Jul
18
2009 Local Foods Week and Farm Tour
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Central Pennsylvania’s 4th annual Local Foods Week and Farm Tour are coming up the first week of August. This year’s Local Foods Week runs from Saturday August 1st through Saturday August 8th. The Farm Tour is Saturday, August 8th from 12:30pm through 5:00pm.
I’m planning to visit a few sites. I’ve been out to Full Circle Farms about once a week this season and will probably stop in during the tour. I’m also planning to visit a few other local places I haven’t yet visited, but I haven’t had a chance to look at the map closely enough to figure out which ones.
Jul
5
Canning Red Beets
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
[Updated: August 10, 2009: This red beet recipe comes out entirely too sweet and syrupy. See this entry for more information on what I am doing for subsequent cannings.]
For the last three weeks we’ve been receiving red beets in our weekly CSA share. I am indifferent about cooked beets, but one of my favorite foods is pickled beets. I can eat an entire pint jar myself. Since we had received three bunches so far, I had a total of about 22 beets on hand, about equal parts dark red and paler red beets. I am almost certain the darker beets are the Detroit Dark Red variety, and I think the lighter red ones are Chicago Red Hybrid.
I decided to figure out how to can them this evening. If I’d known canning was this easy — I only burnt one of my fingers — I’d have started doing it years ago.
I started by trimming the beets, leaving about an inch and a half of the stalks in place to prevent color bleeding. I put them in our large stock pot and set them to boil, setting a timer for twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes later, the beets were tender to the touch. I removed them from the pot and allowed them to cool for a few minutes.
Peeling beets is simple: just pull off the stems and squeeze the beet from the small end. The rough, outer skin will slip right off. I then chopped the beets into my preferred size: 3/4″ pieces.
The original plan was to can them all in one pint Mason jar, but we had more beets than would fit into one jar, so I separated them into the two varieties.
I then prepared the syrup solution, following a recipe from an old Pennsylvania State Grange cookbook, bringing it to a boil on the stove. (I halved the amounts; it was originally for 1½ peck.)
[Don't use this recipe. See this entry for what went wrong.]
Pickled Beets (syrup)
4 c. sugar
3 c. water
1½ c. vinegar
Next, I added the light-colored beets to the pan and returned it to a boil. I gave it a minute or so to reheat the beets.
The rest was an exercise in speed and precision (and is when I burnt my finger with hot syrup). I removed a jar from the large pot with a pair of tongs, carefully drained the water and sat it on the range. I then picked up a slotted spoon and carefully spooned the beets into the jar. Using a ladle, I covered the beets with syrup, filling the jar to the base of the neck, making sure to cover all of the beets. I then used the tongs again to retrieve a seal and a ring lid from the small saucepan. Using hand towels, I carefully twisted it tight and sat the jar on the counter to cool.
I repeated the above process with the darker beets. It was only when I tried to clean up some of the spilled syrup that I coated my right index finger in the hot, sticky stuff, and now have a blister that hurts like mad.
The finished product: one jar of each variety of beets.
I found it to be easiest to work with three pots: First, the large stock pot (cleaned since the beets were in it and filled with fresh water) for boiling the jars. Second, the medium saucepan for the syrup (recipe above). Finally, the small saucepan, filled with clean water, for the lids and seals for the jars.
