Tag: Garden produce

Green Tomato Pickle Relish Recipe

Econogal’s Green Tomato Pickle Relish

Since I had an overabundance of green tomatoes at the end of this year’s growing season, I tried several new recipes. One that I am sharing today is for a Green Tomato Pickle Relish. I found the handwritten recipe in one of my recipe boxes and so have no idea of the origin. I tweaked it a bit as well.

This mostly sweet relish does have small super-hot peppers placed in the bottom of the jar along with a fat garlic clove. This can be modified to suit your preferences. The prep requires an overnight draining period so planning is essential.

My stock of cheesecloth was depleted so I substituted coffee filters to make the Bouquet garni of spice seeds. This trick is a great time saver. I used two coffee filters, filled with the spices and then twisted the top and secured with kitchen string.

Spices wrapped in coffee filters to make a bouquet garni
Shortcut to make a bouquet garni

The Prep

The recipe calls for finely chopped vegetables so I used a food processor instead of chopping by hand. While this cut down on the prep time, it still took about 45 minutes to chop 10 cups of green tomatoes, 2 cups of green peppers and 2 cups of onion. But the prep time the following morning was almost nil.

In the morning, drain the vegetables while bringing the liquid mixture to a boil. Add vegetables and return to the boiling point then quickly remove from heat.  Place garlic glove and two small hot peppers in the bottom of each jar. Then you are ready to can and process.

2 hot peppers and a garlic glove at the bottom of a canning jar
Place peppers and garlic in bottom before adding green tomatoes.

Maybe a total of 45 minutes is needed on the second day. So the entire time of actual prep and cooking is an hour and a half divided by an overnight rest in between. Makes 7 pints.

Ingredients for Green Tomato Pickle Relish

About 5 lbs. Green Tomatoes finely chopped to make 10 cups chopped

5-6 Green Sweet Pepper finely chopped for 2 cups chopped

2 lbs Onions finely chopped for 2 cups chopped

½ cup canning salt

1 quart Cider Vinegar

2 Cups Sugar

2 Tbs. Mustard seed

1 tsp whole cloves

7 large garlic cloves

14 small hot red peppers

2 paper coffee filters

Instructions for Green Tomato Pickle Relish

Day One: Finely chop tomatoes, peppers and onions. Sprinkle with canning salt and let sit overnight.

Day Two: Drain vegetables. Make a bouquet garni by placing mustard seed and cloves in the center of doubled coffee filters. spices wrapped in a coffee filter to make a bouquet garniTwist shut and secure by tying string around the top. Combine vinegar and sugar in a non-reactive stock pot. Add bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Remove the bouquet garni then add vegetables and return to the boiling point. Immediately remove from heat and pour into hot, sterilized jars. Add lids and bands and then process in a water bath for ten minutes. Add appropriate time if you live at altitude.

This green tomato pickle relish is great served over hot dogs or bratwurst as well as alongside roasted meats. Enjoy!

Green tomatoes in a food processor
Finely chopping green tomatoes is easy using a food processor.

 

 

Swiss Chard with Raisins and Almonds

Swiss Chard with Raisins and Almonds Recipe

I love this recipe based on sautéed Swiss Chard. Beth shared the recipe with me last summer. She had adapted the recipe from The Gourmet Magazine. Now I am sharing my version which has been further tweaked. My almond tree is not producing nuts yet, and I have not learned to dehydrate grapes into raisins. But the onion, garlic and Swiss Chard are products of my garden.

                                                 Kitchen Items

                                     You will need the following items from the kitchen to prepare the dish. Cutting board, sharp knife, measuring spoons, measuring cups, and a skillet with lid. I use a cast iron skillet. Optional tools are a garlic press and a hand held food chopper. If I am cooking alone, I utilize the last two items. However, my husband prefers cutting everything up with his chef’s knife.

 

Ingredients

4 to 5 large leaves of Swiss Chard, leaves finely sliced and stems chopped
1 small to medium onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup raisins
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS balsamic vinegar

Directions

Heat olive oil on medium until warm. Saute the minced garlic and chopped onion until the onion is translucent. Stir in the almonds. Then stir in the Swiss Chard. Cover with lid and reduce temperature as needed. Cook 4 to 5 minutes or until the chard is wilted. Stir in raisins. Finally stir in the balsamic vinegar.

I use a scant two tablespoons of the vinegar. This recipe serves two hungry people. I have omitted salt because I think the balsamic vinegar is the only needed flavoring for the fresh ingredients.

As you can see by the picture, the sautéed Swiss Chard with Raisins and Almonds yields about a cup per person. We enjoyed a summertime meal of a turkey sandwich with fresh lettuce from the garden. Later in the summer we will naturally add slices of tomato. Also from the garden were golden beets. The pickle was made from last summer’s cucumbers with a recipe from Small Batch Preserving. But the best part of the meal is the Swiss Chard with Raisins and Almonds!

