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.

Blueberry Jam with Gin

Homemade Blueberry Jam

Its Summer here in California and Blueberry abound in our local produce market. I grabbed a tray of blueberries while doing our food shopping. Once we got home, I sprung into action made blueberry jam.

I like spreading blueberry over Pancakes or waffles. How do you use blueberries?

Here's a Recipe of Blueberry Jam I got from the book:
Saving The Season, by Kevin West,
page 218
which I used for this project.

Blueberry Jam with Gin

2 pounds Blueberries
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon from Costco) 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon gin

Tools needed:

* Three half pint canning jars
* Thongs to pick jars from boiling water.
* Two large pots
* Water to fill pot for boiling water bath
* Food mill or food processor machine

1. Rinse the blueberries and drain water.



2. Put blueberries in a deep pot over medium fire. Pour 1/2 cup water and allow blueberries to sweat and its skin to rupture about 5 minutes on the fire.





3. Take off pot from the fire and allow to cool down. Pour blueberries in a food processor or food mill and make a coarse puree out of the blueberries. 4. Return blueberries to pot and on high heat setting at the stove. 5. Add Sugar and lemon juice, and cinnamon to the pot.





6. Continuously stir the blueberry mixture until you achieve a jam consistency. Blueberry naturally contains pectin so no need to add any other natural or unnatural source of pectin. Pectin is needed to achieve a thick consistency Gel for the Jam.



7. Meanwhile in a separate pot, sterilize canning jars, lids, and bands in boiling water. Also, put a saucer in the freezer.



8. Drain and dry canning jars, lids, and bands on a dry towel. Meanwhile put a saucer in the freezer. Also, heat a second pot and fill with water for the boiling water bath to be used at a later step.



9. After about 10 minutes, you'll get a thick, and consistent texture blueberry jam mixture as shown below.

10. Add gin to the jam mixture.

11. To test if the jam is ready, do the cold saucer test. Take the saucer out of the freezer. Place a half teaspoon of blueberry jam on the saucer. Return saucer to the freezer for a minute. Retrieve saucer and run index finger through the jam. If jam doesn't run on the trail then jam is ready for canning.

12. Place blueberry jam in jar. Leave a quarter inch space at top also called a headspace. Run a bamboo skewer or chopstick up and down around and on the inner edge of jar to free air pockets.

13. Clean the rim of the jar's mouth and screw in lid on jar. Use slight hand tightness only.

14. Place jars on second pot for boiling water bath. Start your timer only when water is in a boiling state. Soak jars for 10 minutes.



15. Transfer jars with blueberry jam on a dry towel and cool down.

My desire to revive the lost art of canning

As a kid growing up in the City of Baguio, Philippines, , I enjoyed the bold and sweet flavors of fruit jams such as strawberry, rhubbarb, or mango fruit which was used as spread to bread, other preserves such as pickled vegetables - atchara, or pickled raw mangoes which were creations of my beloved Mom.

While growing up, it was common practice to preserve whatever sweet fruit was in season at home. Mom knew best, she was a Home Economics school Teacher. What she taught in school, was practiced at home. I've seen her do canning sessions in the kitchen but alas I didn't really learn the process or documented it.

My Mom passed away years now and I'd like to revive that art and practice of canning and preserve fruits, make pickles like she did way back when.

As a first project, I tried my hand on Strawberry Jam.

Some day I'll get fancier. I'll probably try othre preserves of canned creations such as atchara or Korean Kimchi cabbage. But for now, I'll start with the basics. Home made strawberry jam will do, and will be a match for my morning pan de sal with and peanut butter to make my favorite PB&J.

Why the sudden interest you might ask? In our household here in California, I've seen our strawberry fruit go to waste for those that are left over strawberries when I fail to use then for Strawberry-Banana smoothie.

Here's the Recipe I got from the book:
Saving The Season, by Kevin West
with some modification.

Basic Strawberry Jam

2 pounds Strawberry
2-1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, deseeded and julienned

Tools needed:

* Four half pint canning jars
* Thongs to pick jars from boiling water.
* Two large pots
* Water to fill pot for boiling water bath

1. Rinse the strawberries and drain water.

2. Cut off the green crown.
Note: Don't throw this portion, instead put cut off strawberry crown with leaves in a blender for a batch of strawberry smoothie.

3. Cut the strawberries into quarters and put in a bowl.



4. Add Sugar to the bowl.



5. Add lemon juice and cut apple strips. Apple is needed because it naturally contains pectin, which is a substance needed to form jel mixture for the Jam. Lemon is needed to increase the ph and therefore acidity of the jam mixture to enable the long shelf life of the jam mixture.



6. Use a masher tool to break down the strawberries and apple in order to acheive a semi liquid mixture.



7. Transfer the raw fruit mixture to a pot, place on stove and cook in semi full fire setting.



8. Constantly stir Jam mixture using a circular motion using a wooden spoon or spatula for about 20 minutes until jam attains a thick consistency.



9. Meanwhile in a separate pot, sterilize canning jars, lids, and bands in boiling water.



10. Drain and dry canning jars, lids, and bands on a dry towel. Meanwhile put a saucer in the freezer. Also, heat a second pot and fill with water for the boiling water bath to be used at a later step.



11. After about 20 minutes, you'll get a thick, and consistent texture strawjerry jam as shown below.



12. To test if the jam is ready, do the cold saucer test. Take the saucer out of the freezer. Place a half teaspoon of strawberry jam on the saucer. Return saucer to the freezer for a minute. Retrieve saucer and run index finger through the jam. If jam doesn't run on the trail then jam is ready for canning as shown below.



13. Place strawberry jam in jar. Leave a quarter inch space at top also called a headspace. Run a bamboo skewer up and down around and on the inner edge of jar to free air pockets.



14. Place lid on the jar followed by screw in the band. Use slight hand tight only.

15. Place jars on second pot for boiling water bath. Start your timer only when water is in a boiling state. Soak jars for 10 minutes.



16. Transfer jars with strawberry jam on a dry towel and cool down.