DIY Canning & Preserving 101

When I was growing up my mom grew her own vegetables and fruit, raised chickens, canned tomatoes and made everything from bread to soap. I have not quite followed in her footsteps, but now and again I take on a project or two. I've made orange marmalade and lately I've been making batches of tamales. I've dabbled in window box herb gardening and last year I bought a kit to make cheese.

I'm not alone. Activities like preserving, canning, DIY, gardening and even raising chickens are all surging in popularity. Whether it's a desire to get back to nature, or to just feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with making something to your own taste, these experiences can be deeply satisfying. If you're not sure where to start, or if you are looking to take the next step, there are plenty of good resources out there to get you going. Here are some of my current favorites:

Williams Sonoma recently launched Agrarian, which is designed to get you up to speed in various foodie DIY activities, preserving, gardening and more. The carefully curated line of products includes everything from guides and kits to make cheese, kombucha and sprouts to garden tools, planters and even deluxe chicken coops and beekeeping supplies. As you'd expect, Williams Sonoma has sought out the best quality and often most stylish products.

And there are plenty of exclusive products that you won't find anywhere else such as Beekman heirloom seeds and seed "bombs" and gorgeous Sophie Conran designed garden tools. Online you'll find how to guides and videos. This is a particularly great place to find a gift for someone who is at any level when it comes to gardening or DIY.

Hedonia blogger Sean Timberlake is the mastermind behind Punk Domestics, the go-to aggregator site for preserving, canning, cheese making and more. Instead of searching individual blogs, you can visit Punk Domestics and find posts on a wide variety of topics having to do with jams, jellies and preserves, pickling, salumi and charcuterie and even foraging. Head over to see the latest or dig in when you're ready to try something new. Let the links on the right hand for things like Drying and Dehydrating or Home Brewing do the research for you.


Here are some books on preserving and DIY I have used and recommend:

If it wasn't for Vanessa Barrington's book DIY Delicious, I never would have tried and succeeded in making corn tortillas. In addition to recipes for ingredients, Barrington also shares recipes for how to use your new creations such as spicy kimchi (hello!) and spicy soft tofu soup with kimchi. This is not a preserving book per se, but more about culinary DIY.

Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it and Can it, Bottle it, Smoke it are two books that cover a wide variety of projects you can take on at home. From easy ones like making chocolate hazelnut spread to more complicated ones such as smoking your own pastrami or making masa from scratch and everything in between (think vanilla extract, beef jerky, ginger beer, graham crackers, etc.) A number of the recipes in these books are also in a long out of print favorite of mine, Better than Store-Bought, which you can occasionally find online, but Karen Solomon's book are much more contemporary and hip.

In The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook Rachel Saunders creates jams with enticing fruit and floral combinations like rhubarb rose conserve with cherries, blueberry jam with mint, Italian prune and cardamon conserve, pear jam with rosemary and pine and boysenberry jam with lemon verbena. Need I say more?

Chef and restaurateur Paul Virant's handsome book The Preservation Kitchen includes recipes for pickles and relishes, jams and marmalades as well as bittersweet preserves specifically mostarda and aigre-doux (a kind of sweet sour vinegary preserve of fruit or vegetables) and fermented and cured foods in addition to pressure canned preserves. The second part of the book consists of seasonal recipes using the preserves. 

Home Made is a hard book to describe; it's got a little bit of everything, like preserving vegetables, making broth, herbal teas, cheese, ice cream, chocolate and mustard. The layout is amazing with lots of photographs, technique shots and even hand drawn illustrations. There are also tons of recipes that just use fresh ingredients.  The seasoned labneh balls in olive oil are particularly good. 

Put 'em Up and Well-Preserved are two great books on preserving, and include drying, freezing and dehydrating. Both have compelling recipes and easy-to-follow clear instructions. It's hard for me to say which of the two I like best, the major difference is that Put'em Up is all about preserving, whereas Well-Preserved focuses on small batch preserving and also includes recipes for using the preserves such as preserved zucchini in a shrimp and preserved zucchini salad.

More links:

National Center for Home Food Preservation
Canning Across America note the monthly canning Twitter chats
Canning: Recipes & Instructions from Epicurious
Preserving and Canning Food from Better Homes & Gardens
Karen Solomon Author and Preserving Expert
Food in Jars blog

Some of the books were provided as review copies

Bison Tacos with Avocado & Radish

American bison are an important part of the prairie ecosystem and after a decline almost to extinction around the end of the 19th century, today there are many ranchers working hard to bring them back. I enjoy cooking and eating bison (sometimes referred to as buffalo). The brands I've tried thus far have all been grass fed, lean, raised in a more sustainable manner and well, delicious. You may be able to find ground bison at your supermarket and it's pretty easy to use in recipes that call for ground beef. Bison steaks however are another story.

