Homemade ketchup

One of the reasons why I grew so many tomatoes this year was because I wanted to make ketchup from scratch.  My husband still raves about the ketchup that his grandma made when he was a kid. I've never had anything but the bottled stuff, but I was more than willing to give it a try.

I found an easy, small-batch recipe in the Canning special interest publication that Better Homes and Gardens published last year. (If BH&Gs publishes it again next summer, be sure to pick up a copy. It's got a ton of terrific canning recipes.)

I tried out the recipe last year and loved it.  So as soon as I had ripe tomatoes this summer, I tried out the recipe again.  Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close enough attention when the tomatoes were simmering down, and I ended up burning my first batch of the year!

I didn't have enough time (or tomatoes) to make another batch right away.  But now that all the green tomatoes I picked from last month's freeze are ripe, I gave the ketchup recipe another whirl.  I was very, very careful not to burn it this time.  It took forever, but I ended up with a beautiful batch of ketchup!

Now if you're making ketchup at home, keep in mind that it won't be as thick as the ketchup you get from the bottle.  My husband said he remembers that his grandma's ketchup was a a little runny. He would dip hot dogs in the ketchup. In fact, that's still the way he eats hot dogs -- instead of squeezing ketchup on top, he dips it like a French fry.

Here's the recipe I got from Better Homes and Gardens.  Just remember, don't rush the "simmering" stage, even if it takes longer than the 2 hours called for in the recipe.

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Homemade ketchup

• 8 pounds tomatoes
• 1/2 C. chopped onion
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 1 C. white vinegar
• 1-1/2 inches stick cinnamon, broken
• 1-1/2 tsp. whole cloves
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1 Tbl. salt

Wash tomatoes. Remove stem ends and cores. Cut tomatoes into quarters. In a stainless steel pot, combine tomatoes, onion and cayenne pepper. Bring to boiling, stirring often; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 mintues, stirring often.

Press tomato mixture through a food mill. Discard seeds and skins. Return tomato mixture to same pot. Add sugar. Use a ruler to measure the depth of the mixture; make a note of the depth. Bring to boiling, stirring until sugar dissolves; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until mixture is reduced by half, stirring occasionally.

In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, cinnamon, cloves and celery seeds. Bring to boiling. Remove from heat. Strain vinegar through a fine-mesh sieve into tomato mixture; discard spices. Add salt. Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes more or until ketchup is desired consistency; stirring often.

Ladle hot ketchup into hot, sterilized half-pint containers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids.

Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner for 15 mintues (start timing when water returns to boiling). Remove jars from canner; cool on wired racks.

Watermelon Rind Pickles

My husband practically begs me to make watermelon rind pickles for him every summer.  It's a favorite that his grandma used to make.  She would typically serve watermelon pickles for Christmas.  She would use food coloring to tint the pickles in pink and green holiday colors.

I had never heard of or tried watermelon rind pickles before I met my husband.  I wasn't convinced that I would like them.  After all, why would you eat the rind?  But I gave it a try for my husband.  And what do you know, I actually like watermelon rind pickles quite a bit -- although not as much as my husband, who will eat half a jar in one night!

I went to the North Grand Farmers Market in Ames to find the watermelons.  Most of the watermelons at the the grocery store are the seedless variety nowadays, and we find that seedless watermelons don't have very thick rinds.  And when you're making watermelon rind pickles, you want a lot of rind to work with.

To my surprise, the vendor at the farmers market gave me two overripe watermelon for free (!) when I told him I was making watermelon rind pickles.  I brought them home and asked my hubby to cut up the rinds for me, since his knife skills are better than mine.

He came up with a ingenious way to get the most rind from the watermelon.  He used our Oxo potato peeler to strip away the green part of the rind.  He even took a picture for my blog to demonstrate.

 

Many watermelon rind pickle recipes use white sugar and food coloring to tint the pickles.  My favorite recipe uses brown sugar and no food coloring.  The pickles aren't as pretty, but they taste like caramel candy, with a nice sourness from the vinegar.  Yes, they taste way better than they look!

