Lemon Curd recipe

I had 72 eggs in my refrigerator the other day.  You'd think my father's chickens would slow down a little with the snow and freezing temps, but they're laying those eggs like gangbusters.  With 6 dozen eggs in my fridge, there was little room for anything else!  I quickly solicited the help of my Facebook friends.  Within a few minutes, I had all kinds of ideas that required many eggs such as: quiche, flan, chocolate mousse, cheesecake, Lyonnaise salad, fritatta, creme brulee, pavlova, souffle, okonomiyaki, pound cake, eggnog, crepes, tortilla Espanola, and a couple of suggestions for egging Justin Beiber.  Yes, to all of the above suggestions.  But one recurring suggestion stood out - lemon curd, lemon curd, lemon curd.  With anticipated snow and a probable day off of work, I had all the time in the world to make this easy recipe while canning enough to give away.  I found a few recipes that sounded good, tripled it, and added a couple extra egg yolks in the end because the curd was not thickening as much as I'd liked.  

Lemon Curd -  makes about 3 pints

20 egg yolks
3 cups sugar
about 8 lemons (Meyer lemons preferably) totalling about 1 1/2 cups of juice
3 sticks butter, cut into chunks
zest of all the lemons, finely chopped

In a heavy pot over medium heat, whisk yolks and sugar.  Add lemon juice and stir gently and constantly with a wooden spoon.  Do not boil.  Reduce heat to low to prevent curd from boiling.  Continue to heat and stir for about 15 minutes or until thickened and curd coats the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat.  Add chunks of butter and stir gently until melted.  Pour curd through sieve into large bowl.  Gently stir curd in sieve to work curd through and catch any solids.  Stir in zest.

Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace and process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.  Remove lid and let sit for another 5 minutes.  Remove from canner and do not disturb while cooling.  Lemon curd is shelf stable for only about 2-3 months after processing in a boiling water canner.

Amazing on some blueberry scones for breakfast!

These are gluten free and dairy free - made of an egg, almond meal, coconut flour, coconut milk, honey, and blueberries. 

With this easy recipe and all the other suggestions on my list, these chickens can go crazy with it!

Sweet Apple Cider Butter Recipe

Nothing marks autumn more perfectly than a trip to the orchard. Anyone who has been apple-picking on a sunny October afternoon, driving a wheelbarrow through the rows, and especially with kids in tow, knows how fun it is to search for the biggest, tastiest apples in the trees.  When we went recently, the apples were so ripe and abundant they were raining down.  We'd pull one and two others would fall.  As always, before we know it, we're driving home with a trunk full of apples.  A couple pies put a little dent into it, a bunch were saved for fresh eating, a bunch were juiced, and the rest were made into an amazing apple butter.  I think people either love or hate the stuff, but as an apple butter aficionado, I can say there's no comparison to homemade, especially when the apples were on the tree just a few hours prior to being infused with spices and spread on a cracker.  The recipe below is an adapted double batch of Sweet Apple Cider Butter from the Ball book, and I used the honey alternative to sugar.  I also saved some pot-watching time by cooking down the apple butter in a slow cooker.  

Honeycrisp Apples

An apple peeler is a necessary gadget if you're working with a lot of apples

Making applesauce.  Spices are then added, and the whole thing is cooked down for hours.  

Sweet Apple Cider Butter - makes about 8 pint jars

12 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and quartered

4 cups apple cider

2 cups honey

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon allspice

In a large stainless steel pot over medium-high heat, combine apples and cider and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally until apples are soft, about 30 minutes.  

Process the apples just until a uniform texture is achieved (in batches in a blender or using a food processor or by using an immersion blender).  Do not liquefy.  

Scoop pureed apples into slow cooker.  Add honey, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.  Cook on high for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally so the apple butter does not burn (alternatively, cook on low for about 8-10 hours).  

Prepare canner, jars, and lids.  Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, adjust headspace if necessary and wipe rim.  Center lid on jar and screw on ring.  Process in boiling water canner for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.  

