August is the season for figs in Vancouver. I know this because on a bi-daily basis, my neighbour comes over with a huge bowl of figs for me to turn into something delicious. He has 5 trees that bare 2 kinds of figs of which I don’t know the name, but each one has green skin, one variety is large with sweet, mild white flesh that turns golden as it gets really ripe, and a smaller variety that has red flesh and is a bit tangier.
Two years ago I used the white-fleshed figs when they were really ripe to make fig ginger jam. I skinned every fig and just used the flesh for this jam with lots of texture from the seeds and chunks of candied ginger. It turned out so well that I saved and savoured the jars knowing they would have to last. One sad, sad day my last two jars hit the tile floor on the laundry room and smashed in a glassy figgy mess. As I was contemplating licking it off the floor (and picking the glass off my tongue from the splatter that hit my leg), I decided I better make some more to avoid this sort of desperate craziness.
In 2009, I used both kinds of figs together to make jam, again making Fig Ginger Jam , but this time I left on the skins. This changed the colour and texture of the jam as I needed to pulse the jam with an immersion blender to chop up the skins this time making it thicker. And because I had added the candied ginger in the jam before blending, there were no yummy candied ginger chunks. The colour was not nearly as nice as the 2008 jam (which was a rich, shiny, golden colour) but it tasted just as good.
I made a second Jam in 2009 as well, Fig, Brandy and Honey Mandarine. This had a lot more citrus and some richness from the brandy both of which went very well with the figs.
Then came August 2010:
I don’t know if it is a love for figs, the daily harvest delivery from my neighbour, or the squirrel in me but I made 7 recipes from the figs this year:
Oh, and I froze some halved figs too. Whew. I actually went out yesterday to see if the trees had any more ripe figs (um, crazy) and thankfully, that’s it for the year. I can put this figgy month to bed enjoying a pantry full of riches, of the fig persuasion.
Today, on the annual organic blueberry run to Richmond, I stopped to walk the pooch by the Fraser River and found some huge, ripe blackberries that practically leaped into a little beach pail that I picked up for the occasion. I always snicker a bit when I see blackberries on sale around here as they are pretty easy to get a hold of here in BC. But I guess many folks are too busy to get out and pick blackberries if they want them.
The Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus laciniatus) is an invasive intruder that can be found by the side of the roads nearly everywhere there is still green space. There are brambles of the arm-stabbing, leg-slicing, nasty ass blackberries all around my community garden, but I’m fairly cautious about what I get from there given the transient nature of the neighbourhood (I’m putting it lightly – there is quite a bit of prostitution and drug use at night). I’d much prefer to get out in the woods somewhere as I did today and for my efforts I went home with a pail and a half. Plus I had a great walk, very much enjoying the first rainy weekend we have had in about 5 weeks, even if I did have to pick around the local wildlife.
Once home, the blackberries were so ripe that really, the only way to keep a large amount is to preserve them. I call this Stupendously Simple Wild Blackberry Jam because it only has 3 ingredients. The whole experince was very entertaining so even though it took a whole day, it was a day well spent.
Stupendously Simple Wild Blackberry Jam
8 cups fresh wild blackberries
4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions:
Lightly rinse the berries and put into a large pot. Mash them up a bit with a potato masher or fork. Add sugar and lemon and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium low and keep it bubbling lightly until the liquid cooks down to the thickness you desire. I cooked mine for 3 hours, stirring occasionally, to get a really thick final product. This jam will sit piled up on a cracker if I want it too.
Ladle finished jam into 12 clean, sterilized 125ml canning jars or 6 x 250ml (I think these are called 1/2 pints across the border). Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes for the small jars and 15 minutes for the large jars. Store for up to a year in a cool, dark place.
Oh, the strawberries this year. While the cool wet weather this May and June kept many of the strawberries watery and bland, somewhere in California an organic grower got it right : the berries, just at the peak of ripeness, were deep red with a rich sweetness that reminded me of strawberry molasses. Given that my berries, as lovely as they were, were affected by the raincoast weather, I picked up a steal on 27 pints of those organic berries from Cali.
