Sunday August 30, 2009
Heirloom Breeds & Seeds:
Preserving the Bounty
I have exciting news!! As many of you know I am on the board of Berkshire Grown. (http://www.berkshiregrown.org). Berkshire Grown has designated the month of September to "preserving the bounty" and many of the restaurant members and myself agreed to host workshops. My workshop is on September 17th and we'll be making corn and black bean salsa and, warm bath preserving kale or other fall greens. As part of the promotion, Channel 13, the NBC Albany affiliate, will be doing 2 segments. And, here's the news, I will be doing a 4-5 minute demo on air this coming Saturday, September 5th at 8 am.
I am gearing up and trying to hone in what I will do on the segment. I am most comfortable with tomato canning and was reminiscing about last year's tomato harvest and my jars of tomato sauce, salsa and ketchup so I thought I would share my tomato sauce recipe for old times sake:
Nana's Basic Tomato Sauce
Rule of thumb - 5lbs of tomatoes yields one quart of sauce.
Other tools: boiling water canner,canning jars, canning funnel, rubber spatula, jar lifter and/or tongs, fine sieve or food mill
Citric Acid (available where you buy canning supplies)
Wash and cut up tomatoes, place in stainless steel saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Using a slotted spoon crush tomatoes to release juices. Boil until tomatoes are soft and then remove from heat. In batches, press tomatoes through a fine sieve (what my grandmother used) or a food mill (what I use) which removes the seeds and skin. Return the skinless, seedless tomatoes to the saucepan over medium to high heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid is reduced to 1/2 for a nice medium thick sauce.
Meanwhile, you can be getting your cans ready - place cans on rack of boiling water canner, add water to until the pint jars are about 2/3rds full. Cover and bring to a simmer. This process kills any bacteria. In a small saucepan, place the lids - the flat, round piece, cover and bring to a simmer. The screw bands do not need to sterilized.
Now you are ready to start canning your sauce. One jar at a time, remove from canner, pouring hot water back into canner, place jar on flat heat-resistant surface. For a quart, add 1/2 tsp citric acid, then place funnel in jar, ladle sauce into jar leaving about a half inch of headspace, wipe the rim and threads with a paper towel. ( This is important to make sure vacuum seal can occur). Lift a hot lid with your tongs and place on jar and then screw the lid with your fingertips until tight. Place back in canner with tongs. Repeat until done.
Cover all jars with additional water by an inch or so. Cover canner and bring to a boil. The boiling must be continuous and rapid for 40 minutes. Remove lid, let sit for about 5 minutes or so. Remove jars without tilting, place jars on a towel in a draft-free spot and allow to cool for 24 hours. Store in a cool dark place for up to a year.
Invite friends as the process is fun but laborious. My grandmother used to say many hands make for light work. We didn't add seasoning as my grandmother liked to use the basic sauce as her blank canvas to embellish as she used it for different dishes.
....but what shall I do for the demo - beets? raspberries? Stay tuned!!