Because most bison is grass fed, it's leaner, like grass fed beef. Considered a highly nutrient dense food, it's lower in calories, fat and cholesterol than even chicken, it has 40% more protein than beef and is high in iron, omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin E. Without rich marbling, it needs more tender loving care. Wild Idea Buffalo recently sent me some samples of their products. Their ranch is located in South Dakota between the Black Hills and the Badlands National Park and their herd is raised without the use of antibiotics or hormones. I knew immediately what I wanted to try with the New York strip loin steak. An extremely lean piece of meat, I knew I would cook it quickly, searing to get some nice color and flavor, and serving it very rare. Because it is so lean, it's particularly good paired with something rich, like avocado.

I got my inspiration from a Martha Stewart recipe, Beef Tacos with Avocado and Radish Salsa. My adaptation is very close to the original. Here's what I did differently. I used bison instead of beef and I used a lot less of it! I rubbed the steak with oil and just sprinkled it with both cumin and chile powder. I used fresh jalapenos instead of picked ones and I added scallions. Most importantly I made my own tortillas. Please, do yourself a favor. Buy a tortilla press
and a big bag of masa harina (Maseca is a good and easy to work with brand) and never settle for store bought tortillas ever again.



Bison Tacos with Avocado and Radish (adapted from Everyday Food, Martha Stewart)

Makes 6 tacos

Ingredients

10 ounces bison strip loin steak
vegetable oil
chile powder
ground cumin
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and diced
4 radishes, diced
2 green onions, sliced
2-3 tablespoons cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, diced, more or less as desired
2 limes
pinch salt
6 small corn tortillas, preferably homemade

Instructions

Allow the steak to come to room temperature. Pat it dry with paper towels then rub it with a just enough vegetable oil so it is glossy, but not slick. Sprinkle all sides with chile powder and ground cumin. Heat a cast iron skillet. Sear the meat 3 minutes on the top and bottom and then another 2-3 minutes on the other two sides (loin is almost square shaped). Allow to cool 10 minutes then slice thinly.

Make salsa by combining the diced avocado, radishes, green onions, cilantro and jalapeno. Slice the limes in half and squeeze them over the salsa, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, gently mix then taste. Adjust seasoning as you see fit. Heat the tortillas, top with slices of steak and salsa.

Enjoy!

If you are interested in trying bison, you can receive a 20% discount by using the code Amy-Buffalo20 at Wild Idea Buffalo Store  through July 1st, 2012.


My thanks to Wild Idea Buffalo for sending me samples of their products to try.

Favorite Bites - Burgers, BBQ & Beer

The final event of Culinaria was possibly the most popular or at least the best expression of of San Antonio--an outdoor barbecue with a casual, fun and friendly vibe. The theme was burgers and there were several that broke the mold. I picked up some tips and ideas for places to visit on my next trip, as I did at the Grand Tasting (which you will find bolded), best of all it gave me another excuse to visit the Pearl.

The Pearl is the name of what was once a landmark brewery in San Antonio. The grounds which are set on the river, are now home to the latest campus of the Culinary Institute of America, shops, restaurants, bars and a thriving farmers market and small but lively amphitheater. A visit to San Antonio is not complete until you've been to the Pearl.


First up, the venison burger with onions, cucumber and a pickled pepper. It was so rare and juicy. I'd want to check out The Esquire Tavern based on this burger alone.


Another top pick came from chef Johnny Hernandez who runs La Gloria, a Mexican street food restaurant at The Pearl. It was a pork belly and short rib burger, topped with house made kimchi and also featured cucumbers. Note to self, when tomatoes are out of season, try a cucumber slice instead. It was served on a steamed bun, a nod to it's Asian influence.



My last favorite burger was a very innovative one, and it came from Arcade, a restaurant that has not yet opened at the Pearl. It was a thin chorizo "burger" on a bun with spicy arugula and crumbled feta. A thin sausage patty is a great compromise when you can decide between a sausage or a burger!


A black currant macaron with chocolate filling might have resembled a burger, but it was in fact the quintessential French Parisian style macaron. It was so light and with just the right amount of filling. This was no ordinary macaron but a truly outstanding one, the best I've had in a long time. Look for Bakery Lorraine goodies at the Quarry farmer's market.

My thanks to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau for inviting me and hosting my trip.

POM Wonderful claims are false and misleading

An administrative judge for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concluded (.pdf) last week that POM Wonderful marketing claims about health benefits were "false and misleading."

