August 15, 2012
Three Ways to Freeze: Corn

Hopefully you have been growing your own corn. Why? Genetically Modified sweet corn has already been sitting on the shelves of your local supermarket and will be even more so next year. This means with much diligence we must continue growing our own food. 

Now that you have harvested your summer corn, maybe you got a bumper crop you are looking to put up. Freezing is one of many options for preserving your bounty. Whichever way you do it make sure you do it safely.

Fellow blogger, Deanna Duke of The Crunchy Chicken, did a side-by-side comparison of three ways to freeze corn. She breaks it down in her straight forward manner. Each method gets a result rating and the final verdict. 

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Filed under: corn gmo freezing The Crunchy Chicken three ways 
August 10, 2012
Pressure Gauge Testing

When canning low acid foods such as meat and vegetables, pressure canning is recommend for safe preserving. That means it’s time to pull out the big and heavy pressure canner. More information on pressure canning coming soon. Stay tuned for a post later this month. 

Just like with any other temperature measurement tools, have the gauge on a pressure canner tested for reading accuracy. If you live in southern California, there are three resources to have your pressure canning equipment tested. One local to each of the counties in and around the great Los Angeles basin:

  1. Los Angeles County 
  2. Orange County
  3. San Bernardino County

Thanks to the University of California Cooperative Extension offices these counties have a program called the Master Food Preservers. They are volunteers who teach the public about safely preserving food at home. Back in March, we posted one Master Food Preserver’s Pear Liqueur recipe.

To contact them visit their website for phone number and/or email address:

LA: http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/Master_Food_Preserver_Program/

OC: http://www.ucanr.org/sites/MFPOC/

SB: http://cesanbernardino.ucdavis.edu/Master_Food_Preservers/

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Filed under: LA County Orange County San Bernardino County MFP Master Food Preserver Pressure Canning 
June 27, 2012

Here’s our first unboxing video. Just got our first Omega juicer, the VERT330. This juicer is functions on a masticating system that does not produce heat and gently extracts juice preventing oxidation.  We hope to make some jellies with this juicer at some point. 

Note on the video: After hours of editing, this is not the desired end result. Hopefully this is the temporary version and the properly entertaining final version will be up soon. 

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Filed under: Omega juicing jelly 
June 11, 2012
The start of cooking down strawberries for jam. It is pretty basic. Learn how to make your own: recipe here. 

The start of cooking down strawberries for jam. It is pretty basic. Learn how to make your own: recipe here. 

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Filed under: strawberry Kevin West jam 
May 14, 2012
Early on we posted about the importance of having a clean kitchen. Now we present to you a set of guides to equipping your clean kitchen from theKitchn.com: Your First Kitchen: 5 Guides to Help You Set Up Your Kitchen With the Best Basics We get this question a lot: what kinds of pots, tools, and gadgets are essential in the kitchen? This seems like an overwhelming topic, especially if you’re a newbie cook just setting up your first real post-college kitchen. Thankfully, The Kitchn has a few guides to help you on your way. (Also helpful to pro cooks who want to pare down!) If you missed ‘em, here are the five guides we’ve offered so far… with more to come! Click on the photo to access the five guides. 

Early on we posted about the importance of having a clean kitchen. Now we present to you a set of guides to equipping your clean kitchen from theKitchn.com:

Your First Kitchen: 5 Guides to Help You Set Up Your Kitchen With the Best Basics

We get this question a lot: what kinds of pots, tools, and gadgets are essential in the kitchen? This seems like an overwhelming topic, especially if you’re a newbie cook just setting up your first real post-college kitchen. Thankfully, The Kitchn has a few guides to help you on your way. (Also helpful to pro cooks who want to pare down!) If you missed ‘em, here are the five guides we’ve offered so far… with more to come!

Click on the photo to access the five guides. 

