Autumn Giles and I first met in 2010. It was at a canning party in Kate Payne’s Brooklyn apartment on a hot, August morning, where we chopped, trimmed, pitted, and canned our way through nearly 100 pounds of produce.
She was a beginning canner in those days, but as you can see from her new book, Beyond Canning: New Techniques, Ingredients, and Flavors to Preserve, Pickle, and Ferment Like Never Before, she has become an expert preserver in the intervening years!
The recipes in this book are divided up into three sections. You’ll find the Sweet Preserves first. That chapter includes appealing things like Tomato-Vanilla Jam, Hibiscus-Lime Jelly, Banana-Chocolate Butter, and Fig Jam with Toasted Fennel Seeds. I particularly like how Autumn makes good use of chiles and spices to add interest and flavor to familiar fruits.
Next comes the Pickles. This section positively vibrates with creativity and I want to make every single thing in it. Recipes that are particular stand-outs in my mind are the Broiled Pickled Onions (I love the idea of a little char in a pickle), the Maple Plum Mostarda (it’s made with mustard seeds rather than the oil, so that the ingredients are accessible for all makers), and the Green Chile Jam (I want to dollop some on eggs immediately).
The third section digs into various acts of Fermentation. You’ll find Dilly Beans (a long-time favorite), White Kimchi, Gochugaru Preserved Lemons, Chow-Chow Kraut, and so much more. If you’ve not yet dipped a toe into the fermentation pool, I promise, Autumn’s clear and confident instructions will help you get started without fear.
I have one more treat from this book for you. Autumn and her publisher have given me permission to reprint the Rose Wine Jelly recipe. I’ll confess, I’ve not had the chance to make it yet, but I LOVE the idea of it and plan on turning to her formula the next time I have a bit of wine leftover from the bottle.
“just a cup” rosé wine jelly
Ingredients
- 3/4 teaspoon Pomona’s Universal Pectin powder
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup rosé wine
- 1/2 teaspoon Pomona’s Universal Pectin calcium water prepared according to package instructions
- 1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Because recipes made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin have such a short cook time, have your jars prepped and out of the water bath before you even start cooking the jelly. I like doing this in 2 quarter pints, since the batch size is so small. Because the batch is so small, you can also skip the water bath altogether and stash this in the fridge if you prefer.
- Stir together pectin and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Combine the wine, calcium water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, gradually add the pectin-sugar mixture, whisking continually to help it dissolve.
- Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more while whisking to dissolve the pectin. Remove from the heat and use a clean spoon to skim off any foam.
- Ladle into prepared quarter-pint jars, leaving 1/4 -inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and wipe rims. Place the lids on the jars and screw on the bands until they are fingertip tight.
- Process in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude as needed.
- After 24 hours, check the seals. Label, date, and store out of direct sunlight without the bands for up to a year.
Fermentation! I am ready to take it further than the Pickles & kraut I’ve already tried & loved.
Anything fruit! Love it for myself and to give as gifts with homemade bread 🙂
I’m so sorry for your family’s loss; you’re in my prayers.
We recently moved and stocked up on new spices and staples. I bought a couple of things that I haven’t cooked with before, so I’m trying to incorporate them into dinners in a variety of ways. It’s been fun to experiment and learn!
I’ve been obsessed with recipes that will help with my Lyme arthritis! This book looks lovely =)
Strawberry season will be here shortly and it marks the beginning of the canning season for me. Over the last year I got divorced and left my home so I didn’t can much of anything. So, a fresh start is called for! My strawberry lemon marmalade will be first up, a lovely jam that tastes fresh because of the lemon. And I might try to make blueberry syrup, being inspired by all I see here!
I’m terribly sorry for your loss, Marisa, I hope you know that many of us consider you a friend from all the “visits” in our email, we’re thinking of you. Remember, she is not gone, but away. xxoo
Chia seeds! I’m inspired to find some way to incorporate them in my canning!!
My mother’s health took a nose-dive at the beginning of this year; I hope to get her into home hospice soon. I’ve been collecting recipes that will be simple to prepare, easy for a sick person to eat, yet still delicious.
