Adventures in Pickling and Preserving



Believe it or not, in all my years of motherhood and homemaking, this is my first attempt at preserving the fresh harvest of late summer. I don't know why I never got into pickling or making jams. My mother-in-law used to provide us with pickles and jams and especially my favorite, dill beans and since we only went through about two jars of jam a year, I never really felt the need. All that boiling of jars and canning apparatus sort of scared me!

Retired life is the perfect time for new adventures!

Last month I was kayaking for 6km through an estuary on the Bay of Fundy and this month I am pickling and preserving. Both adventures offer a level of risk!
Since my plot in the community garden has provided me with an abundance of sweet carrots I decided to try pickling them. My favorite is dill of course and I decided to add some green beans. Finding the perfect recipe was not without its challenges. I found my mother-in-law's recipe in a church cookbook that I've had for years. However, I discovered that many of the recipes provided by the ladies of the church community are not for dummies. Often a recipe will consist of merely a list of ingredients or, in the case of the dill bean recipe, ingredients, but not how many jars and how tight to pack the beans. (I guess that the authors of the recipes assumed that their readers knew something about cooking.) Thus my first attempt was not the best. 
However, if you fall out of the kayak you have to get back in and keep paddling! So I tried again, adjusting the recipe accordingly. I served them the other night for company among a tray of cheese and crackers and they were a hit. Encouraged, I scanned the internet and recipe books to see what else I could preserve in a jar.


Chutney and cheese etc.


In a local grocery store I spied a basket of Ontario peaches at a good price and I immediately thought: "peach chutney!"  I love mango chutney (especially over cream cheese), so why not peach? 
The process for chutneys and jams is not quite as simple as pickling. With the dill carrots and beans all I had to do was pour the boiled brine over the blanched vegies in sterilized jars and listen for the lids to pop. The jarred chutney, however, had to be boiled in water for 15 minutes to completed the canning process. 

Although I have not yet opened my charming little jars of chutney, I saved a little to try before sealing them and the taste was a sweet and sour combination of peaches, raisins and green peppers. I think it will be lovely on a cracker with cheese!

Bernardin Exotic Peach Chutney

The above recipe from Bernardin is the one that I used and I am anxious to try it in a variety of ways. For more ideas on how to use this delicious condiment, check out the website by Jackie Gordon, below. Bonne appetit! …. now on to more adventures in the kitchen!

Sixteen Ways to Eat Chutney by Jackie Gordon

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