Beauty, right?
Anyways, I don't know if I mentioned yesterday, but part of what we got in the last two baskets was beets. Not a lot, but some. So I thought, mmmm I love pickled beats AND my godmother makes the best ever! So I planned on making pickled beets today. When I finally got ahold of my aunt's recipe (by way of my dad), it called for 10 lbs of beets. I had roughly 2 lbs. So off we went to the Parkdale market to pick up some beets and to Herb and Spice for the cinnamon sticks required as well as some whole, all spice.
Did I mention I get carried away? I'm in the middle of blueberry jelly disaster, I am running around trying to get the ingredients for pickled beets (on labour day no less), and what do I behold???
When we got home (after desperately trying unsuccessfully to find cheesecloth on this lovely labour day), Hubby suggested that I do both the sweet (blueberry and concord grapes jellies) dishes first, then move on to the beets. As it turns out, they were wise words. I ran around getting all the ingredients for the beets, but did not have enough sugar for all three canning projects.
The beets are currently on hold till next weekend.
So I pureed, boiled, strained (twice!), boiled (with sugar), cooled while skimming and jarred the second batch of jelly for the day. Sigh.
Now as a point of interest, Certo makes both powdered and liquid pectin. The recipes for the powdered pectin included a concord grape jelly. Those for the liquid one did not. I made followed the powder recipe using the liquid pectin. Not sure how "jelly" it will be... Will update later. But I did manage a very large amount of possible jelly.
Now I have fifty bazillion pots of jelly!!! Yea, I love jelly!!! Can you tell which is which?
Anywho, I have to get my act together and do the beets now. God this takes a lot of time.
I feel a little fraudulent. If you know me even remotely, you know that I am not suzy homemaker. I have this great credo: "There are people for that". But here I am making all this stuff. I don't know how long it will last, but I seem to be inspired right now. Someone suggested that I make ratatouille to get rid of my squash. I think I will totally be making a batch when I get more zucchini! Someone else said I should make squash soup. It's actually the only plan I have had for the squash since I received it. However, if I keep getting industrial quantities of squash... there is only so much soup one girl can stomach.
Results:
- 2 125 ml jars of blueberry jelly
- 8 250 ml jars of blueberry jelly
- 4 125 ml jars of possible concord grape jelly
- 9 250 ml jars of possible concord grape jelly
Used up:
- ahem... nothing
Lessons learned:
- This is an expensive endeavour (I keep having to go buy more ingredients and have made tons of extra stuff - specifically all the jam/jelly)
- Always double strain your jelly (I barely had any skimming to do!)
- Powdered and liquid pectin are not the same thing... I think
- All this work = A LOT of dishes!!!
- Best laid plans of mice and men... poor, sad, discarded beets
P.S. I had some of the salsa today... wow, I think it is the best salsa ever! I am including the recipe:
Peppy Salsa
182 people added this to their Recipe Box
Put up a whole season's supply of this favourite salsa – a much-requested recipe every season.
This recipe makes 11 cup (250 mL) servings
| Nutritional Info | |
|---|---|
| per 1 tbsp 15 mL : about | - |
| cal | 6 |
| pro | trace |
| total fat | 0 g |
| sat. fat | 0 g |
| carb | 1 g |
| fibre | trace |
| chol | 0 mg |
| sodium | 41 mg |
| % RDI: | - |
| iron | 1% |
| vit A | 2% |
| vit C | 17% |
| folate | 1% |
Ingredients
- 8 oz (227 g) jalapeno peppers
8 cups (2 L) coarsely chopped, peeled tomatoes
3 cups (750 mL) chopped seeded, Anaheim, Cubanelle peppers, or sweet banana peppers
2 cups (500 mL) chopped onions
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup (250 mL) chopped sweet redpeppers
1 cup (250 mL) chopped yellow peppers
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (5-1/2 oz/156 mL) tomato paste
2 tbsp (25 mL) granulated sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) salt
2 tsp (10 mL) paprika
1 tsp (5 mL) dried oregano
1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped fresh coriander
Preparation:
Wearing rubber gloves, seed, core and finely chop jalape?eppers to make 1 cup (250 mL).
In large heavy nonaluminum pot, combine jalapen?tomatoes, Cubanelle peppers, onions, vinegar, red and yellow peppers, garlic, tomato paste, sugar, salt, paprika and oregano; bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring often, until thickened enough that 1 tbsp (15 mL) dropped onto plate flows slowly in 1 stream when plate is tilted, about 1 hour.
Add coriander; simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Using funnel and ladle, fill hot 2-cup (500 mL) canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch (1 cm) headspace. Cover with prepared lids. Screw on bands until resistance is met; increase to fingertip tight.
Boil jars in boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Transfer jars to rack; let cool for 24 hours. Check that lids curve downward. Refrigerate any that do not and use within 3 weeks. Refrigerate after opening.
In large heavy nonaluminum pot, combine jalapen?tomatoes, Cubanelle peppers, onions, vinegar, red and yellow peppers, garlic, tomato paste, sugar, salt, paprika and oregano; bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring often, until thickened enough that 1 tbsp (15 mL) dropped onto plate flows slowly in 1 stream when plate is tilted, about 1 hour.
Add coriander; simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Using funnel and ladle, fill hot 2-cup (500 mL) canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch (1 cm) headspace. Cover with prepared lids. Screw on bands until resistance is met; increase to fingertip tight.
Boil jars in boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Transfer jars to rack; let cool for 24 hours. Check that lids curve downward. Refrigerate any that do not and use within 3 weeks. Refrigerate after opening.
No comments:
Post a Comment