Food Preservation

Homemade Red Currant Jam

July 25, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

If you’ve tasted both blackcurrants and red currants, it’s hard to believe they’re related. Blackcurrants have a deep, astringent flavor reminiscent of a dry wine. Red currants, on the other hand, are bright, light and quite sweet. Blackcurrant jam is a rarity in the US, and a treasure to find, but red currant jam is almost non-existent.

Red currants are finding their way into backyard gardens, and their beauty is hard to resist at farmers markets. Since your corner grocery likely doesn’t carry red currant jam, you can buy it online for $10 a jar or get our your jam pot and make your own. The unique flavor of red currant jam is worth the extra effort.

…

Homemade Blackcurrant Gin Recipe

July 18, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Blackcurrants ripen in mid-summer, during the hottest days or the year. Here I am in the kitchen whipping up a batch of blackcurrant jam on a hot July afternoon. While jam is delicious, I’m wondering if I’ve made the best choice. A cool cocktail to sip in the shade sounds a lot better right about now. I glance up to see a bit of gin on my shelf, and the last of the freshly harvested blackcurrants in my bowl land in a mason jar covered in gin. A quick blackcurrant gin is ready in as little as 24 hours, and it’ll still be plenty hot then too.

…

Blackcurrant Jam Recipe for Canning

July 17, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Blackcurrant jam is one of those things that you just can’t find in stores. While you can argue whether or not canning is worth the time or effort, you cant argue with the fact that if you want blackcurrant jam you likely have to make it yourself. It is one of my favorite jams, and it’s a sad year when I don’t make time to put up a big batch.

…

How to Can Mango

July 7, 2018 by Ashley Adamant 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Canning mangoes at home is a great way to preserve an otherwise expensive fruit for cooking all year round. When you can mangoes at home, you can use as much or as little sugar as you’d like, meaning that they’re much more versatile than store bought.

Most of the year, mangoes are unbelievably expensive, especially in the Northeast. Once mangoes come in season in mid-summer, the grocery stores are almost giving them away. They sell for as little as 50 cents a piece, down from $3 or more each. When that happens, it’s time to get canning!

…

How to Make Rose Cordial

June 27, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Walking at the edge of the woods, I was intoxicated by the scent of roses. I could smell them from yards away, and I knew I had to make something with them. My countertop was already completely covered with small-batch wines and meads, though a rose mead sounds like a lovely idea. Something simple, that won’t take up more counter space for weeks on end. It’s time for a simple homemade rose cordial.

I’ve always considered cordial to mean a sweet alcoholic beverage. Simple syrup, vodka and something flavorful to infuse. My homemade limoncello, for example, is a type of lemon cordial. I’ve recently learned that a cordial doesn’t have to contain alcohol, and there are plenty of examples of commercial non-alcoholic cordials. Rose’s Lime Cordial is one example, though in that one the name rose is a brand, and it’s just lime juice and sugar.

…

Pickled Fiddleheads

May 17, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Fiddleheads have a very short season, just a week or two and those cute little curls unfurl and the moment has passed. How do you enjoy fiddleheads all year long? Quick and easy fiddlehead pickles are the answer!

…

Dandelion Capers

May 16, 2018 by Ashley Adamant 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Capers are a staple of our home cooking, and we eat them enough that I decided to learn how to grow them myself. I was disappointed to learn that they need a long growing season and lots of heat to thrive, so no luck in Vermont.

Traditional capers are the pickled flower buds of a heat-loving Mediterranean shrub, but there are a number of other pickled flower buds that taste remarkably similar.

Dandelions produce a small, caper sized flower bud early in spring before the stem shoots skyward and opens into a flower. If picked small enough, dandelion buds can be made into convincing dandelion capers. That’s a homemade caper that just about anyone can grow!

…

Mango Wine ~ Small Batch Recipe

May 14, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Mango wine has a reputation for capturing the very essence of mango in a light and sweet summer wine. I’ll ferment just about anything that’ll fit in a carboy, but somehow I’ve never gotten around to making it.

After 10 years of home brewing, adding yeast to anything with even a hint of promise, we always make our first batches small. I’ve made a few too many toxic 5-gallon batches to waste ingredients before I have a winning recipe. Single bottle quart batches are a great way to refine a recipe before investing a lot of money in homemade wine.

…

Wild Ramp Pesto

May 11, 2018 by Ashley Adamant Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Pesto is one of those things that you can make with just about anything green. Wild weed pestos can be made with just about any green that has enough flavor to give a pesto character. Ramp pesto uses flavorful ramp greens to make a spicy, garlicky pesto to get you moving in the spring.

Ramp Pesto with Wild Leeks

…

Preserving Ramps

May 11, 2018 by Ashley Adamant 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

Ramps are a spring ephemeral, which means they’re only here for a very short time. A short harvest window helps us appreciate natures bounty, but sometimes its just not enough. There are simple ways to preserve ramps to enjoy them for a little bit longer.

My baby girl holding an arm full of ramps.

…

« Previous Page

Food Preservation

Footer

Amazon Disclosure