Canning Can-Do: Italian Sauce

Italian Sauce will be great
on a cold winter evening!

I've been steadily canning plain tomatoes, but, since we eat a lot of spaghetti during the winter, I decided to put up some Italian Sauce.  Bear in mind that, if you add meat, you MUST process it in a pressure canner.  We don't mind the seeds in our spaghetti sauce, so I do not remove them.

Italian Sauce

1.5 gallons tomatoes (run through blender)
6 cups finely chopped onions
1 finely chopped sweet red pepper, seeded
9 T. minced garlic
2 T. Italian seasoning
2-3 T. salt (to taste)
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
2-3 T. olive oil

Place olive oil in a stock pot until hot.  Add everything but tomatoes and bay leaves and cook until onions are clear.  Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer until reduced by nearly half.

Pack into hot jars, add lemon juice, and process in water-bath canner as follows:

Size                Lemon juice            Processing time
Pint                    1 T.                    35 minutes
Quart                  2 T.                    40 minutes

Enjoy!

Canning Can-Do: Saucy Salsa

It's worth the work!

Salsa is a favorite treat in our household, so, of course, I thought I'd try canning a few jars.  We prefer ours a bit on the sweet side, so we add a bit of lime juice.  Here's what we came up with:

Saucy Salsa

10 c. tomatoes, finely chopped
5 c. sweet red peppers, seeded & chopped finely
5 c. finely chopped sweet onions
3 large seeded jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
1 c. cider vinegar
0.5 c. lime juice
4 T. chopped garlic
1 T. salt (or to taste)
2-3 T. minced cilantro

Aren't they lovely?

Combine in non-reactive stock pot and cook until onions are clear.  Seal in hot half-pint or pint jars and process in water-bath canner for 15 minutes.  Yield:  7 pints

Relishing Your Food: Piccadilly Dill Chow Chow

Last week I wrote about my latest batch of chow chow, but realized that I was ignoring the dill-lovers in the family.  I was a bit nervous about it, but both the dill-lovers in the house have added it to several sandwiches!  So, here's my take on Piccadilly piccalilli:

Dill chow chow is a bit greener
than regular chow chow!

Piccadilly Dill Chow Chow

1.5 c. chopped green tomatoes

4 c. chopped cabbage

2 c. chopped onions

2 c. sweet green pepper, chopped, seeds removed

0.5 c. pickling salt

4 c. vinegar

2 T. sugar

2 T. minced garlic

4 t. pickling spices

3 T. brown mustard seed

2 T. dill seed

1 t. turmeric

1 c. water

Mix vegetables together and place in gallon jar.  Dissolve salt in 8 cups of warm water; pour over vegetables and let stand in a cool place overnight.  Drain, and press dry.  Tie pickling spices, 2 T. mustard seed, & 5 t. dill seed into double coffee filters.  Warm vinegar and add sugar, garlic, turmeric and spice bags into vinegar; simmer for 5 minutes, add vegetables and remaining spices (1 t. dill seed, 1 t. mustard seed) into vinegar and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove spice bags, then seal in half-pint jars, leaving 0.25" headspace.  Process in boiling water-bath canner for 10 minutes.

Relishing Your Food: Chow Chow

The melange of vegetables really shines
in this less-sweet version of the classic relish.

In my childhood, purple hull peas were frequently part of the menu.  When you eat as many as we did, you need a little something to spice up the flavor.  My grandmother often made what we called Chow Chow, but is known in many other places as Piccalilli.  Since you rarely see it in the grocery, and I'm in canning mode this summer, I decided to try making some of my own.  I do not have my grandmother's recipe so I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks:  Blue Ribbon Recipes.

Hint:  Give yourself a break and use your
food processor to chop the vegetables finely.

Chow Chow Relish

1.5 c. chopped green tomatoes
4 c. chopped cabbage
2 c. chopped onions
2 c. chopped sweet red pepper, seeds removed
0.5 c. pickling salt
3 T. mustard seed
2 T. celery seed
1 T. pickling spice
1 t. turmeric
4 c. vinegar
1.5 c. sugar

Mix vegetables together and place in gallon jar.  Dissolve salt in 8 cups of water; pour over vegetables.  Cover with dishcloth or coffee filter and let stand in a cool place overnight; drain, pressing out liquid.  If too salty, rinse and drain again.  Tie spices (except for ground turmeric which you add directly to vinegar) in cheesecloth or coffee filter.  Add to vinegar and 1 c. water; let simmer 5 minutes.  Add sugar; stir until dissolved.  Add vegetables; simmer 15 minutes.  Bring to a boil; pack into hot jars leaving 0.25" headspace.  Process 10 minutes in water bath canner.  Makes 5-6 half-pints.

I'm already enjoying the fresh summer taste!  What about you?

What's cooking in your Savory kitchen?

Nancy