pollan is talking about real food, food that our ancestors ate for tens of thousands of years, before the industrial food revolution that really took off in the mid-part of the last century. Of course, this is just a very brief explanation of one part of Pollan's Rule, and much more could be said about it.

Therefore, in order to make it easier to follow his call to action, and to better understand what it means, Pollan has published a slim book with 64 rules that expand and frame his trademark saying. Each of the rules is short and simple, but Pollan also adds a paragraph or two of commentary to each rule, explaining a bit more about their origin and what they mean. The book, Food Rules, is a quick read, but full of wisdom and something that everyone who cares about food should have. It's only $5 on Amazon right now (Amazon: Food Rules). So what do you have to lose?

In any case, I would like to highlight a few of the rules and provide my own commentary on how they apply to food preservation - something I think is an important part of "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much."

Rule 2: Don't Eat Anything Your Great-Grandmother Wouldn't Recognize as Food

Not only would your grandmother recognize most home preserved foods, she probably knew how to make them herself. Indeed, it is a tragedy of our age that food preservation skills have gone into decline, skipping a generation or two or three. It is time to make the preserved foods your great-grandmother knew how to make.

Rule 5: Avoid Foods That Have Some Form of Sugar (or Sweetener) Listed Among the Top Three Ingredients.

Ah. Hm. So much for most jams and jellies. Except that there is an exception for special occasion foods (Rule 60). Actually, what this rule is really all about is the fact that sugar and all the variations thereof (High Fructose Corn Syrup, I'm talking about you) have snuck into many processed foods where we might not expect sugar ... and even where we might expect some sugar, processed foods contain obscene amounts. We know that jams and jellies have a lot of sugar, unless they're specially made to have lower sugar, so I think they're fine under this rule, used in moderation.

Rule 12: Shop the Peripheries of the Supermarket and Stay Out of the Middle

The periphery of the market is where the bakery, produce, dairy and butcher sections of the supermarket reside. The center section is where most of the heavily processed foods are. Shop on the periphery, and you are usually getting real food. Which is not to say that there isn't real food in the center section ... I mean, where else will you get your dried pasta? Nevertheless, by doing your own food preservation, you will be able to reduce the amount of items you need from the middle section of the supermarket.

Rule 13: Eat Only Foods that will Eventually Rot

Ah. Hm. Well, so much for food preservation. Of course, Pollan is referring to things like Twinkies, which have a shelf-life of twenty-five days (25!). Unnaturally long for baked goods. Other than fruit cakes, I can't think of any regular baking recipes that are moist and tender for nearly a month. Pollan does mention honey as having an indefinite shelf life, but I think that goes for all sorts of home food preservation.

Rule 16: Buy Your Snacks at the Farmers' Market

Ah, come on, Pollan. Yes, you can buy delicious dried fruit at the farmers' market, but you can also make your own dried fruit at home, often even better, thank you very much. I haven't seen my famous basil-infused sun-dried cherry tomatoes at any farmers' market. This is a good rule, if only it included making your own.

Rule 28: If You Have the Space, Buy a Freezer

Food preservation 101. A stand alone freezer is great for storage (and economy).

Rule 33: Eat Some Foods that have been Predigested by Bacteria or Fungi

Fermentation! Need I sing its praises anymore?

Rule 59: Try Not to Eat Alone
Rule 63: Cook

Both these rules are great. Eating should be a social affair, and cooking your own food is fantastic. I'd sort of like to combine them for food preservation, however. I do a lot of preservation on my own, but it is much more satisfying to preserve with friends and family.

Rule 62: Plant a Vegetable Garden, if You Have the Space, a Window Box if you Don't

Once you start gardening, sooner or later you will have more food than you can cook and give away. You can let it rot. Or ... you can preserve it one way or another.

These are just a few of Pollan's food rules. I could have spent more time discussing how they intersect with food preservation, but I think it would be better if you went and read the book and figured it out on your own. Enjoy!

Preservation Link Roundup 2/10/10

LAist gives a quick overview of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in LA (Taking a Look at L.A.'s Community Supported Agriculture Programs). CSA's are not only a good way to get a regular supply of fresh produce, but as many CSA recipients will tell you ... you'll often end up with an excess of something. That means, of course, that you will have plenty of stuff to preserve as well.

CSAs aren't the only way to get a plethora of fresh produce for preserving. The Kitchn has a list of other things you can do to prepare for summer: "if you want to enjoy the full bounty of summertime, this is the time to start thinking about where your food will be coming from" (6 Things You Can Do Now to Eat Locally This Summer). Yep, and start planning on what you want to can.

Speaking of CSAs, my friend and fellow Master Food Preserver Delilah Snell of the green Road Less Traveled Store shares a concept for Community Supported Artisan Goods, or CSAG (CSA, CSF and Perhaps, CSAG??):

members of the CSAG will receive a monthly or bi-monthly basket containing a number of preserved goods. at least 6 jars but up to 10 of items like: apple butter, pickles, jams, salsas/condiments, but also dried foods or salted items (beef jerky??). all made from local, organic ingredients. just like a regular CSA, you would pick up this "basket" with your other fresh items or they can be available at drop-offs at farmers' markets.

