SPICED
CANTALOUPE
- 3 lbs.
cantaloupe
- ½ tblsp.
alum
- 2 qts.
water
- 3 cups
sugar
- 1 pt.
vinegar
- 2 sticks
cinnamon
- ½ tblsp.
whole cloves
- 1 tsp.
allspice
Pare the cantaloupe, remove seeds
and cut into strips, 1 × 2 inch or squares. Dissolve the alum in
the water and bring to a boil. Add the cantaloupe and cook for 15
minutes. Drain well. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices. Add the
cantaloupe and simmer slowly until fruit is transparent (about 45
minutes). Place in hot sterilized jars and seal.
CHOW CHOW
Makes 2½ quarts
Chow Chow is a pickled relish
- 2 qts. chopped cabbage
- 1 qt. chopped green tomatoes
- 6 large onions, chopped
- 3 sweet red peppers, chopped
- 4 tablespoons dry mustard
- 3 tblsp. white mustard seed
- 1½ tablespoons celery seed
- ½ tablespoon ginger
- vinegar to cover (about 8 cups)
- 1 tablespoon cloves
- 2 lbs. sugar
- salt
Place each kind of vegetable into a
separate bowl. Sprinkle a small amount of salt over each
vegetable, and let stand 4 hours.
Press juice from each vegetable and combine.
Mix the dry ingredients, and rub into a paste by using a small amount
of vinegar.
Add all the vinegar and bring to a boil.
Put in the vegetables and cook slowly for 20 minutes.
Pack in sterile jars and seal. Cover jars with boiling water and
process for 10-15 min.
CARROT MARMALADE
- 1 lb.
carrots
- 1½ lbs.
sugar
- 2 lemons
- ½ cup
chopped nuts
Clean and scrape carrots, cook
until soft, then mash. Add sugar, juice of 2 lemons and the grated
rind of 1 lemon. Cook 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the
chopped nuts, pour into hot, sterile jars and seal.
APPLE AND PEACH CONSERVE
- 2 cups
apples, chopped
- 2 cups
peaches, chopped
- juice of 2
lemons
- 3 cups
sugar
Use tart unpeeled apples and firm
ripe peaches, cut into small pieces. Combine with lemon juice and
sugar. Cook slowly until the apple is transparent (about 20
minutes). Pour into sterilized glasses, seal. Makes 7 6-oz. glasses.
CORN RELISH
Makes 8 pints
- 9 ears of sweet corn
- 1 qt. vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1½ tblsps. dry mustard
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 1 medium head of cabbage,
chopped
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 3 red peppers, chopped
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- Note: use any combination
of colors for your peppers. I like the colorful frying and mini
peppers.
Cook corn in boiling water for 2
minutes. Dip in cold water and cut grains from the cob.
Chop the cabbage, onion and peppers into small pieces and add to
corn.
In a large pot, mix vinegar, sugar, salt and spices and heat to
boiling.
Add the corn and vegetables and boil for 20-30 minutes, until
vegetables become tender (stir frequently).
Pour corn relish into sterile jars and process.
SPICED GOOSEBERRIES
Makes about 5 pints.
Approx. 1 lb of berries go into a pint.
After finally tasting fresh
gooseberries, i decided to try and grow them myself for jams and
condiments.
- 5 lbs. ripe gooseberries
- 4 lbs. brown sugar
- 2 cups vinegar (I use apple
cider vinegar for this recipe)
- 2 tblsps. cloves
- 3 tsps. cinnamon
- 3 tsps. allspice
Combine gooseberries with spices,
sugar, and vinegar, and cook slowly until the mixture becomes
pretty thick.
Pour the gooseberries into sterilized jars and process in the water
bath.
PICKLED PEARS
- 14 pounds pears (Sekel is good
for whole pears)
- 1 quart cider vinegar
- 6 pounds sugar
- 1 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1 teaspoon stick cinnamon,
broken in pieces
Slice and remove the core, or you can
choose to pickle them whole
Peel the pears. Place spices in a small cheesecloth bag and add to the
vinegar and sugar.
Bring mixture to a boil, then add pears and cook until tender.
The pears will take on a clear appearance when they become
tender.
Remove them with a spoon and place them into sterilized jars.
Boil the syrup until it thickens.
Finally pour the syrup over the pears, seal and process.
RASPBERRY
RHUBARB JAM
- 3 lbs.
rhubarb
- 2½ cups
sugar
- ½ cup
water
- 2 oranges,
juice and rind
- 2 cups
raspberries
Skin and cut rhubarb into ½ inch
pieces. Add water and sugar, the orange juice and grated peel. Cook
all together, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, for 30
minutes, or until clear. Put in sterile jelly glasses and seal.