For example, POM Wonderful advertisements imply that the juice protects against prostate cancer.  Could this be true?  POM Wonderful cited a study with some evidence that "PSA doubling time" -- a measure of prostate cancer's progress -- is slowed by drinking POM Wonderful.  Yet, truthfulness requires more than selective quotation from a favorable study.  In the FTC hearing, the balance of scientific evidence failed to support POM Wonderful's implied prostate cancer claim. 

POM Wonderful argued that some of its claims were merely puffery, not intended actually to convince grown-up consumers that the juice protects against cancer.  Yet, truthfulness does not permit the kindergarten defense: "Okay, I implied it, but I didn't really say it, so it's not a lie."

The administrative judge is correct to tar the claims as false and misleading.

What is the policy implication?  Some reasonable people would say the FTC should crack down on misleading health claims.  Other reasonable people would say "buyer beware," while maintaining that regulation will do little good.  In either case, let us all acknowledge that the claims are false and misleading.  There can be no defense of the claims themselves.

Or, so I thought.

POM Wonderful's response to the ruling this week has a breathtaking audacity.  I see today on the NYT website, POM Wonderful advertisements boasting of the FTC judge's ruling.  For the prostate issue above, here is the key quote in the POM Wonderful ad today:

“Competent and reliable scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the consumption of pomegranate juice and pomegranate extract supports prostate health, including by prolonging PSA doubling time in men with rising PSA after primary treatment for prostate cancer.”

– Judge Chappell, Chief Administrative Law Judge, FTC

In the Matter of POM Wonderful LLC, Initial Decision (5/17/2012), page 282

How is this possible?  Did the judge really endorse the very cancer-protective claim that POM Wonderful had implied?  Here is the full passage from page 282 of the judgment, with the sentences not quoted by POM Wonderful underlined.

Competent and reliable scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the consumption of pomegranate juice and pomegranate extract supports prostate health, including by prolonging PSA doubling time in men with rising PSA after primary treatment for prostate cancer.  However, the greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony shows that the evidence relied upon by Respondents is not adequate to substantiate claims that the POM Products treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of prostate cancer or that they are clinically proven to do so.  Indeed, the authors of the Pantuck Study and the Carducci Study each testified that their study did not conclude that POM Juice treats, prevents, or reduces the risk of prostate cancer.

Let anybody who was tempted to criticize the FTC or defend POM Wonderful read these two passages and evaluate for themselves the company's standard of honesty.

In my view, POM Wonderful is truly a bold titan of the dubious claims industry.

Update (1:45 pm): I just noticed that Marion Nestle also covered the NYT ads.  Soon perhaps POM Wonderful will quote Marion's sentence: "Fruit juices are healthy and especially delicious when fresh."  Of course, Marion goes on to say she doubts the cancer claims too.

Favorite Bites from the Grand Tasting at Culinaria

One of the most elegant events at Culinaria, the wine and culinary arts festival in San Antonio, is the Grand Tasting at the Convention Center along the River Walk. Attending an event like this (or even just reading about it) allows you to pick up some great tips and ideas for future culinary explorations--both dishes to try on your own and a head's up about restaurants that are worth seeking out on future visits (find my tips in bold text).


At the Grand Tasting I had three favorite dishes. First was something very creative and tasty, compressed watermelon with pop rocks! Mainly it was just a lot of fun, juicy and crunchy and crackly. It's definitely a dish with a sense of humor, and while prepared by the chef at the hotel La Contessa restaurant Las Ramblas, it is available from their food truck, Tapa Tapa. I believe it also had a dab of black garlic. Pretty too. Compressing watermelon is a technique to try using a vacuum sealer, no sous vide necessary!


The next dish I really loved was a twist on Italian bread salad called panzanella. It was burrata, tomatoes (undoubtedly ripened in the hot Texas sun) with torn bread, micro greens, balsamic and roast chicken. I'm usually in the "please don't ruin Caesar salad by adding chicken to it!" camp, but in this case, it really worked. The dish was from Luke, a restaurant I got to visit last year.


The last dish was coconut ice cream with fresh red curry, pickled mango coulis and Thai basil micro greens. A sweet and spicy savory bite, I loved the cool sensation of the cold coconut ice cream with the hot curry swirled into it. A very innovative and unsual dish from James Beard nominated chef Jason Dady who runs several restaurants in San Antonio as well as a food truck.

I just noticed all these dishes had micro greens. Not sure why they are in vogue in San Antonio, but I guess you could call it a trend...

My thanks to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau for inviting me and hosting my trip.