Below is my favorite watermelon rind pickle recipe, from the "Joy of Pickling."  The pickles are are a little time consuming to make, but will definitely impress your friends and family when served on a holiday relish tray.  Enjoy!

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Watermelon Rind Pickles

Adapted from "The Joy of Pickling"

• 7 C. prepared watermelon rind (cut away the pink flesh and green skin, then cut into 1/2 to 3/4-inch pieces)
• 6 C. cold water
• 1 quart cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar (I use white)
• 5 C. firmly packed dark brown sugar
• Two 3-inch cinnamon sticks,, browken
• 1 Tbl. whole cloves

Put the watermelon rind into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, and boil the rind until it is just translucent; don't let it get soft.

In another pot, bring to a boil the vinegar and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Tie the spices in a spice bag or scrap of cheesecloth, and add them to the syrup. Drain the rind and add it to the syrup, too. Bring the contents to a simmer. Simmer them for 1-1/2 hours, until the syrup is dark and thick.

Remove the spice bag. Ladle the rind and syrup into pint or half-pint mason jars, leaving 1/2 headspace, and close the jars with 2-piece caps. Process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

Store the jars in a cool, dry, dark place.

Canning peaches

In my earlier post, I told you how much I loved the Iowa-grown peaches I discovered at Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge.  Well, I liked them so much that I went back to the orchard the next weekend and bought another bag.  As much as I enjoyed the peach pie I made with them, I knew that these peaches would be perfect for canning.  And I had a great recipe that I wanted to try.

Earlier this summer, I picked up a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens Canning special interest magazine.  It's definitely a collectors' issue.  I want to try every recipe in the magazine!  It features canning recipes for every season -- root crops in the fall, squash in the summer, berries in the spring.  There's even an entire section of peach, nectarine and apricot canning recipes.

I had a difficult time deciding, but eventually I picked the spiced peaches recipe.  I loved the idea of canned peaches with a touch of cinnamon-spice flavor, just like a pie.  This recipe was very easy to follow.  The hardest part was prepping all the tiny peaches!  The Iowa-grown peaches were about half the size of the grocery-store variety, which means you have to pit about twice as many!

The only problem I had was that when I pulled the jars out of the canner, I noticed that some of the syrup had leaked out of a few jars.  I was worried that it meant the jars didn't seal properly, but I looked it up on an Extension canning website and discovered that the jars were sealed as long as the lids were "popped" down and would be safe to eat.  However, I decided not to take any chances, and I placed those leaking jars in the refrigerator and ate the peaches within a few days.

I loved these canned peaches!  Such a great way to enjoy Iowa-grown peaches year round, especially since the season is so short.  My only compliant is that I didn't really taste the spices, so next time I'm going to either add more or let the spices "steep" in the syrup for longer.

It's a rather long recipe to type out, so I hope you don't mind, but I'm sharing a link from another blog for the Better Homes and Gardens spiced peaches. Or if you would me to email you a copy, just leave a comment.

Pickled banana pepper rings

This year was my first attempt at growing banana peppers, and boy oh boy, did I end up with a bumper crop of peppers!  I planted three banana pepper seedlings earlier in the summer, and the weather was perfect for peppers this year.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all the peppers. Every time I pick one, two more seem to grow in its place!

I actually decided to plant banana peppers this year because I wanted to make pickled banana pepper rings, like the kind you find at Subway or Quizno's.  However, I should have looked for a recipe BEFORE planting the peppers, because I've had a tough time trying to find banana pepper recipes to use up my bumper crop.

After quite a bit of searching on the Web, I finally found a pickled yellow pepper ring recipe from the National Center for Home Preserving.  This was a very easy canning recipe to follow. The most time-consuming part was cutting up all the peppers.

The peppers settled to the bottom a few minutes after a pulled them from the canner.

I waited a month before opening up a finished jar to let the flavors develop.  And they turned out excellent, if I do say so myself.  I like to use them as a sandwich topper. (They're really good with deli roast beef).

Do you have a recipe for banana peppers that your family enjoys?  I'm still on a hunt for ways to use up all my banana peppers.  We missed last week's frost, so the peppers are still growing out in my garden.