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Filed under: guides kitchen equipment 
April 22, 2012
Five Ways to Preserve Tiny Tomatoes

Sure, tiny tomatoes are fun to just pop into your mouth straight from the vine. However, if you had a bumper crop or bought from a very generous farmer at the market… better to preserve than to waste. Learn five ways to make your bounty last longer. 

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Filed under: tomatoes dehydration freezing jam refrigerator pickles 
April 22, 2012
Blood oranges destined for jam…

Blood oranges destined for jam…

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Filed under: blood orange jam 
April 22, 2012
Preserving Without Fear

BY Hugh Garvey

Be Super Sweet (or Sour)

The jam and pickle recipes featured here have sufficiently high levels of sugar, salt, or acid to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. What might taste too sweet or salty when sampled from the pot will mellow in the jar. Do not adjust recipes.


Keep It Hot

When it comes to pasteurizing, says West, “you want clean, hot jars, hot product, and your water at a rolling boil. Two hundred and twelve degrees kills the bad guys.”


Seal the Deal

Those metal pop-up lids offer proof of a good seal. After processing, let the jars sit out overnight for the seal to set. If you can press down the lid’s button or slide the lid around, stick the jar in the fridge and eat the contents within weeks.

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Filed under: food safety 
April 21, 2012
Look! Another fellow canner! Nice. From garden to pantry.  pomelo-roso: Storing up the bounty from our garden, one quart at a time. Today I put up 11 quarts of tomatoes!

Look! Another fellow canner! Nice. From garden to pantry. 

pomelo-roso:

Storing up the bounty from our garden, one quart at a time. Today I put up 11 quarts of tomatoes!

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(Notes: 35)
  
Filed under: tomatoes 
April 21, 2012
Food for the Season: Storing the season's best picks

Even with awesome sunny SoCal weather you can still put up your own food especially when you grew it yourself. foodfortheseason’s link to The National Center for Home Food Preservation doesn’t work. Click here instead.

foodfortheseason:

The squirrels in my neighborhood are on a serious mission to find and bury as many nuts as they can in preparation for the cold winter ahead. Watching them reminds me of a time when it was normal practice to can, or “put up” produce picked in peak season to be enjoyed during the bleak days of…

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Filed under: seasonality produce 
April 21, 2012
Food preservation isn’t new. You can still learn today from Master Food Preservers in L.A., San Bernardino, and Orange counties. whataboutbobbed: home demonstration agent shows safe methods of home food preservation in the 1920s

Food preservation isn’t new. You can still learn today from Master Food Preservers in L.A., San Bernardino, and Orange counties. 

whataboutbobbed:

home demonstration agent shows safe methods of home food preservation in the 1920s

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(Notes: 11)
  
Filed under: history 
April 12, 2012
"The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison."

— Ann Wigmore. You know what that means… preserve! Preserve your foods for nutrition retention, flavor, and health! Fermented foods does much needed good for our urban bodies. Happy Sunday everyone.

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Filed under: quote 
April 11, 2012
Vegemite still exists?!? 

Vegemite still exists?!? 

(Source: wikifood)

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(Notes: 74)
  
Filed under: not real food 
March 18, 2012
"

[SUPPORT AB 1616, the California Homemade Food Act!!!]*

What are cottage food laws and why are they an important part of creating a more sustainable economy?

Cottage food laws, sometimes referred to as “baker’s bills,” are laws that allow people to make certain foods in their own home kitchen and then sell them on a small scale, typically directly to consumers and at farmer’s markets.

"

— Christina Oatfield, Food Policy Director at Sustainable Economies Law Center. This law concerns you. Please support the passing of this act in California for the benefit of our communities, cottage industries, and local food shed. 

*Emphasis mine.  

 

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March 18, 2012
Nice image of frozen fruits and veggies. Want to freeze it all? Click here to learn how. christopherschreck: “Frozen Vegetables” - Irving Penn (1977)

Nice image of frozen fruits and veggies. Want to freeze it all? Click here to learn how.

christopherschreck:

“Frozen Vegetables” - Irving Penn (1977)

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(Notes: 748)