Green Tomato Ketchup Recipe

I did not set out to make this delicious, sweet/tart green tomato ketchup.  Weeks of garden neglect meant my heirloom indeterminate tomato plant became a gigantic beast, heaving over with height and heaviness and smothering other plants nearby.  The other day, I righted the plant, chopped a lot of the heavier side shoots, and as a result, ended up with many green tomatoes that I needed to figure out what to do with.  This green tomato ketchup is pretty darn good and I can't wait to use it with some homemade French fries! 

Green Tomato Ketchup                   makes about 4 pints

about 4 pounds of green tomatoes, sliced (I halved the large cherry tomatoes above)

3 large onions, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

dash of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground clove

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

1/2 cup honey

Put all ingredients except honey into large pot.  Simmer on low heat for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.  Pour into blender and puree.  Pour through mesh strainer.  Mix in honey.  At this point, pour into jars and store in fridge, or can using boiling-water canning method. If canning, leave 1/4 inch headspace and process for 10 minutes.

"Ugh, more of Wendy's homemade crap"

This was a gift of apple pie filling.  The card included photos of the apple picking, peeling, pie making.  This was given mostly to family because the adorable family photos seemed too obnoxious to give to anyone else.  It also included a variety of great recipes to include the pie filling in.  

When I was driving to my talk at the Library of Congress the other day, I was thinking about the jars of canned foods I like to gift to people - my strawberry margarita jam, my habanero pepper jelly, my sweet plums.  I was thinking, boy, I hope people don't think - "Ugh, this homemade crap" and throw my stuff out.  Canners know that a lot of time, love, and money go into making these jars of homemade things!

This was my first homemade gift.  Bruschetta, evoo, melba toasts, sparkly star shaped lollipops.  

As I was driving and in my own head the other day, I was thinking about the pickled cherry tomatoes that I'd just canned and would like to give away to a few select people in my life.  I mean, the cost of the jars, the ingredients (champagne vinegar is not cheap!), the fact that I sweated it out all summer watering those tomatoes...  I lovingly started the seeds in March - spritzing the seedlings daily, regularly adjusting their habitat under the best grow lights.  And the garlic clove?  I planted that garlic last fall, having carefully stored the bulbs from the previous spring!  I could keep going back...

Sometimes I calculate these gifts in monetary terms - a la The $64 Tomato.  Just to see.  So I also add to the cost of supplies, my hourly cost of labor.  I take my hourly wage - which is relatively decent, then I give myself a little raise because having to work full time means my spare time is even more valuable.  All that totals... a hefty sum for the jar of triple berry jam one may receive.

This was a berry jam.  Tea, chocolate, and scone mix.

So for all the people out there who have ever received a homemade treat from anyone, believe me, they are NOT crap.  If you receive a homemade jar of something, consider yourself a special friend - one that is worthy of the sweat, labor, time, and thought that has gone into the giver's gift.  It's a big deal.

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes

These are my daughter's yellow and red cherry tomatoes.  I'm excited to have these tart little things after they have a chance to sit for about 2 weeks.  They can also be blended with an equal amount of olive oil for an excellent tomato vinaigrette.  This is a canning recipe.  If you like, follow the recipe and instead of canning, store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months instead.

I jotted this recipe down from somewhere a while ago and hadn't planned to share it, but posted a pic on Facebook and it generated a lot of shares and calls for the recipe.  Unfortunately, I don't have the original source.  If this is your recipe and you stumble upon this, sorry!  Let me know so I can properly credit you!

PICKLED CHERRY TOMATOES             Makes about 5 pints

5 teaspoons dill seeds
2 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
10 fresh dill sprigs
5 garlic cloves
8 cups cherry tomatoes (pierced with a sterilized needle)
4 cups champagne vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt

Prepare jars for canning.  Toast dill and peppers (I skipped this step).  Divide herbs and spices among jars.  Pack tomatoes in jars.

