Pickled Ampalaya

Why eat ampalaya (bitter gourd or Kerala) vegetable you might ask. Who wants to munch on a vegetable with such bitter taste?



True.

But I eat it for its medicinal properties. Ampalaya has high levels of Charantin, Vicine and Polypeptide-p which when incorporated in one's diet has the effect of lowering blood sugar.

Ampalaya is a summer vegetable and I had to find a way to incorporate it into my diet any time of the year. My solution - pickle and can it in Mason Jars which allows me to store it in the shelf for as long as two years. No refrigeration or freezing needed. Because of all the saved energy to keep this pickle, its earth friendly.

In this post, I provide a step by step procedure in making my version of pickled and canned ampalaya.

Serving: 5 pint size mason jars.

Ingredients:

4 lbs ampalaya (bitter gourd and kerala combination) cut and de-seeded
3 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup Mexican turnip (jicama in Spanish, singkamas in Filipino), julienned.
1/2 cups carrots
1/2 cup ginger, julienend
1/2 cup garlic cut into slices
1/2 cup onions cut into slices
1/2 cup red bell pepper, julienned
1/2 cup yellow or green bell pepper, julienend
canning or plain salt (do not use iodized salt) to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Cooking Direction:

step 1: In a sauce pan on medium heat, mix the brine by mixing vinegar, water, sugar and salt.

Note: Use canning or plain salt. Don't use iodized salt.



step 2: Tweak the brine by adding ingredient to achieve a sweet and sour flavor to suit your taste. I ended up adding more water in my brine. Allow it to simmer.

step 3: Prepare your vegetables.
- Cut the jicama julienned to size of french fries.
- Cut ampalaya into circles. Hollow up the seeds from middle portion of amapalaya.
- Cut the red and yellow bell pepper, and ginger julienned.



step 4: Place the cut jicama, bell pepper, ginger, onions, and garlic vegetables in a bowl and wash thoroughly.

step 5: Drain the jicama, bell pepper, ginger, onions, and garlic vegetables and place on brine mixture. Bring to a boil then turn off. Soak vegetables for 10 minutes. Let brine cool down.



step 6: Meanwhile, place cut ampalaya vegetable in a bowl. Wash throughly then drain water.



step 7: Sprinkle canning salt on ampalaya vegetable. Make sure your hands are clean, toss well using your fingers. Let sit for 30 minutes. This step removes the bitter hint in ampalaya.

step 8: Drain vegetables from brine mixture (while saving the brine) and mix vegetables in the bowl with ampalaya. Use your fingers to toss the vegetables well.



step 9: Transfer the mixed vegetables to canning mason jars.

step 10. Pour the brine inside the jar. Be careful not to break the jar from sudden temperature change.

My jars are cold, so a trick I've learn since childhood is to put a metal spoon or butter knife inside the jar while pouring in the brine liquid. This is to avoid breakage of the jar due to sudden temperature change.



step 11. Fill the jar and leave a 1/2 inch head space at the top. Run spatula or chop stick up and down the inner sides of the jar to free air bubbles.

step 12: Soak a sheet of paper towel in vinegar (just a small portion) and use it to wipe around lip of jar. Place lid on top of jar, secure with band, hand tight only.

step 13. Place jars carefully into the hot water bath canning pot.

step 14. When all jars are in the pot, adjust water level by adding water to ensure that all jars are covered with water.

When water starts to boil, start your timer. Ensure that the jars are soaked in the hot water bath for 10 minutes.



step 15. Transfer the jars back to the flat towel working area. Allow it to cool down.



Note: Ensure that the jars are upright vertically to avoid the fluid in jar from contaminating the rubber/glass thus breaking the seal. When a vacuum has developed inside the jar, you will hear a popping sound.

step 16: Label jar of its contents and today's date. Store jars in cool dry place. As long as the vacuum is maintained, they will be good for as long as 2 years.

Make Peach Preserve, How To

Its the tail end of Summer and early Fall, and Peaches are all over the Farmers Markets. For me, I associate the Peach fruit with the flavors of Summer.

A good way of capture this flavor is by making Peach Preserves or Peach Jams.



In this post, I provide a step by step procedure on how I made my Peach Preserve.

I placed slices of Yellow Peach in a mason jar, preserved them using the hot water bath canning method. It took a few hours to make these jars of preserves but what I have trapped in these jars is the flavor of summer. I can enjoy it with ice cream, or eat it as is for dessert any time of the year.

I hope I inspire you to make your own Peach Preserve. Buy Peaches while they are still sold at your Farmer's stand and get cooking!

Canning Procedure:

step 1. Wash the fruits thoroughly and score an X pattern at bottom of fruit.



step 2. Soak the peaches in a pot of hot water for about 1 minute.



step 3. Remove the batch of Peach fruits and soak them in ice water to complete the blanching process.



step 4. Peel the Peach starting from the x pattern score cut made earlier.

Now you've got a large bowl of peeled peaches.



step 5. De-seed the peaches and cut them into quarters.



step 6. Cover the bowl of peaches with water and add 3 tablespoons powder of Ball Fruit-Fresh protector to prevent the fruits from oxidizing and turn color brown.



step 7. In a pot, place the slices of Peaches, add 4 tablespoons of Pectin powder.



step 8. Add 3 tablespoons of Lemon juice in a bottle.



Note: Don't use freshly squeezed lemon since you can't ensure the level of acidity of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

step 9: Peel half of an apple and cut into slices. Add them to the pot. Apple has high level of pectin so its a desired addition.



step 10. Add 2 cups of unsweetened grape juice.



step 11. Add 1-1/2 cup of sugar. Keep stirring the mixture to dissolve the sugar and to form a thick syrup mixture.



step 12. Meanwhile, in a hot bath canning pot place the bottom stand. Fill four - quart size mason jars with clean water to to 1/3 level. Turn on fire in stove's burner to warm the water and jars.



step 13. Place a towel on a flat surface, transfer the warm mason jars on the towel working surface. Place a funnel on the jar's mouth and carefully transfer slices of Peach and juice to the jar.



step 14. Fill the jar and leave a 1/2 inch head space at the top. Run spatula or chop stick up and down the inner sides of the jar to free air bubbles.



Soak a sheet of paper towel in vinegar (just a small portion) and use it to wipe around lip of jar.

Place lid on top of jar, secure with band, hand tight only.

step 15. Place jars carefully into the hot water bath canning pot.



step 16. When all jars are in the pot, adjust by adding water to ensure that all jars are covered with water.

When water starts to boil, start your timer. Ensure that the jars are soaked in the hot water bath for 10 minutes.



step 17. Transfer the jars back to the flat towel working area. Allow it to cool down.



Note: Ensure that the jars are upright vertically to avoid the fluid in jar from contaminating the rubber/glass thus breaking the seal. When a vaccum has developed inside the jar, you will hear a popping sound.

Label jar of its contents and today's date. Store jars in cool dry place. As long as the vacuum is maintained, they will be good for as long as 2 years.