More Frugal Canning

Well, I picked my last batch of concord grapes today and only had about half a bucket.  Now, grape juice is my main juice drink in the winter, so to say I was disappointed with the output would be putting it mildly, so there was no way I was going to be using juice to make jelly. (Especially when you've all seen how much other jellies and jams I have!)

But the kids (and the husband) both asked so nicely...

I was straining the the juice out (for those curious, I garnered another 4 quarts of juice). Still not enough, but better than nothing. Annnd I have to admit; I covered them with too much water, and ended up having to cook it down a bit because of it. (boy, was it too weak!)

And so I'm sitting there, looking at the leavings in the cheesecloth (Note: Cheesecloth...my new favorite thing.  The sort you would use for real cheese; actually called butter cloth, and much finer. You keep much more pulp that way, get a much clearer, cleaner juice and its easier to wash and reuse!).  And I can see plenty of seeds, plenty of skins, but I also see lovely, lovely pulp, just waiting to be harvested out.

 So I put it into my mill. (I hemmed and hawed; the finest strainer, or the medium? I decided the fine was more for raspberry seeds, so the medium should be fine.  It appears to be just fine.)

milling the leavings gave me 4 cups of pulp. (Query: I wonder if the liquid to pulp ratio stays the same? My previous batch 3qts:3c. makes it seem reasonable.)

Regardless, I didn't have time to finish, so put it in a quart mason jar, covered the top with a 1 tbs layer of lemon juice, and put it in the refridgerator.

The recipe is as follows:

1c. pulp
1c. sugar
1 tbs. pectin
(I like this, because its easy to make a sliding scale for your pulp.)
heat up pulp, add pectin and bring to a full boil. Add the sugar, and bring to a full boil again, keeping it at rolling for a minute.  Process in hot water bath as usual, for 10 minutes.

When I made it, i dropped the sugar slightly, only putting in 3c. sugar for the 4 c. pulp and it was just fine.

Harvesting Frugally

A few days ago, Homestead Survival (one of my favorite bloggers!) posted a story about a woman who 'repurposed' questionable produce from her local markets.Now, I like the general concept, but I have to admit, I'm not too keen on the whole lying aspect.  I mean, you have to tell the store that you will be using it to feed livestock. (yes, some will be used to feed them, but that's not the point.)  For myself, locally, the stores still sell this produce at a significant cost break. (the article is here, if you're curious: http://homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-get-free-food-week-first.html

But it DID get me to thinking.  What do I do, personally, to reduce food waste.  I'm a gleaner, a harvester, a forager of the worst sort.  New neighbors moved in next door, and I've already hit them up to harvest the fantastic crop of crab apples they have in their front yard.

But today's score was a bit more...strenuous. As I've said before, I grew up on a family farm.  My great grandfather had an orchard, and the trees for the most part are pretty well dormant.  There were 2 pear trees left at one end, and in my lifetime, I think I've seen all of maybe 6 pears on one of the trees.

Until this year.  My mother called me down to see it...and the upper story was utterly LOADED with winter pears. (Winter pears are a very hard fruit, meant to last into the winter, and soften as they age and/or are canned. They are supposed to have a firmer bite to them when canned, and don't fall apart, like a really well ripened eating pear.)

Well, I couldn't just let them go to waste, could I?   But as you can see from this picture, it wasn't that easy.

If you're a spatially challenged person, that there is about 35-40 feet up.  Couldn't reach with a bucket loader, or a ladder. So, I posted this picture to my facebook, asking my friends for ideas.

a 20 ft. branch trimmer WHILE in the bucketloader was the most reasonable answer. (The silliest? A really well-trained Giraffe.)

So, today we tried it.

I should state that this would work much better if I was more than 4' 11".

BUT. I managed to get all but 7 of the VERY highest pears.  Yes, it probably would've worked better if I had a basket on the pole, but it was already rather unwieldy, and I had my mother and uncle underneath catching. Only a few of them got mildly bruised in the fall. (Thanks Mom and Dad; who by the way, thought I was utterly crazy.)

So I ended up with nearly a whole bucket of old-fashioned (I suppose I could consider it an heirloom variety, since the trees are ancient!) that have been totally left alone, so they are also organic.

Took them home, and began the process of peeling, and coring and cutting up.

I HATE coring.   I think its a dismal task, and to cut them out is just miserable. When I do apples, I use an old fashioned peeler/corer/slicer.  But as pears aren't exactly round, that doesn't work so well. So here is my fantastic helpful hint.....
A melon baller. The one I have has two sizes to it, which is great because some of these pears were quite small.

