Pickling Season

In a Pickle

Pickling season is here and the house will soon be filled with the heady mix of vinegar, sugar, and spices. Pickling is the term used for preserving a food with acid and salt. Sometimes pickles are produced by letting them ferment in a salt water solution. During this fermentation period, lactic acid is produced. Sauerkraut and some dill and sweet pickles are produced by this method. A more common method of making pickles at home is the quick-pack method, where vinegar/water/salt brine is added to cucumbers or other vegetables or fruits.

Quick-process pickles can be cured in a salt solution for several hours or directly combined with boiling hot vinegar, spices, and seasonings. They are easy to prepare and have a tart flavor. Acetic acid in vinegar lowers the pH of pickled vegetables below 4.0 and acts as a preservative. The acidity of vinegar, therefore, must be five percent to ensure making a safe and standardized pickle recipe. Do not vary the amount of vinegar called for in the recipe.

Quick Tips

Fruits and vegetables should be fresh, tender, crisp, and free of blemishes.

1. Use cucumbers that are a recommended pickling variety. Do not expect good quality pickles if immature or “slicing” variety pickles are used.
2. Use unwaxed cucumbers. The pickling liquid cannot penetrate waxed cukes.
3. Prepare fruits and veggies within 24 hours of picking.
4. Wash fruits and veggies thoroughly in cold water. Remove all blossoms from cucumbers, as the blossoms may be a source of enzymes responsible for soft pickles.
5. Do not use any produce that shows even the slightest evidence of mold.
6. Either white granulated sugar or brown sugar may be used. Brown sugar will add color and flavor to the pickles.
7. Pure granulated salt, sold as “pickling” or “canning” salt should be used. Kosher salt may also be used. These salts do not contain anti-caking agents. Iodized salt contains iodine and anti-caking materials that may interfere with fermentation and make the brine cloudy.
8. Use cider or white vinegar of 5 percent acidity.

Watermelon Pickles
These are yummy and go well as a side dish. Give them a try.

8 cups prepared watermelon rind
one-half cup pickling salt
4 cups cold water
4 teaspoons whole cloves
4 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water

Choose thick rind. Trim from it all dark skin and remains of pink; cut in one inch cubes. Dissolve salt in cold water, pour over rind cubes to cover (add more water if needed); let stand 5 to 6 hours. Drain, rinse well. Cover with fresh water and cook until barely tender-no more than 10 minutes (err on the side of crispness); drain. Combine sugar, vinegar, and water, add cloves tied in a cloth bag, and bring to boiling; reduce hear and simmer 5 minutes. Pour over rind cubes, let stand overnight. In the morning, bring all to boiling and cook until rind is translucent but not mushy-about 10 minutes. Remove spice bag, pack cubes in hot sterilized pint jars; add boiling syrup, leaving one half inch headroom; adjust lids and process in a boiling water bath for five minutes to ensure seal. Remove jars. Makes about 4 pints.
(Recipe taken from Ruth Hertzberg’s 1973 edition of Putting Food By- an oldie but goodie.)

Ranch Chores

It's been a very hectic couple of weeks, but now it's time to come up for air. The cattle have all trucked off north to warmer grazing, and it was a very busy few days getting all the cows and calves sorted out and loaded up. We had two newborn calves, of course, that decided to be born the day before shipping so they had to be sent special delivery. The driver put all the babies in the front compartment and the moms and Brutus the Bull in the other compartments, so the little ones wouldn't get stepped on during the short drive north.

Newborn anythings are cute, with the possible exception of fledgling turkey vultures, although I must admit not having seen any of these recently. We do have turkeys, about 40 of them, and yesterday morning they were all roosting on the top rail of the south pasture fence. Rather an intimidating sight. Our neighbor used to feed them, but I'm not sure he does any longer. Tough pickings for them in the winter.

Then the rains came and that means the potatoes, carrots, beets, and turnips are still in the ground, although now they're in mud, which doesn't dig well. Hopefully things will dry out so we can dig before the mud freezes and snow falls.

With the early hard frost we lost most of the foliage, so up until now it's been a dull fall. The Tamaracks are beginning to turn, however, so there's color in the forest finally, even if it is a rather anemic shade of yellow. Some years it's spectacular and some years it's a bust. This year ranked about a 2 on the bust-o-meter.

Working on some low cholesterol recipes right now and hope to get them up before too long. Looking at some pumpkins with an eye towards souffle, pie, and pudding.

Autumn on the Ranch

Autumn is my favorite time of year, and it's just about as busy as spring and summer on the ranch. We've had out first two snowstorms and there's a crest of white on the mountaintops, reminding me that I'd better hurry up and get the outside chores done before the snowline moves south.

In two weeks I'll be shipping four kids to the sale. For those of you unfamiliar with this blog, I'm talking about my South African Boer Goat kids. Then I'll be able to get their pen cleaned out and readied for winter. The breeder does have already had their pen cleaned out, thanks to husband and the tractor. They're on grain and hay now, having completed their organic weed management jobs in various spots around the ranch.

Also in two weeks, Baxter Buck comes for an extended date with the girls. This is the first year I haven't had my own buck, since Billy has gone on to Goat Heaven, but my fellow goat herder a few miles north is willing to share the wealth.

That's about it for today. Going to do some writing and get ready to meet my 50% deadline for the next Idiot's Guide.

Navajo Tacos

It was well over thirty years ago that I attended my first Pow Wow in California. It was a joyous event with dancing and chanting and booths selling good food. That's where I was introduced to Navajo Tacos. The fillings were familiar - the standard fare for tacos, but it was the vehicle upon which these fillings were piled that was a new taste treat.