What does one do with 27 pints of strawberries? Well, first I made up the Strawberry Coconut Torte I just posted and served it with champagne and strawberries. I froze a bunch in freezer bags for future berry goodness and made some into Perfect No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream and Strawberry Rhubarb Compote. And then I made jam two ways: Strawberry Jam and Strawberry Balsamic & Black Pepper Preserves.
Organic Strawberry Jam
I started with a basic recipe for light jam:
6 cups crushed strawberries
4 cups sugar
1 box Certo Light Pectin
Directions:
Hull berries and process in a food processor – pulse only 3 times per batch so it is the consistency of fresh salsa not mush.
In a large stock pot heat strawberries until they start to release juices – add water is you need some.
Combine fruit pectin crystals with 1/4 cup (50 mL) of measured sugar and add pectin mixture into fruit on the stove.
Stir over high heat until mixture comes to a full boil. Add remaining sugar (I know, it’s a lot of sugar but it does really need it to bring out the bright strawberry flavour). Continue to cook and stir over high heat until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Wipe off hot spatters from boiling jam off your arms, the stove, the floor, etc. Prevent burns by keeping a wet cloth near you this is dangerous stuff, folks.
Remove from heat and keep stirring. You can skim off the foam now as well.
At this point I canned 2/3 of my batch as strawberry jam—ladle into warm, sterilized jars filling up to 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) from rim and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes / pint or as required for your altitude. Use the remaining 1/3 of the batch for Strawberry Balsamic & Black Pepper Preserves in Part 2.
Directions: Bring this mixture to a boil again – a hard boil for 1 minute stirring constantly– and then can just like the strawberry jam. Voila! Strawberry Jam Two Ways.
Since I have begun blogging about my gardens and food, I’ve met so many interesting people who I learn from daily. I’ve had mystery plants identified for me, been given family recipes to try, been inspired by creative design ideas, and received so much wonderful feedback on this site. It’s this aspect of connection and sharing that has brought so many gardeners online to social media and now a collaboration of some of these “Social Gardeners” have published a book food wisdom called Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food.
First let me say how fascinated I was by the story of how this book was put together for publication. The author, Jean Ann Van Krevelen, and the main contributors, Amanda Thomsen, Robin Ripley and Theresa O’Connor, have never met except online through Twitter. Not only that, but the input for the book (i.e.: tips and recipes) were collected via social media and the whole thing was brought to print in 60 days. Pretty cool, eh?
I found the format and content to certainly reflect the collaborative voices and many times it felt as if I was reading the transcripts of a meeting among friends sharing their advice on to starting an edible garden. I too have never met any of the authors of contributors of this book, but I do feel like I know them though chats on various social media or by following their blogs. This book certainly points out the interesting new dynamic to the gardening culture has been created through Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere, allowing for sharing of time honored ideas and exposure to gardens and cooks from around the world. I could go on and on, but it’s best now to get onto the review.
Grocery Gardening is laid out in 5 sections:
Gardening 101: A valuable set of basics important for any first time vegetable gardener.
Organic Disease and Pest Management: This section highlights the importance of using organic practices to ensure you are growing the healthiest possible food.
Purchasing Quality Produce: Although it’s only a few pages long, this was certainly my very favourite part the book and essential reading for anyone who is interested in re-educating themselves on what food really should look and smell like. I was happy to see the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen (Regarding Fruit and Vegetables Most and Least Contaminated with Pesticides). Ever since I first saw these lists on http://www.davidsuzuki.org/, I have carried it around in my wallet. While this list doesn’t help you make a decision based on the environmental impact of choosing organic or non-organic produce, it is such a handy way to limit the toxins I put in my grocery bag and helps me choose what I should grow organically myself.
For a free iPhone app and the full list check out Environmental Working Group’s FoodNews by clicking on this image.