Food Trucks at Culinaria

I'm in San Antonio for Culinaria, an annual food and wine festival with events that range from BBQ to beer and burgers to a grand tasting. For the first time, the events included a food truck round up (hey, it is Texas after all). A $10 ticket got attendees into the event and included beer and wine--including some wines from Texas hill country.


I waited in line the longest for the Say-She-Ate, a food truck chosen best food truck of 2012 by the San Antonio Current. They were serving Akaushi beef sliders with grilled onions and blue cheese and duck fat fries. Akaushi is a Japanese wagyu style beef, and cattle are raised in Texas. While I would have preferred the slider a little less well-done, it was still flavorful and delicious. The fries were great too, though another truck was cooking them in beef tallow and they were crispier.


My favorite bite of the night was from the Duk truck. Duk stands for Dady's Underground Kitchen, but you wouldn't know that from looking at it since it was covered with rubber duckies.


Or from trying their speciality, duck tacos. They were out of tortillas by the time I got there, but chef Jason Dady improvised and served a soft, fresh pita topped with luscious duck confit as tender and juicy as pulled pork, with Thai basil, cilantro, fresh pineapple and crema.


Another great innovative fusion dish was from Spice Runner. Thai coconut hot wings were served with a cooling yogurt sauce and lime wedge. The wings were crispy and the sauce creamy and rich with a hint of peanuts.


Finally for dessert a bread pudding from the Guilty Pleasures truck I would have sooner expected to find in a restaurant. A large portion of super moist bread pudding studded with nuts, dripping with boozy bourbon sauce and topped with ice cream, whipped cream and couple of wafer cookies. What can I say? Everything's bigger in Texas.

If you haven't been to a food truck event, here are my tips:

* Go early! Lines form quickly at popular trucks and are also a good indication of good eats.

* Divide and separate. Each person in your group should choose a different truck and line then meet up to share bites.

* Chat with your neighbors in line, you'll learn what's good and make new friends. It will also help pass the time more quickly.

* Check out the menu before you get in line, there usually aren't a lot of choices, so be ready to order when you do get to the window. You may even be able to research what trucks will be at an event and what they will be serving before you arrive.

* Bring small bills for paying and tipping.

My thanks to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau for inviting me and hosting my trip.

SNAP benefits surpass 10% of all grocery spending

In 2010, for the first time, SNAP benefits appear to have surpassed 10% of all grocery spending.

This seems to me like a significant threshold.  The program formerly known as food stamps is not just an important part of the safety net.  It plays a big role in the U.S. retail economy more generally.  It should be a national priority to seek economic growth of the sort that reaches all the way to the low-wage labor market.  The last time we had that type of poverty-reducing economic growth for a sustained period was the late 1990s.

I provide more detail about recent program trends in "The New Normal: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (gated)," published this week in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE).  The paper came out of a lively conference session, organized by Benjamin Senauer and including papers by himself and Mark Rosegrant, Mike Boehlje, Brent Gloy, Jason Henderson, and Tim Beatty.

This figure compares administrative data on SNAP benefits to USDA's two data series on aggregate food spending.  Depending on the measure of food spending used, SNAP now represents 10% to 17% of the food retail economy.

Figure 4.

Total SNAP benefits, as a percentage of food at-home sales in food stores and in total, 1981–2010

Author's computation based on USDA/FNS annual SNAP data (converted from fiscal year to calendar year by interpolation) and USDA/ERS annual national food spending data by calendar year.

Healthy food not more expensive

In contrast with the conventional wisdom that healthy food costs too much, USDA's Economic Research Service this week reports:

For all metrics except the price of food energy, the authors find that healthy foods cost less than less healthy foods (defined for this study as foods that are high in saturated fat, added sugar, and/or sodium, or that contribute little to meeting dietary recommendations).

The argument turns largely on three different methods of measuring the cost of food:

• price per unit of weight ($ / 100g of edible weight)
• price per serving ($ per cup or ounce equivalent)
• price per unit of food energy (cents per Calorie)

Based on the third method, people frequently say healthy food is too expensive.  Based mainly on the first two methods, USDA argues instead that healthy food is reasonably inexpensive.

You might think this is a delightfully arcane and nerdy point of contention.  Yet, the new study has major news coverage today, including a surprisingly complete explanation of this whole units issue.  The Wall Street Journal quotes one of the report's authors, my colleague Andi Carlson:

Often, less-healthy food options are made up of empty calories, prompting people to eat even more, said Andrea Carlson, lead researcher of the report.

"Take a chocolate glazed donut which is 240 calories," she said. "You can easily eat one, if not two or three without any trouble at all. However, a banana, which has a lot of nutrients in it and will make you feel quite full, has only 105 calories. You will feel fuller if you eat the banana versus the donut."

