Food in Jars (35 page)

The one disadvantage to freezing in glass is that it is not as flexible as plastic, a quality that can occasionally lead to breakage. The trick is to only freeze in wide mouth jar and to leave plenty of headspace when filling the jars. As far as headspace goes, the rule of thumb is to leave a generous inch/2.5 cm per pint/500 ml. This means that pint jars need an inch, while 1-quart/1 liter jars require 2 inches/5 cm.

Much of the food that ends up in jars in my freezer is first frozen on baking sheets. Only when they are frozen solid do I transfer them to jars for longer term storage. When freezing foods like blueberries, grapes and cherry tomatoes, save yourself some grief and make sure to use a rimmed baking sheet. They'll keep those roll-prone foods in place and help prevent a mess. If your baking sheets have gotten a little funky over years of use (like mine), line them with parchment paper prior to setting the fruit on them. These sheets of parchment can be reused through several rounds of freezing, to minimize the waste.

The one true challenge with freezing jars is defrosting. You cannot take a glass jar straight from the freezer and set it in a bowl of warm water to speed defrosting. It will crack (I know—I have done this). The thing to do is to move a frozen jar from freezer to refrigerator, where it can defrost slowly, over the course of hours. It does require a bit more forethought, but you'll get used to that.

Here are some of my favorite freezer items and how I prepare them before putting them in the jars.

I have found that the very best way to freeze strawberries is to combine them with a bit of sugar, allow their juices to develop, and then freeze them in that sweet liquid. I use 1/2 cup/100 g sugar to every quart/1.4 kg of berries. The easiest way to do this is to wash, hull, and slice the berries (halves or quarters is fine). Pack them into a 1-quart/1 liter jar, leaving about an inch/2.5 cm of space at the top. Pour 1/2 cup/100 g sugar into the jar and shake it around. Let it sit until juicy. Once the berries have relaxed into the sugar, check the amount of headspace. Add more fruit until you have just 2 inches/5 cm of headspace left. Freeze.

I don't recommend freezing strawberries on a baking sheet before storing them in jars, as they have quite a lot of sticky liquid that will eventually transform those individually frozen berries into an unwieldy lump. However, if you cannot cope with freezing your strawberries with sugar and want to freeze them individually, I recommend putting slips of parchment paper between layers of frozen berries, to help prevent a solid mass from forming.

Blueberries are great because they can be washed, dried, and spread on a rimmed baking sheet to freeze. Once they're frozen, simply transfer them to jars for easy dispensing into bowls of oatmeal or muffin batter. Because you won't be putting the berries into jars until they are frozen, there's no need to leave additional headspace; they've already done all the expanding they'll need to do. You should be able to get approximately 1 pound/455 g of berries into a 1-quart/1 liter jar.

Grape and Sungold tomatoes freeze extremely well. After washing and drying, spill them out on a rimmed baking sheet (just like the blueberries) and freeze until they're solid marbles of tomato goodness. Funnel them into jars once they are frozen. If you care about aesthetics, you can prick each tomato
with the tip of your knife before freezing to prevent the skins from cracking. I never bother with that step.

These are great added directly from the freezer to all manner of soups, stews, and pasta sauces.

Don't bother with peeling peaches prior to freezing. Just cut them into eighths and arrange them skin-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Freeze until solid. Pack frozen peach slices into wide mouth jars, arranging small sheets of parchment paper between every 2 inches/5 cm of peach. This helps prevent the peaches from sticking together while in the freezer.

There's a point during each summer when squash threatens to take over my kitchen. I handle the overflow by freezing it for later batches of quick breads and soups. My preferred method is to grate the zucchini and heap the shreds into a colander, then press to remove water. Measure out cup-size portions (about 125 g) and arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet like little haystacks. Freeze.

Once frozen, layer these zucchini pucks into wide mouth jars, dividing them with slips of parchment paper.

When it comes to canning, there are some hard-and-fast rules.
One is that you cannot can low-acid foods in a boiling water bath canner. When you can a high-acid food product in a boiling water bath, the heat of the water kills off any microorganisms while the presence of acid prevents any botulism spores from developing. However, when you don't have those high levels of acid, there's nothing inside your jar preventing any spores present from growing into botulism. It takes temperatures upwards of 235°F/113°C to kill botulism spores, which is impossible to achieve in a conventional boiling water bath. However, a pressure canner can reach temperatures of 240°F/116°C, which kills the spores and makes your low-acid foods safe for room temperature storage.

With the exception of the stock recipes in the freezer section and a few other noted special cases, the recipes in this book have all been developed to be high enough in acid to be safe for boiling water bath canning. Should you be curious about dipping a toe into the world of pressure canning, so that you can put up those low-acid foods in a shelf stable way, I have a few thoughts to share.

