Preserving Know-how

Recently I was treated to a stroll through my friend’s magnificent rose garden. She mentioned that her neighbor came over to harvest petals for jelly. I hadn’t really thought about the culinary uses of roses. I went home and took another look at my wild and domesticated rose bushes. I was struck by the fact that nature provides so much for us to eat and enjoy if we open our eyes to possibilities. As always, I went on a quest to learn more about roses and their uses in in cooking and preserving.

I recalled old fashioned rose water grandmothers spritzed into the air to freshen a room or on themselves as a rose perfume. I remembered candied rose petals used to decorate special cakes. But they are also used chopped in a floral butter, as a tea (tisane), infused in sugar for baking or to flavour honey. They are used in Middle Eastern dishes most notably in Turkish Delight! Rose petals and hips are typically thought of in sweet recipes, like jellies, puddings, panna cotta, syrups and so on, but they also play a role in savoury ones. For example, a tagine spice blend called ras el hanout combines rose petals with savoury spices like cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, and coriander. Rose petal water is sometimes added to Hyderbabadi Biriyani (Great Chefs of Britain). Sweet or savoury, the beautiful rose offers up some mighty delicious possibilities.

For the preserver, petals (or hips) can be dehydrated for teas or to flavour sugar, crystalized for decoration, infused for waters or syrups or transformed in a stunningly lovely jelly. Use fragrant bright coloured rose petals (wild or domesticated), picked in mid-morning, rinsed, and lightly dried with a tea (paper) towel. From the University of Alaska, here is the recipe for Jelly.

The rose petal jelly makes a wonderful gift. It is so beautiful and a reminder of warm, lush summer days. Try it on scones or biscuits, or with goat cheese.

It is indeed a rosy summer to behold!

Preservingwithmartha@gmail.com

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Rose Petal Jelly

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Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups rose petal juice
• 2 TBSP lemon juice (bottled)
• 3.5 cups sugar
• 3 oz liquid pectin (one pouch)

Instructions

1

First extract rose juice: Pack cleaned petals tightly into a cup measuring 1.5 cups. Place in a saucepan and add 2 ¼ cups boiling water. Turn off heat, cover and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth lined sieve or jelly bag.

2

Measure 1 ¾ cups rose petal juice (freeze extra). Place the juice into a large saucepan and watch what happens when you add lemon juice! The extracted juice will be pale in colour but when the lemon juice is added, BAM!, the colour changes to a deep rosy hue. It’s dramatic and worth doing even once to see this phenomenon.

3

Add sugar and bring to a full rolling boil. Add in the pectin and bring back to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Skim.

4

Ladle into 3-4 clean, hot Mason jars leaving a ¼ inch headspace. Clean jar rims and attach lids and rings to finger-tip tight. Process in a water-bath or steam canner for 10 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before removing jars.

5

The rose petal jelly makes a wonderful gift. It is so beautiful and a reminder of warm, lush summer days. Try it on scones or biscuits, or with goat cheese.

Peaches have an incredible history here in Ontario. According to “tenderfruit.com”, in 1797 peaches were harvested at the mouth of the Niagara. By the mid 1780s, Peter Secord, brother of Laura Secord, was the first Loyalist farmer to accept a grant to grow peaches. Although peaches originated in China and were introduced to Europe 2000 years ago, our history is relatively recent. Today, 81% of peaches are sourced from Niagara and 18% from the Okanagan. This year has been a bang-up year for peaches. And who doesn’t love peaches in everything from fresh salads, baked pies or crisps and the options for preserving are endless!

I confess that I am not as adventurous with peaches as I should be. But I do have some peach favorites. I also have to make and freeze my husband’s favorite peach pie!

In the last two weeks, I’ve made a pure and simple Niagara Peach jam (a few batches) (Canadian Living), a fiery peach salsa and peach-ale mustard (Ball). I have also made peach jam from Test Kitchens of America which uses grated Granny Smith apple as the pectin booster. Reading that recipe changed my approach to peaches entirely!

In the past I would go through the process of blanching and peeling the peaches. It’s a labour-intensive process but I thought it was necessary to create a fine jam or condiment. Well, no longer! It is not necessary to peel peaches for jams or the mustard I made. Anything that has a longer cooking time will allow washed with their skins to dissolve into a wonderfully fine texture that has the benefit of enhanced colour from the skins. The moral of the story is, don’t bother blanching and peeling the peaches. If you have a short cooking time, you can always use your immersion blender to quickly blend the peaches, skins into a smooth and silky texture. But most of the time, this won’t be necessary. It’s amazing how well the skins blend into the flesh, unlike tomatoes.

Compliments of both Canadian Living and Test Kitchens of America, here is the pure and simple Niagara Peach Jam recipe.

This is seriously simple and delicious jam. Enjoying the summer and the bounty from Niagara.

For more about peaches and other preserving topics, see my website: www.thevalleypreservery.ca

preservingwithmartha@gmail.com

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Niagara Peach Jam

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Ingredients

• 6 cups peaches washed and thinly sliced. Then mash to measure 4 cups.
• 1 package light pectin (like Certo or Bernardin)
• 2 TBSP bottled lemon juice
• 3.5 cups sugar

Instructions

1

Prepare peaches and measure 4 cups crushed.

2

Mix peaches with pectin and lemon juice in a large Dutch oven pot. Stir to combine.

3

Bring mixture to a boil stirring often.

4

Once boiling, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Bring back to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Turn off heat, skim if necessary.

