DIY Beer Mustard – The Mini Canning Rack in Action

I’m so excited – my mini canning rack arrived last week! I was so excited to give it a try, and what better thing to make in early spring than beer mustard? We’re just starting to grill out a bit this season, and home made mustard will be the perfect accompaniment to burgers and bratwursts and all of the other tasty things we’re going to be grilling this season.

Since I’ve never used this recipe, I just did a small half batch over the weekend – two 4-ounce jars. That will be enough to get us started, and we can see how we like the recipe, which is made from brown mustard seeds, beer, malt vinegar, dry mustard, light brown sugar and onion powder. Sounds tasty, and this recipe looks so simple that I’ve got high hopes for a good end result.

The first step is to bring the mustard seeds and beer to a boil, then let them sit off heat for about two hours until the seeds have absorbed most of the beer. Then puree the mustard seeds  -

Then add the remaining ingredients and cook it down until it’s reduced by about a third -

And then into my amazing little canning rack in my standard soup pot, where it needs to be processed for ten minutes -

And here’s my finished mustard – shelf stable until opened, and ready to go for grilling season!

How easy was that? With my mini canning rack, I can do all sorts of small batch preserving in the little snippets of time that I can cobble together every now and again. Proving there’s always time for a little preserving, if you’ve got the right tools and good recipes.

2011 Preservation Tally

Alright, what’s done is done. It’s the last weekend before the baby is due, so I’ve put up everything that I’m going to be able to for this year (with the exception of the apples we’re getting in late October). So, here’s the official tally of all the fruits and veggies that got put up at Apartment Farm this year -

- 19 quarts of canned whole tomatoes with no added liquid

- 5 pints of canned pickled hot peppers

- 24 ears of frozen sweet corn

- 4 pints of frozen blueberries

- 1 gallon of frozen hot peppers

- 6 pints of frozen sweet peppers

- 1 cup frozen pesto

- 2 cups frozen apple pie filling

- 1 quart of black walnuts in dry storage

- 2 gallons of honey (purchased)

 

Not to shabby with the summer shaping up the way it did. We’re in for some good eating this winter. And of course, I’m already working on the to do list for next year.

The Woes of Hot Peppers, or How I Learned a Valuable Lesson

Okay, so as I mentioned, yesterday husband and I embarked upon a mission to can 14 quarts of tomatoes as well as a small batch of pickled hot peppers. I was going to post my show and tell photo yesterday, but due to some totally foreseeable and preventable circumstances that I will describe to you shortly, we were delayed slightly on our mission and didn’t pull the last jars out of the canner until after eleven. But we did manage to pull it off and get our self-imposed quota for the day completed -

Aren’t they gorgeous? There is an additional quart of hot peppers in the freezer too, since we purchased an even three pounds of Hungarian Wax hot peppers at the market yesterday, more than we needed for the pickling recipe we were following. And as per my usual experience, even though we tightly crammed the jars full of veg, we still got floaters. Every time! But they are perfectly sealed and processed so while some may say they are not as beautiful as they could be, they will still taste great and also probably not kill us. Bonus.

Now for the sadness. And the worst part is, I know better. There is nothing worse than putting yourself in a situation you know damned well that you could’ve and should’ve avoided. I know that you are supposed to wear gloves while working with hot peppers. I know this. Did I heed this well-known advice? No. No, I did not. Usually handling hot peppers with my bare hands doesn’t bother me at all. I just remember not to touch my eyes, and I’m good to go. Except I forgot that there was bound to be a difference in chopping up one jalepeno every once in a great while and chopping and seeding three entire pounds of Hungarian Wax hot peppers. And I also failed to account for the fact that my body is reacting very differently to things since I’ve been pregnant.

By the end of the batch I was feeling tingly, which I expected. Halfway through bottling the peppers for the canner I was leaning up to the sink choking back tears and refusing to take my hands out of the running water. And we still had fifty pounds of tomatoes to contend with. I spent the next few hours doing spurts of prep work on the tomatoes and plunging my hands into a bowl of ice water for relief. We tried washing my hands with soap and water and dousing them with alcohol, neither of which lessened the pain. Only the ice water dulled the ache. And apparently – prolonged my suffering. We finally figured this out, when I dumped the ice water and sat down in the dining room with husband to try the last remedy we had to make the burning stop – time. I literally felt like my hands were being held in a blue-hot fire for several hours at a stretch. I had a freak out session for the next hour and a half – pacing the living room, husband rubbing my back, ice pack on my neck to cool me down (because at this point I was so worked up I felt overheated, even though husband kept telling me I felt fine) and having husband tell me everything would be okay; with a little time the burning sensation would subside and I would be fine.

