You can turn cucumbers into pickles in about 40 minutes. It’s not difficult. My favorite pickling cucumbers are County Fair, National Pickling, Pickle Bush, Regal, and Saladin. Pickling cucumbers are short–4 inches is about the right length–and compact with tender skins. Longer, larger cucumbers such as Marketmore and Bush Champion are best for fresh eating, […] More
Sweet pickle relish combines cucumbers, green or red bell peppers, and onions from the summer garden. This is the classic relish to enjoy on hot dogs and hamburgers. Half-pint jars are probably the right size for canning sweet pickle relish. Once opened you’ll want to keep this relish refrigerated and use it up within two […] More
Can sweet bell peppers and chile peppers—which can be sweet or hot–preserve your summer harvest? Can peppers after deciding if you want to preserve sweet or heat or a combination of the two? Sweet green, yellow, orange, or red bell peppers are large and thick-fleshed. They have a sweet, crisp flavor. Chile peppers—such as Anaheim, […] More
Freeze just harvested blueberries and also raspberries, elderberries, currants, huckleberries, blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, mulberries, and strawberries for thawing and using just as fresh next winter. Freeze blueberries and other berries individually—called dry pack—or in sugar and syrup or unsweetened. Use thawed berries in desserts, in pies and other desserts and in smoothies. You will need […] More
Blanch just harvested fresh vegetables to set their color and seal nutrients and flavor. Blanching is a method of partially cooking vegetables in boiling water or steam—usually for a few minutes; it’s also called parboiling. Blanching is used to seal the flavor and set the color of vegetables before freezing. Blanched and frozen vegetables can […] More
Orange marmalade is the most popular marmalade. Marmalade is a soft translucent jelly preserve quite simply made from fruit, water, and sugar. Marmalade looks like jam but it contains thin fruit slices or diced fruit suspended in the jelly. Many say the fine flavor of the Seville orange makes the best marmalade. But you can […] More
McIntosh and Granny Smith are two apples that are slightly tart and juicy and well suited for cooking and applesauce making. (Once I have the applesauce, it’s hard to resist the baking up a dozen applesauce muffins.) McIntosh is an East Coast and Midwest favorite. Granny Smith, originally from Australia is a West Coast favorite. It’s […] More
The secret to making delicious homemade grape juice is to never boil the grapes. Grape juice reduces bad cholesterol, helps maintain healthy blood pressure, prevents damage to blood vessels in your heart, and reduces the risk of blood clots. Do you see a down side to drinking fresh-made grape juice? Concord grapes are great for […] More
Strawberry jam, plum jam, peach jam, blueberry jam, grape jam—any fruit can be cooked with sugar to make jam. Late summer is home-made jam season—unless you grow apricots and then mid-summer is jam season. My Santa Rosa plum tree is a jam factory in September. Whatever fruit you grow or buy at the farm market […] More
Fresh corn, herb, and tomato relish is a mix that comes together naturally as the summer harvest peaks. When sweet corn kernels can be cut from the ears and popped in your mouth as a garden snack—well, that is the same time you are going to find meaty tomatoes ripe on the vine. For this […] More
Vegetables—unlike fruits–are low in acid so it is important to use prescribed methods and equipment when canning the overflow of summer and fall harvest. Use a steam pressure canner for vegetables. Low acid foods must be processed in a pressure canner to be free of botulism and other bacteria, mold, and yeast growth risks. (You […] More
Calabaza en Jarabe is pumpkin in syrup. This is a tasty old-fashioned Mexican dessert that you can serve for Halloween or any time in late summer or autumn. Piloncillo is the traditional cone shape of unrefined sugar commonly used in Mexican cooking. Piloncillo (which means little pylon) is made when sugar cane is crushed, the […] More
Stephen Albert