Rhubarb Simple Syrup w/ Canning 101

Because what makes more sense on a hot & humid day than boiling a huge pot of hot water? These two lovelies are two pints of rhubarb simple syrup cooked up this afternoon with one of my weekend market purchases.

Don't stop reading if you've never canned anything. You can always make the syrup and store it in the fridge. And if you're brave enough to buy some jars at a hardware store, it's way easier than you probably think. Let's start with the syrup:

Rhubarb Simple Syrup
3 parts rhubarb, cleaned and chopped
3 parts water
2 parts sugar

Cut off the ends of the rhubarb (but do not "string it", you want the red outer layer to make it pretty and pink), clean off any visible dirt and chop into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. Measure. Use the ratio above to figure out how much water and sugar you need by volume. I had about 3.5 cups rhubarb, which once processed, made enough syrup for these two pint jars and enough left over for me to have a cocktail or two tonight. yay me!

Throw everything in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 15 minutes. The rhubarb will be super mushy and the water should be pinkish. Don't mash up the rhubarb more than necessary, as you don't want a cloudy syrup. Let drain into a bowl through a fine-mesh strainer, but let it drip on its own, don't press. You can stop here, or if you want to can it, set the bowl contents aside while you get your jars ready.

Canning 101

Bring a big pot of water to a low boil. Make sure before you start that the height of the water is taller than your jars! Gently lower your clean jars into the water and throw in the lids. Sterilize jars for 10 minutes (you can do this while the syrup's cooking if you were smart and read ahead).

While your jars are heating, warm up your syrup (transfer it back from the bowl to the original pan and heat it up). After 10 minutes, remove the jars using tongs, carefully tipping upside down to get the water out. Use the tongs or one of those fun magnet things that come with a canning kit to retrieve the lids. 

Carefully pour hot syrup into hot jars and fill to 1/2" from the top. Wipe any stray syrup from the lip of the jar with a clean towel and put lid on top. Screw on canning rings and twist until snug (do not force). If you have extra syrup that won't fill a jar, store it in a container in the fridge and use it up over the next couple weeks. All that sugar should preserve it pretty well.

Gently lower your jars back into the boiling water. You might want to use the handy jar lifter tool that comes with a canning kit. Once water returns to a boil, turn down the heat a bit so that it isn't boiling too hard but is still boiling, and set timer for 10 minutes. Make sure the jars don't touch each other and that the bubbles don't make them bounce around (you don't want them to break). I don't use a rack, but a real canning set up will include one to hold your jars and make getting them in and out of the water a lot easier.

After 10 minutes, lift the jars out of the water with your jar lifter, and let cool on the counter for 12-24 hours. In the next few minutes you will probably hear a "pop" as the lid forms a seal. Check the lids after they're cool by removing the ring, lift up on the lid to see if it will come off. If not, it's sealed. Store in pantry until your next party or summer cocktail craving.

What do I do with Rhubarb Syrup?

You can make a refreshing summer drink by putting an ounce or two into a glass of cold seltzer. 

Or, to make a basic fizzy cocktail, add a shot of rum or vodka.

Or, skip the seltzer, shake 2 ounces syrup with 1 ounce vodka/rum/tequila and juice of one lime, strain and you've got a cosmopolitan/daiquiri/margarita.

Pickled Asparagus

Inspired by both this month's can jam challenge (featured ingredients: rhubarb and asparagus) and by the Wild Goose asparagus fest cooking competition, I decided to try pickling asparagus. I pretty much like anything pickled. Last year I pickled my Wayward Seed Farm CSA wax beans. Sour? Check. Salty? Check. Damn, I wish I'd known how to do this when I was pregnant!

Here is the recipe I used, from the book Putting Up. To be honest, I didn't love the book, and returned it to Amazon after jotting down one or two things in it I wanted to try. Just being honest in case you're looking for book ideas.

Prepare jar(s) or other quart-sized container(s). If you use a container you want it to be long and skinny so you don't have to cut your asparagus too short to fit. I went with a quart canning jar.

To each jar, add:
1 tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp celery seed
1 slice lemon, peel on
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic

Trim asparagus and insert one stalk into the jar/container you plan to use, cutting it about 1/2 inch shorter to fit. Using that as a template, and cut all your asparagus to the same length. Here is where the right container might come in handy - a tall, skinny jar would be great, because there is less asparagus wasted. However you can use the trimmed ends to use soup, so all's not lost!

Blanch asparagus in boiling water for 10 seconds, then transfer to cold water bath or rinse in a colander under cold water to stop cooking. Load as much asparagus into the jar as will fit.

