Preserving the Bounty

What does food preservation have to do with peace? At least two things. First, I have long believed that one of the most important steps towards peace is to eliminate hunger. Hungry people are not peaceful (as those who have seen me when I need to eat can attest). Also, although my behavior this morning during the canning process was not peaceful (see note about hungry people) I do find that spending time looking for recipe ideas and, on rare occasions, preparing something special, helps to increase my inner peace.

Last night our neighbour Rachel gave me an armful of zucchini from her garden. I had been looking at a recipe for Prize Winning Zucchini Relish so I decided this was the perfect use for them. Sherry had brought home some onions from her sister Barbie’s garden, and we had a red pepper left over from last week’s market purchases. A trip to Sobey’s to pick up the canned green chilies and canning salt, and then a phone call to Janet, our spice supplier, for some turmeric, and we had all the ingredients ready to go. Charles did most of the chopping, with some help from me, and we finished off the canning this morning after market. We wound up with six bottles of relish and a delightful smelling kitchen.

Tonight I pickled some mushrooms using suggestions from The Nourished Kitchen’s Preserve the Bounty Challenge:

To Preserve in Vinegar:

• Clean your vegetables, herbs or fruits thoroughly and pat them dry.
• Pack the vegetables, fruits or herbs in a quart-sized jar.
• Bring vinegar and spices of your choice to a boil, pour this mixture over vegetables or fruits (but not herbs), cap and store.
• If preserving herbs, simply pack the clean herbs in a jar, cover with vinegar, cap and store.

I used fresh herbs from our garden (chives, rosemary, red basil, and oregano) plus 2 cloves of garlic. I filled 3 small jars with mushrooms, although after pouring in the vinegar, the mushrooms floated to the top and made it appear that they would have fit into 2 small jars, but as I was packing them in there didn’t seem to be that much space. I guess the heated vinegar made them shrink a bit. Right now I’m enjoying the smell of the herbs on my hands.

Tomorrow, I’d like to harvest a jar’s worth of chives and put them in vinegar, too. It would make a nice addition to my bean salad later on in the year.

Right now, though, I have a kitchen in need of cleaning.