the elves are in high gear now....

taking stock of the larder

here's what I get out of my canning, minus the one jar of tomato sauce I knocked off the pyramid.

can I can?

My hubris was up after my initial success with the tomato sauce and grapefruit marmalade. I ordered 40 lbs of Early Girl tomatoes from a farmer with an overrun, joyfully picked them up on Wednesday from her parking spot on Folsom Street. I had wanted to get them the next week knowing how the busy first week of school might go and the long weekend with little plans scattered on the schedule but felt confident I could do it, overly so, without really coming up with a plan of action. Long story short, 3 hours of pealing 1/2 the tomatoes on Friday a.m., tried a combo of 3 quarts and 3 pints only to have the pints leak (should have re-canned but I went to to make more mistakes,) pealed more tomatoes and foolishly left them on the counter, they soured (mostly the top), discarded those, made sauce out the rest, tasted funny, kept adding sugar, yikes now have too much sweat/soured tomato sauce. Alas, I was shaken on Saturday but had to save face on Sunday by making 3 jars of yummy elderberry jam, 2 jars pickled spiced carrots, three jars of pickled peperoncini peppers and roasting and saving 10 red peppers. Sorry only have photos from the process on Friday, I was not in the mood to capture the chaos of Saturday. I must have some pride about me.

grapefruit marmalade

Could not wait to try my hand at the grapefruit marmalade from my canning class. I peeled, julienned the peel, sectioned, boiled all the incredients including the membranes/seeds to make pectin and processed the ingredients in a hot water bath. I was skeptical that the natural pectin would work but alas the marmalade began to thicken as it cooled and continued to do as for the next day on the counter. I knew I had a decent product when the empty pan went missing and found Eva scraping the leftovers with a spoon out in the hallway. Leon, Naomi, Enula and Marcel stopped by, all the children took turns licking the pan - thumbs up.

tomatoe sauce

I was inspired by my canning class last week which meant work for Art this week. I took the children for the day to sew for Eva's class, leaving Art with 14 lbs of Early Girl tomatoes I purchased from the farmer's market this morning. Before we left, Eli and Eva helped Art blanch the tomatoes and Eli took this photo from his point of view. There is not as much sauce as I thought there would be but boy oh boy am I looking forward to going to the shelf and grabbing fresh sauce in the winter. I'll can Monday afternoon.

can can

I'm feeling a bit sheepish how much Jan-time I've had this week. Yesterday was another Jan day, Eva went to a birthday party, Eli and Art to the Academy of Science and I to a canning class as part of their Self-Sufficient Kitchen courses offered this summer at the Studio for Urban Projects. Nicole Lobue was an energetic ambitious teacher with a background as an accomplished chef/caterer/herbalist that made the process easy. Her recipes chosen were so creative. There were approx. 20 of us, 4 burners, pots o'plenty and the smells to entice anyone in to the space from the street. Nicole picked up the freshest, best ingredients in town that morning at the Ferry Building farmers market. The list of projects, some completed and some still on the burner, literally, included poached/pickled purple cauliflower/red onion/herbs/vinegar
(say that one three times quickly), preserved blackberries in red wine syrup infused with rose-geranium, preserved strawberries in sherry, blackberry jam, whole tomatoes, grapefruit/sweet lime marmalade, nectarine/caramelized onion/smoked ancho chile chutney. Our hand were working, pot boiling, jars sterilizing and conversation flowing. I left loving this city, ready to can.