Department of "Why Didn't I Think of That?"

Anarchy in a Jar shares a recipe for Key Lime and Smoked Salt Marmalade. Smoked salt ... of course! I'm a huge fan of smoked salt. It is a simple and delicious way to bring smoke flavor to all sorts of dishes. Usually it is best added to a dish just before serving, as a finishing salt. It looks pretty, adds texture (crunchy salt flakes), and plenty of flavor (a perfect garnish!).

This recipe makes me think ... why not add smoked salt to already existing jams or jellies when served? Of course you have to match the flavor. There are many types of smoked salt, each with its own particular flavor: hickory, maple, applewood, cherrywood, alder, and oak are just some of the more common varieties. And of course, there are many other options for preserves. Lemons and smoke go really well. Smoked Salt/Lemon Marmalade, obviously. But why not add a little smoked salt when making preserved lemons. You wouldn't want to use all smoked salt, but some smoked salt would make an interesting preserved lemon.

Speaking of preserved lemons, last night I made a delicious spread with goat cheese, minced preserved lemon peel and a healthy amount of parsley.

Preservation Link Roundup 2/9/10

The LA Times has an incredible and truly disturbing story about corruption in one of California's tomato processing plants (Tomato Bribery Probe Just the Beginning, Prosecutors Say). California's four major tomato processing plants account for nearly 95% of the commercially grown tomatoes, and one of them is facing very serious allegations of corruption. In particular, their agents were bribing the buyers for major food companies to purchase their tomatoes or provide information on the pricing of competitors.

Inflated costs were only one of the prices consumers had to pay:

Company officials allegedly shrugged off warnings about being caught, even when one of their contacts included a remark that the quality of SK Foods' tomato paste was getting too poor to ignore.

"We pack garbage for them anyway and they always take it, but we've hit new lows," said Rahal, according to the declaration.

And this is only one of many investigations into various food industries:

Step into a grocery store these days and on almost every aisle there's an item tied to a federal investigation: dairy distributors, egg producers, citrus firms and seed developers are all the targets of federal lawsuits or investigations. Starting next month, the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold meetings to gather complaints and hear concerns over lack of competition in the dairy, grain, livestock and poultry sectors.

"Agriculture will be a priority of mine," Christine Varney, who leads the Obama administration's antitrust team at the Justice Department, said during her congressional confirmation hearings last year.

As if we needed any more reasons to frequent farmers' markets and can our own.

Tigress in a Jam provides links to a maker of custom canning labels, check them out on Etsy: Lelo in Nopo: Homemade, as well as Tigress' recipe for thumbprint cookies (Roast the Toast: Marmalade Thumbprints). Let me tell you, thumbprint cookies are a fantastic way to use jams, jellies and marmalades. I haven't tried conserves, but that might work as well. And, feel free to vary the recipes a bit. For example, Tigress recommends using walnuts or pecans to roll the cookies. However, a few years ago I made thumbprints with pine nuts and basil jelly ... a great combination.

Preservation Link Roundup 2/6/10

Food writer Josh Ozersky has an article in this week's Time querying whether the natural foods movement has met its stylistic end, at least in the high-end restaurant world (Has Chefs' Cooking Gone Too Green?). Perhaps we can put his article with the slate of articles talking about the stylistic end of molecular gastronomy. Hmmm ... who is right? Perhaps all these sorts of articles are just simplistic takes on the creativity that takes place in the high-end restaurant world. It isn't about the techniques or ingredients alone, but the philosophy, creativity and stories that top-notch chefs tell with their food. Fresh, local and seasonal ingredients aren't going away. Creative chefs will never hit a stylistic dead end using them.

It is raining here in Southern California, causing all sorts of problems for many and true disasters for those living in mudslide-prone areas. What is happening here pales in comparison, however, with the blizzard hitting the East Coast. A couple of blog posts remind us how food preservation is an important part of planning for such disasters.

Filling Your Ark reminds us that canned goods aren't dependent on electricity for freezing and refrigeration (Snow Piles Up - Thousands Without Electricity). Furthermore, the article the blog refers to points out that many stores' shelves were bare as shoppers stripped them in anticipation of the blizzard. How nice not to have to worry about that sort of thing, thanks to a well-stocked pantry.

YumPittsburgh reports on a conference to strengthen the local food infrastructure in Western Pa (Great Conference, Giant Blizzard, Closing Thoughts). How ironic that some of the attendees were stuck there due to the blizzard. At least for next time they had learned a lot about food preservation, especially canning:

But for now, the thing that struck me most was how much learning happened for folks from non-farming families on really practical food production and preservation. And the sense of self reliance and community that comes out of it...

The food preservation topic was a great example of the cross pollination between disciplines and generations. There was a time where canning how-to was handed down informally every season during the harvest. This transfer from grandma to mom to granddaughter installed confidence in food security and the final product. Yum admits having canned and then not eating it for fear of having done it wrong and dying of botulism! So lame.

But to see a roomful of folks of all ages re-learning and sharing this old knowledge (which included the latest USDA tested recipes!) was remarkable. Seeing focused attention from so many people relearning how to use the sun to dry food for later use felt really, really right.

Good luck to all those suffering due to the weather.