First i peeled the pear, and cut it in half.

 Dig down with the edge. If you look at a pear closely, you'll see a slight change in color where the core is. Twist your hand as you scoop, keeping pressure on it (you need to consider if your pears are hard like mine, or soft like a ripe Bartlett pear.)

 The core pops out easily.

I continued to slice them up (halves or sixths, depending on the size of the pear.)

I made an extra light syrup;

5 1/2 c. water
1 1/4 c. sugar

To this I added:
 1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice

 (last time I used fresh lemons, I used my microplane and zested all the lemons, then dried the zest.) and  I put one (small) cinnamon stick in each pint jar with the pears.

This is how they came out:

I have 9 pints so far, and I'm only about half done.  Not bad for foraged fruit, wouldn't you say?

In a few weeks, Chestnuts at my parents' house will be falling...I've never done anything with them, but I would love ideas! I'm starting to look around now!

All natural Cosmetics

Today, I had the opportunity to play with some ideas I've had floating around.  My husband had gotten a nasty rash (sun poisoning. Ew.) on his legs.  He had been doing the hydrocortisone things, but he really needed more moisture.  In my continuing efforts to limit the amount of chemical garbage we use, I decided to make him some cream to use.

First, I found a website that described how to make home made non-petroleum jelly.

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/04/make-your-own-petroleum-free-jelly.html

It is a great (and simple!) recipe, using only beeswax and olive oil.
(her recipe? 1/2 c. olive oil and 1/8 c. (or 3 tbs) shredded beeswax, melted on low heat (or double boiler).

When she made it she could fill a half cup jelly jar.

Well, I didn't think I needed that much of it to start with, and my daughter had been curious about lip balm, so I thought, I should be able to do this.

So, after the beeswax was melted, I poured half into a 1/4 c. jelly jar. I added about 10 drops of tea tree oil. (It has great antiseptic properties, as well as moisture absorption. This being said, I want to make it clear the tea tree oil bottle specifically stated 'Do not apply to broken or irritated skin.')


I put this in the fridge for about a half hour, and this is what it looked like:

(this had been stirred.  It really does feel like petroleum jelly.) (My husband didn't have any problems with it, and it really seemed to help with the moisture in his skin!) Possible future experiments might include chamomile, lavender, or aloe... (or some of that powdered cucumber I have!)

The second half of the batch was still in the pan, and I added an extra teaspoon (ish) of shredded beeswax.  I poured this in a second 1/4 c. jelly jar, and added about 6 drops of peppermint oil. (oil, not extract...not sure what extract would do, but don't think it would be a good thing.)

After a half hour in the fridge, this is what came  out:

You can see it is much more solid, and it feels wonderful on your lips!  The girls are already wondering what would happen if they added some cocoa powder to the mix. (I'm thinking I might be better off adding cocoa butter, but that's an experiment for another day!)

Fun with Flowering Quince

First let me make sure everyone understands...this was all done with the fruit from FLOWERING quince.  Its a pretty flowering bush (with thorns). a LARGE fruit is slightly bigger than a golf ball.

Last year when i made this, i seeded and peeled them all...a really (REALLY) tedious process.

So this year, after washing them thoroughly, I covered them with water and just boiled them whole.

The smell (and taste) is something like a very floral pear or apple. It is excessively tart, and the floral flavor is very delicate.

As I boiled them, I mashed them into a paste, skins and seeds and all.

Once this was pretty well mashed (I'd say about 20 minutes or so--they are quite hard, and it depends on how ripe your fruits are.) It's time to sieve.

Drained the juice off to make jelly.

I put the liquid aside. Now, can you see all that saucy goodness? I couldn't just waste it all! Texturally, it's very similar to apple sauce. Took the mash and ran it through a food mill. I used the extra fine screen on it.

(apologies for the color; it really looks brighter green, rather than pea-soup)

This was 5 cups. To this I added 2 1/2 c. of sugar.  Boiled until sugar was disolved then into canning jars. Hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Now, remember I saved the juice? Quince is VERY high in natural pectin, so you don't need any surejell or any other pectin to make it into jelly. (I have considered saving the juice to use as pectin, rather than buying my own, but that's an experiment for another time!)

For 4 cups of juice, I added 3 c. sugar. Boil until it passes the jell test. (Drop on a cold plate, if it jells, its ready.) put in jars, (making sure jar lips are clean of any jelly!) seal and hot water bath for 10 minutes.
 For the 8 or so cups of fruit I had, it made 9 jars of sauce and 5 jars of jelly (half pints).

