Preserving the Harvest

I've been dabbling in canning and preserving for over 15 years now. I fondly recall playing darts with my cousins in our grandma's basement in Waunakee, carefully avoiding the shelves of mysterious cans with who-knows-what preserved inside. I recall there being many cans of peaches, which perhaps weren't a favorite since there seemed to be so many left on the shelf. I'm not sure where, in southern Wisconsin, grandma got the peaches that she canned. Perhaps she purchased the boxes of juicy ones from Colorado that arrived in Midwestern grocery stores each summer. Regardless, grandma was a canner and I am too. She out of necessity and me out of enjoyment and food snobbery. (I have not been able to eat store-bought pasta sauce since discovering the recipe I can each year.)

Canning in Minnesota provided loads of opportunities, and in the Midwest, if you want to eat locally all year round, it plays an important role in the process. I also froze a lot of stuff, but we left the deep freeze with Sean's brother, so it's not much of an option these days. Plus things grow here year-round so eating locally is really quite easy. One could get lazy about canning, but luckily I enjoy it too much to give it up.

A selection of this year's canned delicacies.

This year I have canned the following:
- Pasta sauce (with Early Girl tomatoes from a fabulous bearded and pony-tailed farmer at the Merced Farmer's Market)
- Tomato jam (also with Early Girls)
- Lemon marmalade (with lemons from our friends Joe and Heather's lemon tree)
- Lemon curd (also with J&H's lemons)
- Strawberry, ginger, black pepper jam (with strawberries from Yang's Farm Stand and ginger from the Modesto Farmer's Market
- Fig and balsamic jam (with mission figs from the Merced Farmer's Market and balsamic vinegar from my guy who sells Sciabica's olive oils and vinegars at the Modesto Farmer's Market)
- Plum jam (with plums from our backyard tree)
- Mulberry, strawberry, blueberry jam (with mulberries from our backyard tree - identified and tasted by my brother-in-law, Aaron and strawberries and blueberries from Yang's Farm Stand)

I use many sources for recipes, but am particularly fond of my first canning book, which I received from my mom as a gift. That book, Canning and Preserving, by Linda Ferrari, started it all. This year, due to all the jam making, I relied heavily on The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, by Rachel Saunders. She has delicious and creative ideas and I look forward to further exploration of her giant citrus section this winter as our Meyer lemon tree looks to be producing a good crop.

I'll end this post with the tomato jam recipe I love. It's soooo much better than ketchup on burgers!

Spicy Tomato Jam (FoodNetwork.com)

4 large lemons

5 1/2 pounds tomatoes, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 cups light muscovado sugar or packed light brown sugar

4 teaspoons ground cumin

Kosher salt

2 scant teaspoons red pepper flakes

4 small cinnamon sticks

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

8 1/8-inch-thick slices peeled ginger

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lemons in wide strips, leaving the bitter white pith behind. Squeeze the lemon juice through a strainer into a large, wide saucepan. Add the lemon zest, tomatoes, sugar, cumin, 4 teaspoons salt, the red pepper flakes, cinnamon sticks, cloves and ginger. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are juicy and the sugar dissolves, 15 to 20 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are dark and syrupy and a candy or deep-fry thermometer registers 220 degrees F, 40 to 50 minutes (the timing may vary depending on the juiciness of the tomatoes). Reduce the heat if the mixture starts to scorch. Discard the cinnamon sticks. Meanwhile, sterilize four 8-ounce canning jars and lids. Fill the jars with the tomato mixture, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, then seal and process.