Grape expectations

Have you ever done anything completely on a whim?  The other day, I was driving home after visiting family in Wisconsin, and I stopped at Bauder's Market in La Crescent, MN, to buy a bag of apples.  And to my delight, I discovered a table full of Concorde grapes.  Grapes! 

I've been wanting to make homemade grape jelly ever since I started learning more about Iowa's grape industry.  Back in the early 1900s, Iowa was one of the top grape producers in the country.  Every farm had a grapevine in the backyard for making jelly and juice.  Then during World War II, there was a severe blizzard, known as the Armistice Day freeze, that killed off many of the state's grapevines and apple trees.

Today, Iowa's grape industry is making a comeback, as the number of vineyards and wineries is growing every year.  But I still haven't figured out a place where I can buy Concorde grapes, and I don't have enough sun in my shady backyard to grow grapes.

So when I saw these babies at the Minnesota produce market, I wanted to squeal in delight (but I didn't -- I didn't want the other customers to give me strange looks). 

Let me tell you, these grapes smelled so good!  I had no ideas that grapes could smell so fragrant, not at all like the supermarket grapes.  The Concordes actually smelled like grape bubblegum, which is funny, because I never understood why grape bubblegum tastes nothing like real grapes.  Now I know, it actually does!

I've never made jelly before, and I didn't realize it was such a time-consuming effort.  First, I mushed the grapes in my food mill, which helped to separate most of the seeds and grape skins.  Then I strained the remaining pulp from the juice by covering a cotton T-shirt (I didn't have cheesecloth) over a sieve, which I placed over a larger bowl.

After three hours, only half of the juice had dripped through the T-shirt.  My husband attempted to squeeze the juice through the T-shirt by hand, but then he tipped the sieve over, and the unstrained juice got mixed with the strained juice.  I tried not to get mad, but I was pretty upset that 3 hours of waiting was now a waste.  But my husband promised to make it up to me.  He re-strained the juice, and after 3 hours, I finally had a 4-cup batch of clear juice.

I then proceeded to follow the recipe for grape jelly in the Ball Complete Book of Home Canning.  This was by far the easiest part of the process; it took less than an hour.  And the result: a beautiful, flavorful, homemade batch of grape jelly!  Success at last!

This little kitchen adventure was so worth the time and effort.  Everytime I look at these jars, I get such a sense of accomplishment.

I would love to find a place in Iowa that sells Concorde grapes in the fall.  Do any of you know where I can find them?  I would love to make grape jelly again next year.

Pickled! Again!

I'm very pleased to report that the Mrs. Pickler cucumbers I planted in early June have grown wonderfully in my little backyard garden. I've been busy the last few weekends picking my home-grown cucumbers to make dill pickles.

I decided to try the Best-Ever Dill Pickle recipe in the July issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  My only alteration was that I used fresh dill from my garden instead of dill seeds.  I also added a garlic bulb to a few of the jars, just to see how it would taste.

My new secret ingredient this year is Pickle Crisp, which I learned helps keep the cucumbers crunchy.  All the pickles I canned last year ended up mushy, so I'm hoping the Pickle Crisp helps.  I couldn't find it in my local grocery store, so I ordered Pickle Crisp from the Amazon.com website.

I'm really proud of how beautiful the jars turned out.  We'll see if they taste just as good.

Raspberry jewels

I convinced my hubby to join me in berry pickin' the other day.  I've been trying to make every-other-week trips to Berry Patch Farms in Nevada.  They have at least a half dozen different varieties of fruits and berries growing on their farm, and something new is ready to pick every time I visit.

We decided to pick raspberries this time, because I've been fantasizing about making raspberry jam ever since my hubby bought me a food mill for my B-day.

The weather was perfect for berry picking.  Unfortunately, the raspberries were overpicked in the spot where they directed us.  The farmer said we could visit another spot, but we'd had our fill of mosquito bites and thistle scratches for the day.  So we only came home with 2-1/2 pounds of raspberries, not quite enough to make a batch of jam.

But I don't give up easily.  I went to our town's little grocery store and picked up a couple cartons of strawberries.  Then I made strawberry and raspberry jam.

