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Spiced Carrot Sticks |
My Momma's Zucchini Relish |
Dill Crock
Mammy's Dishpan Pickles |
Hindman's Rosy Pink Apple Jelly
Canning and Preserving the Harvest of 2002
By Cynthia Bowan
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I love to collect cookbooks of all types, but especially old ones. I enjoy the ones which take me back to a time when things were simpler, and life was gentler and easier. Some have hand-written notes in the margin, perhaps the date the former owner made that recipe. Or there might be a note about changing the ingredients, or even a review. I love them all.
Sometimes, if I am very fortunate, there will be old clippings from newspapers or magazines, or handwritten recipes. A few times, I have even found letters, such as the following:
Mt. Lebanon, Pa
Aug. 16, 1938
Dear Martha:
Mother had me write this recipe while she was putting up tomatoes. This recipe is for,
Fine Cucumber Relish
1 doz. cucumbers
2 qt. small onions
3 red peppers
2 tablespoon salt
1 lb. Brown sugar
1 qt. vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon white mustard seed
1 teaspoon turmeric
Peel onions, and slice cucumbers, onions and red peppers thinly. Remove seeds from red peppers. Let them all stand one hour well sprinkled with salt, drain, add brown sugar, white mustard seed and turmeric. Cook 45 min. or until tender. Pour into sterilized jars and seal hot.
This short note was signed with Teresa's last name, and the words "From Mrs." and the initials and last name of Teresa's mother.
The faded, folded note was tucked into the pages of an old cookbook from a church group in the South Hills area, which I picked up somewhere along the way in my travels.
Who was "Teresa", the daughter, I wonder? Was she a maiden aunt still living at home, or a daughter who cane in to help her mother with the canning? The handwriting is that of a woman, not a child. Did they have a garden? How many years had they been canning and preserving together? And what about Martha - was she a friend of Mother's, or perhaps, a lady from church who might have had the chance to taste this relish at a
church dinner or picnic?
I can remember my mother working in the kitchen with her mother, and at other times, with my Dad's mom, canning and putting things up for winter. I remember my Grandmother Bacon's fruit cellar, actually dug far back under the ground instead of being part of the cellar under the house.
The first memory I have of the cellar, was one time when Grandma and I had gone down to get some things for dinner. I have no idea how small I was, but I do know I did not like the dark. Grandma reached up and turned on a light bulb, and a glorious rainbow, all caught and held captive in jars, filled the shelves in front of me.
Jams and jellies, pickles and relishes, vegetables and fruits...even tomato sauces and ketchup, they all shone. Sliced pickled beets fought for my attention, and next to them, Applesauce and rhubarb jam, summer-yellow corn, green beans, whole tomatoes ... so much, that I could barely take it all in.
Ever since then, I have loved to can and freeze, to put up food for the winter. Although our grocery stores and the food industry have evolved to provide us with vegetables and fruits year-round, there is something so satisfying about being able to can and preserve. Perhaps it is the Mother Earth instinct, or a remnant of hard times, such as our parents or grandparents experienced in the great depression, that compels us to do this.
I also know that when I put up various foodstuffs, I know for certain exactly what is in that jar. There will be no preservatives and no artificial flavorings.
I do not can to the extent my grandmothers did, or even my mother and father. But there are certain things to be enjoyed. In the middle of winter, for example, there is a joy in opening a jar of strawberry preserves, or making vegetable soup with corn you cut from the cob in summer, along with a jar of your own pureed tomatoes, perhaps green beans and more.
Things like this nourish not only our bodies, but our souls.
And with that deep thought <G>, I leave you with the following recipes from my family and extended family. May you Enjoy! them, and CYH - consider yourself hugged.
This is one I used to make when my children were small. The neat thing is you can make it any time of the year. I think it originally came from Better Homes & Gardens, but since I've been making these for over 30 yr., I am no longer certain of the source.
Spiced Carrot Sticks
1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 c. sugar
1 T. pickling spices
1 T. salt
1" piece of cinnamon stick
2 lb. carrots, pared, quartered lengthwise and cut into 4" long sticks
Combine vinegar, sugar, spices and salt in large pan. Bring to boiling, boil 5 minutes. Add carrots, cook 10 minutes or just tender. Pack in sterilized jars (1 qt. or 2 pints). Pour hot boiling liquid in. Seal. Allow to stand 2 weeks in refrigerator to mellow and blend flavors.
