Slow Food Boston Food Preservation Class - Chutneys, Pepper Jelly, Pumpkin Butter

Last month (on October 18th) I hosted a local canning and preserving class for Slow Food Boston at Haley House Bakery and Cafe in Roxbury. When Willow Blish, Slow Food Boston events organizer, contacted me to ask if I would be interested in teaching a workshop, I was thrilled! Most of the time, any canning projects I do are usually alone or in the test kitchen. So I was really excited at the opportunity to share my experience with Slow Food members and see what everyone else out there is experimenting with.

 I asked Cedric Smith (of Paino Organics in Concord, MA) to co-host with me. I worked very closely with Cedric and Paino Organics over the last year and a half to develop a line of authentic, chunky and truly all-natural Salsas called No. 9 Salsa (which is now on shelf in most Whole Foods Markets in Mass. Yay!!). So in addition to my Queen of the Pantry Onion Jams, I now have another line of "canned or preserved" products out there on the shelf. This experience has been so educational for me and it was nearly impossible to share all of it in one workshop with Slow Food Members. How ironic that we were teaching a workshop on a slow food practice, yet we only had 3 hours to do it! But we did our best! And we made 3 beautiful products, each being a different type of canned product.

We made an Apple & Date Chutney, a sweet and spicy Pepper Jelly and a Fresh Pumpkin Butter. I have included definitions of the various types of jellied products along with the class recipes below which include the general guidelines for canning. (The National Center for Home Food Preservation has great guidelines and recipes as well).

To recap the workshop on that snowy October afternoon, we started off with a brief introduction of ourselves and how the canning process we follow to make our products at Queen of the Pantry and Paino Organics differs from home canning. We explained that the basics are the same, whether you are making a small batch of 12 jars of jelly or a 50 gallon kettle. There are two major rules to keep in mind - the food products have to reach appropriate temperatures to kill bacteria and they have to be acidified. When in the test kitchen, we are basically following the home canning processes to make small test batches. In our case, these batches then get scaled up to be made at a small, local copacker.

We then proceeded to the kitchen where we divided up our beautiful ingredients supplied by Allandale Farms and Five Acre Farm (Cedric's family farm in Waltham). After a brief review of safe knife skills, our eager participants began chopping, slicing, dicing and pureeing all our ingredients.

Validia happily dicing chili peppers!

Peeling, coring and dicing apples for the chutney.

Pureed red bell peppers for the pepper jelly.

Meanwhile, Cedric got some of the other students to get several large pots of water boiling on the stoves - to sterilize the jars and lids.

Cedric Smith (Paino Organics and No. 9 Salsa) sterilizing Ball jars and lids.

 Once all ingredients were prepped and transferred to large pots. We began the cooking process. Neither the Apple & Date Chutney or the Pumpkin Butter had any pectin added. However, we did use Pomona's Pectin for the Pepper Jelly.

Apple & Date Chutney

Colorful pepper jelly

As you can see, the pumpkin butter was made from fresh, local sugar pumpkins from Allandale Farm. These were peeled, chopped and pureed in a food processor. If we had more time, we would have pureed the pumpkin until it was very smooth. Due to our time constraint, we ended up with a more rustic thick pumpkin butter, which is just fine. And delicious!

When the products came to temperature on the stove, we needed to fill the sterilized jars quickly and neatly.

Yvette filling the chutney

Cedric discusses the importance of having ALL untensils be sterilized as well.

Filling jars of Pepper Jelly

As soon as the jars were filled (leaving about 1/4-1/2 in at the top) the lids were secured and the jars inverted to complete sterilization and help create the seal.  (The jars only need to remain inverted for about a minute or so.  Although, its ok to leave them inverted.)

Beautiful fresh Pumpkin Butter

Apple & Date Chutney with mustard seeds

 At the end of class, each of the members left with several jars of chutney, pepper jelly, pumpkin butter and a few samples of No. 9 Salsa to try. Overall, a fun way to spend a snowy afternoon with a delightful group of fellow food preservation lovers!

An army of colorful Pepper Jelly!

A huge warm thanks to Slow Food Boston and Haley House for organizing and hosting the event, and to Laura Krantz for the photos!

Recipes and Types of Jellied Products

Types of Jellied Products

Jelly, jam, preserves, conserves and marmalades are fruit products that are jellied or thickened. Most are preserved by sugar. Their individual characteristics depend on the kind of fruit used and the way it is prepared, the proportions of different ingredients in the mixture and the method of cooking.

