Shareholder Open House at Angelic Organics

As I mentioned in my recent beets post, we are shareholders at Angelic Organics, a super community supported agriculture farm in Caledonia, IL. This weekend we visited the farm as part of an open house for shareholders.

We took a hay ride through the fields to admire and learn about the crops. The kids were particularly taken with the first blushing tomatoes and watermelons ripening on the vine, and Looly asked some great questions about the different growing techniques. There may be hope for my city kids yet.

Bean enjoying the hay ride

While a performance by famed Bubble-ologist, Geoff Akins, was definitely the highlight for Looly, Bean, and Roo, they also loved visiting the pigs...

petting goats and chickens...

and picking 3 pounds of green beans and wax beans in the U-pick garden, which resulted in 4 pints of spicy pickled beans. I need to work on my bean loading technique as these are kind of smooshed into their jars, but the marinade is good and spicy. Mufasa has big plans to put them to use during football season tailgates. They will be awesome nestled alongside a freshly grilled bratwurst, in peppery bloody marys and for general snacking, of course.

Spicy Pickled Green Beans and Wax Beans
adapted slightly from food.com

2 pounds green beans, wax beans or a combo, trimmed
2 tbsp. salt
2 and 1/2 cups red wine vinegar (5% acidity)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 cup vodka
4 tbsp. mustard seeds
2 tbsp. black peppercorns
1 tbsp. pink peppercorns
4 tsp. fennel seeds
4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (less, if you prefer)
8 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
2 tsp. dill

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and blanch beans until crisp tender, about 4 minutes, then plunge into an ice bath to halt cooking.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook over medium high heat for 2 minutes, stirring to dissolve sugar.
3. Place beans into sterilized pint jars (more neatly and artistically than I did, no doubt!). Remove bay leaves from marinade and pour hot marinade over beans leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal jars and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes. Allow to sit in the canner for 5 minutes then remove and cool completely on a wire rack or clean towel. Check seals and reprocess if needed. 

Makes 4 pints

Tempted By the Fruit of Another

A few weeks ago we went strawberry picking. After strawberry limeade, shortcake, and five pounds in the freezer, I was pretty sure I had my fill of bulk strawberries for the season. Then I stumbled upon these little beauties at our local farmers market.

Go ahead, try one, the berry mistress taunted. So I did. Thirty five dollars later I boasted eight more quarts of the best damn strawberries I have ever tasted in my life. Hands down.

I paraded them through the market like the Pied Piper, their heady aroma my magic flute, surrounded by throngs of hungry children and parents seeking out samples from my flat.

Home was no better. Note the look of pure ecstasy on both Bean and Roo's faces.

But, as if often the case with the tenderest and tastiest of berries I had to work fast if I wanted to preserve this perfect burst of summer. And preserve I did. Meet my new canner.

Before I give it to you, a few notes about my recipe. The original Better Homes and Gardens recipe called for whole pink peppercorns not crushed black pepper. I had a couple of issues with pink peppercorns, the first being that our "close" grocery store didn't have any and after purchasing the berries, the canner, accessories, and jars, I wasn't particularly motivated to seek them out. Second, I don't think I really want to bite into a whole peppercorn in my jam, but that's just me. Hence the cracked black pepper. The lazy woman's substitution worked quite nicely in my opinion and gives the jam a subtle kick.

Canning, like baking, is precise. I am by no means an expert canner but I took my chances by also reducing the sugar by one cup. The thing is, before I made the balsamic pepper-laced jam, I made some plain strawberry jam from the same berries using the full seven cups of sugar the original recipe called for. Even my six-year-old deemed it way too sweet. So, throwing caution to the wind, I reduced the sugar here and lo and behold, the jam still set beautifully.

If like me, you're somewhat new to canning, here's some great basic canning info to get you on your way.

Balsamic Strawberry Jam with Cracked Pepper
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Can It!

12 cups strawberries
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1.75-ounce package regular powdered fruit pectin
1/2 tsp butter
6 cups sugar
1 tbsp cracked black pepper

1. Place about 1 cup of berries in a large bowl and crush with a potato masher. Continue to add berries and mash until you have 5 total cups of crushed berries. Place berries in a large heavy pot. Stir in vinegar, pectin, and butter. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar all at once. Return to a boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a spoon. Stir in cracked pepper.
2. Ladle hot jam into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe any goop off the rims and place the lids and rings.
3. Process the filled jars in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes timing from when the water returns to a full boil. Remove jars from canner and cool on wire racks or a dish towel for 12-24 hours. Makes about 10 half-pints.