Community Supported Foraging is not for the Faint of Heart

Boreal Pestle    Clavariadelphus borealis

Every month this summer I received a box of foraged foods. August was particularly heavy with wild mushrooms. Some varieties were new to me. These are all from the boreal forests of Saskatchewan.

The boreal pestle had a sweetness to them. They didn't appeal to me so I dried them and will make a tea this winter. It will be a slightly sweet tea rich in protein and nutrients.

I understand where my food comes from and how it doesn't look like it came from a grocery store. However, I am still squeamish about worms. Some mushrooms are more loved than others by these little white worms or perhaps they are maggots. Elisabeth, my forager, said I should just dry them. "You would be surprised how much protein is in dried mushrooms." That is certainly food for thought. Well, I didn't think on it very long. Into the composter they went. Can't stomach little white worms.

The little white worms had a mind of their own, if that makes any sense at all. I have a composting pail in my kitchen. The morning after putting the wormy mushrooms into the pail, with a lid that simply sits upon it, they had attempted their escape. Little white worms laid dead and dried in a radius around my pail. I cannot imagine the energy expended to crawl up and out and down onto the countertop. A very quick wipe with a wet dishcloth was necessary and done with an attempt not to think about it too much.

Pig's Ear Gomphus clavatus

The Pig's Ear are richly flavourful. I sauteed them and put them in the freezer. I had such a variety of mushrooms that I couldn't possibly eat them all fresh.

Bellybutton Hedgehog  Dentinum repandum

These bellybuttons sauteed nicely. Very versatile.

Comb Tooth  Hericium ramosum

Combtooth was another mushroom that I dried. Not quite sure yet how I will use it. Perhaps a tea or in a ragout.

Making Tomato Powder at Home

I have had a busy summer and now ready to share what I have been up to. I have been intrigued with tomato powder and decided it was time to attempt to make some. These two bottles represent the dried tomato skins from about 20 pounds. You can imagine how the flavour is condensed.

My plan is to use this flavour rich tomato powder in soups and stews to add flavour. I plan to make fresh pasta that will have this added. That should offer me a red coloured pasta with flavour. Won't that be fun!

I peeled 20 pounds of roma tomatoes for salsa making and decided to use these skins for tomato powder.

I laid out the tomato skins on racks to dry. They took so much time. Much more time that I imagined. The skins would stick together and every day I would toss them up to separate. After about 10 days I thought they were ready for grinding.

I did grind them in my Vitamix but the mixture still had moisture. I laid out this first grind on a baking sheet and dried it again. This time for 3 or 4 days. Then I put it back in my blender and the result was exactly as I had hoped. It was fine and dry. It was ready to bottle and save.

Preserving the Harvest for a Brighter Winter Season

I have been eating pretty high on the hog since I picked up my CSA box from Meadowlark Farms and a CSF (Community Supported Foraging) box from Prairie Infusions.

A rainbow of beets, carrots and beans deserve more than to be devoured hungrily. As much as I know I would enjoy that I want to partake of their beauty for a bit longer. Preserving the bounty has been my agenda these past few days.

I have been learning how to use fermentation as a preservation method. My lovely red, yellow and orange carrots are in a sea salt brine. I have added fresh ginger to one jar and a Thai chili in the other. Did you know that you can add carrot tops for added complexity and flavour?

Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gatherer Cook fame is my reliable source of recipes using wild and foraged foods. I made his pickled chanterelles. I can hardly wait to open this jar. I look forward to fishing out the mushrooms and anointing them with camelina oil to serve with a charcuterie platter or salad.

Once you have a brine figured out you can pretty well ferment any vegetable. I have a giardiniera going in my gallon crock. I put together a medley of yellow beans, onions, zucchini, green tomatoes, carrots and hot and sweet peppers.

Pickled Chanterelle Mushrooms   from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

I followed this recipe to a T. Dry saute chanterelles first. Clean and put them into a hot dry frying pan. Small mushrooms whole and larger ones cut into large pieces.

1 lb. chanterelles
2 c. white wine vinegar
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. sugar
2 tbsp. sea salt
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. black peppercorns

Clean mushrooms and cut into pieces, if necessary.

Dry saute in a large pan. When they give up their water sprinkle with one tablespoon of salt and the thyme. Add remainder of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and simmer for five minutes. Turn off heat.

Remove mushrooms with a slotted spoon and pack into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Be sure each jar has a bay leaf and some peppercorns.

Add cooking liquid to cover the mushrooms. Wipe rims of jars and seal. Process in boiling water bath for 20 minute

Fermented Giardiniera

2 c. thinly sliced carrots
2 c. sliced red bell peppers
1 1/2 c. thinly sliced onions
3 c. coarsely chopped zucchini
a few thickly sliced green roma tomatoes
3 peeled and sliced garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
sprig of fresh thyme
3 tbsp. unrefined salt such as kosher or sea salt
6 c. filtered water

Prepare brine by dissolving the salt in water.

