It’s a sure sign that summer is on its way out when my canning gets under way.
I typically take the last two weeks of August and the first week of September off work, mostly….I still put in a few days for some sockeye spawning simply because the work is fun, the people are great, and the environment is wonderful. It’s some work that reminds me who I work for really, and why I do what I do.
It’s a bit of a reset button at the time of year when I am typically burning out, and the last few years it has kept me from leaving altogether.
But back to the canning.
This year I am sticking mostly to savoury treats for the pantry. We just haven’t really been eating much in the way of jams and jellies, so this year it will be the usual suspects:
- Tomatoes
- Blueberry chutney
- Cranberry chutney
- Corn kernels
- Roasted corn stock
- Spicy bread & butter pickles
- Tikka masala sauce
- Butter chicken sauce
- Pickled beans
- Hummus mix
- Sliced beets
- Smokey Peach BBQ sauce….
And a few new treats…
- Sweet peach BBQ sauce
- Chipotle ketchup
- Southwest corn relish
- Rhubarbecue sauce
….and anything else that might take my fancy when I stop in at the produce markets….I always seem to come home with something I didn’t intend to buy and then have to figure out what to do with it.
Today was all about corn, beets, and carrots….
5lbs of beets were sliced and canned for salads at some point.
I roasted two dozen cobs of corn in the oven and then stripped the kernels and canned them for soups, and made a stock from the cobs….it makes the absolute best base for corn chowders later in the year.
Roasted Corn Stock
Yield – About 4 quarts
Ingredients
- 2 dozen ears of corn, roasted in their husks at 450 for about 20 – 30 minutes. Husk them when they have cooled and strip the kernels for another use (can them, freeze them for soups…use them in salsa or relish….whatever floats your boat)
- 2 large cooking onions, trimmed of the root and stem ends, loose paper rubbed off, and quartered
- 2 or 3 large parsley stems
- 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 6L (+) of water
I cut the cobs into chunks and throw them into the pit with the onions, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns and water and bring it to a simmer for an hour or three, with the lid on. Remove all the solids, strain it through an extra fine sieve or a cheesecloth filter, and ladle into jars. Clean the rims of the jars with vinegar, put the lids on to finger tight, and process in a pressure canner for 35 minutes at 10psi for quarts, or 30 minutes for pints.
No pressure canner? Freeze it. Either way…it’s fabulous!
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And 5lbs of carrots were turned into spicy pickled carrot sticks.
Carrot Pickles
Yield – About 4 pints
Ingredients
- 3lb carrots
- 4 small Thai bird chilli peppers
- 1/4 cup pickling salt
- 2 Tbsp black mustard seeds (I used yellow because that’s what I had…)
- 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 Tbsp cumin seeds
- 8 thin slices of fresh ginger
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1.5 cups pickling vinegar
- 1.5 cups water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
Peel and trim the carrots into sticks that fit well into your jars. Slit each hot pepper and poke one into the well packed jars of carrot sticks. Add a garlic clove and two slices of ginger to each jar.
In a dry pan, toast the mustard, cumin, and coriander seeds along with the black peppercorns untilt ehy are fragrant….a minute or two.
In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, water, lemon juice, salt, to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Strain brine into jars to cover the carrots, seal, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