Bring vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to boil.  Stir until sugar dissolves.  Transfer liquid to pitcher.  Pour over tomatoes.  Leave 1/2 inch headspace.  Screw on lid, rings till tight.  Process for 15 minutes.

Green tomato chutney

This fall, pick all those green tomatoes and do something with them.  Put them in a box or bag with an apple to hasten ripening, dredge in cornmeal and fry, or make a green tomato chutney!  I tried to recreate this recipe with waning fond memories of a delicious condiment to the black bean patties I had at The Mustard Seed restaurant in the Low Country of South Carolina.  I get to be there again in a couple of weeks and see how close I came to the inspiration.  The chutney I made below is a sweet concoction spiced up with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.  The recipe will be in the fall issue of Heirloom Gardener magazine.  

The good, the bad, and the ugly

I'm so contrived these days, but seems every year, I do some variation of a good, bad, and ugly post.  

The good - finally, a cute little watermelon.  But too little, too late you little watermelon!!!! It's almost October!

The bad - well, bad meaning good... A frickin' plethora of apples on the trees at the u-pick farm, and after a glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug of triple sec and tequila, some jars of strawberry margarita preserves! 

And the ugly - some one has taken a hole-puncher to this foliage.  Either that or some nasty bug has decided to really piss me off.  And then to add insult to injury, this Sassy cat of mine needs to make my planter a kitty bed.  Ah well, she's 11 years old this October.  Maybe I'll just leave her be.  

Beer Making 100: Kolsch

It sure looks like beer...but the verdict is still out on the taste.  Stay tuned for an update.  I titled this post Beer Making 100 because the photos should walk you through the steps, and will hopefully convince you the process is really fun and easy, but you'll definitely need Beer Making 101 (not found on this gardening blog) to really gain the confidence to make your own.  This post is simply an account of my project.

So just for some very quick background, in lieu of multiple gifts exchanged, my husband, sister, and brother-in-law have been doing a Secret Santa type gift exchange for the past several years. The gift must be homemade and should be inexpensive - about $20 or so. Part of the reason I pushed for this Secret Santa activity to begin with was to cut back on the ideas I have to generate for presents for my husband. I count my lucky stars about this guy, but honestly, after so many years, I'm plumb out of bright ideas. Of course, I repeatedly draw his name in our Secret Santa hat year after year!

This year, I decided to try my hand at brewing beer. The man likes his drink, and though the drink of choice is "beast", I decided a Kolsch (info at the very bottom) seemed a little step up. Then again, what do I know, I am not a beer drinker!

Homemade beer making is expensive. Though I knew I wouldn't stay in the $20 range, I didn't want to break the bank either (plus, we should probably start saving now for Scamp's next big veterinary adventure). This whole thing almost didn't happen, but serendipitously, my awesome friend Grace's awesome son Donn was awesome enough to loan me a carload of his awesome beer-making equipment! When Grace and I lugged it all to my car, I was like, look at all this stuff, doesn't it look fun?! Grace quickly replied no. The photo above shows just half of the equipment. The other half that I'll need once the beer is fermented is in my car. 

For the ingredients, I bought the kit above from Donn's favorite online supplier, Williams Brewing, and read then reread, and then reread, and then reread the instructions. I sorted through the equipment and found all these extra pieces I could not figure out what to do with. Who knew making beer would require so much tubing? I really need to stop hassling my husband when he ends up with extra screws and bolts after putting together the IKEA furniture.

This wouldn't be the new canine-loving me without sneaking in a photo of scamp.  But I do have a point that relates to this post.  The point is, stage your beer-making in a kitchen or other area that can get wet, and don't allow animals in the area because you want your area to be as clean and bacteria-free and as dust/dander free as possible.  Scamp is an exception to this rule because he's a sweetheart and won't bother nobody.  