It was the longest hour and a half of my life. On the plus side, I feel a little more prepared for labor now. At least contractions start and stop and you get a break in between them. And hour and a half of straight, relentless pain is just unreal. And eventually the pain did lessen. Once I was back to slight burning and tingling, I took a nap for a half hour and then woke up the pain was gone. Of course, I was fine and the baby was fine. We hopped back into the tomato processing, but at this point daylight was a wasting. I avoided water like the plague, but of course when putting up food in the kitchen you can’t avoid it entirely. So I got some more burning in between batches when I had to wash tomatoes or my hands, but it wasn’t nearly as bad at the initial experience. I knew what to expect, what was causing it, and that it would end.

So, lessons for next year. Do not be cocky! Wear gloves when working with hot peppers! And if I’m doing hot peppers on the same day as something else, the hot peppers are the last batch of the day. That way if I do end up getting a hot pepper burn, at least I don’t have to work through another fifty pounds of whatever still and can just take a few Tylenol and go to bed. Learn from my ridiculous mistake, friends.

And, as turns out – this concludes this year’s dance with the canner. Despite my great ambitions and better intentions, we’re putting the waterbath canner to bed for the season. I wanted to squeeze in another 28 quarts of tomatoes this year, but frankly – husband and I are exhausted. He really sprang into action this year to make any canning at all possible and I think we did great. We’ve got 19 quarts of tomatoes and 5 pints of pickled hot peppers to show for our efforts, and I think that’s pretty good for a nine months pregnant lady with a broken ankle and a guy who’s never canned anything before in his life. I’m proud of what we turned out this year. And we’ve compiled an awesome list of things we want to do for next summer – since I won’t be pregnant and we hopefully won’t have any injuries or illnesses in the household, we’re excited about getting some more time next season to spread things out so it’s not so mad cap. And if all else fails, husband can take baby boy out to the park for a few hours every Saturday so Mama can super can without anyone underfoot.

This doesn’t mean our preserving is done for the season now that we have the freezer in the house. This weekend at the farmer’s market we plan on buying a couple dozen ears of what is likely the last sweet corn of the season to blanch and freeze. We’re also going to freeze some blueberries for pies and likely a couple of quarts of sweet peppers. And of course, I’m going to do some baking and cooking of freezer dinners in preparation for the baby’s arrival over the next weekend or two. So we’re not quite done. But I won’t lie and say we aren’t happy to put the lid on the canner for the season.

Sunday Canning

The excitement builds! Husband will be helping me with another round of canning today. And I’m super excited that I actually got to go to the farmer’s market with him today. The market got relocated this week to the parking lot right in front of our house, due to an art festival happening on the street where it’s usually held. This was a windfall for me, since hobbling across the street for a half hour was actually feasible with husband’s help.

It’s the first time in over a month that I’ve left the house for something other than a doctor’s appointment. The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze, and the market was in full swing. We came home with quite a haul too – three pounds of absolutely gorgeous Hungarian Wax hot peppers from Midnight Sun, a five pound bag of red onions and a five pound bag of red, white and blue mixed potatoes from King’s Hill and a pint of Saturn peaches and four ears of sweet corn from Hardin Family Farms (I wish they had a website, but they do not – they’re from around Eau Claire, Michigan and at our market every Sunday – excellent fruit!). We also picked up some chocolate doughnuts from Bennison’s for breakfast. Toward the end of market, husband is going back to pick up our 50 pounds of tomatoes from Midnight Sun too.

So, the action plan for today – we’re going to can 14 quarts of tomatoes with no added liquid (just like our last batch, only more!) as well as use the Hungarian Wax hot peppers for six pints of pickled peppers. Is this ambitious for someone who’s due to have a baby in about three weeks and still in a cast? Why yes, yes it is. Good thing I have husband here to be my trusty helper.

Stay tuned for a post later today (much later today) where we show off our handiwork. Now, I’ve got to prod husband to get things into high gear.

Put Up Or Shut Up

You didn’t think I’d mention canning this weekend and then not post about it, did you? Now you should know, I am mighty tempted to close down this computer and go straight to bed, but my conscious just can’t leave you all hanging.

We got our first batch of #2 canning tomatoes from Midnight Sun Organics today. Husband picked up a fifteen pound flat at the market this morning (and he made it home just minutes before a torrential downpour began too). This year’s canning began a little differently. First, I decided to use a different recipe. In past years, I’ve canned whole tomatoes in water. This year I decided to do raw-packed tomatoes with no added liquid. I made the switch for two reasons, the primary one being flavor. Water dilutes, and for the effort I’m going to, I want the most concentrated tomato flavor possible. And secondly, having hot water is another step – another stockpot on the stove to deal with. I’m a big fan of simplicity.