Edibles: The main section of the book outlines the basics of growing, harvesting, and then preparing a selection of herbs, fruit, and vegetables. The sidebar tips from the contributors were my favourite part of this section as I learned some handy new tricks—like that you can root store bought basil in a glass of water—plus the recipes were simple and in line with the real food ideas of the book. The list of produce chosen is fairly short and therefore I found that some of my favourites were missing (radishes, beets, and potatoes I noticed specifically because I went looking for them) but certainly the basics are there for a novice gardener and the recipes look great. In fact there is one recipe that I’ve been thinking about since I read the book: Best Broccoli Quiche in the World by Shawna Coronado. Really, who wouldn’t want to try it with that title? Mmmm.
Preserving Your Harvest: While this feels like eons away right now, I remember how I scoured my bookshelves for this exact information last fall when I was knee deep in berries, apples, tomatoes and squash. This section again, is basic information but a handy set of notes for the first-timer nonetheless.
I found the voice was refreshing in the book, and while the photos and layout are beautiful, the content to me feels more like a veggie gardening notebook that I would keep with me, to jot down notes I’ve learned from other savvy gardeners. I believe that this collection of ideas would be a great book for anyone who wants to start a vegetable garden, who wants to know how things are grown, and then have an arsenal of basic recipes to get started with. I also think it will make a great gift for those who show a spark of interest in food gardening but don’t know where to start. Now on to that Broccoli Quiche…
The time has finally come to open up my Vanilla Spice Pears from the summer’s canning adventures. What a perfect “pearing” with these beautiful sourdough waffles.
For a brief moment in time I rented a house with a huge Italian Prune Plum tree in the backyard. When the plums were ready, they would fall off the tree and knock me on the head as if to say, “Hey, pay attention to me!” And when I finally obliged, I was pleasantly surprised that the tart but sweet egg-shaped beauts are not the messy drippy plums, but neat and organized, offering fabulousness and no muss. So we climbed up the tree and shook the branches to get a bounty to eat and we left the rest to the birds.
So when I bought my own house, the first thing we bought for the yard was a prune plum tree. It is now a member of the family. Sitting right by the compost heap, it gets regular organic feedings and enjoys a yearly pruning (snicker). Then the question begs, what to do with hundreds of plums? Last year I made preserves with vanilla and orange. This year it was, Plum Apple Bran Muffins, Chinese Plum Sauce and the most amazing torte. All were delicous but the torte was such a hit the first time I made it (on Thursday) that I remade it for the harvest party (Sunday) at the community garden. The recipe is here: The Original Plum Torte.
It’s easy and tasty, and if you have some extra prune plums, give it a try. I’m glad I was encouraged to!
At my community garden, there is an organic heritage orchard with a number of large apple, pear, quince, and Asian pear trees. There is also a bunch of rows of espalier apple trees. The heritage apple varieties on the espaliers are so unique that I thought it would be fun to pick up the fallen apples and make an applesauce with the 40 or so different flavours. I was right, it was fun. Cutting open the apples, fearing a worm, but finding crisp white or golden or even pink flesh was a thrill. The flavour? Well, the richness and zing they provide to the final applesauce is magnificent. I’ve posted the recipe here so that no more poor fallen apples will ever have to go uneaten.
Fallen apples from the Community Garden’s Heritage Orchard
A motley crew of apples
This amazing apple was not much to look at but when I cut it open…PINK!
1-2 cups sugar (many of my apples were sweet, so I used less than a cup of sugar. Plus I like it to taste true to the apples).
cinnamon sticks, ground cloves, ground nutmeg
Directions:
Wash, core and peel the apples (cut out worms or any bruising) only use what you would eat fresh. No need to peel the apples!
Cook the apples, sugar, cinnamon sticks and spices slowly in a cup of cider and a cup of water. Add more liquid, sugar and/or spices as you cook to get the flavour and consistency you like. Personal taste is the only rule here!
When apples are tender, remove cinnamon sticks and set aside. Blend apples with an immersion blender until smooth. You can add the cinnamon back in now if you’d like.
Continue to add liquid and cook the apples, until you get the consistency and flavour you like.
Ladle into sterile jars leaving 1/4 inch of headspace.
Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (adjust for altitude if necessary). The applesauce can also be frozen if you prefer.
Garden Therapy logs the adventures of an artistic gardener aiming to feed the body & soul through an urban potager garden & a community veggie plot in Vancouver.
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