Mix all the ingredients except the brine in a large crock or jar.

Fill jar with the brine, leaving 1½ -2 inches of headroom—the space at the top, between the rim of the jar and the top of the vegetables. Weight the vegetables so they are completely submerged in the brine.

Cover the top of the vessel with a lid, coffee filter, paper towel, cheese cloth, or tea towel to keep bugs out.

Be sure to secure towels with a very tight rubber band or the ring from the canning jars. 

Place the jar out of direct light.

Ferment at room temperature 4 days before checking the flavor. If you prefer the flavor more sour, continue fermenting. Any foam that accumulates on the top of the brine can be skimmed off.

Transfer the jars to the refrigerator when the flavour is to your taste. 

Preserving the Harvest...Prairie Style

Our summers are short but wonderful. The days are hot, the skies are blue and the sweet smell of gardens and fields fills the air. I have a little garden but it is mostly herbs, rhubarb and a few tomatoes for the table. I buy at the Farmers' Market to enjoy that summer flavour.

I grew up in a home where we traditionally preserved B.C. fruit, garden vegetables, butchered meats and freshly caught northern lake fish for the winter. I always wished we had a cold room. Even as a young person in high school I was intensely interested in fresh local food and foraging for berries and other edibles.

Farm life back then assured us that we would have all that.

This year I am preserving a few things. I don't use a lot but I cannot help myself when I see the beautiful stone fruits, pickling cucumbers and local berries. These can be the beginning of an even greater meal. A little black currant jam added to pan juices of a roast duck takes the sauce to the next level. Apricot jam has varied applications in the baking world. This is my justification for adding to my cold room collection.

In addition to these recipes, I have blanched and frozen green beans. Saskatoon berries are in the freezer. I have cured fresh garlic from Anna at The Garlic Garden in Yorkton. Last year I had her fresh garlic throughout the winter and up until the new harvest. I keep it in a basket that I hang on the wall of my cold room. I buy potatoes to store in the cold room. Now I wish I had a root cellar! One day.

This fall or early winter I do expect that I will be gifted some wild pheasant. Last year was my first time plucking and cleaning pheasant! I was sorely unprepared but a quick lesson from the hunter set me in the right direction. Pheasant makes the loveliest clear consommé.

I had a lot of hot peppers from the market that I could not eat quickly so I have pickled them. They will be great in sandwiches. Yum.
 

Apricot Jam

This is a simple recipe but just bursting with flavour. It has quickly become my favourite jam for toast.

8 c. coarsely chopped apricots

4 c. sugar

1 c. honey

juice and grated peel of 1 orange

1/8 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring frequently until thick, about 30 minutes. Pour into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims thoroughly. Seal and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (or more depending upon altitude). Yield: about 8 cups.

Chokecherry Jelly   recipe from Bernardin

When I was a teenager we would drive to the hills and seek out locations where we might score a good amount of chokecherries. They have a unique puckery flavour that translates well into jelly, jam and syrup. I could never get the recipe right back then. They have no natural pectin and there was no real recipe. The farm women just knew how to make it. I should have planted myself in my favourite cook's kitchen and documented her recipe. Regrets!

This produced a very soft jelly. I see there is no lemon juice in the recipe. Next time I would add 2 tbsp. bottled lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice has a consistent acidity level as compared to the fresh fruit that can vary.

12 cups (3000 ml) chokecherries
3 cups (750 ml) water 
6 1/2 cups (1875 ml) granulated sugar
2 pouches (170 ml) BERNARDIN® Liquid Pectin


Wash and remove stems from fruit. Combine with water in a stainless steel saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
Pour prepared mixture into dampened jelly bag or cheese cloth-lined sieve suspended over a deep container. Let drip to collect juice. For quicker results, squeeze bag; juice may be cloudy.

Measure 3 cups (750 ml) chokecherry juice into a large, deep stainless steel saucepan. Stir in sugar and 1/2 tsp (2 ml) butter or vegetable oil to reduce foaming. Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Stirring constantly, boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Immediately stir in Liquid Pectin, mixing well. Skim foam. Ladle into prepared jelly jars and water bath process. Makes about 6 - 250 mL jars.

Bread 'n Butter Pickles   recipe from Bernardin

Last week after the Market ended a man from one of the Hutterite colonies gave me 3 bags of pickling cucumbers. How could I refuse?

My mother always made bread 'n butter pickles. We loved them. I have never tried making them until now. I cannot ever remember her looking at a recipe book and she always sang while she made them. Slicing cucumbers give a lot of time for reflection and I realized that this simple act of making pickles formed a connection with my mother that was never possible when she was alive. She suffered with schizophrenia most of my life. Relationships were not her strength.