5

Ladle into 250 jars that have been warmed. Leave a ¼ inch headspace. Clean rims and screw on lids and rings to “finger-tip tight”. Process in a boiling water bath or atmospheric steam canner for 10 minutes. Let rest with the lip off the canner for 5 minutes. Remove the jars and let rest.

It is the time of year when we visit markets and farm-gates in search of local produce and products. I was prompted to write this piece after recently visiting a farm-gate where stewed rhubarb and jam were being sold in Cheese Whiz jars. As a food preserver or a consumer, there are a few things you should keep in mind as a savvy consumer!

In the US, there is an extensive infrastructure to support food preservation research and evidence-based practice. The research is aggregated by the National Centre for Home Food Preservation located at the University of Georgia. The science generated there informs the regulations of the USDA. Equally important is the commitment to disseminate the knowledge throughout the States. This is done though the university cooperative extension programs which offer a Master Food Preserver course. Eighteen universities across the US offer these programs across their respective States. These universities are big-time like UCLA, Cornell, Perdue, the University of Washington etc. The objective is to help people develop knowledge and skills to safely preserve food at home. In some States, like New York and Vermont, a person must have completed the Master Food Preserver program to sell products in a store, market, or farm-gate.

The contrast with Canada is remarkable. We have not one Master Food Preserver program or anything vaguely resembling one. We have no infrastructure to support food preservation at home. We have no regulations about preserved food sales at markets or farm-gates other than no preserved meats or dairy. While I have had to become Public Health approved to sell at a store, and I must have inspections, keep detailed records, comply with labelling requirements and so on, most people simply sell at markets or farm-gates without regulations. In fact, some religious and fraternal organizations are completely exempt from Public Health regulations.

My colleague and I, along with other interested parties, are making an effort to introduce a Master Food Preserver program in Canada. We know there is incredible interest in food preservation and a growing number of people who want to preserve; to know what is in their food, to have a lighter footprint on the planet and to be less dependent on commercial food production. We will continue the effort not only to help people learn, but also to allow consumers to have greater confidence in what is being sold at our markets and farm-gates.

In the meantime, here are some tips for making you a savvy consumer of preserved goods:

Ask vendors how they process their products. All jams, jellies, relishes, pickles, salsas etc must be heat processed using a water bath or atmospheric steam canning process.

Check jars: Mason jars with lids and rings are the only recommended jars for home food preservation. Never buy anything that is in a previously used commercial jar!

Check labels for contents and date of production or best before dates.

Ask about recipes: The vendor should be able to give you a source especially one that is current and reputable (Bernardin, National Centre for Home Food Preservation, Canadian Living). If you hear a response like “we’ve done this for years”, take a pass.

Storing: If you buy something in a Mason jar, when you get home, remove the ring on the jar if you are putting it in your pantry for later use. If anything goes wrong with the contents, the lid will pop. If the ring is off, it will be clearly evident and will indicate the jar should be thrown out.

Enjoy the markets and farm-gates but be a knowledgeable consumer when it comes to home preserved foods. And, please help us advocate for the creation of a Master Food Preserver program in Canada!!!

preservingwithmartha@gmail.com

Ramps (wild leeks) and fiddleheads are just two of the great foraged foods to pickle in spring. Whether you use a quick pickle method or pickling for long-tern storage, here are a few tips for wild pickling.

Wild Leeks

The beautiful wild leeks lie at the bottom of the deciduous forests. Both the leaves and bulbs are edible. They are wonderful to use in cooking as a sauté, in a soup, as a pesto or pickled. As wild leeks are being over-harvested in many areas, my policy is to take a minimalist approach – pick sparingly and never take more than a 1/6^th of a clump. For pickling, because I generally have a small amount, I will do a quick pickle using only the bulbs. I use the greens to make and freeze a wild leek pesto.

Quick Pickled Wild Leeks (Test Kitchens of America)

Clean and trim wild leeks saving leaves for another purpose. Prepare a brine of 1.5 cups vinegar (any kind as long as it’s 5%), 1.5 cups water, 3 TBLS sugar, 2.5 tsp pickling salt and herbs or aromatics of your choice. Mix and bring to a boil. Put leeks tightly into clean, hot jars. Ladle brine over top. Leave a ¼ inch headspace. Clean rims and let jars cool on the counter. Once cool, put lids and rings on, label and refrigerate. Leeks will last, refrigerated, for 3 to 4 weeks. PS: If you have excess brine, you can pickle other vegetables!

Fiddleheads

While fiddleheads can be foraged, they are readily available in markets and grocery stores at this time of year. If you forage, check with a reputable foraging site to properly identify the Ostrich fern which is the only edible variety of ferns. Many ferns are toxic so identifying the right ones is critical. Fiddleheads are a bit “fiddley” when it comes to preparation, but the process is important to make them safe for consumption. They should be soaked in water, scrubbed to remove the papery film, and rinsed several times. They should be steamed for 10-12 minutes or boiled for 15minutes. Now they are ready for cooking or pickling.

preservingwithmartha@gmail.com: 

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Dilly Fiddleheads (University of Maine Extension)

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Ingredients

• 3 lbs raw, trimmed and cleaned fiddleheads
• 8 cups cider or white vinegar (5%)
• ½ cup pickling salt
• 1 tsp dill seed per jar
• 1 clove peeled garlic per jar
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes per jar (optional)

Instructions

1

Clean and prepare fiddleheads as described. Make the brine: Add vinegar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pack fiddleheads in clean, hot jars. Ladle in the brine to ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace again. Clean rims and place lids and rings on to finger-tip tight. Process in a water-bath or atmospheric steam canner for 15 minutes adjusting for altitude. When complete, let rest for 5 minutes before removing from canner.