Pressure Canning- My Newest Skill

Long-time readers will remember one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to learn six new skills. Pressure canning is now on the list of acquired skills. I have canned, or in layman’s terms, put-up jams, jellies, and salsas for years. Last year I added pickles. Now that I have successfully learned how to use a pressure canner I expect to really expand my preserving.

Pressure Canning vs. Water Bath Canning

There is quite a bit of difference between the water bath canning I have done for years and pressure canning. For starters, water bath canning really does not need special equipment. Although I have a large water bath canner, for many years I just used my spaghetti pot and lined the bottom with a towel. However, a pressure canner is designed just for canning.

To be honest, I have had the canner for a few months. But it sat in its box. First in the basement, then for the last month at the top of the stairs. Its’ main job was intimidation. Yes, I was scared of this device.

For those of you that don’t can, a water bath canner is used with foods that are acidic in nature. Or have lots of vinegar in the recipe. As long as you achieve a good seal on the can, there is little to fear. On the other hand, low acid foods need pressure sealing in order to eliminate the danger of botulism. Therein lies the source of my fear. I worry that I will not use the pressure canner correctly. And there is no one I want to poison.

Abundant Garden

This year the garden is in overdrive, thanks to the new raised row garden. Therefore, I need to learn how to can. My green beans, eggplant, acorn squash and pumpkin all need preserving. I only have so much freezer space! So I decided to start with something simple-green beans.

I spent two days procrastinating by reading everything possible about processing green beans. Then after picking four pounds of green beans, I opened the pressure canner box. Reading the directions and assembling the canner delayed the moment by another hour. But finally I was ready to can.

Snapping four pounds of green beans takes a bit of time. It brought back memories of the women on my Dad’s side of the family snapping beans at what used to be the family cottage in the mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. Not a bad thing when you are alone at the kitchen sink washing and preparing to can.

Moment of Truth

Finally, the time arrived to can. The green beans were ready, the canner was fully assembled.  Then following the canner directions, I placed three quarts of water in the bottom of the canner. I added warm water. I have a quart size Pyrex measuring cup which I nuked in the microwave. The book suggested warming to no more than 180 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn’t measure, but it wasn’t boiling.

I had kept the canning jars hot by filling with boiling water while the beans were being processed.  The beans were boiled for five minutes, partially cooking them. When I water bath can, the jars are in the canner until ready to fill. So this step was different.

After filling the jars with beans and leaving the proper head space of an inch, I placed the five pints in the canner. I lined the arrows on the lid and canner top, rotated clockwise and turned up the heat. Then I waited. And waited.

Steam needs to vent for ten minutes before the pressure regulator is placed atop the vent. Time passed fairly quickly as I was able to clean up the mess I made snapping the ends off the beans. But then time seemed to crawl once the pressure regulator was put in place. An automatic air vent/cover lock struggled to pop-up. Perhaps it was because of the first time use. Or maybe this is normal. Future canning’s will tell.

Pressure Time

Finally, the pressure gauge began to move up. My altitude dictates a pressure of 12 which is just above the standard. The trick to pressure canning is to keep the canner at the right pressure. If the canner falls below the pressure needed for your altitude it means resetting the clock. This I did not want to do. So I watched like an eagle. I did have to adjust the heat throughout the canning. But it was worth it in the end. No restart of the clock for me.

After the twenty minutes elapsed, the pressure canner was lifted off the heat and allowed to cool. Think of a car radiator, much the same concept. You don’t want to open either when hot. Once the canner cooled down, I lifted the lid and removed the five pints onto a kitchen towel. Longtime preservists will appreciate the thrill of hearing five metallic pings shortly thereafter.

The four pounds ending up filling five pints with enough left over that I froze the remainder in a quart size freezer bag. I am out of pint size jars. So is my small town!

Final Thoughts

I am so glad I learned this skill. The lovely pings indicate a good seal. I have a feeling this new pressure canner will get plenty of use this fall. Unlike a water bath can, I will need to stay in the kitchen paying close attention to the pressure. But I think the time spent will be worthwhile.

A major difference between the two types of canneries is how altitude is handled. In water bath canning, additional time is added to the process. However, in pressure canning all geographic locations use the same amount of time. It is the pressure which is changed.

Yes it is far easier to buy the cans at the grocery store. But I love to garden and I don’t want the produce to go to waste. I can control what goes into the food. Next time you read a label with lots of hard to pronounce ingredients, you might understand my point. Of course reading labels could be a whole separate blog post!

If you so desire I would love to hear about your successes. Feel free to share recipes too! I was so caught up in the process only a few pictures were taken. But there is always next time!

Green beans piled in front of a pressure canner
Ready to start
Cannery with pressure gauge on top
Intimidating Dial
Empty large pot
Empty canner
5 jars of green beans alongside recipe books
Final Product