6 1/2 lb (3 kg) pickling cucumbers

1 lb. (454 gm) onions, sliced 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) thick

1/3 c. (75 mL) pickling salt

5 c. ( 1250 mL) white vinegar

1 1/4 c. (300 mL) white sugar

1/2 c. (125 mL) pickling spice

2 tbsp. ( 30 mL) celery seed

2 tsp. (10 mL) ground ginger

1 tsp. (5 mL) ground turmeric

Slice unpeeled washed cucumbers 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) thick, discard ends. In a large glass or stainless steel container, layer cucumbers and onions, lightly sprinkling each layer with salt. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.

Combine vinegar, sugar, pickling spice, celery seed, ginger and turmeric in a large stainless steel saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently 15 minutes.

Drian vegetables, add to pickling liquid. Mix well. Return mixture to a boil.

Yield – 7 x 500 mL jars

Hot Cucumber Relish   

Three bags are a lot of cucumbers. I needed to make something else. This recipe for cucumber relish looked good and might be nice on hotdogs and hamburgers. We have a block party coming up. I will test this on my neighbours!

7 c. peeled, finely chopped cucumbers

3 c. finely chopped red peppers

1 c. finely chopped hot banana peppers

2 c. finely chopped green peppers

1 c. finely chopped onion

2 c. finely chopped celery

1/2 c. pickling salt

2 1/4 c. sugar

3 c. white vinegar

3 tbsp. celery seed

3 tbsp. mustard seed

Combine prepared measured cucumbers, red peppers, hot peppers, green peppers, onion and celery with pickling salt in a large glass or stainless steel container. Cover and let stand 4 hours.

Drain vegetable mixture through cheesecloth lined sieve. Rinse with water, drain again squeezing out excess liquid.

Combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed and mustard in a large stainless steel sauce pan. Mix well. Bring to a boil. Add vegetables. Stirring frequently, return to a bil and boil gently 10 minutes.

Yield: about 6 - 500 mL jars.

This is my contribution this month for The Canadian Food Experience Project, the brainchild of Valerie at A Canadian Foodie. This is the 5th edition of a yearlong project. You can find posts from other  participants here.

Pickled Peppers recipe can be found here

My previous posts in this challenge can be found here -

My Earliest Memory of Canadian Food
Regional Canadian Food - SW Saskatchewan 
Local Food Heroes 
My Cherished Canadian Recipe - Saskatoon Berry Pie 

20 Mile Dinner

I have duck breast in my freezer along with vegetables from my garden.  In keeping with the theme of the 100-mile diet, I am enjoying a 20 mile dinner tonight.

The duck breast is from one of the local Hutterite colonies.  The legs were used for confit.  These yellow beans were from the Farmer's Market and I grilled them before freezing.  The sauce for the duck is red wine poached rhubarb that was water bath canned.  I only had to go as far as my freezer and cold room for this satisfying meal tonight.

September Daring Cooks Challenge

I have been canning food for a number of years.  Actually, I have been canning and freezing food since I was a teenager or younger.  You see, I grew up on a farm.  That is what we did.

We had a garden and froze all the vegetables.  And we would always buy B.C. fruit by the case and would can peaches, pears, apricots and cherries every year.  Then we would go out and pick saskatoon berries and chokecherries to make more preserves.  If we could get our hands on any, we would also try to make crabapple jelly.  Actually in the really old days, before I got involved, my mother would can vegetables and chicken.  And that was before the days of pressure canners!  Scary, eh?

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

I want to show you what I have done this season - Spiced Pear Butter and Blackberry Jam.

I posted my recipe for Strawberry Balsamic Black  Pepper Strawberry Preserves awhile back.

And my Concord Grape Jam. 

With my pressure canner, I have put away duck and chicken stock.

Tomato Salsa!

If you go back a couple of days, I have posted my Mustard Beans.








This is the recipe I am sharing today ... Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce.

Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

25 lbs of roma tomatoes
3 large or 5 medium onions
1 head of garlic
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons of Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried, crushed hot chilis

Build a hot fire on your charcoal grill or use your gas barbecue.  Grill all of the tomatoes until blackened on all sides.  Drop into cold water to chill.  Slip the blackened skins off the tomatoes.  Chop coarsely.

Roast the whole onions on the grill.  When blackened on all sides, remove to cool.  Remove the blackened layers and coarsely chop the onion.  Pulse in a food processor to finely chop the onion.

Grill the head of garlic over the hot coals.  Let cool and squeeze out the roasted garlic.

Add tomatoes, onions, garlic and other seasonings to a large stock pot.  Simmer for 1 - 2 hours or until rich.

Process in a water bath.  Bernardin has great instructions for processing with the water bath method.

