Category: Preserving

Keeping your stuff good, long-term!

C.S.A. Yerselves!


So, you’ve just been to the store, looking for some really fresh veggies ’cause you’ve got a major salad jones and…. It’s just not a great veggie day at Bobs Market. Whataya gonna do?

Could be you’re one of the increasing many who just don’t like the direction corporate food is going, and you’d like to explore reasonable but effective ways to assure that what you and yours are eating is genuinely good for you.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to garden, but your space or time just won’t allow; whataya do?

Perhaps it’s canning that’s caught your fancy; you’re dreaming of neat rows of Mason jars filled with natures bounty, ready to carry you through the dark days of winter. Where are you gonna find produce worthy of such an endeavor?

If any or all of the above strike a chord, you need to get in touch with a local C.S.A. Operation. That’s Community Supported Agriculture, and it’s your ticket to what’s good for you.

C.S.A. Began in the ’60s, in parts of Europe and Japan, in response to concerns very much in keeping with what I wrote above. Today, the need is that much greater, from both sides of the equation. We need and want good, fresh produce and small farmers need people to sell to; it’s a perfect marriage.

So, ready to hook up? Just go here, to LocalHarvest.org. There you’ll find search options based on location, or the type of goodies they produce. In addition to C.S.A.s, you can find Farmer’s Markets and produce stands as well. LocalHarvest is a great organization primarily supported by donations from the outfits you’ll find there.

And let me tell y’all, now is the time to get onboard, because this is more popular than you might realize, and sometimes the C.S.A.s get booked quite early in the season. Some are so popular that they have waiting lists for new clients. In essence, having a pre-paid and guaranteed clientele is what allows C.S.A. farms the security to produce year after year. When you sign up, you’re not just getting great food, you’re actually helping these small, usually family run operations stay in business providing the kind of high-quality produce and fruit we all love.

In most instances, you’ll choose a size and a frequency for what you’re after; many farms offer the choice of full or half baskets, (or an equivalent measure), and a weekly, bi-weekly, or once-a-month frequency of delivery. Some C.S.A.s will actually deliver produce to you, while others have a set location you’ll head for to pick up your bounty. And again, if the C.S.A. Concept seems daunting right off the bat, you can find markets and stands through LocalHarvest as well.

Generally, what you’ll get is what’s ready to harvest that week; depending on the size and specialty of the farm, you may get a bunch of different things or a lot of a few, (You’re always welcome to ask about more of something or another, of course.)

Let me assure you from first hand experience, what you get is glorious. Many C.S.A.s are organic, or employ ecologically sound practices at the least. Quite a few offer heirloom and unusual varieties of fairly common crops, meaning you may well see tomatoes, chiles, lettuces, onions and a myriad of other crops that you’ve never seen, tasted or smelled before. The difference between a fresh heirloom, hand-grown tomato and what you get from the store is profoundly night and day.

What you’ll pay for all this varies, of course, but generally you’ll find it quite competitive with store bought, and again, the quality is far superior.

If you don’t practice any preservation techniques, you probably will after hooking up with a C.S.A. Dried, pickled, canned, or frozen, this stuff is so good you’ll do everything you can to make sure it’s available year ’round. There are quite a few operations dovetailing that desire to preserve with what they offer, making available special mixes for canning or even winter root crops that store well. And of course, right here at UrbanMonique you’ll find a full quiver of how-to’s for preserving.

If all this sounds to good to be true, it’s not; it is truly that good! So get onboard. And if you’re in the area of Hackensack, Minnesota, your search is done; just hook up with Neighborhood Gardens and Kings Gardens, and you’ll be well served indeed. Say hi to Grant, Christy, Lissa and John for us too, OK?

E & M

Saved by the Squees!


Almost nothing about moving from Texas to The Great Northwet struck as deep as chiles, or rather, the sudden lack thereof…

Used to growing a veritable cornucopia of our own, as well as being able to find damn near anything in the store, we were faced with no crop and slim pickings up here.

As the first hints of fall drift in the morning air, we contemplated accepting what was and heading for Whole Foods to grab some long-distance Hatches for a bare bones tied-me-over.

Imagine then our surprise and delight when a package from our dear friends at Neighborhood Gardens arrived from Hackensack MN; we truly had no idea what they’d sent, but knew that every care package was delicious to a T. The Squees moniker, BTW, comes from the fact that our pals Grant and Christie who own and run NG live on Squeedunk Lake up there in Cass Co., MN.

When I cut the first line of tape and the scent of fresh chiles escaped, I couldn’t believe my nose! Digging in further, here we’re bags of Hatch, Jalapeño, Super Chile, Cherry, Poblano, Serrano, and Pasilla, all gorgeous and ready to preserve – Heaven!

