Food Storage Tips and Tricks: December 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Soil Temperatures & Sunlight Hours

Have spent much time & energy researching how to do this year-round gardening thing on the West Coast. Despite the fact that we live in an area that is pretty easy for plants to grow in, I'm having trouble locating information on the subject.

So far, I've learned the minimum germination temperatures for the various things I want to grow, the first and last frost dates for my area, and am beginning to amass a general understanding of what plants generally do well in cooler weather. I plan to keep a journal of what we planted & how it did, which will help us refine our plant choices & timing in the future.

My goal, in all of this, is to gain more control over our food supply -- the quality, the variety and the cost. Read more!

Bowlful of Spring in December

Park's Master Chef Lettuce Blend 12/20/09

Pak Choi, Violetta, 12/20/09

We're reaping the rewards of efforts we made last Fall -- lovely, dark green leaves to add to our salad. I planted several kinds of lettuce, spinach, carrots, cabbage, broccoli and green onions. Must have been the wrong time for the kale, though, because it never poked its red head above the soil.

But, how nicely the rich, dark greens of violetta pak choi (a mild-flavored, purple leaf-style cabbage), deer tongue and other interesting lettuces, as well as mild cabbages brighten up our winter salad!! And having done a little research, we're also including dandelion and a few of its lookalikes.

It was an act of faith when I nestled those little seeds into the ground months ago. Even though I live in a Zone 9 region (very hospitable to plants most all year), and despite the fact that I've always been interested in year-round gardening, I'd never really believed it was possible. Then I stumbled upon Eliot Coleman's book, "Four Season Harvest", (www.fourseasonfarm.com). As it turns out, he and his family live in Zone 5 -- few daily sunlight hours and deep snowdrifts every winter -- yet they enjoy fresh produce from their backyard all year. After reading his discussion about hours of sunlight (we had 9-1/2 today) and plant choices, I realized we stood a pretty good chance of being able to grow something to eat in Winter.

In fact, I really got excited when I realized that, by choosing the right plants and putting them in the ground at the right time, we would not even need a greenhouse!! So I spent a late September afternoon putting in what I hoped would be our Winter garden. Things took quite a while to come up, and at times I worried that I'd either put them in too early or too late (too early, as it turns out). In fact, the Mesclun mix just came up a couple of weeks ago! I'm eager for it to get big enough that we can add it to our salads.

But as the photo above shows, we now have a nice variety of greens to brighten up our salad bowl. Unfortunately, as we're pretty big salad eaters, I'm afraid I haven't planted enough that we can live on it exclusively. But we do get enough to supplement the high quality lettuce I still have to buy from the store. And next year...

Read more!

Tips & Tricks: Cool Tips & Tricks Updated as I Discover Them

More shortcuts: Along with onions, garlic, ginger and peppers, carrots and celery can be prepped ahead & frozen. Cut them as needed, spread them out on a cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, pop them into freezer bags (I doublebag everything!!) and store.

The pressure cooker is my new best friend!! Two tips: When cooking recipes that call for garlic, heat a little oil in the cooker and saute it until brown -- eliminates that raw garlic flavor. Also, most meats have better flavor if browned first. Don't worry if they stick -- if you're braising with liquid, the stuck-on bits will loosen while the food is braising.

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are much better than boneless, skinless breasts for canning (and, in my opinion, for regular, every day cooking, too!). The breasts don't have much fat, and so end up cottony -- like overcooked fish. Trim as much fat as possible from the thighs, and cut to fit the jars (I cut it into bite-sized pieces). Follow recommended procedures for pressure canning.

Tips for using a pressure canner: Maybe it's just my stove, but I get much better results if I start the heat on medium-high -- not high. (If you're using an All American pressure canner, make sure the gap between the lid and the base of the canner is even all the way around.) Before I discovered this, all my canned meats were coming out 'way overdone -- ham was actually brown (it sometimes is anyway, though). After cooking for the allotted time at the required pressure, allow the pressure to return to "0" naturally. (Update, 2/1/13: Had trouble with jars sealing, so started waiting until I could no longer hear any hissing sound coming from the weight -- at least an hour, sometimes more. Problem solved!!) Then, slowly remove the weight. Wait about 2 more minutes, then carefully remove the lid. Wait ten more minutes, then remove the jars without tilting them. Wait until the jars have cooled a bit, then visually inspect the seals. The lids of sealed jars will be absolutely flat -- unsealed lids will be slightly convex in the center. When jars have completely cooled (but not more than 24 hours), check the seals (I tap very lightly with the back of a spoon. Any unsealed jars will be very obvious.). Immediately refrigerate any that have not sealed, and use or freeze within a few days. Leave the remainder undisturbed for 24 hours. Wipe the jars, and store in a cool, dark place. Note: Always consult your canner manual or other reference guide before beginning any canning project.

