Preservation: Home Made Condiments

Now that summer’s [almost] officially here, there are some goodies coming in from the garden. Peas and salad and greens are about done from spring, tomatoes and peppers and melons aren’t in yet, but soon will be. Along with the herbs, which means now’s a good time to think about what you’ll do with all those tasty goodies. First, there are the herbs - and yes, weeds - and various perennials that can be partially processed now until the rest comes in.

Mustard, for instance. Like most people around here, my garden grows great mustard. As a weed, not a crop. When the flowers are done and seed pods are set (late April or early May), I pull up the whole plant prior to preparing the bed for whatever I’m planting there. I put them head-first into brown paper bags, tie around the roots and hang upside down in the shed to dry. Sure enough a couple of weeks later I rub the seeds free and sift them through a sieve - the seeds are small. I grind those in my little Braun coffee grinder. That doesn’t exactly powder them, but it does get them grainy. If you like your mustard smooth, you can mortar-and-pestle them

I like fresh ground peppercorns (red, white and black) some cinnamon and bay leaf, but anise, fennel, caraway or dill seeds can also be used to flavor up a good mustard. If you’ve got half a cup of ground mustard seed, simmer all your other spices in a half cup of water, covered, for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the mustard. Replace cover and steep for an hour. When that’s done, blend the whole concoction until smooth. If it’s too thick add a little cider or wine vinegar to thin. Put this into sterile small jelly jars. Keep refrigerated or water-bath can it with new lids for cabinet storage.

You can use pickling spices in mustard, or anything your family likes a lot. Honey is good as well if you like a sweetish taste, and white wine is good as well.

Ketchup is so amazingly wonderful when it’s home made that you’ll never go back to store-bought again once you’ve got the knack (and chosen your favorites). Home made ketchup uses up a lot of tomatoes, so you may want to go ahead and buy a couple of pecks at the local farmer’s market (natural/organic section) when they’re abundant and cheap, saving your own crop for salsas, ‘mater pie, slicers, salads and sauces.

Rule of thumb is that a half-bushel of tomatoes makes 1 gallon of ketchup (you can make different kinds, and some for your friends!). Ketchup requires lots of vinegar, so don’t judge taste by the smell when you’re cooking it - it should be aged at least a couple of weeks, at which point the true taste will amaze you. The project is a big one, so pick a day and have everything ready. For such projects I fire up the backyard grill. I can boil water and cook sauce all day and not heat up the house, fuel is cheaper than electricity, and I can sit in the shade and read a good book during lulls.

They probably don’t sell tomatoes by the peck at your farmer’s market, but by the basket - a wooden basket with handle, holds ~12-14 pounds of tomatoes. This will work out to something like 40-45 tomatoes, depending on size. You’ll want two of these. Put your water bath canner on the grill and fill it half full of water, bring that to a roiling boil. Use this to parboil the tomatoes until the skin splits, dip them out and put into a 5-gallon bucket of cold water. Have an empty bucket on hand for the cleanings, which will go into the compost pile (save seeds if you’ve grown heirlooms!) or to make juice when you’re done.

Peel, core and seed the tomatoes, roughly chop and put into a large pot. This project takes awhile, don’t hurry. You can cook down a peck at a time on the grill at a slow boil, so that you end up with 2 quarts.

Sweet Ketchup
2 quarts thick tomato sauce
2 ripe sweet red peppers, finely chopped
1 sweet green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 medium sweet onions, finely chopped
2 cups local honey (or brown sugar)
3 tablespoons salt
3 cups apple cider vinegar

In a cheescloth bag:
1 stick cinnamon, broken
1.5 tsp. allspice
1.5 tsp. whole cloves

Simmer everything except the vinegar in a large pot, stirring often, 2-4 hours until thick. Add vinegar and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove spice bag and ladle sauce into clean pint canning jars (~5 jars). Process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Spicy Ketchup
2 quarts thick tomato sauce
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp. powdered allspice
1 tsp. ground pepper
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 minced red pepper
Couple dashes hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Simmer uncovered until thick, about 3 hours. Ladle into pint canning jars (3-4 jars) and process in water bath for 10 minutes.

In further posts I’ll offer some great recipes for mayonnaise, salsas, pesto, hot pepper sauce, barbeque sauce and horseradish. By the 4th of July, picnics could be spectacular!

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Filed under Cultivated Herbs, Food Production, Food Storage, Garden |