I can think of reasons to like each measurement method in certain circumstances.  Beverages provide an example of a comparison where it seems the per-serving approach is sensible.  If we compare the cost of milk to sugary soda, a per-Calorie comparison makes soda look cheaper when it really just has more Calories.  The per-serving comparison better captures the choice consumers really face.

On the other hand, if you think of the cost of a day's food supply, consumers' bodies generally regulate total food energy intake.  For such comparisons, perhaps price per unit of food energy does make some sense.

For those who want more detail, here is a summary graphic from the USDA report.  It is a bit complex.  Generally, the high-carbohydrate category is fairly inexpensive, which corroborates the conventional wisdom.  But, the fruit and vegetable categories are less expensive than meat by the preferred second and third measurement methods, which is USDA's main point.

20 Things to Do with Leftover Guacamole

Is there anything sadder than guacamole and no chips? And yet, it happens. Instead of stashing the guacamole in the refrigerator, this list of ideas should get the green out of the bowl and onto your plate! Just remember to season to taste before serving your new creation...

1. On a baked potato instead of sour cream or butter
2. On a BLT as a sandwich spread instead of mayo
3. Whisked into a vinaigrette or ranch salad dressing
4. On toast with a fried egg on top
5. Layer on a sandwich with mozzarella and tomatoes (good hot or cold)
6. As a topping on chili
7. Dollop on top of pizza, really!
8. As a pasta sauce, combine with olive oil, season with salt, serve hot or cold
9. On top of crab cakes or potato pancakes
10. Cold guacamole soup, just combine with chicken broth and chill
11. Make chicken salad by combining guacamole with chunks of cooked chicken and chopped scallions
12. Use in place of mayonnaise to make guacamole deviled eggs or guacamole egg salad
13. Combine with canned tuna to make tuna salad
14. Puree with canellini beans to make a hummus like dip
15. Slather it on cornbread or corn muffins instead of butter
16. Make a salad by stirring it into a bowl of black beans, corn, diced tomatoes and peppers

The following ideas are sweet! A highly savory (salty, spicy or oniony) guacamole is not recommended. But a mild guacamole will work just fine. Simply puree the guacamole and use it in place of mashed avocado in the following recipes:

17. Guacamole ice cream try this one from Two Peas their pod or this one from Tabasco or this one from Yum or this one from Alton Brown.
18. Bake a guacamole pound cake or cupcakes
19. Guacamole frosting, combine pureed guacamole and powdered sugar to taste
20. Make a guacamole smoothie

What are your favorite ways to use guacamole when there are no more chips or crudités?

My thanks to the California Avocado Commission. They are sponsoring my attendance to Camp Blogaway 2012 and provided me with a shipment of fresh fruit. Note: They did not pay for this post, although they did inspire it...

Hot Chocolate Cookies Recipe

The drinks and dishes I tried on my trip to Avery Island inspired me to think about Tabasco in new ways. Of course you can use it in things like in guacamole or in a bloody mary, but how about something unexpected, for example, cookies?

I made François Payard Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies twice during Passover this year and they were gobbled up so quickly that I didn't even get to snap a photo. After following the recipe closely, I decided to put my own twist on it. The cookies are mostly powdered sugar, cocoa powder and egg whites. They are crisp and crackly on the outside but moist and fudgy, almost like brownies on the inside. But perhaps not surprisingly, they are a bit sweet.

To temper the sweetness I added Tabasco and cacao nibs. The Tabasco gives just a hint of heat in the background. You'll barely notice it, but it definitely takes these cookies to the next level. While the toasted walnuts add crunch and a contrasting bitterness, unsweetened cacao nibs help to balance the sweetness even more. Though I wouldn't call these cookies spicy, they do remind me of hot chocolate. The original recipes calls for Dutch process cocoa, but I tested it with natural cocoa (Hershey's and Valrhona) and it worked fine. I make the cookies smaller than Payard does because I'd rather have two cookies than one, but feel free to make them whatever size you like best. You can also make a half batch.

Hot Chocolate Cookies (adapted from François Payard)
makes about 40

Ingredients

2 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process or natural)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce

2/3 cup cacao nibs


Instructions

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Chop the walnut roughly, place on a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 7-10 minutes, just until they are golden and fragrant. Let walnuts cool slightly. In a large bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt. Add the egg whites, vanilla and Tabasco and stir just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat). Fold in the walnuts and cacao nibs using a spatula. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of batter onto the baking sheets (or make them as large as a tablespoon if you prefer) and bake for 15 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked. Let cookies cool then peel off the parchment paper.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I created this recipe on behalf of Tabasco and I was compensated for it. The choice to post it here, was my own.