The second change was timing, and that was a matter of necessity. There is a certain point of no return during the canning process where you cannot just take a break and do something else for awhile. But up until that point, you can do a little bit and sit down and rest (otherwise known as elevating your broken ankle) and then come back to it. So for a process that in a normal year would take me two, maybe three hours, this year’s stretched out over the course of the whole day. And in case you’re wondering what the mythic point of no return is should you be forced to stretch it out, it’s the point when you turn the flame on under your canner and stockpot for blanching. From that moment on, you are locked in. But all the prep – washing and organizing your equipment, washing and scoring the tomatoes, getting all your stockpots filled with water (or having your husband do it for you) can be done at your leisure.

So, onto the good stuff. But let me say this clearly – if you’ve never canned before, do not let my loosely-organized tutorial be your only guide. Hop on over to the Ball canning website and get yourself a copy of the beloved canner’s bible – The Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Home canning is perfectly safe, but you’ve got to play by the rules and literally do it by the book. It’ll be the best six bucks you ever spent. Disclaimer aside, here’s how my day of putting up tomatoes went down.

First up, the equipment. The supplies needed for a basic recipe (and most waterbath recipes, in fact) are pretty simple -

- 21 quart waterbath canner or stockpot, with lid

- canning rack

- jar lifter

- magnetic lid wand or rack (I’ve got the wand)

- wide-mouth funnel

- a non-metallic narrow thing to remove air bubbles from your jar (I use a chopstick, some people use those small plastic spatulas)

- regular-sized stockpot for blanching (like the size you’d make a big batch of soup in; I forget how many quarts mine is)

- a slotted spoon or wire basket for blanching (I used to just use the spoon, but this year I scored an “As Seen On TV” Chef Basket as a promo gift, and it works perfectly)

- jars (I used five quarts for this recipe) with bands

- brand new lids (you can only use lids once to ensure a proper seal)

- cutting board and paring knife

- large bowl for an ice bath

- large bowl or tray to hold your prepped tomatoes (I use a large rimmed baking sheet)

- measuring spoons – teaspoon and tablespoon

- lots of clean kitchen towels

- tomatoes, lemon juice, table salt, bag of ice

Now I know that seems like a crazy long list after I said it was going to be simple but you’ll notice that most of those things are regular kitchen items you’ll already have around, and not specialized equipment. Once you’ve got all your supplies in one spot, you’ll want to give them a good wash. My supplies sit in a bottom canning cupboard all year, so even though they’re clean when I put them a way, they’ve got dust on them, so a good washing in regular dish soap with hot water is an important step – work clean from start to finish -

And of course you’ll want to wash your tomatoes as well. I just give them a light scrub in warm water with a vegetable brush. Here they all are, awaiting their washing -

And here they are post-scrub. You’ll notice I scored a light ‘x’ into the bottom of each one with a paring knife. This will make it easier to peel off the skins after they’re blanched and shocked in ice water.

All of the above I did over the course of several hours in the morning, allowing me time in between to rest up for the marathon ahead. Because now we’re entering point of no return territory. Time to turn on the flames! Sterilizing the jars happens in the canner, while you’re prepping the tomatoes. You want to fill up each jar in the canner all the way, then fill in the rest of the pot just to the tops of the jars. I bet you’re thinking – but wait, all the guidelines say I need two inches of headspace! Yep, and indeed you do. Once you carefully empty the water from the jars back into the pot when you’re ready to fill them with tomatoes, there’s your headspace. Simple! We went ahead and sterilized the full seven jars that the canner holds since we weren’t sure how far our tomatoes would go (though based on experience I expected, and got, only five). It’s always better to have sterilized more jars than you will need rather than less. Once you’re ready to process, you just set any extra jars aside out of the action. Here we are, flames on and jars sterilizing -

 

While the jars are doing their thing, it’s time to get serious prepping the tomatoes. They need to blanched for 30-60 seconds in a boiling water bath in order to loosen the skins enough so that they can be peeled off -

Then, because we don’t want cooked, mushy tomatoes here – they get shocked for a minute or two in an ice water bath. It also makes them easier to handle while peeling; no burnt fingers.

At this point, you’ll want to put your jar lids to sterilize in hot (not boiling) water. I was lazy this time and threw them in to the top of the canner with the jars, which works – but know that if they sink to the bottom they’re not going to be fun to fish out. Your little wand thing isn’t going to be long enough. We had to use tongs. The proper way to do it is in a one quart pot of their own, and I recommend it.