CRANBERRY
CONSERVE
Note: I
make this cranberry relish/cranberry sauce plain, without the nuts and
raisins, and instead of the whole oranges, I add a can or
fresh mandarin orange slices near the end, after i smash most of the
cooked berries. I consider those optional. But this recipe is the
Amish way. One of the easiest preserves to make, and you can make it
from the bags of cranberries you find in the supermarket in the
fall, quite inexpensively.
I don't chop
the berries, i cook them whole until they pop open. Once softened, i
use a potato masher to coerce it into little pieces and I have
beautiful jars of delightfully chunky red cranberry conserves
with little orange slices within for the Thanksgiving side. I add
vanilla to the pot near the end of cooking.
- 4 cups
cranberries
- 2 large
oranges
- 1 cup
chopped raisins
- 2 cups hot
water
- 4 cups
sugar
- 1 cup
chopped nuts
Cut oranges into quarters and
remove seeds. Grind cranberries and oranges, fruit and rind in food
chopper. Add the hot water and bring to a boil. Cook quickly until
fruit is soft. Add sugar and raisins. Cook over moderate heat,
stirring often, until thickened. Add chopped walnuts or blanched
almonds. Pour into sterile jars and process for 10 minutes.
Hint: Hot, boiling fruit has
a tendency to bubble up or over the top of the pot and produce foam.
I add a tablespoon or two of butter at the boil. That cuts the foam
you have to skim down to almost zero, and no bubbling over.
PICKLED RED BEETS
- 3 lbs. beets
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon whole allspice
- ½ cup sugar
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 pt. vinegar
- ½ cup water
Boil the brine and beets until
partially softened. Peel off the skin and slice. Add beets to a
sterilized jar, pour brine over them, seal and process for 10 min.
*Note: I've sliced or
diced the beets, and for a quicker method, I used Mrs. Wage's
Bread and Butter Pickling Mix rather than all of the individual
spices listed, I added a piece of cinnamon stick, a star anise and
a few cloves to each jar.
GINGER PEARS
This recipe makes 5 pints
Uses an average of 1 lb. of sliced pears per pint.
- 5 lbs. hard pears
- 3 cups water
- 5 lbs. sugar
- ½ cup chopped, preserved
ginger
- 3 lemons, juice and grated rind
Pare and core the pears. Dice or cut
into thin slices. Add water and cook pears until tender.
Add the sugar, ginger, lemon juice and grated rind.
Let the mixture simmer until thick and the pears become
transparent.
Pour pears into sterilized jars, process in canner.
SWEET PEPPER RELISH
This is a great recipe for preserving those pretty little
mini-peppers of mixed colors and the long Italian multi-colored sweet
frying peppers growing in my garden. I double the amount of total
peppers mentioned if i'm using the minis. So that's approximately 24
mini peppers in a variety of colors, rather than the 12 and 12 of
regular sized peppers. I use a few little pearl onions for each jar,
cut in half.
I also add a clove of garlic to each jar.
- 12 sweet red peppers
- 12 sweet green peppers
- 8 small onions
- 1 qt. vinegar
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 tsp. salt
Seed the peppers and chop fine with
the onion.
Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 5
minutes.
Drain and cover again with boiling water, let stand for 10 minutes
longer.
Place in colander or cheesecloth bag let drain over night.
In the morning add the vinegar, sugar and salt. Boil for 20 min, then
place in hot sterilized jars , add the seal, and process for 10 min.
AMISH CUCUMBER PICKLES
- 24 cucumbers
- 1 quart onions
- 1 cup of salt
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/4 pound ground mustard
- 3 tablespoon black pepper
- 3 pints apple cider vinegar
Peel the skins off the cucumbers.
Don't discard peels.
Slice cucumbers very thin, then add the peels and sliced onions
and cover with the salt. Let stand overnight.
Drain well and then add the olive oil, pepper, mustard and the
vinegar, stirring slowly.
Pour the mixture into air-tight jars.
Let stand for 6 weeks
*boil the liquids with the spices and pour the brine over the pickles
in sterile jars, after standing overnight.
Process in water bath canner for 10 min. for a shorter period of
pickling time, avoidance of bacteria, a secure seal and longer-term
storage.
Sources:
1915
- Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes
Compiled during Her Visit
among the "Pennsylvania Germans"
1960's Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking Book
Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes
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