I’m trying to get to the bottom of my freezer by June, when the garden starts producing again. So all the frozen stuff is my current inspiration.
Got turned on to fermenting last fall, but we don’t keep the house warm enough in winter. Got my kickstarter pickle pipes, gave one to my awesome local store to test-drive and happy to see they will be stocking them. It had just started to warm up but we’ve gotten some ‘weather’ this week. Looking forward to getting the garden in and embarking on fermented adventures!
I have been cooking with fennel. I have lots of it coming from my garden now and it is a challenge to use. Not many friends willing to take fennel off my hands; it’s an unloved veg in Texas!
I’ve been in a citrus mode..lemon ginger concentrate, pickled kumquats and finally tried marmalade. Reading these posts inspires me to make sourdough bread.
Beyond Canning looks beautiful, I do love reading cookbooks and getting culinary inspiration to try new things.
This warm weather is sparking my grilling creativity this week. Grilled capreze kabobs yesterday, grilled gazpacho today, and grilled blackened tilapia tomorrow.
This may sound silly, but I’ve been cooking from my Jacques Pepin cookbooks like crazy. On a couple of miserable-weather days, I caught a few episodes of The Pepin’s various cooking shows on PBS, and his manner of teaching just really agrees with me, for whatever reason! I’ve been cooking for over half my life now, so I’m hardly unaccustomed to it, but sometimes it takes someone else to show us something new, and it seems The Pepin, as a friend and I call him, has done just that!
I also just finished reading the Vincent Price cookbook, which was re-issued last fall. Between the two cooks, I really just want to live in the kitchen right now!
I’ve been working with sourdough lately – some loaves have been wonderful and others not so much. It’s interesting to see the different results.
I have been working on marmalade and bread baking too. They go deliciously well together!
Anything strawberry. It’s strawberry season here in Florida.
Baking bread is my favorite winter activity, to go with all the crockpot soups and stews we have for dinner. There are two bags of tiny wild black raspberries from my son’s yard waiting to be made up into jam. Time to start the tomato seedlings.
There’s been a ton of maple syrup making around our house these days. I’m interested to find ways to use it in canning recipes.
I am in love with Meyer lemon and ginger marmalade!!!
My chickens have been REALLY kicking it into high gear on the laying front now that the days are getting longer. It’s called for some creative use of eggs in the kitchen. Like in nearly everything. Can you OD on eggs????
My sons and I have been making a lot of fun pretzels lately!
I’ve just finished unpacking. So a new apartment & pantry large enough for any number of jars is what’s inspiring me.
How exciting! I have been waiting to try my hand at fermentation again. A few false starts with kombucha and kraut gave me nightmares. Perhaps this is just what I need to get going again! Recently I’ve been adding cinnamon to EVERYTHING. Chili, soup, grilled chicken, enchiladas… can’t stop won’t stop!
I’ve been doing a lot of bread baking.
I have been in a long love affair with my cookbook collection, but recently felt overwhelmed by it and I’ve been turning more recently to a very full pinterest board with more than enough inspiration. I determined this is the year I would start fermenting, and while I’ve been making plenty of sourdough I haven’t launched into veg yet.
‘Beyond Canning’ sounds very interesting and looks beautiful.
Lately, I’ve been trying to cook with what I have on hand and what’s on sale at the store. I’m forced to be a bit more creative by having to substitute when I don’t have all the right ingredients, and come up with uses for leftover bits. Last night I didn’t even use a recipe (unusual for me); I just threw together a basic tomato pasta sauce with some penne and ground beef. Usually I’d either follow a recipe or buy a jar of pre-made marinara.
I’m in the same boat as a lot of folks – my freezer has been my inspiration! Nothing like a batch of fresh strawberry kiwi jam in the middle of winter thanks to the freezer berries I saved from last year. 🙂
I am currently working my way through the large amount of figs we picked late summer 2015; on my day off work & weekends as time permits. (I always set aside a whole day for canning) We quartered the figs and put them in the freezer in two cup containers–the perfect size for me to work with. So far, fig raspberry jam is my favorite. The fig plum is good too…and fig strawberry. : )
I made vinegar for the first time and now I am trying Kamboucha.
