Don't Delay. Get Your Kids into the Kitchen

It is never to early to get your kids involved in the kitchen.
Start them off on a journey that can last them a life time. I give thanks for a grandmother that took the time to teach me how to cook and do canning. I learned things that have played out pretty well in my life. Mary Lynn's mother and grandmother taught her all about putting veggies up so that her family would have good food during the winter. It wasn't that long ago when people did not have the things available to us today. They could not run down and pick up dinner from a deli or a drive thru. They had to cook what was available in their home. If someone had hunted and came home with a turkey, or a deer, or even fished and brought home a big stringer full. That was what you ate, they did not make special things just because you didn't like something.
I remember watching and asking all kinds of questions. I always got answers, no matter what I ask.
Don't you think it is time for you to start cooking with your family. You don't have to teach everything you do, just pick something they like and make it with them then next time. Let them watch you make it. maybe start with simple things and work your way up. Mary Lynn and I used to let our grandsons set on a counter while we cooked something. We talked about what we were doing and explained what was happening. We let them smell spices and taste things so that they would get kitchen experience. After a couple of times, we let them help out with recipe. They would hold the recipe card and tell us what was next. Then they did small jobs, such as stirring a pot. Don't get excited if a little mess is made. It will always clean up. More than one time we had a spill or something poured out on the counter. Don't make a them feel bad because of what happened. Remember, you spill things also. The only people who don't spill and make a mess are the people who don't cook. I laugh at those kind of people the only thing they make is reservations. Don't let you kids grow up to be one of those kind of people.
I remember when Christopher made apple butter all by his self for the first time. He started coring and cleaning the apples.
Then he cooked them down to a pulp that he put thru a food mill.Next he measured out the right amount to make the batch.

He measured and added the spices and sugar to the pulp. Stirring to make sure that everything mixes before the crock pots.
After pouring into jars, our next step is making labels for the jars.
Our labels had to pass the Department of Agriculture specifications. We had to have everything used in cooking on the labels and they had to be a certain size. Chris did not make a special label for his apple butter, he just used our label. It was easier, and did not have to sent off for approval. This job looks easy, but that was not the case. Anybody that has printed labels of any type on a computer knows what I am talking about.
After printing, the labels have to be carefully centered on the jars. The jars had to look nice to sell. People don't buy jars that look odd or different from the others.
Now the jars are ready for shows. They are ready for customers to buy. It was a great experience for us to see our grandson making and selling something that he had made the hard way. The only thing he did not do was climb the tree and pick the fruit. Luckily we had a big supply of apples to use from our banker. He has been a good friend for many years. Every year he brought over baskets and baskets of apples from his yard. After this type of work Mary Lynn took a box of apple butter that Chris had made and set it aside. She took one of the jars and without Chris knowing, entered it in the canning contest at the Georgia National Fair. We both have won many awards and ribbons at the fair, but we will never forget the first. We went down to Perry, Georgia to the fair and told Chris that we wanted to see how we did. He was excited because of getting a trip to the fair and the fair food that goes with the trip. He was looking forward to Corn dogs and Onion Rings. He had no clue what we made the special trip for. We got to the canning display and started looking at who won awards and what we had won. They do a real nice job of setting things up with a sticker on the jars stating the awards. I found his jar and called him over. I told him to look and help me read the name on the jar that was a prize winner. Chris looked and read his name and saw it was First Place in Junior Canning. I thought he was going to faint. He started to yell for Mary Lynn. At the same time great big tears started to flow. Mary Lynn told him what she had done. He grabbed her in a monster hug. I think we all had tears about this time. The lady that was in charge of the canning division came over and ask if she could take a photo of Chris holding the jar. He was so excited he could hardly stand still. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a large award and told Chris that not only did he get a first place, he also got the Best in The Show Award. We did eat fair food for dinner, but the corn dog and onion rings were not the big thing on the evenings agenda.
You may not ever have something like this. But you will get as much pride from watching your kids or grandkids learning to cook as we did.
Chris is a man now, but I'll bet he would tell you all about that night just like it was last night. I was a special moment for his life as well as ours.
So don't delay. Get in the kitchen and start cooking with your kids or grandkids. You never know when you might be starting a life changing experience. My grandmother started me. Mary Lynn's mother and grandmother started her. We started our grand kids. and Mary Lynn's daughter has start our 4-year-old grandson in the kitchen.
This past Christmas we receive a gift of Banana Bread that our grandson had made. It tasted awesome (how could it not). He wants to be on the Cooking Channel or on the Top Chefs show. He loves watching cooking shows on TV. 4 years old and he has a miniature kitchen than he play cooks on all the time. I just hope I live to see what he does with his goals. I should mention that when he is no cooking, he is playing with Thomas the Train toys. Last night he called and had a train with 41 cars. He counted them for us on the phone.
I guess we are looking at an Engineer that has his own cooking show at the same time. Anything is possible.
Here is the recipe for Apple Butter that Chris used. This is the same recipe that we used for all our apple butters for The Austin House. It is a prize winner many times over.