3 DAYS BEFORE BEER-MAKING DAY

I "smack" the pack of yeast. I paid extra money for this special kind of yeast because I thought the idea of smacking the pack and the two liquids activating was so fun - like those glow bracelets you crack and shake. Supposedly it takes 1-3 days for the pack to swell up, indicating that the yeast is active. Glad I read the instructions before beer-making day!

DAY 1: BEER-MAKING DAY

First snag. The super cool piece of shit yeast packet is not swelling up (update: the yeast pack did end up swelling, but not until about a week after beer-making day). I scour the Internet and luckily there's a beer-making supply store reasonably close (about 45 minutes away). Maryland Homebrew is like a homebrewer's heaven. It's pretty darn amazing, and the people who work there are really helpful. I didn't mind sounding like a total idiot. They helped me figure out what I needed - which was a glass vial of yeast from the yeast fridge. I also had a few questions - in Donn's supplies were a plastic bucket (fermenter), a plastic bucket with spigot (the thing you use just before you bottle - duh, that make sense), and a glass "carboy" - like a glass water cooler jug. Turns out, my instructions were for a more simplified process but I had the equipment to add another step to produce a clearer beer! Yay! So the salesperson said a hydrometer really was pretty necessary to determine if the beer is done fermenting and ready for bottling. I didn't see one in Donn's supplies, so I bought one. I asked how far you're supposed to stick the thermometer-like thing in there and he said you're supposed to pour some beer into a graduated cylinder and put the hydrometer in there. I asked, well can't you just hold it in the bucket so it doesn't fall? He said no, you put it in and don't touch it. OHHHHH!! I get it now. The thing bobs freely in the beer and it sort of measures the density of the liquid. Or something like that.  Point is, it tells you that the beer is ready to be bottled.

Anyway, I get home with the yeast vial and hydrometer and get down to business. Everything else runs pretty smoothly. The water boils and I add the giant bag of heavy, sticky, malt (in first photo below). Five minutes later, I add bag #1 of hops. 50 more minutes later, I add bag #2 of hops. So far, it does not smell like beer and I'm concerned, but whatever. I'm sitting next to the stove, stirring occasionally and totally engrossed in Room by Emma Donoghue (highly recommend it). 

I cool the wort (that's lingo that we homebrewers use to describe the stuff in the pot) by putting it in the sink with cold water. Hours later, when cool, I sanitize all the rest of the equipment I'm going to use tonight and then slowly pour the wort into the plastic fermenter leaving the sludge at the bottom of the pot. I top it off with water until I have 5 gallons of liquid. I add the yeast (and notice it now instantly smells like beer) and stir. I put the lid on and add the airlock to the top. I fill the airlock with water and then hope for the best! Apparently I'll start to see bubbles in the airlock in a day or so, indicating that the beer is fermenting.

This is how the project is being hidden during the fermenting process.  A cover on top read, "Do not open or Santa will not come".  I'm taking advantage of the fact that my 42 year old husband believes in the jolly old white guy.

DAY 3:  THERE ARE BUBBLES IN MY AIRLOCK!!!  THERE ARE BUBBLES IN MY AIRLOCK!!!  This is a really good thing.  A harbinger of proper fermentation.

DAY 7: TRANSFERRING TO CARBOY
There is really weird vocab related to beer-making.  On day 7, it is time to transfer the beer to the glass "carboy".  See the nasty ring around the bucket in the photo above?  That's also a good thing (really.  It says so in my directions).  That's another sign that the beer has been fermenting (and settling down).

I now see the benefit in transferring this stuff from container to container.  The transfer leaves a layer of (easily cleaned) sludge at the bottom.  Anyway, the beer goes into the carboy and then it's plugged with a rubber cap that has a hole in it for another airlock.  It goes back into hiding for another 7 days.  I'm not constantly checking, so I'm not sure if there are bubbles in the airlock.  It's supposed to still be fermenting, but at this point, I'm a little over the excitement of watching for bubbles.