If you're considering canning corn, even creamed corn, I wouldn't bother. It's way too much work, to end up with a product that's mediocre (the long pressure cooking required seems to take much of the sweetness out of it). A much better way to preserve it is to dehydrate it. Allow 3 - 4 ears per tray. (It takes about a dozen ears to fill a quart jar.) Blanch it for 3 - 4 minutes, then cut the kernels off the cobs. Be sure to scrape the cobs with a spoon or the dull side of a knife, to get all the good stuff, particularly the germ (the little bright yellow triangle closest to the cob). Once it's thoroughly dry, you can vacuum pack it. It makes a nice snack just as it is, and will add a nice bit of sweetness to whatever you add it to. You can use it in soups, cornbread -- even homemade, instant cup-a-soups.

If you're considering canning meat (which must ALWAYS be done in a pressure canner, using approved methods and recipes), lean pork is a good choice. Pork usually toughens when cooked for long periods, and it's this quality that makes it great for canning -- it won't cook into mush in the process. I recently ground some pork cushion steak (tri-tip) into burger, then browned it and made sloppy joes (you can find this recipe on any number of online sites). After it had been canned & cooled, the pork still had a nice, firm texture, and we actually prefer the flavor to that of beef.

Use fresh lemon juice when making jams or jellies, unless the recipe specifies commercial (bottled). (If commercial lemon juice is specified, use it -- it's there for food safety reasons -- the acidity of bottled lemon juice is regulated, while the ph of freshly squeezed lemon juice can vary.) The flavor is much better -- bottled lemon juice can be bitter, and it can be especially horrible in jams made with honey instead of sugar.

Along with your silicone hot pads, jar lifter and lid lifter, consider investing in one of those little baskets designed to hold small things in the dishwasher. I put my lids in one. After the jars are washed, put them into the canner, and put the basket with the lids in, as well. Leave it in the canner while filling the jars, and take it out with tongs when you’re ready to use the lids. No need to get out a separate pan, and the lids are ready to go, and easy to deal with, when the jars are filled.

Cut a small slice from one side of your jar bread (or cake, or brownies, or...) after you take it out of the jar for the first time. It'll slip out of the jar easier next time. This is especially helpful if you plan to refrigerate the jar once it's open.

The best way to fit canning jars into your budget -- pick up a case or two each time you shop for groceries. Try to get a variety of sizes, so you'll be ready for anything from jam to tomato sauce (or pints or quarts of meat, if you have a pressure canner). Do this for several months, and you will have accumulated enough for a canning session or two. Of course, if you ever find them on sale, grab as many as your budget will allow. And as always, keep an eye out at garage sales and thrift stores. (I once scooped up 3 dozen quart jars for less than $15 at a thrift store.) You won't necessarily want to use the secondhand ones in a pressure canner, but you can certainly use them for water bath canning.

If you like to cook with fresh ginger, you can mince it in quantity, mix it with a little oil, and store it in the freezer (you can do the same thing with garlic). I do it in the food processor -- quick & easy, and always ready whenever inspiration strikes!! Form it into logs, so it'll be easy to cut or break off an amount appropriate for your recipe. When you take it out to use, break it up a little, and it'll thaw quickly as you prepare the rest of your dish.

One of the often-neglected food storage areas is dairy.

If you have a dehydrator, you can dehydrate cottage cheese. Try to find a brand that is mostly solids. Spoon it into cookie-sized drops about 1/4" thick onto the mesh dehydrator tray, with the plastic one, or plastic wrap, underneath. (If you're careful, you can do other kinds of cheese, too. Use an online search engine to find instructions.)

If you have pets, you should plan for their needs, too. When my husband pointed this out, I was overwhelmed just by the idea of preparing for the human members of our household. But it's actually worked out fine. We have two good-sized dogs (plus a cat), so I allow for one extra "adult" (meat and grain, with a little vegetable thrown in). As I've canned meat for us, I've saved the scraps (plus a little of the 'good stuff') for them. Cooked and chopped finely (a breeze in the food processor -- chill it first), it dehydrates very well. Tossed into a canning jar and stored in the fridge or freezer, it'll last quite a while. I'm also storing powdered eggs and dehydrated cottage cheese, both for us and for our animal friends.