First off, don't be afraid of the pressure canner. Truly, it is your friend. Pressure cookers and canners have come a long way from their early days. They've been designed to be nearly foolproof; it's impossible to remove the lid while the pressure is up, which eliminates the worry about food exploding in your face.

Second, don't feel like a pressure canner is out of your price range. My 16-quart Presto canner retails for around $80 these days, which is an investment that can easily pay off once you start using it. If that feels too steep for you, find a friend or two to go in on the pot with you. It's not something that you'll use every day, so it could easily be shared with others.

Do know that pressure canners are different from pressure cookers. Whenever you're canning under pressure, you must use a pot that has either a weighted or dial gauge, as knowing the amount of pressure is key to ensuring safety.

Finally, there are some things that just can't be canned at home, even in a pressure
canner. Foods containing a great deal of dairy (like chocolate or caramel sauce) as well as thick products like a pumpkin purée just can't be done.

If you are curious about pressure canning and happen to have one in your kitchen, stock is a good item to start with. Here's a primer on how to do it.

Before you get started, make sure to get your pressure canner tested. Even brand-new ones aren't always perfectly accurate, so it's important to take it to a kitchenware store or your local cooperative extension to have your gauge tested. They'll be able to tell you if it reads accurately or if you need to make adjustments in your readings in order to have a safe finished product.

Follow the recipe for either chicken of vegetable stock included in the previous section. If you have the time, refrigerate the stock overnight, so that you can remove any fat before canning.

Place defatted stock in a large pot and bring to a simmer. While it heats, put the necessary number of jars (either pints or quarts) in the pressure canner. Fill the pot with 3 to 4 inches/7.5 to 10 cm of water and put enough water in the jars themselves to keep them from floating. Put the lid on the canner (you don't need to lock it into place at this point) and bring to a boil.

Put the canning lids in a small saucepan and place over very low heat, in order to soften the sealing compound.

When the jars are hot and the stock is simmering, remove one jar from the pot. Empty the water into the sink and carefully fill the jar with stock, leaving a generous 1 inch/2.5 cm of space between the surface of the stock and the top of the jar. Wipe the rim of the jar with a cloth dipped in white vinegar (to help cut any grease), apply a warm lid, and screw on a ring.

Place the filled jar in the pressure canner and repeat the process until all your jars are filled. Put the lid on the pressure canner and lock it into place. Bring the heat up and let the canner run with an open vent for 10 minutes. You want to get as much air out of the canner as possible.

When the stream of steam coming out of the vent starts to reduce, put the vent weight on the port. If you're using a weighted pressure canner, choose the 10 pounds of pressure side of the weight. If you're using a gauged pressure canner,
watch your gauge. You need it to reach 11 pounds of pressure (or whatever your canner's equivalent is).

Once the weight is jiggling the appropriate number of times per minute or the gauge has reached 11 pounds of pressure, set a timer for 25 minutes.

Keep tabs on your pot to ensure that the jiggles or gauge number don't drop below their prescribed levels. You may need to reduce the heat to keep the pot where it should be, pressure-wise.

When the time is up, turn the heat off under the pot and let it cool completely before touching. I tend to do my pressure canning right before I go to bed, so that I can leave it to cool all night long.

When the pressure is totally down and the jars are cool enough to handle, remove the jars from the pot. Remove rings and wash jars. The stock often leaks a tiny bit during processing, which can make the jars a little grungy.

Label with the contents and date and store in a cool, dark place. Pressure-canned stock will keep for up to a year on the shelf (although mine never lasts that long).

A
S WITH ALL BOOKS, THIS VOLUME YOU'RE HOLDING
has been touched and influenced by many hands. My thanks go first to my friend Joy Manning, who connected me to the right people at the very right moment. To my agent, the very no-nonsense Clare Pelino. She has served as guide and coach through this process and I am greatly appreciative for her advice and participation. Thanks also go to my editor, Kristen Green Wiewora, for giving me the opportunity to write the book I'd always imagined and for being such a peach to work with. Steve Legato, thanks for taking such swoon-worthy photos. Amanda Richmond, thanks for making it all look so good on the page.

Of course, my very best readers were my parents, Morris and Leana McClellan. They took my panicked phone calls, talked me through sticky situations, and read every single word of the draft (sometimes twice). I am a lucky girl to have been born to two such good, smart, loving people.

My sister, Raina Rose, has been the world's best jam and granola taster. There's no one in the world who I enjoy feeding more than her. Thanks for letting me heap preserves upon you every time you came to town.

This book wouldn't have happened without the support of my husband, Scott McNulty. His belief in my ability to make my dreams come true is unshakeable. Thanks for letting me fill our apartment with jars, Scotty!

Finally, my thanks go out to the community of canners and bloggers who read, comment, and cook up my creations in their own kitchens. You are the reason I return to the canning pot, season after season.

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