You Grow Girl

PICKLED PERIL

by Genevieve Landreville

I am new to the art of putting up food.

I have to admit: It makes me nervous as hell to seal things away in jars, then eat them six months later. After reading Carol Shields’ novel Larry’s Party, in which a woman inadvertently kills her mother-in-law with badly preserved beans, I am extra-hesitant to crack into the jars I put up with the best of intentions last year. I felt pretty smug as I transformed the apples from down the street into apple jelly, and whipped up my own recipe for pickled cayenne peppers infused with lemongrass and garlic. Now I am almost too nervous to eat them.

Some of the problems I have encountered in my canning adventures revolve around the fact that much of the information available on the subject is sort of folk wisdom. While I respect and admire that, I also fear it in a way. But I guess if my ancestors didn’t die of jelly poisoning, then I have a fairly good chance of making it too.

One modern illusion is that canning your food is economical. This may be so, once you have all the equipment, and if you use a very consistent wood stove or campfire. I bought several boxes of jars (too much produce got me in way over my head, as usual), another box of lids, a giant pot (also handy for holding up my Christmas tree, by the way), sugar, emergency Certo and vinegar. If I calculated time as money (for the purpose of being extravagant), say, at $10 an hour, I spent easily $50 just washing the produce.

A major modern expense is the heat needed to boil your mixtures and jars for the required amount of time. Running my electric stove for that long costs quite a bit. When I did my canning last year, we were in the middle of an extended hot summer, and that extra heat was not needed in my house. I considered building a fire outside, but I worried about not keeping it consistently hot for long enough.

As you can tell, I am a worrywart. And the last thing I want is to keel over from some jelly on my morning toast. That would be a ridiculous obituary.

So this year, I think I will limit my canning to basil- and garlic-flavoured oils (but what if they go rancid?), some more small jars of jelly, and maybe some pickled peppers if I grow too many. I can always give them away as gifts....

Don’t fear all those dusty jars of food, though. Some of last year’s experiments were a resounding success, especially if you count my cheated apple jelly. Putting up food is a worthwhile project if you’re really into the homespun, providing-your-own-food-from-nature kind of thing, and you will get pleasure from the process of doing it yourself. It will make you respect your ancestors a bit more.

I grew cayenne peppers in the garden last year, and as usual, I had way too many for two people to eat. In fact, I had way too many for the whole of Mexico to eat. So here’s my solution:

Pick peppers when they’re shiny and red, wash them, and blanch them quickly with the little stems still attached. Then put them into jars and fill with enough vinegar to cover them. This will give you the right proportion of vinegar to pepper. Now, empty all the jars into a saucepan.

For each jar, add:

• One-eighth cup of sugar
• 3-4 big cloves sliced garlic
• 4-6 pieces of lemongrass (each about two inches long)
• 3 fresh Thai basil leaves

Simmer about 15 minutes. Separately, boil jars and lids for about 5 minutes each. Then distribute the vegetables into each jar and pour the remaining liquid over the top. Seal the jars with the lids (I followed the instructions on the box of jars) and then boil them for another 10 minutes or so. Voilà: maybe not a peck, but pickled peppers nonetheless. They’re great on pizza, and stay very spicy.

One Saturday I got it in my head to make crab apple jelly, so I wandered down the road with a big bucket toward where I had seen apple trees growing. "Aren’t crab apples red?" I asked myself, but picked the ripe yellow apples anyway. I brought them home and conscripted my boyfriend to help me clean them. I boiled the apples peel-on (for their ‘natural pectin’) in a big pot, watching the mixture turn a deep amber colour, and smelling the apple-scented steam. Mmmm. “All-natural apple jelly,” I thought. “I am so wicked in touch with nature.”

As it turns out, there were orchards on the site of our road years and years ago. These were not crab apples at all.

After more boiling, some frustrated canning and cooling, and a trip to the grocery store for more lids and a big ol' box of Certo (since the wild apples did not solidify as planned), I finally got it right. McIntosh or other store-bought apples could probably be substituted for the wild apples.

Here’s the recipe I used:

• Approx. 6 quarts apples
• ½ cup vinegar
• 1 four-inch cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp. whole cloves
• 5 cups sugar

Cut blossom and stem ends off the crab apples and put in a big pot. Fill with enough water to cover the apples.

Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until apples are mushy.

Strain overnight in a cheesecloth (or through a strainer over the bucket).

The next day, put a saucer in the freezer.

Then boil 5¼ cups of the strained apple juice, along with all the vinegar, cinnamon and cloves, in a large pot for three minutes, stirring frequently. Remove the spices. Stir in the 5 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil and let boil for 25 minutes. Allow it to cool, then drizzle a bit of liquid onto the frozen saucer. If it hardens instantly, it is ready for canning. If not, you may need to re-boil the liquid and/or add Certo.

Related Links & Resources

HERBAL VINEGARS Making yourself some tasty and healthy herbal vinegars is as easy as stepping out into your own backyard.

WILD APPLE TASTE-OFF Beate hits the road with a cup of coffee in the search of the best tasting wild apples. They make good apple sauce and they don't cost a dime.

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