I'm a little disappointed, however, because the batch didn't quite set.  It's not entirely liquid, but it's not entirely gelled, either.  My luck with jam-making is pretty hit and miss (mostly miss, but I'm a beginner, right?)

Yet the new food mill worked like a charm at removing most of the seeds from the jam.  So I'm learning something new, everytime I try.

Now if only my mosquito bites would quit itching...

The trouble with gooseberries

Our century-old house has a gooseberry bush behind the garage.  What, you may ask, do I use the gooseberries for?  Well, I'm still trying to figure that out.

I've mentioned before that we bought our house from a couple that lived here for more than 40 years.  The woman was very, very fond of her garden.  But in her later years, she did very little to maintain it -- partly because she and her husband spent their summers at a cabin in the Lake of the Ozarks.

We moved in the house in the fall, and the next summer, our next-door neighbor asked if she could pick our gooseberries for the lady who formerly lived in the house.  I guess she really missed the little gooseberry bush.  I'm not sure what she used the berries for -- pie or jam, I suppose.  She hasn't been back since to pick the berries, probably because my neighbor scratched up her arms something fierce in the thorny bush.

But it got me thinking, what am I missing out on?  Are gooseberries a secret delicacy, just waiting to be revealed?

So I picked the berries myself (and got a few scratches in the process) and tried to make a pie.  It turned out terrible, absolutely terrible.  I figured I just found a bad recipe on the Internet; I just needed to add more sugar.

This year, my husband did the gooseberry-picking for me.  Since I had all my canning supplies out, I decided to make gooseberry jam, using a recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Let me tell you, it took forever to get the tiny stems off the gooseberries.  Then I had a terrible time mashing down the thick-skinned berries; I couldn't even get them through my food mill!  When I finally got the berries down to a jam-like consistency, the mash looked beautiful -- a jewel green color.

But then...the jam started to boil, or rather, foam up.  And then the mash turned pale brown.  And it started to smell weird.  Not sure how to describe it, just not sweet and summery like I had hoped.

In the end, I ended up with a strange, brown glob of gooseberry goo.  I didn't like the taste at all.  It tasted more like a vegetable than a berry, and not in a good way.

So if anyone happens to read this blog, could you please tell me a good way to use up my gooseberries?  There's got to be a reason why the former homeowners loved them so much.  What's the secret?

Can't pass up a deal

Strawberries were on sale for 97 per pound at a local grocery store, so I stocked my fridge and made strawberry jam.

I used the new food mill my hubby gave me for my birthday.  He doesn't like "chunky" jams.  The food mill quickly pureed the fruit into a thick, smooth consistency.

Thanks to my hubby for taking pictures while I worked :)

The jam turned out beautiful -- literally, I think it's my prettiest batch of jam ever.  It's a bright berry red color, and it tastes so bright and fresh. 

I spent part of an already busy weekend making this jam, but I'm glad I took the time, especially since strawberries are back to full price.  In a few weeks, the U-Pick berry patches will be open, and I can make my first batch of fresh Iowa strawberry jam.  Can't wait!

Birthday treats!

Hello everyone!  It's an absolutely gorgeous day outside.  The birds are chirping, the neighbor's orange tabby cat is lounging in our yard and I'm basking in the glow of my birthday!

I received wonderful birthday gifts from my family.  My sister gave me a silicone pie shield, a pineapple corer, a fancy new pie server and a tube of Colgate. (She's just weeks away from getting her dental hygenist license.)

My sister said these pie servers are flying off the shelves at her mother-in-law's gift shop in Carroll.  You push the handle, and the pie slides off the server.

And my husband completely surprised me with a new food mill!  I can't wait to start using it this spring to make strawberry jam.  It will especially come in handy when I'm making apple butter in the fall.  Last year, it took me all day to peel, slice, cook, mash and strain the apples just to make 8 half pints of apple butter. 

I'd also like to make my first attempt at homemade ketchup this summer, so this food mill is a must!  I couldn't ask for a better birthday!

In a pear tree

I wasn't ready to put my canning supplies away for the winter. I've had my eye on a recipe for pear butter, so I thought I'd give it a try while pears were still in season. I found this recipe in a cookbook called "175 Best Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and Other Soft Spreads."