Shopping and picking list: Approximately 10 lbs. of Apples***, 1 Gal of Apple Cider or Water (to cook apples in), 1/4 Cup Cider Vinegar, 2 Tbls ground Cinnamon, 1 Tsp ground Allspice, 1/2 Tsp ground cloves, 6 Cups Cane Sugar.

***Some of the best varieties we have used: Granny Smith, Detroit Red, Arkansas
Black, and Rome.

Wash apples. Cut off blossom and stem end. Peel if desired (it is better with the peel left on). Bring apples to boil in water or cider to cover. Cook on medium to low heat until apples are soft (30 minutes to an hour depending on apples). Stir often to prevent sticking. Draw off liquid and save. Press apples thru a ricer or food sieve to remove seed and peel that did not cook soft. If you have a food mill, use that in place of ricer or sieve. Measure 8 cups of apple pulp into a crock pot or heavy cooking pot. Add listed spices, sugar and vinegar. Add 1 cup of cooking liquid. Strain the remaining reserved liquid thru a jelly bag or muslin (this will be used to make apple cider jelly or liquid to cook more apples). If you use a crook pot cook on low setting overnight, or cook for 7-8 hours. Check consistency before last two hours. If too watery remove the lid for the last 2 hours. If you are going to cook on stove top, cook on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring very often. When butter has finished cooking carefully pour into cleaned canning jars. Fill to within ¼ inch of top. Using a damp paper towel, clean jar tops. Place a sterile dome on top of jars (place in pan with boiling water, and then carefully remove). With dome in place screw on ring. Tighten finger tight, if you tighten
too much it will not seal. Too loose and water will seep in. Place jars in boiling water bath (use a rack or something else to keep jars from touching the bottom. Boil for 10 minutes for pint jars, 15 minutes for quarts jars with water at least 2 inches of top of jars. Carefully remove and let set undisturbed overnight. Check jars to see if they are sealed. If they are not, replace the dome and reprocess. Now you have wonderful apple butter for your family or for gifts.

In response to so many requests, Mary Lynn and I are starting back with our production and sales of a limited number of our most popular items. We are going to be selling thru a website that is in production now. Hopefully we will have everything ready to open for business in a couple of weeks. I will keep you posted on our progress.

This will give you the chance to compare our products with the things you are making at home. Keep watching and reading.

Please subscribe to my blogs. I enjoy getting ideas for future blogs from you. Also be sure and check out my other blogs, you might have missed one.

Don’t keep my blogs a secret. Pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it. 
Say Yes I Can Can It!

"Wild and Crazy Ideas" Peaches Part 3

In part 1 we covered the main list of peach favorites. Part 2 covered using your peach products and making other things. In this part we will cook some lesser or unknown items.

  

We will will use our famous Georgia Peaches.

First up is Peach Butter

It is like apple butter, but made with peaches. So it's not the same, but as I said at the start, different. Something else about peach butter is that we use the whole peach minus the pit. But we use the peach pit when boiling the peaches. This gives you more natural pectin. We leave the skin on; this gives more flavor than you would expect. It is a simple recipe that can be easily done. Believe me when I tell you that once you make peach butter, you will make it every peach season. Another side benefit when you make peach butter is you get more peach juice for your jellies and syrups. Just wait till you taste it!