If you're planning to can meat, you'll want to use the leaner cuts. The cuts with more fat (roasts, among others) are better prepared and served right away. Pork cushion meat (tri-tip), for example, is one of the better cuts for canning. (I watch the Wednesday paper for ads, and buy it when it's $.99 a pound or less. In fact, I only buy meat when it's under $1 a pound.) Ham is also very nice canned, and will really expand your menu options (use the butt or shank cut -- no spiral). And watch for corned beef (prices are usually best around St. Patrick's day). It was the first meat I ever canned -- and I'll never cook it in the crock pot again!!

To avoid getting stuck in a culinary rut, shop at a different grocery store. Every store carries a slightly different product mix, and you might discover something new that you really like. If there is a part of town where a different cultural group predominates, seek out a grocery store in that area. Our brains crave new experiences and variety. Shopping at a different place, cooking with spices that are new to you, even silly things like walking backward or brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand can "wake up" your brain. It will improve your memory, and can even make you a little smarter.

If a recipe calls for a small amount of something (fruit juice, particularly), freeze the part you're not using in an ice cube tray. Experiment to see if it needs to be sprayed with PAM first. Save yourself time (and waste!) later by measuring the capacity of the cubes first. When frozen, pop them out & put them into a freezer bag labeled with the name of the item, date, & how much is in each cube. (Until you're in the habit of doing this, you might want to make a note of what you're putting into the freezer.) You can also invest in those little disposable 1/2 cup containers (I think Glad makes them), and use them for things like tomato paste. Again, spray them with PAM first, so that you can pop the food out when it's frozen -- and keep reusing your containers!

Keep a conversion chart (teaspoons up to cups, and metric, if you use it) handy for adjusting recipes (mine is taped to the inside of a cupboard door). Having a calculator nearby also comes in very handy.

If you're a canner, invest in a couple of silicone potholders (I got mine at the dollar store), as well as a magnetic "wand" (about $2 at Winco) for lifting lids out of the hot water. The silicone is much nicer than cloth whenever water's involved, and the magnetic wand is great -- no more chasing the lids around with tongs!! Of course, a jar lifter and canning funnel are essential. You can pick up all of these things pretty reasonably at Walmart and Winco, and they're also available in kits online.

In fact, one of the things I've learned over & over again is that there is just no substitute for having the right tool for the job -- whatever job you happen to be doing!! This will save you much time and aggravation!!

Shop the "deep discount" grocery stores (the ones where you have to watch the expiration dates) for upscale or gourmet items -- I've paid $.49 for a box of Jello (use to enhance fruit leather, if you make it yourself), $1.00 for a bottle of balsamic vinegar and $4.99 for a quart of real maple syrup. You can use these specialty items to enhance the foods in your food storage.

Watch the store ads, and add manufacturer's coupons to sale items wherever possible. There are a variety of online services that will help you do this; some charge a fee and others don't. Check out couponmom.com, coupons.com and other online sites. (Bonus Tip: Set up a separate email account -- you'll need it if you decide to subscribe to any coupon services, etc., and it's very nice not to have your regular email box filled up with "free offers"...)

Work steadily toward getting your food storage supplies built up, even if it's only one small item each shopping trip. Eventually, you'll be able to buy things only when they're on sale and, preferably, when you have a coupon for the item to add to the discount the store is offering.

Store what you use, and use what you store. There are many advantages to this, not the least of which is that you'll always have a general idea of what your food storage situation is.

Be creative. This habit will come in very handy, both in building your food storage, and if and when you have to live on it later.

If you can afford it, invest in some good quality kitchen tools. If you can't swing it on your own, find a friend or a group to invest with cooperatively. There's no substitute for the quality, cost savings and satisfaction to be gained from preparing your own food storage items. If you have or can gain access to a food processor, a blender, a dehydrator, and maybe even a pressure canner, you'll be able to buy things in bulk, and dry, freeze or can them (And if you've invested cooperatively in your equipment, you might want to do so again for the food you'll be processing with it). Each of these pieces of equipment will, I firmly believe, pay for itself many times over. And a kitchen scale, even a moderately accurate one, will really come in handy for dividing up items bought in bulk, weighing things for canning, even multiplying out recipes (to plan your food storage).

Recycle plastic milk containers to store grains, beans and dry pet food. Rinse them thoroughly, and make sure they're bone-dry before putting anything new into them. 25# of grains or beans fills about 3-1/2 gallons. They're not critter-proof, but they're great for things you use often and can buy in bulk -- and they're free!!

Two cups of grains or beans typically equals 1 pound.

The rule of thumb: Allow 25# of grains and 15# of protein (could be 5# beans, as they triple when cooked) per adult, per month. (This information was obtained from the Latter Day Saint Church website.)