Today's hint of the day:

When straining juices, do NOT use the same cloth as you strain cheese in. It doesn't matter if you put it through the washer, or if you wash it by hand...you'll still end up with seemingly microscopic specs of dairy in your otherwise pristine juice.

Lesson learned:)

(I COULD throw it out...but I am currently straining it through coffee filters to continue using it.  Boiling it will take care of the rest of it.)

Will be posting directions and pictures for making flowering quince jelly and sauce shortly:)!

Party Food!

Had a small shindig last night, and had some excellent food. Wanted to share some of the recipes with you!

Garlic Lime Chicken Wings

Family size pack of wings
oil for frying
Dredge:
3/4 c. flour
1 tbs. smoked paprika
1 tsp seasoned salt

Sauce:
1/4 c. cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime (about 1/4 c.)
zest of 1 lime
1 large tbs of honey
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 shots tabasco (this does not add heat; it simply makes the limes taste lime-ier:) )

trim up family pack of wings, cutting off tips and separating the 2 pieces.  Dredge in a mix of flour and paprika. Put about an inch of oil in a heavy duty frying pan.  Fry at medium heat, turning after about 4 minutes (or when lightly brown; they will continue browning as you cook the other side). Fry other side for about 3 minutes, and set in oven to keep warm.

The sauce is simple, simply mix the above ingredients.  It will be rather watery, but that's okay, the wings will soak in the sauce.

To coat the wings, drop them in the bowl of sauce then take back out. (I like to scoop a bit, because then there's more garlic on the wing.)

I got the yen for some wings because recently, I'd had some amazing vinegar and salt wings.  I've wandered through online recipes, and I haven't found one yet that really tickles me, or makes me think its what I had.  Be really curious to find a good one!

I also made spinach artichoke dip, and some spinach artichoke wontons. I've never seen the recipe anywhere, but if you like spinach artichoke dip, these are killer.

Spinach Artichoke dip

1 box creamed spinach
1 can artichokes in water
1/2 c. mayonnaise (you really shouldn't substitute miracle whip in this recipe)
1/2 c. parmesan cheese

Defrost the spinach. You can cook this according to directions, and the result would be the same. Roughly chop the artichokes (I find in quarters worked just fine.) and mix all the ingredients together. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes.

This is really good with chips, or in a bread bowl.

Now, to make the wontons:

Spinach Artichoke Wontons

wonton skins
spinach artichoke dip (above...and yes, its best if it has been baked first.  It can get a bit watery if you use the dip uncooked for this.)
oil for frying
water

(if you have a deep fryer, by all means, use it! 375* for no more than 4 minutes...I'd do more like 3 minutes, myself...)

Heat up an inch of oil to medium heat.  Take a teaspoon of the dip and place in the middle of a wonton skin.  Wet 2 sides of your wonton, before folding the wonton skin diagonally over the dip. Press out the air as you do so and seal as completely as possible. You can make the corners meet for fancier wontons, but I usually leave them in flat triangles (they cook more evenly this way too.)
Fry on first side 2-3 minutes, and only one on the second.  pull out and drain.

I promise, you can't make enough of these. They are crunchy and creamy and the parmesan adds just enough saltiness.

Do you have an overabundance of cucumbers in your garden, and can't possibly can another jar of pickles or relish? (no matter how good or delish?)

Try this.

Dehydrate cucumbers.  Not for eating,(ew-trust me, I tried) but there have myriad other uses. To dehydrate, cut into slices no less than 1/4 in. thick (thinner will make them brittle, and you won't even be able to get them out of the dehydrator.)

Once cukes are completely dried out (not leather stage but the is-this-a-cuke-or-a-rock stage) and in either a very good blender, or a coffee mill (or coffee mill used as a spice mill) grind them up until they are cucumber dust.  you can do a number of things from here.

Cucumber facial:

tbs. cucumber
tbs. oatmeal flour (you can grind this yourself too)
couple drops of honey

Mix with hot water to make a paste, apply and leave on skin for 10 minutes, then wash off.

Cucumber facial scrub:

1 tbs. cucumber
2 tbs salt (pickling, fine kosher, fine sea...just not morton's table salt, okay?)
(if you have dry skin, you can add a few drops of oil. It will be pastier, but that's okay. A few drops of vinegar helps if you have oily skin)


dip a damp facecloth into the mixture, and gently rub your face clean.  

You can also add it to dips or salad dressings.

I haven't tried adding it to my soaps, but I'd be curious how it would work!