Now, onto the dirty work. You’re not going to want to be wearing your Sunday best. Tomato juice and whatnot will get all over you no matter how hard you try. I should’ve listed an apron in the supply list above; you’ll want to be wearing one to protect your clothes. And I like to wear one because it makes me feel like a rocking old-school farm woman (and when you’re energy starts to flag, you’re going to need the empowerment boost to motor through). But that’s beside the point. Here are the blanched and shocked tomatoes, ready for their date with the paring knife -

And here’s a shot of my bottling supplies lined up from the other side of the table. From peeling to bottling, I like to have all my supplies lined up and ready to go in one spot -

Tired yet? I was a little, but my empowerment apron (and the promise of wholesome sun-kissed tomatoes in January) kept me going. It didn’t hurt that I was sitting during this part of the process. I never would’ve made it if I wasn’t (I’m not a wuss - I blame the ankle!). So, the basic idea during this phase is to use your paring knife to peel off all the skin, remove the core and cut away any blemishes. Then half or quarter (or eigth! Some of my tomatoes were ginormous) them and set them on your tray. Make sure you pour any accumulated juices on your board over them too. Waste not, want not. Halfway in, this is what I’ve got for prepped tomatoes -

Once all of your tomatoes are peeled, cored and cut, you’re ready to bottle. Using your jar lifters, carefully life one jar at a time out of the canner and pour the hot water back into the canner. This is where you go slow – splashing near-boiling water is not fun. The rubber grips on the jar lifter will securely grip the mouth of the jar, and make sure you have a secure grip on the jar lifter. Just pour slowly and carefully. I did a few, then husband took over (his pregnant-lady-on-crutches safety barometer kicked into high gear for that procedure). Have a clean towel laid out on your work surface – these jars are going to be hot! Don’t touch them with your bare hands. That’s why you’ve got all these kitchen towels strewn about all over the place. For the recipe I was using, I needed to put two tablespoons of lemon juice into the bottom of each jar -

Then I packed in the tomatoes. I really packed them in – they need to be pretty tight in the jar, and for this recipe you want them to exude their own juice a bit. Once packed in the jars, run your chopstick or spatula around the inside of the jar to remove any air bubbles. Add more tomatoes if necessary to compensate. And this year, we decided to salt our tomatoes (we usually don’t), so once the jars were filled, we added a teaspoon of salt to the top of each one. Here are some filled jars waiting for their trip back to the canner -

Once the jars are filled, use on of those ubiquitous kitchen jars to wipe the rims clean to make sure the lids get the best seal. Then put on the hot lids and rings, screwed fingertip tight only – you don’t need to get a wrench to tighten them. Here are all five finished jars in the canner -

Jack the flame up as high as it will go, put the lid on your canner and have a seat close by, don’t walk away now. You’re not done yet. Here’s the thing – processing time doesn’t start from the moment you’ve got all the jars in the canner, it starts from the moment the water comes to a rolling boil. So you can hang out close by cleaning up your dirty dishes, or browsing more cool recipes from the Blue Book. I chose to browse the book while seated in front of the stove. You’ll know your pot is boiling because it’ll start making a racket – there’s no other way to describe it. Take a peek under the lid to confirm that you’ve got your boil really going, replace the lid, and now you can walk away (well, not to far but you get you the point). My recipe needed 85 minutes (or one hour and 25 minutes) of processing time.

We had a few bonus goods this round too. We had a few extra tomatoes, not quite enough to can – so we’ve got a little half pint of fresh to throw into something for dinner this week. And remember the rimmed baking sheet I used to hold my prepped tomatoes? I got a half quart of juice off of that, to be used in cooking this week also -

Eighty five minutes later (and a delicious dinner of Milwaukee Iron chicken legs and sweet corn on the grill, with a glass of sweet iced tea on the back deck), we turned off the eternal flame and let the jars sit for a few. Then we used the jar lifters to take them out of the canner and let them rest on still another kitchen towel -

Beautiful, aren’t they? But dang it if I don’t get “floaters” every year! General consensus is this isn’t a safety issue when the tomatoes sit on top of the liquid, as long as the jars seal properly. It  just doesn’t look as pretty. You’ll know the jars seal when you hear the tell-tale ping of the lids vacuuming to the jar. Tomorrow I’ll test the seals by pressing down on the lids – when sealed properly, they shouldn’t give in at all. If they do, I can either re-process them with new lids, or put them in the fridge to be consumed within a week. But fingers crossed they all seal!

And now that my jars of tomatoes are lined up neatly in a row, I’m going to bed! Happy canning!