There was a small recipe booklet for sale there. Its mimeographed typed pages were stapled to a brown construction paper cover with a hand drawn design and hand-lettered words: "Native American Cookery" was the title. Inside the cover: "These Indian Recipes were donated by members of the Native American Community of East Contra Costa County California. Some of them are traditional recipes that have been handed down through generations, some have been up-dated to suit our modern facilities for preparing foods."

I admit I haven't tried the recipe for Roasted Squirrel or Jack Rabbit, but several others have become family favorites and I'll share some of these with you from time to time. Today, however, it's time for tacos.

Navajo Fried Bread - Standard Recipe

4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Enough milk or water to make of a biscuit dough consistency.

Sift together dry ingredients, add milk (or water) turn out on floured board and knead well as you would yeast bread. Take a piece of dough about the size of an egg and roll with rolling pin. It will be slightly thicker than pie crust. Fry in hot fat until golden brown. Serve hot.

Helpful Hints from the Practical Preserver

1. Use canola oil for frying to eliminate trans fats.
2. Keep the rolling pin floured to prevent dough sticking to it.
3. Use tongs to turn the fry bread while it's frying.
4. Drain fry bread on paper towels to absorb extra oil.

Navajo Taco

Place a large scoop of refried beans and some browned ground beef on top of a piece of Navajo Fried Bread. Now place some shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, onions and grated cheese on top. Makes a very hearty meal.

Helpful Hints from the Practical Preserver

1. Add diced chilies.
2. Add shredded cheddar cheese.
3. Add sliced black olives.
4. Dump on some sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.
5. Sprinkle with green and/or red taco sauce.
6. Top with fresh chopped cilantro.

You could probably create the tallest taco in the world, if you kept on going.

Speaking of Chilies

Today's blog on chili peppers will probably have you craving some Tex-Mex food for supper. I accept full responsibility. In fact, on Friday I'll give you my favorite recipe for frybread for Navajo Tacos.

The chili pepper probably originated in the New World, and there is evidence that it was cultivated as far back as 6,000 years ago in Ecuador. Regardless of the origin, it spread rapidly throughout South and Central America, and whether humans harvested the seeds for sowing or birds did the deed, chilies were here to stay.

Birds are actually immune to the heat of hot chilies, and the seeds pass through their digestive system unharmed, I'm told. In fact, it's only mammals who experience the heat, and that's why you can lace your bird feeder with hot pepper seeds and discourage squirrels without bothering your feathered friends. But I digress.

Some Like It Hot

Peppers are members of the nightshade family of plants. This extended family includes tomatoes as well as potatoes, along with several other familiar greenies. So, you ask. "What makes a pepper hot?"

The answer is capsaicin - or to be precise, a group of chemicals called capsaicinoids. You know that some peppers are mild and sweet (Bells) and others have a mild bite (Anaheims). The heat of peppers has been measured on a scale developed back in 1912 by a man named Scoville. Peppers are ranked by Scoville Units.

Bell peppers rank 0 on the Scoville scale, while a pepper called "Naga Jolokia" has the dubious distinction of being the world's hottest pepper, with a Scoville ranking of over 1,000,000 Scoville Heat Units.

Antidotes

If your mouth is on fire, DO NOT drink water. Water just sloshes the capsaicin around your mouth. Eat a slice of bread, drink some milk, drink tomato juice, or eat a lemon. Yes. Lemon. Lemons are acid, while capsaicin is alkaline. They cancel each other out.

A Last Word on Seeds

The seeds aren't the hottest part of the pepper. That honor is reserved for the whitish membranes inside the pepper and since the seeds are closest to that membrane, they reap the benefits.

More on Friday, along with some spiffy recipes.

Home Again

The last line from The Wizard of Oz keeps circulating in my tired brain - "There's no place like home." I've spent the last two and a half weeks helping a friend and it involved traveling to Tucson, where the monsoons have been disappointing and the temperatures have been hot. During this time I was blogless and Twitterless, and after the initial unsettled feelings about this, adjusted fairly well.

Social media is fun, but it can be addictive (as we all know) and it can become something of the Sword of Damocles, hanging over one's head. Duty and Obligation and a sense of letting people down, when you don't keep up the pace.

While in Tucson, we saw the film Julie and Julia. It was wonderful, and especially wonderful if you're a foodie. Julie blogs every day for a year, while she cooks her way through Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

I'll catch up this week and post more than you'd ever want to know about chili peppers, but for today, I'm going to hug my husband, pat the dog, do the laundry, and be grateful for all that I have because life is precious and brief and sometimes you need to go away for a few weeks to understand that. It's probably the reason for retreats.

It's good to be home. East or west, home is best.

On the Road Again

Traveling this past week has brought me to a friend's home in Tucson. Tucson has three temperatures: hot, really hot, and so hot you can't live outside for more than half a minute. The natives or the naturalized Tucsonians tell me that "It's a dry heat" - as though somehow that makes it different from turning on the oven to broil. That's a dry heat too.

Plants here have adapted to their environment by storing water. I have a new respect for plants. If you can't migrate, you've got to make the best of things. Adapt or die, I believe is the Darwinian turn of phrase for this. Anyhow, small lizards scurry about in the mornings and the evenings, cactus wrens sing joyfully - or else they're calling for rescue - and billowing clouds form in the late afternoons.

These clouds bring the monsoon rains, and these are some spectacular rains. Torrents of rain plummet from the clouds, pelting the ground with big, fat drops. Pancake rain, someone called it. I went outside to cool off and was thoroughly drenched in one nano-second. It was worth it. Once the rain stopped, the heat resumed and I evaporated dry within minutes.

All this brings me to the topic of chili peppers, and that's the topic for the next post. When even the peppers give off heat waves, you know nature is simmering.

More next time.