DAY 14: BOTTLING DAY!!!
The most time consuming thing about beer-making is sanitizing all the equipment.  There's a concentrated dark solution that must be diluted a gazillion times with water.  Everything that comes into contact with the beer must sit in (or be filled with) the solution for several minutes, then drip dried.  An easy way to do this is to fill the big buckets with solution and throw the cleaned equipment in there as well.  That sanitizes the equipment and the bucket.  Not rocket science, but something I didn't think of until the guy at the store explained it.  In the photo below, I have the bottles sanitized and am using the dishwasher racks to dry and hold the bottles until they're ready to be filled.  Another important thing to mention, the siphon thingy is a must-buy if you're going to make your own beer.  It has a little hand pump thing that starts the siphoning process and the bottom of the rod that goes in the full container has a little rubber cap on the bottom that prevents the sludgy stuff from being sucked into the new container.

So anyway, the beer in the carboy is siphoned into another plastic bucket.  This bucket looks almost exactly like the same one from the first step, except it has a spigot at the bottom.  The beer is beer-brown in color, but when I stir the priming sugar in, it immediately starts foaming.  Knowing the beer-brewing industry, I'm sure there's an interesting word for this chemical process.

After the priming sugar is completely stirred into the beer, I start bottling!  I bought these bottles from The Container Store.  I'm sure there's a more economical option, but for my purposes, there was a convenience factor to buying from the store down the road.  The beer basically needs to sit in a warmer place (my bedroom closet) for a week or so to build carbonation, then can be chilled.  You might remember that I bought a hydrometer, which was supposed to determine whether the beer was finished fermenting and ready to be bottled.  Well, I tried to avoid looking at the precise little tool sitting among my supplies because in the end, I was too tired to check (and worried that I would have to recap the carboy and clear my schedule for  another day to bottle).  I figured ready or not, this beer would be bottled on the designated bottling day.  Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best...

I'm not a beer convert, but I can say that there is definitely a not-unpleasant earthy/organic aroma to this beer.  It was actually very lovely compared to the canned shit (in my humble opinion) my husband typically drinks.  As I've found with just about any project, there's a specialness to homemade that doesn't compare to commercially manufactured.  Voila - the finished product - 3 of many, many bottles of my home-brewed Kolsch!

Info from the Williams Brewing website about this beer...

Kölsch is a pale, mildly hopped ale, with a unique soft fruitiness in the finish. Developed in the German city of Cologne, Kölsch has become increasingly popular in Germany in recent years, perhaps due to its unique quality of being an ale with the refreshing lightness of a lager, yet with the more complex, fruity finish of an ale. True German Kölsch is rarely seen bottled in the United States, probably due to German law which states Kólsch can only be brewed in Cologne, and only by one of the 22 licensed Kölsch breweries. Alcohol: 3.8%, IBU's 27.  William's Kölsch is an authentic rendering of this famous Cologne beer style, and can be either consumed quickly like an ale, or lagered (stored cold) after bottling for 8 weeks to develop the milder traditional flavor.

GTTC: habanero pepper jelly

This week the habaneros were all sorts of green, yellow, orange, and red. The pepper jelly I made is so yummy (spicy, sweet, tart) and incredibly delicious with some brie and crackers. (I and) People I've shared with love it so much that I've taken the original Ball Habanero Gold recipe, modified it somewhat, and quadrupled it.

1. In a large pot, soak 1 1/3 cups of thinly sliced dried apricots in 3 cups white vinegar for 4 hours or overnight at room temperature.
2. Seed peppers. Finely chop to measure: 1 cup red pepper, 1 cup red onion, 1/2 cup habanero pepper, 1/2 cup jalapeno
3. Stir 12 cups sugar into vinegar and apricots. Add peppers and onions and while stirring constantly over high heat. Bring to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
4. Add 4 pouches liquid pectin and continue to boil for another minute, stirring constantly.
5. Quickly skim off foam.
6. Fill jars to 1/4" from the top.
7. Process for 10 minutes and remove from water to cool.

Makes about nine 8 ounce jars or what you see below. The little jars are 4 ounces.