How they knew I don’t know, but bless their hearts! If ever there was a ringing endorsement of Community Supported Agriculture, this is it – Fresh, organic, varietal and right on time!

We got busy ASAP, and divided things up for storage; large chiles went to the grill for roasting, and then were vacuum sealed and sent to the freezer. the vacuum sealing virtually assures that no freezer burn will dim the flavor or appearance of these beauties over the long winter months, and they take up a lot less freezer room processed this way. A basic vacuum sealer is very affordable, and even better, this is one of those kitchen gadgets that’s often bought or received and never used, so you can find them cheaper yet on eBay, Craig’s List, etc.

The smaller varieties went into the dehydrator with the thermostat set for 145 F and were dried thoroughly. The chiles can then be vacuum sealed if not needed in short order, or stored in glass jars, out of direct sun; they’ll last a year or two easily.


To use frozen, roasted chiles, just pull them out and let them reach room temperature. It’s generally best to seed, strip membranes and skins prior to use, but if we’re making a sauce that will be blended and strained and the variety isn’t too hot, we’ll just pull the stems and seed base and call it good.

Dried chiles can be tossed into the spice grinder and processed into anything from a rough grind to a powder depending on what you’re making. We keep shakers of fine ground Tabasco and Jalapeño chiles handy at all times, as we find they add a very nice brightness to a myriad of dishes.

If your proposed dish needs the chiles whole and/or reconstituted, just plunk the desired amount into clean, tasty water and allow them to return to their natural state. Depending on how hot the chosen chile is and your desired heat level, you may want to remove stems, seeds and veins prior to soaking. By the same token, you might want to use the tea you infused while rehydrating your chiles as part of a sauce or salsa as well.

As always, be careful when handling hot chiles. Everyone has a different threshold, but prudent and cautious are always the bywords when handling a hot variety like Habanero or Ghost chiles. Always jeep in mind that damn near any variety can and will produce the occasional mutant, so even mild varieties can sometimes back a wallop. It’s always better to be age than sorry, so use gloves, keep your hands away from sensitive body parts after handling, and thoroughly clean any and all tools used in processing chiles.

Google CSA (Your town) and see what’s out the waiting for you!

Thanks again Squees, we love y’all!

Cukes-R-Us


M and I just got back from an amazing dry run meal at Chef Gabriel Claycamp’s soon-to-be newest undertaking, Casoulet, (More on that shortly!), and found this email waiting from Christy and Grant at Neighborhood Gardens:

Hey, guru of the kitchen! It’s cucumber overload season. Can you give us a bunch of ideas to get beyond cucumber sticks and cutting them into salads?

And, of course, the perennial question of what to do with all the summer squash/zucchini. Naturally we can google, but then we are overwhelmed with major junk recipes. We would prefer your expert guidance.

Overwhelmed in Northern Minnesota

My answer? Of course! I mean, be still my heart; anything and everything cuke is near and dear to us! So, here’s some ideas for immediate use, as well as long-term storage and enjoyment.

First, some general thoughts.

Cukes are great on sandwiches and they aren’t used for that as much as they could and should be; add them to your favorite toppings, or try replacing lettuce with super thinly sliced cukes.

Cukes make great faux noodles; they’re great sliced thin, lengthwise, and used like lasagna for a cold variant of the dish. You can take it one step further and turn those long, thin slices into spaghetti wanna-be’s as well. Both are tasty and visually very cool.

Few things are more genuinely refreshing during a hot summer than a nice, cold, cucumber salad. Variations are endless, but simple is always best for a starting point

For the salad:
3 Cukes, sliced very thin
1 Tomato, cored, seeded and diced
1/2 sweet Onion, sliced thin and quartered

For the dressing:
The classic vinaigrette ratio is 3:1 oil to acid, but this is not in any way set in stone. Deepening on the strength and nature of your constituents, let alone your personal taste, you can and should tweak that ratio to your liking. For this salad, we’ll do a classic recipe, but here again, this combination of ingredients lends itself to many variations on the acid side; orange, lemon, lime, or grapefruit juice replacing the vinegar are all delightful. For something this delicate, the oil should always be extra virgin olive oil.

3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dill
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all veggies and toss. Add the dressing and toss liberally. Allow to sit, chilled, for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Truly goes great with dang near any meal.

Tzatziki is one of our all-time favorite sauces; if you’ve not tried it, you simply must.

Tzatziki

1 8 oz container of Greek Yogurt, (You can use regular too)
1 med cucumber
2 tbspn olive oil
Juice from 1/2 to 1 lemon, (As you like it)
1 tspn dill, chopped fine, (You can sub spearmint)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt to taste

If you don’t have Greek Yoghurt, plain will do, but find Greek if you can; it is richer, tangier and thicker, all of which are good things when it comes to Tzatziki.