Start with 1/2 bushel peaches which is about 24 cups. You can do a smaller batch with 12 cups of peaches. Cut the peaches up with the skin still on, but cut off any bad spots. Do not peel the peaches.



The peel gives the butter a great taste. It is more peachier (if that is a word). Cook peaches in water up to about half the volume of peaches. Put the peach pits in a cooking bag or make your own with a piece of muslin tied. Cook for about 30 minutes on low heat, stirring to keep mixed and not sticking. Cook till the pieces are very soft. Strain to remove as much liquid as possible. Save the liquid for other recipes.Put drained peach pulp through a food mill. If you don't have a food mill you can purée the pulp in small batches in your blender. If you use a blender, wait til the peaches cool off, so you won't get burned.

 Mix 8 cups purée with 4 1/2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons cider vinegar (Yes I said vinegar). Pour mixture into crock-pot and cook 8 to 10 hours or until desired consistency After 6 hours check and if it is too watery, cook the next 2 hours with lid off.

Carefully ladle into 8 ounce prepared canning jars (you can use 16 ounce if you wish). Fill jars to within 1/2 inch of top, clean the rims with a damp paper towel, place sterile drained domes on followed by rings. Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes. A little different from our other recipes. Remove from heat and let set overnight. Check for unsealed jars to be reprocessed.

You now have Peach Butter to use on anything you would use Apple Butter on. Great on an English muffin, awesome on ice cream, or even a spoon. Just let your imagination go wild.

If you want another peach butter idea; substitute 8 ounces of honey in place of sugar and 2 teaspoons lemon juice in place of vinegar. This will be a thinner spread, but the honey and peaches taste just great. This is obviously called Honey Peach Butter. Two ideas for the price of one. Not a bad start.

Now we will use some of the peach juice you got from the strained peaches to make a wild and crazy item called Fuzzy Navel Jelly.

Imagine a jelly that taste like this!

Yes you read right; it is made with rum. This also uses orange juice concentrate.
You need 12 cups peach juice, 1 can OJ concentrate, pectin, rum as well as rum flavoring, and sugar. Mix the juice and concentrate and the pectin. Bring to a boil and add 1/4 cup rum and 1/8 cup rum flavoring and 14 cups sugar. Mary Lynn used the Rum Flavoring because she didn't want to add that much alcohol. The flavoring more than made up for the lower volume of rum.

Stir while mixture comes back to a roiling boil. Remove from heat and let set a couple on minutes. Skim and ladle into prepared jars, then clean tops with damp paper towel. Seal with sterilized, drained domes and rings finger tight. Process in water bath 10 minutes. Remove from heat let set over night. Check for unsealed jars to be reprocessed. You now have Fuzzy Navel Jelly. This can be used anywhere you use jelly, but remember the rum. All of the alcohol may not boil off. You may not want children to have any. You can use 1/2 cup of the rum flavoring in place of the rum if you have any doubts.

Peach Rum Raisin Jam is up next. Mary Lynn made this just for me.

As I was growing up (I have never grown up, no fun). When I went to the ice cream shop I got two scoops. The first scoop would be peach and the second scoop would be rum raisin. When I ate them together I got Peach Rum Raisin. I walked into our shop one day and an awesome aroma just about floored me. I ask what Mary Lynn was cooking and she told me she was making my favorite ice cream. Well I knew right away she was not making ice cream because she was standing at the stove (sometimes my mind works real fast). I questioned her more only to find out she had made a recipe just for me. She was making jam and not ice cream. She used fresh peaches, beautiful raisins and rum. Three things that have always been close to the top of my list of favorites.

Rum Raisin on top and Peach on bottom, equals Peach Rum Raisin.

On that day Peach Rum Raisin Jam was born. When people saw it at shows they always said the stock line that was heard many times in our booth: "I never heard of this. What is it? How do you eat it?" If I had a dollar for every time I heard that phrase or just part of it I would be a rich man today.The recipe she came up with proved to be a winner.

