Garlic Powder - it actually smells like real garlic!

I’ve been growing my own garlic for a few years now.  By January, I am losing my bulbs- they are getting way too old.  This year, I decided to try my hand at making my own garlic powder.  Honestly, the most tedious part of the process was breaking up the bulbs, separating the cloves and peeling them.  The rest was a breeze!  Well, it will be if you have a food processor that can slice everything into paper thin slices, a quality dehydrator which lets you adjust the temperature (I dehydrate at 105 degrees) and a powerful blender to make the powder, no lumps.  All worth the investment.

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Here’s what I did:

I used about 12 garlic bulbs- broken down into cloves and peeled.  Placed them all in the large feeder tube of my food processor, adjusted the slicing blade to its thinnest setting and started the machine.  

It worked perfectly: thin and “sticky” slices - I wanted to make sure not to loose the garlic juices.  Divided the slices onto two trays in my dehydrator, set it to 105 degrees and let it work overnight, with one break to stir them up and move the trays to new positions.

Placed everything in my blender and had beautiful, fragrant garlic powder in less than a minute, no lumps!  About 250 ml of fragrant garlic powder.  To keep it dry, add a small packet of silica gel.

Can’t wait to begin to add to my favourite recipes.

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Blueberry Mustard

 I love making mustards- Dijon, white wine, stout beer, tequila, etc.  It’s a great list.  This year, I am trying a fruit mustard- blueberry mustard and no alcohol was added to the mix :-). I can’t wait for it to mellow so I can taste it!

Mustards are incredibly easy to make and can pack a real punch.  You’ll never go back to industrial, processed mustard.  This recipe is adapted from the food preserving.org website where you will find a wide range of amazing recipes.  I adapted their raspberry mustard recipe to make a blueberry version.

This recipe makes approx. one - 500ml jar.

Ingredients:

1 cup      White wine vinegar

2/3 cup   Yellow mustard seeds

1 cup       Water

2 3/4 lbs   Blueberries

3/4 cup     Sugar

1/4 cup     Mustard powder

Directions

Add vinegar, mustard seeds and water to a bowl, stir to combine, cover and leave overnight.

Pour the bowl of mustard mixture into your food process, pulse until seeds begin to spoil and the mixture thickens.  Add the blueberries and blend.  Boil gently for five minutes then add the sugar and mustard powder.  Boil until thick (approx. 15 minutes).

Ladle the mustard into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, remove bubbles and wipe the rims with paper towel, add the lids.

Process jars in a steam canner (or boiling water canner) for 15 minutes.  When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the water for about five minutes.

Blueberry Raspberry Jam

 One of my favourites!  This is on my annual rotation of jams.  You can play with the proportions- so go half blueberry and half raspberry or 25% of one and 75% of the other- depends of your taste and how much of each you have on hand.  This recipe does not require pectin, so the amount of sugar is much lower- I like that.

To make 3 - 4 500 ml jars.

Ingredients

9 cups     Crushed berries (about -5 lbs)  (suggest 4.5 cups raspberries and 4.5 cups blueberries)

6 cups     Sugar

Directions

Wash berries under running water and drain.  Coarsely crush the berries one layer at a time using s potato masher.  Measure nine cups of berries.

Combine the crushed berries and sugar in a large saucepan.  Bring the mixture slowly to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Increase the heat to medium-high and cook rapidly to gelling point (220 degrees).  Stir to prevent striking.  Remove from heat.  Skim off foam if necessary.

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Clean the jar rim.  Center the lid on the jar and adjust the band to fingertip tight.  Place the jar in the steam canner.  Repeat for all jars.  Process for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat, then leave the jars in the canner for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes in White Wine with Rosemary

 I am constantly on a quest to find great canning recipes for my cherry tomatoes.  This year’s treasure is made up of ingredients all found in my garden: cherry tomatoes, garlic and rosemary.  I used black, red and green cherry tomatoes.  Perfect for this winter’s salads.

Makes six 500ml jars

Ingredients:

6         2” springs of fresh rosemary

6         Cloves of garlic

3 lbs    Cherry or grape tomatoes

           Pickling salt

250 ml  White wine vinegar

250 ml   White vinegar

1 liter    Water

Directions

Wash and snip sprigs of rosemary and set aside.

Peel garlic and set aside.

Wash tomatoes under cold running water, removing stems or leaves.

Using a small,thin metal skewer, do a prick in the stem end of the tomato.

Into each jar, put a clove of garlic, a sprig of rosemary, 1/4 tsp of pickling salt,  Pack tomatoes in the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Combine the vinegar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Fill the jars with the hot vinegar, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Debubble, adjust headspace.  Wipe the jar rims; put on lids.  Process in a steam water bath and process for 10 minutes.  At the ten minute mark, turn off the heat, remove the cover and let the jars sit in the water for about five minutes, before removing to cool.

Let stand a month before sampling.

WANNA PLAY?

I added more white wine vinegar and adjusted the white vinegar down to equal the same amount of vinegars.