Line a colander or strainer with paper towel and drain the yogurt for 15 to 30 minutes; this is critical in avoiding a runny final product.

Peel, seed and grate cucumber. We used Armenian from our garden, which have wonderful taste and nice, firm flesh. Any decent cuke will do, but make sure it is nice and firm.

Combine everything and mix well by hand, as blending or processing will make your yogurt break down.

Place in a non-reactive bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. This stuff just goes well on dang near anything, but certainly does shine with lamb or pork. Try it as an omelet with feta or mizithra.

And of course, you simply gotta do a quick pickle!

Choose glass jars for your pickles, (And of course, pickle jars work great!). Wash your jars really well and rinse thoroughly.

Cut your cukes into flat slices or quarters lengthwise and size them to the jars you’re using. Keep in mind that the bigger the cut, the longer it takes for everything to infuse.

Pack your jars full but not too full; leave enough room for plenty of brine. Make sure you’re leaving at least 3/4″ from the top of the jar.

For spicing, use a 1/2 teaspoon of dominant notes and a 1/4 teaspoon of minors. Our go-to pickling spice blend includes a Pepper blend (Red, white,black, green) and whole coriander seed as the dominants, with juniper seed, mustard seed, fennel seed, cumin seed, whole garlic cloves, and dill as the minors. Drop the blend right into the jars in equal measure.

For the brine, bring to a boil and stir until well dissolved and combined:
1 cup vinegar
1 cup good water, (Meaning, if you don’t drink your tap water, don’t use it!)
1 Tablespoon non-iodized salt (Iodine makes things turn funky colors and adds a nasty metallic taste, so don’t go there. Use pickling salt, it’s a better mousetrap.)
OPTION: 1 teaspoon of sugar if you like a sweeter pickle

Pour the hot brine over your cukes, making sure they’re completely covered.

Seal your jars; you’re not canning, per se, so you can reuse old lids if they’re clean, and you can reuse original pickle/sauerkraut/whatever lids too.

Refrigerate your jars and do your best to let things work their magic; resist the urge to sample for at least a week, and two weeks are better yet – The longer they hang, the better they get.

Fridge pickles are good for at least 3 or 4 months, if they last that long.

Preserving cukes.

So, you grew or bought a huge patch of cukes, whataya gonna do to keep them for the long run?

Head on over to The National Center for Home Food Preservation and find everything you need to know about virtually any method you’d like to try.

The first and most obvious preservation option is pickling, and this time, we mean water-bath canning as opposed to fridge pickles. The beauty of ‘real’ pickling versus fridge pickling is longevity. Where fridge pickles will last a few months, water-bath canned pickles will easily last a year.

Cukes can be dried and still retain enough flavor and character to be worthwhile for certain uses. You’ll find an excellent how-to paper from the University of Colorado at NCHFP.

What about freezing? Well, the answer for doing so as they stand is, not really. You can., however, do a freezer pickle and you’ll find those do quite well indeed. Simply use the recipe we showed above for fridge pickles and refrigerate your cukes for 24 hours. Transfer pickles to freezer bags or containers along with a little juice and freeze. If you have a food saver / vacuum sealer, they work even better.

And finally, if you still have left overs and can’t think of anything to do with them, then get in your ride and haul ’em over to your local food bank; sharing is always a good option! In fact, maybe you aughta do that first, eh?

Gentlemen, Clean Yer Freezers!


For 25 points, identify the following protein:

Didn’t think so…

But seriously folks, and as the title alluded, I speak mostly to the gentlemen, since it is us who stuff said freezers with all things good and delicious; that is, until we forget what’s in there and let ’em go faaaar too long…

Late winter is a perfect time to get into that beast, inventory what’s there with a critical eye, toss what needs to be tossed and cook what must be cooked before it too goes to the great beyond.

This line of reasoning naturally brooks the question, “Can food go bad in the freezer?” The answer to which is a definite ‘Yup!’

Keep in mind that freezing does not kill bacteria, yeast, mold, etc, it just pretty much keeps them from multiplying. In other words, if there was something funky prior to freezing, it could indeed reappear when thawed. Additionally, freezing does not do any favors for food quality, taste, etc; over time, great stuff will become good and good stuff, well… You get the picture.

So how long should you leave stuff in the freezer before the quality starts to degrade? Depends on what it is! For answers to this and other burning freezer questions, (Sorry), hop on over to the USDA’s Food Safety site and read for yourself; there’s a handy chart at the bottom of this freezer article that details recommended freezer storage guidelines. You’ll also find the National Center For Home Food Preservation a wealth of good info, so scope that out too.