Oh Lovely Weekend, We Meet Again

Ah yes – Weekend Time. Is it just me, or has this seemed like a really long week? Weekends are great. Two whole days to relax and recharge. I hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the weather this weekend – still a touch humid around these parts, but the weather seems to have equalized a bit. We’ve been able to have the air conditioning off since yesterday, and I hope we can leave it off for a little while now. It’s certainly hot, but seasonably, so it’s not unbearable. It’s nice to get fresh air circulating through the house and hear the summer sounds.

As for housebound me, I’ve still got some of those infamous sitting projects planned for the weekend. With husband’s help (i.e. strong, steadying arms) I’ve been able to negotiate the single step down from our back door onto the deck, so I’ve been able to sit out on the patio a couple of evenings recently. Slow progress, but progress. So I definitely plan to spend some time lounging back there with a good book.

Otherwise, my fabric order from JoAnn Fabrics arrived in the mail today with the remaining items I need for the baby’s quilt. I mentioned the fabrics I chose the other day in my quilt update post over on Somebody’s Mother if you’re interested in seeing what I picked out. And they were all on sale! So I plan to finish up cutting out the quilt blocks this weekend, which shouldn’t take long. And if I can decide it’s not to hot to work with a hot appliance this weekend, I may even drag out the iron and press and pin them all.

And though I’ve desperately missed being able to walk down the street to the farmer’s market each Sunday, I’ve still been communicating via email with the good folks at Midnight Sun Organics about the canning tomato harvest. They report that the tomatoes are just starting to come on pretty good, so they’ll likely have a small batch (around fifteen pounds) of the #2′s (the less than pristine, canning-quality ones) available this weekend. That’s enough to put up 4-5 quart jars of tomatoes, which is a good intro round for a pseudo-invalid. Husband has awesomely stepped up to help me with the canning this year (is this guy a keeper or what?) since I’m off my game. A lot of the the work I can do sitting down – washing, scoring and and peeling the tomatoes as well as putting them into the jars. I’ll need his assistance with the heavy lifting – getting the stockpot of water set up on the stove, sterilizing the jars, and getting the filled jars from the kitchen table to the counter next to the stove. I may or may not be able to be on my feet with crutches to get the jars in and out of the canner – we’ll see how that goes. It’s working with boiling hot water and heavy glass so he may not even want me to mess with that part (he’s also a good protector-type). But I’m excited that with our teamwork, canning season may officially begin this weekend! 

I also think I mentioned awhile back that I got a new hand-sewn mini blind for the bedroom (from my mother in law) and my sewing table/vanity got a little makeover. I promised pictures, but where are they, you ask? I plan to get those taken and posted for you all this weekend as well. Pretty cool what you can do with a little fabric or paint to make something that’ s just perfect for your space.

And let us not forget pie. I’ve been absolutely nuts about it recently and if I could’ve been, I would’ve been baking two pies a week at least over the last three weeks. Well, this weekend I’m shooting for one. I can’t take a pie-less existence anymore! So I’m going to ask husband to haul all my ingredients to the kitchen table so I can work sitting down. I really want to try to make a batch of mini Shoofly pies. I loved the first full-sized one I made, and I’ve been thinking about doing them up in a miniature for a little while now. I have four five-inch metal pie pans, so I’ll have to have husband dig those out of the bottom of the pantry. And you better believe I’m going to double the crumb topping on these babies. So stay tuned on my (hopefully) successful endeavor in whipping them up on the small scale.

So that’s it – that’s the master plan. Oh, that and not setting the alarm clock for the next two days. I really love that part.

Canning Roundup

I may not be canning anything quite yet (or even physically able to at the moment), but that doesn’t mean that others aren’t preserving summer’s bounty. There are plenty of great recipes, printables and projects happening right now, and I’ve rounded up my favorites to share with you.

Free Printable Red Canning Labels from Poppytalk.

How to Throw a Canning Party (with free printables) from Cottage Industrialist.

Small Batch Canning with an Asparagus Pot from Food in Jars.

Free Printable Gingham & Veggie Labels from A Sonoma Garden.

Free Printable Lemon, Lime and Orange Slice Labels from Wendolonia.

An Intro to Home Canning with Ashley English on Design Sponge.

Get Started Guide at Ball Fresh Preserving.

Free Printable Farm Fresh Labels from Lizzy Lane Farm.

Raw Packed Tomatoes with No Added Liquid from Ball Fresh Preserving (the new tomato method I’m going to try out this year).

Small Batch Strawberry Jam by the The Domestic Mama & The Village Cook.

Selected Recipes from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small Batch Preserving at Epicurious.

Small Batch Fig Jam at The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking.