Miss Anne loved to can fruits and veggies. The basement had several shelves of food she had canned over time. I knew little about the safe shelf life and gave all of it away to a relative who felt it was safe to eat. She’s still alive, so I assume it was.
Miss Anne was deathly afraid of pressure cookers and refused to use them. With so much going on caring for her, I never inquired how she canned without using a pressure cooker… so many things I wish I had asked her about all sorts of things… with Alzheimer’s, she had lost a lot of her precious memories… don’t wait till it’s too late to ask your parents about their lives…
I bought an electric appliance that could be used as a pressure cooker, but mom’s fears rattle around in my brain and I’ve never used it… This spring and summer, my pepper plants went nuts and I found myself with too many hot peppers to use and decided to wade into the world of canning… ta da… I discovered you can also seal your jars with a boiling water bath…
And I began to can…
First up were the serranos and jalapenos. I canned eight pints and chose to be extra safe after the water bath, I stored them in the refrigerator. They are pickled and turned out crunchy and hot spicy, even though I removed the seeds.
Next I pickled okra, the same day my favorite farmer friend, Jan Taylor, picked it. Knowing that pickled okra is a trendy food now, I wanted to have them for next month’s Grazing Table event at Blue Have Bee, October 20th. I don’t like slimy okra and The Man enthusiastically doesn’t. like. okra. I found a recipe online that promised the okra would be crunchy. I followed the recipe and made six pints.
We enjoyed the okra earlier this week on a cheese board with Cougar Gold and 34 Degrees’ Sesame Crisps plus the last canning I did – sweet tomato jam… another uber small batch; this time only four small jars (250 ml).
The tomato jam was tasty but a little sweeter than I liked. I may use it in a later tomato sauce… still debating.
I also made a peach marmalade with fresh South Carolina peaches – the last of the season. The Man swooned and my friends at Blue Haven Bee thought it was “the best”… The man says it stays at the manse and cannot be used at the Grazing Table event – I’ll have to make more for the event.
Already planning next year’s schedule for Canning For Cheese… stay tuned.
October is American Cheese Month and I currently have two events planned:
Save the Dates:
Friday, October 12th at Sweet Combs of Honey. I’ll be debuting my new handmade cheese boards for sale at this downtown Lavonia business that promotes the creations of local artists. My dad was a self-taught painter and loved to paint on slabs of wood. He left behind hundreds of slabs. I gave many of them away but as I work my way through his woodworking supplies, I have discovered I still have at least two hundred of these slabs in various sizes. I finished one to use for cheese and showed it to LaDonna Andrews at Sweet Combs and she wanted to sell them in her shop… We will be introducing my cheese boards in the shop on October 12th from 4pm to 6pm. We will also be offering complimentary, light refreshments which will include… cheese. Hope you can attend.
Saturday, October 20th: I am teaming again with Blue Haven Bee Company by creating Artisan Cheese Grazing Tables with the wonderful Award-Winning cheeses of Beecher’s Handmade Cheeses, Beehive Cheeses, Cabot Cheese Cooperative, Sartori Cheese, Cypress Grove Chevre, Jasper Hill Farm, Schuman Cheese, Rogue Creamery, Emmi Roth Cheese, Swiss American Cheeses, Clock Shadow Creamery, Olli Salumeria, BelGioioso Cheese , LaClare Family Creamery, Saxon Creamery and from Germany the cheeses of Champignon. In addition to these wonderful artisan cheeses, Gourmet Foods International is sponsoring the accoutrements that pair well with cheese from chocolate to hummus to peppadews to olives, Kelly’s Jelly is contributing her small-batch, Award-Winning jellies and preserves, 34 Degrees Crisps are sharing their Award-winning crisps and Olli Salumeria and Creminelli Fine Meats are contributing a selection of their Handmade Italian Artisan Meats and Salumis. Our thanks to all for helping with this event. My compensation for the event will be donated to the American Cheese Education Foundation, earmarked for the Cheese Study Group 2019 Scholarship Fund. $40 per person; must be 21 and make your reservations at bluehavenbee@gmail.com or 760 245 6586. Tickets will be limited. Tickets will also be sold for a raffle of some terrific “cheesy” bling.
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
Pardon our dust… we’re remodeling the website and over the next few weeks, you will see old files moved to new places and some old files may be gone. If you can’t find something you need, just send me an email and I’ll locate it and send you a link… the new site should be complete by end of September to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the website. (Marcellathecheesemonger at gmail.com)
Latest updates and additions include: Updated About Me page, a new Availability page, Cheese Menu, Cheese Education Index, Cheese Index, Recipe Index pages. (All of these pages are still “under construction” and will be completed in the coming days.)
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