August is almost over, but I do have an August post. Well, actually, it may really be a July post. It's hard to keep it all straight.
My boyfriend and I have started canning. We started with the asparagus pickle recipe from the New York Times back in May when asparagus were everywhere. And when zucchini started coming in, zucchini refrigerator pickles seemed to be the natural thing (via Tea and Cookies)*. Given our initial success, we then tackled quick dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, an dilly beans from Joy of Cooking.
After all the pickling, we took a class at Stratford Ecological Center** on canning tomatoes. It's the same process as pickles (a hot water bath), but now we know to start timing from a rolling boil, not when the pickles go in. The zucchini pickles could also probably be properly preserved. They're very similar to bread and butter pickles made with cucumbers, so we could do it as long as we use the same amount of zucchini (non-acid) as we would cucumbers (also non-acid). The trick is to maintain the proper acidity so all the scary stuff (botulism) dies.
And here are our canned goods safely ensconced in their new home in the basement of the house we just moved to:
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*As a side note, this is the first use of zucchini I've found that I like that doesn't involve shredding it until it's unrecognizable.
**Stratford is a really cool place. It's a working farm that has an extensive education program. We also took a class called Beginning Goat Raising where we learned about the care and keeping of dairy goats including some hands-on experience with milking and hoof trimming. They also have education programs for school groups.
My boyfriend and I have started canning. We started with the asparagus pickle recipe from the New York Times back in May when asparagus were everywhere. And when zucchini started coming in, zucchini refrigerator pickles seemed to be the natural thing (via Tea and Cookies)*. Given our initial success, we then tackled quick dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, an dilly beans from Joy of Cooking.
After all the pickling, we took a class at Stratford Ecological Center** on canning tomatoes. It's the same process as pickles (a hot water bath), but now we know to start timing from a rolling boil, not when the pickles go in. The zucchini pickles could also probably be properly preserved. They're very similar to bread and butter pickles made with cucumbers, so we could do it as long as we use the same amount of zucchini (non-acid) as we would cucumbers (also non-acid). The trick is to maintain the proper acidity so all the scary stuff (botulism) dies.
And here are our canned goods safely ensconced in their new home in the basement of the house we just moved to:
--------------------------------
*As a side note, this is the first use of zucchini I've found that I like that doesn't involve shredding it until it's unrecognizable.
**Stratford is a really cool place. It's a working farm that has an extensive education program. We also took a class called Beginning Goat Raising where we learned about the care and keeping of dairy goats including some hands-on experience with milking and hoof trimming. They also have education programs for school groups.
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