Meanwhile, bring pickling solution to a boil (amounts are per quart of pickles you will make):
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
3 1/2 tbsp salt

Fill jars with the hot liquid and cool on counter, then store in fridge. If you are a canning type, you can do a big batch and at this point, process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (I think. this is one of the reasons I didn't keep this book - it leaves out important instructions like that).

I really liked these pickles. They are crisp and tangy and great as a snack with a sliced, hard cheese. Jenny didn't like them. She thought they were too pickly. So, your mileage may vary.

Asparagus Relish

I had intended to keep playing around with this idea until I landed on a recipe I really liked, but some twitter friends (you know who you are) outed me. The idea is to come up with something new and unique for the Asparagus festival at Wild Goose next weekend. I tried cream of asparagus soup, asparagus risotto, but for whatever reason I could not amplify the flavor of the asparagus. It tended to get lost in whatever I made. So I headed in another direction and decided to try something suitable for canning. I love relish, mostly on hot dogs and sausages in the summer, so I leafed through my Blue Book Guide to Preserving and landed on a recipe for zucchini relish I thought might be easily adapted.

Sorry I have no photo, but imagine relish and you've got it!

Somewhat prematurely, here is the first draft of a recipe for asparagus relish:

1 cup asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/2 in pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 tbsp salt
1/3 cup sugar (* I'll come back to this)
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 cup cider vinegar

Combine asparagus, onions and peppers, sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain, rinse and drain again.

Combine salt, sugar, celery seed and vinegar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Add drained vegetables and simmer 10 min.

* I halved the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. I'm still new to canning, but I used to believe that sugar had something to do with preserving and so followed the recipes precisely. I've seen heard that it's more about acid levels that matter, and either way, I had no intention of canning this very small batch (it's half a recipe from the book), I cut it way down. It's still on the sweet side, a bit like a sweet pickle relish.

We ate it on water crackers on top of a thin layer of goat cheese. Not sure I recommend the combination but other people seemed to like it. I might try a more neutral cheese the next time, or just eat the relish plain.

If I keep at this, I'm going to do the full recipe and split it in half - one with no sugar and one with half again as much as I used here and see which I prefer. I'm also going to try adding a little lemon zest since it's complimentary to asparagus, and maybe throw in spices other than celery seed.

Since this was derived from a Ball's recipe, it is suitable for canning. Double up the amounts shown above and you should get 2 pints.

Is anyone interested in a recipe for pickled asparagus? I made this too, and thought it turned out really tasty. Crispy, tart and great for munching. If I find more asparagus in the markets this weekend, I am going to make up a big batch for canning.

Strawberry Jam Bars

Around here, the first fruit that shows up at markets in the spring are strawberries. I can't help buying them, even though I still have some in the freezer from last year. I used a quart to make freezer jam from the Ball's canning recipe, with no intention of trying to can the stuff. I froze a couple cups and still had about three cups left. One went into thumbprint cookies, another I've been using as a waffle topping for breakfast, but I still had  too much jam! Then I remembered a recipe for Raspberry Squares from the Cooks Illustrated people (in "The New Best Recipe"). Here is my adaptation:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats *
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool, cut into 12 pieces
1 cup strawberry jam
* NOTE: you could use 1/2 cup chopped nuts in place of 1/4 cup of the oats. I have a kid with a peanut allergy and avoid nuts

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9x9 pan with oil, line with foil and spray again

In an electric mixer, combine flour, oats, sugars, soda, salt (and nuts) at low speed until combined. With mixer on low, add butter pieces and beat until well blended and resembling coarse sand or little pebbles.

Move 2/3 of the mixture to the pan and press evenly to form the base. Bake until the edges start to brown - about 25 minutes for me. Remove and spread the jam evenly over the top of the bottom layer. Sprinkle the rest of the topping on the jam and bake until the top is starting to brown and jam is bubbling out the sides - about 35 minutes.

Cool completely (1-2 hours) and remove from pan. You may have to trim off the very edges if any of the foil sticks, but it's OK, it makes it look prettier to have a square edge anyway, and you can eat most of the trimmings! Cut into squares and enjoy.

Strawberry Rhubarb Margaritas

Another great May treat is rhubarb, which is highly seasonal and only available for about a month each year. It looks like celery and has a tart flavor, which is great on its own, but pairs extremely well with strawberries. One of my earliest food memories is strawberry rhubarb pie.