The recipe calls for a combination of pears and Granny Smith apples. I made it just like apple butter, simmering it over a stove until the fruit got mushy. Then I pushed the mixture through a fine sieve, put it back on the stove, added some nutmeg and simmered it until the spread was almost silky in texture.

I was so happy with the end result. The pear butter looks beautiful in the jars, and the taste is wonderful, almost like honey. It's a nice change from the apple butter, and you can really taste the brightness of the pears, since the flavor isn't masked by cinnamon.

I hope to find time to make a few more jars of this before Christmas. It would make a great gift or stocking stuffer. Plus, I have a feeling I'll be keeping these jars for myself :)

Tomato hunters

Josh and I went on a "tomato hunt" through Boone County last weekend, since my garden refuses to yield any ripe, red tomatoes. We had to stop at two farms to get enough tomatoes for canning. It's getting pretty late in the season, so this will probably be my last attempt at canning crushed tomatoes. We're planning to use these for Josh's famous chili this winter.

Sorry only one photo this time. My husband took the camera with him fishing this weekend. He wants photographic proof the next time he catches the big one!

You say tomato

Driving through my neighborhood, I see dozens of tomato plants with ripe, red tomatoes on the vine. Yet my garden hasn't yielded one ripe tomato, until last week. Here's my first red tomato. It's not so pretty, but it's mine!

Since I can't do much with one tomato, I bought 10 pounds of tomatoes this week from Black's Heritage Farms in Ames so I could can tomatoes. Once again, canning tomatoes was suprisingly easy, except for the time involved. I decided to break out the pressure canner for the first time. However, it took well over an hour to pressure-can the tomatoes. Next time, I'll probably just process them in a boiling-water bath.

I found blueberries on sale at Fareway, so I also baked blueberry muffins while I was waiting for the tomatoes to process. These muffins have quickly become our favorite. I always make several batches in the summer, put them in the freezer and then heat one up in the microwave for breakfast.

Slow food

I took the day off today to visit this summer's UNI Museum exhibit, "Slow Food: The Way Iowans Eat." The exhibit featured information, photos and kitchen items from the late 1800s to today. I'm fascinated with culinary history, particularly with the cooking methods of the early 1900s to 1950s, so this exhibit was a "must see" for me.

The exhibit started with a look at how dining styles have changed since the late 1800s. Back then, families all gathered around a dinner table, which was often decorated with a centerpiece and full place setting. All the courses were served at once, so the table was full of food. Families dressed up for supper. They bought meat from a local butcher, who cut the carcass in front of the customers to their specifications.

Canning was essential to Iowans back before refrigeration to preserve the garden bounty. Here's a display of canned foods, including meats.

Notice the sauerkraut slicer in the bottom left-hand corner. I'd love to find a working one of those to play around with in my kitchen.

Early refrigerators weren't electric. They were cooled with blocks of ice, sometimes broken off from nearby rivers in the winter months.

The exhibit featured a quote from one Iowa n who remembered her grandmother always had cookies, bars and pies in the ice box ready for grandkids and guests. Reminded me of my grandmother, who always had a plate of bars at the table when I came over to visit. She was a terrific baker.

Thought this picture of a "meat locker" was terrific. I didn't actually realize that the "locker" actually had lockers for customers to rent to keep meat cold before at-home freezers became the norm. Looks like a bank deposit box for meat.

The exhibit included several old-fashioned aprons on display. In a glass case was fabric from old flour sacks, which often were turned into aprons. Don't you just love the colorful patterns.

Also on display were antique food containers, such as this Wheaties cereal box.

The exhibit ended with a look at today's fast-food lifestyle. Convenience has certainly changed the way Iowans eat today. And like the exhibit says, it makes you wonder what we have lost in terms of quality and diversity in our diets.

However, it's difficult for a 30-year-old woman like me, who grew up on convenience foods, to learn how to prepare meals the way my grandmothers did. Even my grandmas embraced convenience foods, including boxed cake mixes. I hope to find some a balance between healthy, back-to-basics eating and modern convenience to accomodate my busy work schedule.