Jamming Workshop

Jamming with Slow Food

Slow Food BU's Katie Enzer and Julia Sementelli demonstrated how to make and preserve cranberry jelly on Wednesday October 27th. Using local cranberries, honey, and pectin makes this recipe an easy way to preserve the fall harvest.



Orange and Ginger Spiced Cranberry Jelly
*Adapted from Pomona’s Universal Pectin Cranberry Jelly Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 35oz)
24oz fresh cranberries
3 cups water
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons calcium water
3 teaspoons pectin stirred into 1 cup honey
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh orange zest (about 1/2 orange)

Instructions:
1. Wash jars and lids in hot, soapy water, then put them into a large pot of water. Bring water to a boil, then lower to simmering.
2. Rinse and drain cranberries. Add to a second large pot of water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until cranberries burst and soften.
3. Meanwhile, prepare rest of ingredients:

a. Add pectin to honey
b. Juice limes
c. Zest orange
d. Peel and chop ginger

4. When cranberries are fully cooked, remove from heat and strain to remove skins.
5. Combine 4 cups of pulpy cranberry juice with calcium water and lime juice. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
6. Add pectin/honey mixture, orange zest, and ginger. Stir immediately and vigorously for 1-2 minutes until pectin completely dissolves.
7. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve.
8. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove jars from boil water and fill with jam leaving 1/2 inch empty at the top. Wipe the rim of each jar with a wet paper towel, and quickly top with a lid (NOTE: be careful in this step because the jars will be very hot!).
9. When all jars have been filled, begin processing: Place jars in a large pot and fill with water to cover jars. Cover pot and boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars from pot with canning tongs.
10. Allow jars to sit and cool until the lids seal and the jam sets.





Local cranberries gave the jelly great flavor and color.


Slow foodies enjoyed samples of the jam on New England Night bread, filled with pecans and cranberries, from Clear Flour Bread.



Sterile and safe canning practices are important.

Thank you to everyone who attended the demonstration! Canning is a great way to enjoy seasonal produce year round. We encourage you to try this recipe while local cranberries are still available. Check out the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets to find a place to buy cranberries or other local jamming produce.

Special thanks to Emily Jones for taking some great photos!

Kombucha Demonstration and Potluck

Last week, we learned how to brew the fermented tea kombucha at our Kombucha Demonstration and Potluck co-sponsored by the Boston Localvores. The kombucha workshop was led by Annabelle Ho, an officer of Slow Food BU and author of Kombucha Fuel.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and read the recap of the event at the Urban Homesteaders' League, written by Annabelle:

"Last week there was a Kombucha Demonstration and Potluck put on by Slow Food BU, the Boston Localvores, and Kombucha Fuel, a blog of which I am the author. Thanks to the Urban Homesteaders’ League for supporting this event!

Kombucha, sometimes referred to as 'the elixir of immortality,' is a fermented tea traced back to Chinese origins to around 220 B.C. Various health benefits have been attributed to kombucha, which is said to have probiotic benefits and detoxifying effects. It’s been claimed that kombucha reduces blood pressure, boosts the immune system, and even cures cancer..."

Read the rest of the post here.

*Special thanks to Darry Madden of the Boston Localvores for taking some great photos of this event.*

Bread Makin' & Bakin' with the Urban Homesteaders' League

Last weekend Slow Food BU joined forces with the Urban Homesteaders' League for a Bread Making workshop at Myles Kitchen. The Urban Homesteaders' League's Lisa Gross showed us how to make whole-wheat no-knead bread.

Lisa mixing the no-knead dough.

Charlotte Dion of Northshore Permaculture walked us through the process of making our own sourdough as well as sourdough culture.

Charlotte showed us how to shape the sourdough...

...then everyone joined in the fun!

Everyone went home with their own loaf of sourdough and sourdough culture (did you know that every sourdough culture is named for where it originates?).

The final product. Lisa's bread was so

delicious it was gone before it was even cooled!

Lisa's No-Kneed Whole-Wheat Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

4 c. lukewarm water

1 1/2 tbsp. instant yeast

2 tbsp. kosher salt

5 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

2 c. unbleached all purpose flour

1/4 c. vital wheat gluten

cornmeal for the baking surface

Directions:

1. Warm the water to about 100 degrees (lukewarm).

2. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix.

3. Pour in the water.

4. Mix in the flour with a spoon. Do not knead.

5. Cover with a lid (not airtight). Allow the mixture to rise for 2-5 hours.

6. Refrigerate, or proceed onto the next section.

7. Dough can be refrigerated for up to 10 days.

On Baking Day:

1. Prepare a pizza wheel or cutting board with flour.

2. Sprinkle the surface with of the dough with flour.

3. Take half of the dough.

4. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. The bottom of the loaf will appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but this will flatten out during resting and baking.

5. Gently mold the ball into an oval.

6. Fold one side of the dough in thirds like a letter--don't fold down too much.

7. Bring up the other side to meet it and pinch in closed (this is called a letter fold).

8. Place the loaf on the cornmeal covered pizza wheel or cutting board, let it rest, loosely covered with saran wrap for about 40 min, if fresh, 90 min if refrigerated.

9. 20 mins before baking preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a dutch oven or large cooking pot (WITHOUT plastic handles) on the middle rack.

10. Dust the top of the loaf with flour, make diagonal slash marks with serrated knife.

11. When the dough is ready, take the pot out of the oven, and place the loaf inside it. Cover the pot with the top.

12. Bake for 30 mins with the top on and 20 mins with the top off.

13. When done, allow the bread to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before cutting and eating.

Preserving the Harvest - Canning Workshop!

Last week, Sarah Garlington taught us the basics of water bath canning in Myles Kitchen. In water bath canning (which is not the same as fermentation), the contents need to be acidic- naturally or by the addition of vinegar. This method can be used to process fruits, pickles, relishes, and jams and jellies, preserving them for year(s)!
Slow Foodies participated in all steps of the process, including preparation of the food (produce to be canned should be firm), preparing the brine, and sterilizing the jars.


Our Recipe: Pickled Green Beans
Produces 6 half pints

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
• 2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 bunch fresh dill weed (or dried)
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh peppers (or cayenne)

Directions:

1. Trim the green bean ends.
2. Chop the garlic, dill, and peppers.
3. Bring the vinegar, water, and salt to a boil.
4. Divide the spices up into each jar equally.
5. Fit as many green beans in each jar as you can.
6. Pour over the hot liquid.
7. Seal the jars.

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Garlington



Preparing the jars for the beans. "We're going to take a spoonful of the pepper garlic mix and then a spoonful of the dill and we're just going to spread it out throughout the jars."



Using the big boilers. Jars should be placed on a rack, steamer, or something similar in the pot, because of the high heat of the stove. "It's just a matter of the jars not touching the bottom of the pot and not touching each other. Um, so anything that you can figure out."

Several of the jars were processed at the demo, and individuals were each able to take a jar to take home to process on their own. Ready to start pickling? Read Sarah's post on the Persian pickle Torshi on the Boston Localvores' blog, and learn more about water bath canning from the Virginia Cooperative Extension.