And as an added bonus to unwind after the morning of cutting, cooking, and canning, I made myself a nice stiff drink. See, I started off by chopping the apricots instead of slicing them like I was supposed to. My first thought was to make cookies, but I decided to not sabotage my week of relatively low-fat eating. Instead, I soaked the apricots in gin overnight. The next day, the strained gin made a great gin & tonic. Cheers!

What's going on in your kitchen and garden? Post and add your link below - we'd really like to know!

GTTC - strawberries and canning competence

I was right about the bumper crop of strawberries! For this week's Garden to Table Challenge, I made a few things from the garden that I can enjoy now or months from now.

First, I made triple berry jam (on the left) and strawberry lemonade concentrate (on the right). Later in the week, I made another 14 pints of lemonade concentrate, this time also adding raspberries and blackberries to my own strawberries. Here are the recipe and directions I used (loosely based on the Ball canning book - I adjusted somewhat because the recipe was waaaaay too sweet):

• To make about 6 pints of strawberry lemonade: measure 9 cups of berries (then puree), 7 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 10 pounds of lemons to end up with 7 cups of juice. You really need a citrus juicer for this job!), and 8 cups of sugar. Heat ingredients in large pot till sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is hot but not boiling. Fill hot pint-sized jars. Process for 15 minutes.

Below, the start of tonight's project - strawberry lemon marmalade. This marmalade is so flavorful. There's something so fragrant about the peel of citrus fruits - but I think it's definitely an acquired taste. I thought marmalade was soooo disgusting as a kid. Do you like marmalade? Did you as a kid?

This week's canning went so smoothly. It's funny to compare the mad canning skillz I have now compared to my first experience. Here's what has REALLY helped:

• I have all the necessary supplies and have learned which ones I really need (large canner with a proper rack, tongs, a wet washcloth, a stockpile of jars, lids, and rings) and which ones I really don't (magnetic stick to pick lids out of hot water, jar lifter).
• I have the concept down. I don't need to constantly read and re-read directions in the canning book as I go along.
• I've got a system down. I can quickly and carefully remove a hot jar with simple tongs and a washcloth.
• Per my former farmer friend, I keep my clean jars hot in the oven turned on low rather than in separate boiling pots of water. This trick has made all the difference.
• I'm not freaking out about trying to keep a completely sterile environment like the book warns about. It will all be just fine.
• I have full trust in the "pop!" and don't feel the need to hover to watch and listen for it.

And because canning is just really freaking fun and awesome (well, if you're the kind of nerd I am, you understand), I've decided the first GTTC prize will be the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I've also decided that I'm not going to wait till the end of the season to offer prizes. In fact, all season long, if I think of a fun prize, I will simply: 1) announce it on a particular Saturday, 2) draw a name from all the entries thus far, and 3) award the prize the following Saturday from all entries up to Friday night. All entries then go back in the pot. In other words, the more you play, the more of an opportunity you have to win.

Note to new GTTC participants - I'll be posting each week's GTTC on Saturday. Feel free to blog about what you're harvesting/cooking up, link to this blog, and then link below. Doing this gives you one entry to the occasional random prize drawings as described above.

So...next Saturday, I will draw from all the entries in the GTTC so far. Winner will get a new copy of the Ball book, which has a gazillion recipes and explains all the basics of canning step by step. The photo above is just so ridiculous I had to post it. I was moving photos from my camera and found my husband took these. On a glorious day this week, my six year old and I were outside in the front yard. I was reading the canning book (you can see it behind me), then we decided that we were going to pretend to take a nap. All I remember was that my little one said she was going inside to get juice. I woke up an hour later alone, dazed, and confused. The six year old got juice and decided to check out what was on TV. She never came back. And I'm sleeping in the front yard by myself cuddling stuffed animals...

And speaking of cuddling animals, my father's little guys were born last week. Can't wait to see how big they've gotten in one week. This post from a few years ago shows photos of a duckling being hatched (or whatever the verb for that process is). Hope you've had a good week!