In general terms, when cleaning out your freezer, look for things like the pic above, the obvious victims of freezer burn, poor packaging, etc, and single them out for further inspection. If flesh looks substantially different than it usually does when thawed, (Darker, off color, dried out, etc), then you should give it the heave ho; trust me when I say if it looks funky, it’ll taste funky, and could be dangerous.

When you package for freezing, head back to the NCHFP site and read up on best practices.

The time to clear out your freezer is also the time to clean the bugger; this should be done at least annually,
and naturally, the best time do the deed is when sticks are low.

Pull everything out and put it into a fridge or alt freezer, (I KNOW many of y’all have more than one, right?).

Turn off, unplug, and thoroughly defrost your unit.

Once it’s to room temp, clean the insides thoroughly; I like Clorox cleanup for the job, but dish soap and water works fine too. Remove and clean all the shelves, racks, drawers, etc as well.

Do a rinse wipe with a solution of 2 Tablespoons of baking soda to a quart of warm water, then wipe that down with a clean, dry cloth.

Don’t forget the unseen parts! Pull the freezer from it’s normal locale and clean underneath. Inspect the back and clean that as well, (And the top), and dust the coils if your unit has exposed ones.

If you don’t already have one, buy a decent but cheap inside-the-unit thermometer and place in an easy to see spot. Our commercial units have thermometers on them, usually digital, but we don’t trust those; every unit, reach in or walk in, has a stand alone thermometer inside it. Optimal freezer temp for food storage is -15ºF to -5ºF; it should never go above 15ºF for any extended length of time.

Fire ‘er back up, let it get fully cold and then put your bounty back in. mark the calendar for the same time next year.

OK, that about covers it; now go have a celebratory beer or two, ya done good!

Oh, and stay tuned – Next post will cover building the perfect stew with all that lovely meat ya done kilt and gathered!

E & M

Fridge Pickles II, fleshed out…


OK, this in, in response to our Sorta Readers Choice entry:
“OK, any and all would float my boat. But given that we have all kinds of misc. veggies right now, how about Fridge Pickles II. (would it work for beans, okra, broccoli, other odds and ends as well as cukes?)”

In a word, yup!

The major differences between fridge and ‘real’ pickles is speed of prep and longevity. Truth be told, we usually do both kinds when we’re in this mode, so that we have some to enjoy quickly, and more to hold on to for the long haul.

Here’s the scoop for our revised version of the noble fridge pickle that we’re enjoying now.

First off, another resounding YES in response to the question, can I pickle _______? Yes, you can and should try it. They’re tasty, quick, and add to a meal, and always a treat for the vast majority of guests! Beans, okra, broccoli, chiles, cauliflower (One of our big faves), Brussels sprouts (AMAZING!), baby onions or carrots, garlic, you name it!

Here we go, then:

1. Wash your jars in the dishwasher, or if by hand, do so really well and rinse thoroughly!

2. Prep your chosen veggies. You can cut and size veggies to whatever you prefer, keeping in mind that the bigger the cut, the longer it takes for everything to infuse.

3. For spicing, use a 1/2 teaspoon of dominant notes and a 1/4 teaspoon of minors. The pickling spice blend you saw in the pics earlier is why we call this Fridge Pickle II; the new blend includes a Pepper blend (Red, white,black, green) and whole coriander seed
as the dominants, with juniper seed, mustard seed, fennel seed, cumin seed, whole garlic cloves, and dill as the minors. Drop the blend right into the jars in equal measure.

4. Prep your pickling bath: We used 1 cup of white vinegar, but if you don’t mind or even like the color, you can use apple cider or any other vinegar that floats your boat. Use multiples of this basic ratio as needed for your batches.
Bring to a boil:
1 cup vinegar
1 cup good water, (Meaning, if it’s like our tap water, filter it first!)
1 Tablespoon non-iodized salt (Iodine makes things turn funky colors and adds a nasty metallic
taste, so don’t go there. We use pickling salt from our pals at Leener’s for ours, it is a better mousetrap!)
OPTION: 1 teaspoon of sugar if you like a sweeter pickle

5. Pour the hot brine over your goodies, completely covering the veggies.

6. Seal your jars – You aren’t canning, per se, so you can reuse old lids if their clean, or you can reuse pickle/sauerkraut/whatever jars too!

And there ya have it! You DO need to let things work their magic though, so resist the urge to sample for at least a week, and two weeks are better yet – The longer they hang, the better they get! Fridge pickles are good for at least 3 or 4 months, if they last that long. Any longer than that, it’s best to toss the remainder onto the ol’ compost heap and do a fresh batch.

Enjoy!