Jellies are usually made by cooking fruit juice with sugar. (Some are made without cooking using special uncooked jelly recipes.) A good product is clear and firm enough to hold its shape when turned out of the container, but quivers when the container is moved. When cut, it should be tender yet retain the angle of the cut. Jelly should have a flavorful, fresh, fruity taste.

Jams are thick, sweet spreads made by cooking crushed or chopped fruits with sugar. Jams tend to hold their shape but are generally less firm than jelly. (Recipes are also available for uncooked jams.)

Preserves are small, whole fruit or uniform size pieces in a clear, slightly gelled syrup. The fruit should be tender and plump.

Conserves are jam-like products that may be made with a combination of fruits. They also contain nuts, raisins or coconut.

Marmalades are soft fruit jellies containing small pieces of fruit or peel evenly suspended in the transparent jelly. They often contain citrus fruit.

Chutneys are of Indian origin, and derived from the word “chatni”. They are spiced relishes served cooked or uncooked. Chutneys are both fruit and vegetable based. A chutney is a thick pulp where the fruit or vegetable ingredient is not instantly visible. It is more of a savory jam and has many uses such as accompanying cold meats, sandwiches, cheeses, brushed on grilled meats and even add a great zing to stews and casseroles. Ideal pH reading should be below 4.6.

Relishes are any vegetable chutney but not cooked as long as a regular chutney. It is a preserve made from finely chopped fresh vegetables or fruits packed in a lightly spiced syrup of sugar and vinegar.

Pickles are vegetables, and fruits, soaked in a brine or salt and stored in vinegar that has been boiled with spices.

Other fruit products that are preserved by sugar but not jellied include butters, honeys and syrups. Fruit butters are sweet spreads made by cooking fruit pulp with sugar to a thick consistency. Spices are often added. Honeys and syrups are made by cooking fruit juice or pulp with sugar to the consistency of honey or syrup.

National Center for Home Food Preservation

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

A few additional facts about making Jams:

• Ideal final pH reading should be : pH 3.2
• Brix % should not be less than 65% (Brix % is the concentration of sugar in the jam product)
• Jams (technically) should be heated to 220°F to fill and properly seal in the jar

Apple & Date Chutney
sweet, thick chutney excellent for sandwiches and cheese

2 1/2 - 3lbs lbs apples (cooking apples)
1 lb Onions
1 lb Dates (pitted)
1 cup sugar
tsp Salt
tsp dry mustard or mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice (or combination of apple pie spices)
2 1/2 cups Malt vinegar (we could white/cider instead)

Peel, core, chop apples. Chop onions and dates.
Combine everything in saucepan and bring to boil. Cook gently, covered, 45 min - 1 hr. Stir often and add more vinegar if necessary (makes a thick chutney).

Pour or ladle into hot, clean canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Seal with new two-piece lids according to manufacturer's directions and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Cool, label, and store.

Makes about 12 8oz jars


Pepper Jelly

2/3 cup hot pepper (finely diced) can add more depending how hot you want it to be
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 ½ cups white vinegar
6 cups sugar
8oz Pectin (we used Pomona’s Pectin)
Note: you can keep the seeds from the peppers and add them to the pot whole. They look nice in the jelly.

Chop peppers and put into food processor, or blender, with vinegar. Blend well (almost to a fine dice or mince).

Pour into a large pot. Add sugar and mix well.

Bring mix to a boil for 1 minute. Add Pectin quickly and continue to stir with a whisk to prevent Pectin from lumping. Return to a boil for 1 more minute and pour, or ladle, into ½ pint jars. Seal and invert for at least 5 minutes to sterilize lids.


Fresh Pumpkin Butter

For every 1 ½ cups of pumpkin puree add the following: (See Note for fresh pumpkin)
1 cup white sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¾ cup apple juice

Note: If using fresh pumpkin: Peel and chop into 1 inch chunks. Process raw pumpkin in a food process or blender until pureed as much as possible.

Heat pumpkin puree in a large pot just to a low boil. (Do this especially of using raw pumpkin to begin cooking and softening it a bit).

Combine and add all other ingredients to pot and simmer 30 minutes stirring frequently to not burn on the bottom.

Return to a boil for 1 minute and pour or ladle into sterile jars. Seal and invert for at least 5 minutes to sterilize lids.