So I grabbed a couple pounds of rhubarb and a quart of strawberries at the Worthington Farmers' Market the other day and made a batch of syrup (recipe below) to enjoy in various cocktails this week. It should be a nice change from beer, which is my go-to drink in fall/winter. The first thing I made was a margarita, but I plan to try it in a daquiri and cosmo later in the week (the only real variation here is the liquor used). Here's the approximate recipe I used, and it came out great! You could go heavier on the tequila if you like your drinks strong (I'm a huge lightweight so i need to water down my drinks or pass out at 8 p.m.)

Strawberry Rhubarb Margarita
(makes 1 drink. scale up for pitchers)
1/4 cup strawberry rhubarb simple syrup
1 oz tequila
juice of one lime
splash of Grand Marnier or Cointreau

Shake well with ice, strain, enjoy!


Strawberry Rhubarb Simple Syrup

1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
6-8 sliced strawberries (enough with the rhubarb to bring it to around 2 cups)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water

Heat in a saucepan to boil, then reduce and simmer until the liquid is flavorful and rhubarb is mushy beyond recognition - about 15 minutes. Strain out the solids in a fine mesh strainer (don't press or it will be cloudy) and return the liquids to the pan, returning to boil. Boil over medium about 5-10 minutes. I didn't boil hard enough or long enough to reduce into a true syrup, I just wanted some intensely flavorful liquid to use in making cocktails.

When life gives you lemons, save them!

Simple tip. When you buy lemons (technically NEVER seasonal in Ohio, so you've got serious food miles invested) and it seems you might not use them, don't let them get moldy or dry out. Instead, juice them and freeze it in small portions using an ice cube tray. I picked up this cute pink silicon one at Ikea for about a dollar. Each cube is a tablespoon. Once frozen, I save them in freezer bags for future use. This works for other citrus fruit (and also a way to freeze unused pesto, tomato paste and chipotle in adobo).

I'm not sure about freezing the zest, but I'm thinking of throwing a teaspoon in with one of the cubes next time for use in recipes that call for both. 

Creamed Orzo with Baby Leeks and Parmesan

I had always envisioned starting this project with ramps, since they are pretty much the first vegetable to come into season. So when I heard on twitter that some of the farmers were already appearing on Saturday mornings at North Market, I headed down there to see what I could find. No dice for ramps - guess you have to come really early.

What I did find were some cute little baby leeks. The woman selling them wasn't particularly helpful. When I asked her if they could be substituted for scallions, she didn't have much to suggest other than to say that even the green part could be eaten.

So, with that guidance, I set out to find a a leek recipe and substitute. I randomly found this recipe thanks to google, so given that, the results were far better than they had any right to be. The effect of reducing the stock and adding the parmesan resulted in a creamy texture, very similar to risotto, but taking about a quarter of the time to cook.

I highly recommend this recipe, and if you don't have baby leeks, use a couple full size leeks in their place, sliced thin.

Creamed Orzo with Leeks and Parmesan
Based on Zola Gorgon’s recipe at http://www.arcamax.com/recipes/s-119362-487215

1 bunch baby leeks, cleaned and cut into ½ inch lengths
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup orzo pasta
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock*

1/4 cup grated parmesan

½ tsp salt
pinch pepper (or to taste)
pinch nutmeg (or more to taste)

Clean leeks – slicing stems lengthwise and separating layers – rinse in multiple changes of cold water.

Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions, but stopping 1 minute early.

While pasta is cooking, melt butter in oil in large sauté pan. Add leeks and cook over medium until soft. Add chicken stock and simmer until stock is almost completely reduced. Whisk in flour and add milk. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Cook 1-2 minutes until thickened. Turn off heat and stir in parmesan and serve.

*note: we make our own chicken stock and always have some in the fridge or freezer. that is the husband's department, and hopefully will be the subject of a post very soon.

Blog Origins

[July 2014 ed note: my focus has rather drifted since starting this blog in 2010. One of these days I'll try to say something more definitive about what I'm trying to do, but in short, we've gone beyond eating seasonally and are seeking ways to live more sustainably and appreciate the world around us]

Inspired by books like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and desiring to reduce footprint, our family have become very engaged in the Central Ohio food culture. We visit farmers' markets every week during the summer, and whenever they happen in winter. We have a small garden at home, and subscribe to a fruit and vegetable CSA 25 weeks of the year. Even in winter, eat all local meat and as much local produce we can get our hands on. Some of this is straight from our pantry, thanks to freezing, drying and canning last year's harvest.

The purpose of this blog is to focus us on what's available at different times of the year, and provide an excuse to try lots of new ways to use it or preserve it for future use.

We'll post pictures, recipes, experiments, and ask for your ideas. I say we because I'm trying to convince my husband to contribute (he really handles everything meat related, including grilling, smoking, making stock and sausage). We'll see...