Mustard Bean and Baby Potato Salad

It is the season for putting away for the winter.  I bought some lovely fresh yellow beans at the farmer's market.  I love mustard beans, especially in this recipe.

I toss them with steamed baby potatoes for a low-fat and flavour packed potato salad.

Mustard Beans

2 lbs yellow beans, washed, trimmed and cut to 1 1/2" lengths
3 tablespoons of mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon tumeric

3 tablespoons pickling salt

white vinegar
water
flour
1/4 cup sugar
onions, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped

Mix the sauce ingredients and place on heat.  Bring to a boil.  Add the beans, onions and red pepper.  Bring back to the boil.

Process in water bath for 20 minutes for 250 ml jars.

Concord Grape Jam

It is that time of the year again!  I have been doing a lot of canning and will be sharing more recipes.  Today it was Concord Grape Jam.  I could have made beautiful clear jelly but I wanted a change.  This was a little fussy to make.  First, peeling grapes!  I eventually just squeezed and the innards popped out.  It was still a tad tedious though.  

But the results are wonderful.  The jam has somewhat of a floral flavour and aroma that you do not achieve when making the jelly.  I will be looking for some ideas on serving this.  Do you have any? 

Concord Grape Jam

Gourmet Magazine, October 2005

• 5 lb Concord grapes, stemmed
• 5 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Sterilize jars:
Wash jars, lids, and screw bands in hot, soapy water, then rinse well. Dry screw bands. Put jars on a rack in canner or deep pot and add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, covered, then boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, leaving jars in water. Heat lids in water to cover by 2 inches in a small saucepan until thermometer registers 180°F (do not let boil). Remove from heat, leaving lids in water. Keep the jars and lids submerged in hot water, covered, until ready to use.

Cook jam:
Chill 2 small plates (for testing jam).

Slip skins from grapes and purée skins with 1 cup sugar in a food processor, then transfer to a 4- to 6-quart wide heavy pot. Stir in lemon juice, peeled grapes, and remaining 4 cups sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring frequently and skimming foam, until pulp is broken down, about 20 minutes. Force jam through food mill set over a large bowl. Discard remaining solids. Return jam to pot and cook at a slow boil, skimming foam occasionally and stirring frequently as mixture thickens to prevent scorching, 35 minutes, then test for doneness.

To test jam, remove from heat, then drop a teaspoonful on a chilled plate and chill 1 minute. Tilt plate: Jam should remain in a mound and not run. If jam runs, continue cooking at a slow boil, testing every 5 minutes, until done, up to 25 minutes more.

Seal, process, and store jars:
Drain jars upside down on a clean kitchen towel 1 minute, then invert. Ladle jam into jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at top. Wipe off rims of filled jars with a clean damp kitchen towel, then top with lids and firmly screw on screw bands. Put sealed jars on rack in canner or pot and add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, covered, then boil 10 minutes. With tongs, transfer jars to a towel-lined surface to cool.

Jars will seal; if you hear a ping, it signals that vacuum formed at the top of cooling preserves has made lid concave. Remember that you may or may not be around to hear that ping (some jars make the sound after you remove them from water, and others in same batch may take a few hours); the important thing is for jars to eventually have concave lids. Preserves will thicken as they cool.

After jars have cooled 12 to 24 hours, press center of each lid to check that it's concave, then remove screw band and try to lift off lid with your fingertips. If you can't, lid has a good seal. Replace screw band. Put any jars that haven't sealed properly in the refrigerator and use them first.

Pressure Canning your Stews

I made this chunky chili yesterday in my new crockpot.  I cooked it for about 5 hours and it was very tasty.  But rather than eat it right away, I thought this might be a good chance to practice with my (also new) pressure canner.

If I had thought about preserving this stew in advance, I probably would not have fully cooked it before processing.  But since this was a brisket, the meat was still very firm.  So I thought I would give it a try.

I also had a liter of chicken broth in the fridge.  I also preserved it with the pressure canner.  The chicken broth would not take as long to process but I didn't want to go through this twice.  It is recommended that meat stews be processed for 90 minutes.  Chicken stock only requires about half that time.

I like the idea of preserving food for use later.  I can remember as a child, my mother would can chickens using the water bath method.  I loved the flavour of the canned chickens but there isn't a chance I would do that without using a pressure canner.  The risk for botulism is too high.

I have been canning with the water bath method for years - tomatoes (with lemon juice added), fruits, jams and jellies.  Having a pressure canner broadens the range of items that I can put away.  

I left about a 1-inch headspace and both jars lost a bit of liquid.  I was way more intent on being sure I didn't have an explosion or have the pot run dry so wasn't focussing much on the end product - not that I could do much about it anyway!

Have any of you done any pressure canning?  I would love to hear about the types of things that you have considered successful using this method.