Whirlwind Week

Good Morning Blogworld,

It's been a terrific week and a busy one, as well. I had the opportunity to talk with both Lorie Hutson, staff writer for The Spokesman Review in Spokane, Washington, and Debbie Arrington, of the Sacramento Bee, in Sacramento, California.

Lorie was working on an article for the food section of the paper about preserving food for folks with specific dietary needs. Our discussion centered on reduced-sugar jams and jellies and preserves made with sugar substitutes. The folks at Team Equal have been especially helpful in this regard. So, if you or someone in your family is diabetic, this is a great way to still indulge your sweet tooth and have some strawberry jam or other fruit spread on your morning English muffin or toast. Go to www.equal.com for some specific recipes.

The other topic we discussed was salt. You don't need to add salt when you're canning vegetables. It's not a preserving agent, but is there strictly for flavor. So, feel free to omit!

Debbie and I got into tomatoes! My favorites for canning are San Marzano and Roma. These are the meatier types and hold up well under processing. Their thicker cell walls give you a nice, firm product.

For your liquid, use tomato juice, instead of boiling water to fill the jars. This is where other varieties, such as Early Girl, Big Boy, and their juicy cousins come in handy. There's nothing in the rule book that says you can't mix and match varieties in the same batch.

Wednesday's topic is mixed veggies!

Winter Preserving

Don’t let the preserving kettle sit idle while you wait for spring! This is the time of year I get serious about making jelly and marmalade. You can too. Remember the fruit juices you froze last summer? It’s time to turn them into jellies.

Check your supplies.You’ll need sugar, lemon juice, and pectin. You’ll also need jelly jars, rings, and lids. Then rummage in the freezer until you find those containers of fruit juices you consigned to the depths last summer and place them in the fridge to thaw.

If you’ve been putting off making jelly because you think it’s an involved, time-consuming process, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly the process goes. The longest part of anything is the “getting around to it.” So get your ingredients and equipment together today and make some jelly tomorrow.

Ever tried making marmalade? It’s one of the prettiest fruit spreads there is. Citrus is in season now and you can put up some marmalades that will give you the golden glow of summer at the breakfast table. These fruit spreads are great on morning toast and muffins and especially great for gifts!

Here’s a simple recipe from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Preserving Food (coming from Alpha Books on July 7 and available for preorder now at http://www.amazon.com/). This marmalade uses oranges and lemons.

Orange Marmalade

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes plus time to reach the gel stage
Makes about 4 half-pints

Ingredients:

4 oranges
1 lemon
Water
Sugar

Method:

Wash fruit, cut in half, remove seeds and stem end. Slice the oranges and lemon thinly. Measure. Add 1 ½ cups water to each cup of fruit. Let stand 8 hours or overnight.

In the morning, cook mixture over until fruit is tender – about 30 minutes. Remove from heat.

Measure cooked fruit and liquid. Add 1 cup sugar to each cup of fruit and liquid. Return fruit, liquid, and sugar to cooking pot. Cook over high heat until mixture sheets from a metal spoon. You can also use a jelly thermometer to be sure the mixture has reached the gel stage.

Remove from heat, skim any foam from marmalade, ladle into clean, hot jars, wipe rims, seal, and process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes to ensure the seal.