I have been wanting to make some citrus curd, with spring coming I am running out of time! Asparagus will be here before I know it!
I’ve been thinking about trying lower sugar recipes because of recently diagnosed diabetes.
I finally bit the pickled cranberry bullet and I’ve kept a jar of these jewels in my fridge since October (new jars – I go through about one a month). I’ve been adding them to EVERYTHING lately.
Homemade strawberry hibiscus kombucha has stolen the hearts of all in our house! It’s pushed me to try fermenting jars of berries…I balked at the idea first but they are so effervescent and perfectly preserved…I’m totally in love with them now!
I’ve been experimenting with the last of my stored winter squash. Time to use it up or do something with it to ekk out the last bit of goodness. I recently made butternut butter LOL. Sort of like pumpkin butter, spicy and slightly sweet.
I was recently gifted an electric pressure cooker (4 qt) that is delighting me now that I’m not scared to use it LOL! It does allow for pressure canning in as well and I’m very anxious to try this new adventure!
I have been trying to use pantry and freezer and eating most all meals at home. This winter I have been makingchicken & turkey stock overnight in the crock pot. Easy and tasty.
Frozen fruit! –djs
Many bags of radishes (of a wide variety) delivered from my winter CSA in the last few weeks has inspired me to make pickled radishes – very delicious! I’ve enjoyed varying the spices and heat.
I also have a batch of apple peel vinegar “cooking” using Alice Waters’ recipe. It should be ready in a few weeks. Question for Marisa: What do I do with the mother that is growing on the top of the bottles – I’m assuming that I strain each bottle and discard the mother? Please advise! Thanks!
Don’t discard the mother! Use it to make more vinegar! And it does no harm to just leave it in the bottle.
The out-of-date turnip seeds that I tossed into the nitrogen-fixing green cover crop for rebuilding garden soil over the winter have actually produced some decent sized turnips!!
I know I’ll eat a couple raw (so crunchy!) and will also venture into a stew that includes turnips./
I am a MASSIVE garlic fan! I love playing around in my kitchen and coming up with all different recipes to make with it. If the recipe has either garlic or cheese in it, this girl is happy
I have been super busy for the last couple of months and haven’t been home much, so haven’t been cooking a lot, and that has been really frustrating. Spring is starting to really inspire me to make cooking (and therefore taking care of myself) more of a priority.
I am taking a fermenting class next week that I’m so excited about!
Always looking for different takes on preserving. Canning and fermenting of the staples are under my belt. Now to turn it up a notch.
Roasted asparagus! With a bit of shredded Parmesan melted on top.
Just made my first batch of orange marmalade.
I have just started fermenting and am hoping to expand my knowledge of that. I am always looking for new recipes for canning, both sweet and pickles.
I have two culinary adventures that have been nagging at my brain lately — 1) I want to start pressure canning, mostly for stock. Its easier for me to start jars than to freeze them which makes having plenty of chicken stock available difficult. 2) I want to push the envelope (for me) in jams. I’m imagining a peach jam with some champagne or another white wine for flavoring. I’m thinking bellini jam. No I haven’t looked for a recipe and there might be a good one out there…
I made a bellini jam last summer, half champagne and half pureed peach (roughly). I initially boiled the peach pits and peels in the champagne, let them sit a while, then strained it, but the flavor wasn’t as intense as I wanted. I ended up adding the peaches, pureed, to really bump up the flavor. I canned it using Pomona’s pectin, following the jelly directions. It came out amazing!
This sounds amazing! I’ll be trying this in a few months when we have peaches in NC! Thanks for the inspiration!
I’ve finally overcome my fear of pressure canning. Many jars of chicken stock have been put up. My freezer will be so happy to have a bit more space!
Opening jars of pickled spicy beans and topping my yogurt with lovely canned cherries from this past summer! I’ve been enjoying spicing up the long, dull winter months with a bit of the sunshine in my jars from last summer and dreaming of what I’ll put on my shelves this year 🙂
The weather is inspiring me lately. I’m in Canada and I always look forward to spring with a lot of excitement. Local produce is just starting to show up again on grocery shelves. Hurrah!!