This idea came from Wendy DeWitt: List a number of dinners and breakfasts your family enjoys, as well as the ingredients needed for each. (She recommends 14 dinners.) Multiply this out until you have enough (collectively) to account for a year's worth of dinners and breakfasts. (For example, multiply by 26, if you're working with 14.) Apply the same principal to breakfast. Then begin accumulating the things you need to make each meal the appropriate number of times.

Remember to build in some "fun" foods: Jello, dried fruit, snacks, desserts, etc.

Aim for variety. It'll be nicer to have a number of different foods, if and when you ever need to rely on it, than to have only a few choices.

Make creative use of all of your kitchen appliances. For example, I'm currently following on a bread recipe that needs to be cooked at 165 degrees for a specific length of time. I've just tested both of my crock pots, and the older one will work (the recipe says to put it in the oven, but I decided to try the crock pot, instead, to save energy).

If you're considering canning, or any other food preparation method that you're unfamiliar with, borrow from the library, or invest in, a good reference book (or maybe even more than one). One that I like especially is "Stocking Up III" (Rodale Press - I noticed recently that there's an updated version on Amazon). This book gives fairly complete instructions for preserving pretty much any kind of food. But what I like best about it is that they don't "lean on" sugar, to make their recipes work. And they call for as little salt as possible, as well.

Each one, teach one." Find someone who knows how to do whatever process you're considering trying, and offer to trade something with him or her in exchange for an opportunity to learn from him or her.

The internet can be a great information resource, but please, make sure the source of the material is trustworthy (I have seen a lot of conflicting -- and some downright dangerous -- information posted by various website visitors.) University Extensions, for example, typically have "master canners", whom you can contact for advice on, say, canning tomatoes.

If you have pets, watch the meat section for items that are about to "code" -- meaning they have to sell them right away or throw them out. I recently lucked into 16 cartons of liver, for which I paid $.30 - $.40 each, instead of the usual $1.49 or more. (Animals can usually tolerate things that are a little more "tired" than we can.) They were perfectly fine, and dehydrated beautifully (if somewhat malodorously).

And if you're dehydrating liver for your animal friends, try freezing it first. (I discovered this by accident.) When ready to dry it, microwave it on a low setting (I use #3), just until it's thawed enough that you can break it apart --it'll be much easier & neater to work with. (I suppose you could also freeze the pieces individually on a cookie sheet, if you had the time & inclination...) Use a leather sheet topped with a mesh one, or line a drying tray with plastic wrap and use a mesh sheet on top of it. You can oil the trays so that the liver will be easier to remove, but DO NOT USE COOKING SPRAY, as it is TOXIC to dogs. When it's dry, you can either give it to your dogs (or cats) as is, or you can crumble it and sprinkle over their food, or mix it into biscuits (a number of online sites have recipes). Either way, your animal friends will love it!! A note of caution: Liver has a lot of Vitamin A, which in large quantities can be toxic, so please feed these treats sparingly.

If you have a FoodSaver, order the canister set. You can use them as they are, but better yet, you can use them to re-seal anything that comes in glass. Just put your food in the jar, put the lid on & tighten, then put it into the appropriately sized canister. Turn it on the "canister" setting, and, viola -- re-sealed jars. (They make a sealer for canning jars, which you'll only need for regular mouth, quart size jars. You can use the canisters for everything else.) You can also recycle glass jars (plastic won't work) & use them to keep things like raisins, chocolate chips, etc. fresh. (The canister set has three sizes, so you can seal anything from smaller than a 1/2 pint to a large-mouth quart -- regular-mouth quarts are too tall, so you'll need the special sealer for them.) For example, I bought the industrial-size bag of chocolate chips at Costco, and have repacked them into several pint jars. I also recently bought a #10 can of green sauce, and poured it into smaller jars. They're in the fridge, waiting for me to can my chile verde. (I'm not sure what the shelf life is on perishable things that you re-seal, so I'm planning to use it fairly soon. I've heard of a jar of spaghetti sauce that was still good after several weeks, but you'll want to use your best judgement...) Important: If you'd have to refrigerate it once it's opened, you have to refrigerate it after you vacuum-pack it.

These are a few of the things I've learned so far. If you have any others, please feel free to post a comment & share them!!

Food Storage Tips and Tricks

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Soil Temperatures & Sunlight Hours

Bowlful of Spring in December

Presto Pressure Cooker

Tips & Tricks: Cool Tips & Tricks Updated as I Discover Them

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Food Storage Tips and Tricks

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Soil Temperatures & Sunlight Hours

Bowlful of Spring in December

Presto Pressure Cooker

Tips & Tricks: Cool Tips & Tricks Updated as I Discover Them

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