My Momma's Zucchini Relish
6 c. cubed zucchini (Momma always shredded hers in the processor)
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
6 medium onions
5 c. sugar
3 c. cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. celery seed
2 T. mustard seed
Place zucchini, chopped peppers and onions (chopped or sliced, your taste) in a large container. Cover with crushed ice and let set for 3 hours.
In a large pot, place remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Add well-drained vegetables, bring to boil again.
Ladle vegetables into wide mouth jars that have been cleaned and are hot. Seal and process in hot water bath. Makes about 6 pints.
Note: I also use this recipe to make End of Garden pickles at the end of summer, using green tomatoes, some onions, peppers, cauliflower etc.
This is a very old recipe, and the one I use for dill pickles, especially. It came from an very old, out-of-print book, The Country Kitchen, by Edward Harris Heath.
Dill Crock
Fill a great crock, leaving room for vegetables, with a brine made of 10 c.
water to 3/4 c. salt (10 parts water to 3/4 part salt, or equal proportions).
Add a small amount of vinegar, but no more than 3/4 measure for 10 measures of
water. Now use a good measure of fresh dill, toss in a few cloves of garlic
(be stingy), and pack fresh vegetables with generous layers of dill between. Parboil green or wax beans for a few minutes first, to take the fuzzy taste
off.
You can use raw baby carrots, small raw onions, pea pods, cucumber chunks, tiny cukes, broccoli and/or cauliflower. Do NOT put in any kind of metal bowl or
container or use a metal spoon. This will discolor your vegetables.
Refrigerate 2-3 days before dipping in.
If you want a more modern approach, pack your vegetables and dill with 1-2
garlic cloves in hot, clean, wide-mouth jars. Heat brine (you can also add a
little alum to make pickles crisper). Pour hot brine over vegetables and seal.
Process in hot water bath as you would regular pickles. Needs 3-4 days to
mature.
Green cherry tomatoes done this way are awesome. Also, you can make a few jars
of just tender young green beans. For a fantastic appetizer, trim crusts from
thin slices of white bread. Spread thinly with mayonnaise, place a dill bean on
top. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper, roll up. Place in wax paper and place
for an hour or two in the refrigerator before serving. Just before serving,
cut in half or thirds. Brush with melted butter all over and broil until
golden brown. You can also make this appetizer with long quartered slivers of
dill pickles and a small slice of ham.
I like to serve a chilled bowl of these mixed vegetables for an appetizer. They
are addictive.
This was my Grandmother Mitchell's recipe. We enjoyed the all-too brief summer visits in SC with her and our other relatives.
Mammy's Dishpan Pickles
Soak 1 dishpan cukes for 24 hours in water to which 2 c. of powdered lime has
been added. Rinse and soak in clear water for 3 hours. Drain and soak
overnight in the following:
2 qt. vinegar
8 c. sugar
3 T. salt
3 T. pickling spices (tie spices in a piece of cloth, it makes prettier
pickle).
Next morning, boil 35 minutes. Pack in sterilized jars.
This is my daughter-in-law's mother's recipe. Nancy Hindman makes this recipe every year. Her method makes a beautiful, delicate pink jelly, as fragrant as if the apples had just been picked.
Hindman's Rosy Pink Apple Jelly
Carefully peel bright red apple skins into a Dutch oven-size pan. Cover with 5 cups of water, and boil until skins have lost their color. Drain water off; it should measure about 4 cups. In Dutch oven pan: measure 4 cups of this apple "juice", add 1 pkg. sure jell (regular, NOT light), bring to a full boil. Add all at once with 5 cups sugar.
Bring to full rolling boil, boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat. Pour into clean hot glasses or jars. Seal with paraffin. Use late summer or fall apples - the redder, the better.
By Cynthia Bowan
Return to Index
Spiced Carrot Sticks |
My Momma's Zucchini Relish |
Dill Crock
Mammy's Dishpan Pickles |
Hindman's Rosy Pink Apple Jelly
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