Start with 4 cups crushed peaches and 2 cups (1 cup dark raisins, 1 cup golden raisins), 6 1/2 cups sugar, 1 box pectin, 1/4 cup rum and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Mix all the ingredients except the sugar together, bring to a boil and then add the sugar. Bring back to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit a couple of minutes. Ladle into canning jars up to 1/2 inch of top. Clean tops and place domes and rings on. Water bath 15 minutes, remove from heat, set over night. Check for unsealed jars.

You now have an unusual item for those people who are never satisfied with regular things. Also it is a great gift for the person who has everything. After the jars set for a few days the raisins will swell and it is now as great looking as it is great tasting. We use Captain Morgan Spiced Rum for all our cooking, but you may use which ever brand you like. A darker rum does work better than a light one.

I told you we were going to make some different things.

Next up Peach Melba Jam.

I had to look it up because I did not know what Peach Melba was. I found it is Peaches and Raspberries. Who would know with a name like Melba? That sounds like the little wafers my grandkids ate when they were cutting teeth.

Well anyhow, Peach Melba Jam is simple. 4 cups crushed peaches, 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen), 1/4 cup lemon juice, 6 cups sugar and 1 box pectin.

Peach Melba is a sweet taste that is addicting

Mix peaches, raspberries, lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil and add sugar. While stirring bring back to a full rolling boil. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Ladle into prepared canning jars. Wipe with damp paper towel to clean rims, dome and then ring. Water bath for 15 minutes. Let sit overnight, Shazzam! You have made Peach Melba Jam. Tell your friends what you did and see how impressed they are. I'll bet that some have to look up what it means just like I did. The flavor is unbelievable. Raspberries and peaches together on a toasted buttered English muffin or hot biscuit. They have to eat like this in Heaven. Something else, it is full of Vitamin C.

That makes it healthy and good tasting and pretty. What else do you want? So make some.

OK, so far I have stuck to traditional items mostly. The next item is going to be from the dark side of the moon.

Peach-Basil White Wine Vinegar

I told you, you would not expect this.

We started making vinegars because of a conversation with our friend that owns Fox Winery in Social Circle, Georgia. We made wine jellies from the different wines he produced. (I will tell you how to make wine jelly later on, I promise). We mentioned a herb vinegar we made. He heard the word vinegar and was adamant that he didn't want it anywhere near his shop. I was sort of shocked by this, and asked why. He said that if any vinegar came in contact with his wines while they were fermenting, they would turn to vinegar. I asked if all I had to do was mix a little vinegar with wine would it turn to vinegar? He said yes it would.
On the way home we talked about this fact. We stopped at a package store and bought some wine by the cardboard box. You know the kind I am talking about. Mary Lynn poured a couple of quarts mostly full of wine and to them she added about a 1/4 cup white vinegar. Sealed the jars and mixed them up. It took about 5 days for the mixture to really smell like vinegar. We let several of our customers taste this and they all said it was wine vinegar. Also they said it tasted pretty good. Mary Lynn figured that better wine would give us the results we wanted. The next trip to the package store was for better wine. The result was great.

To make Peach-Basil White Wine Vinegar. First the wine vinegar. This time we made gallons, but kept the same proportion as in the small batch. After a week we were ready to make our vinegar combos.

2 cups fresh peeled peaches cut into thin slices (you can not use canned because of the syrup). 1 quart white wine vinegar, 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh basil (depending on their size). Heat vinegar almost to a boil, carefully pour over the peaches and the basil. When cooled, put in quart jars and let set for about 3 weeks. After 3 weeks we strained the vinegar thru muslin cloth. This gave us a clear Peach-Basil White Wine Vinegar.

For your containers you don't want a mason jar. Look for pretty decorated bottles to use. Clean the bottles well, pour in boiling water, empty and let dry completely. Into each bottle place a sprig of fresh basil and a couple of fresh peach slices. Pour the cooled wine vinegar into the bottles. The fresh basil and peaches are for decoration. You now have a great tasting vinegar to use on your salads or any other way you would like a lite fresh vinegar. Remember to keep your vinegars in a cool dry dark place.

 I thought I was finished, but one more recipe is needed. It is the time of the year when kids are out of school, families plan reunions, families go away for vacations and all sorts of other summer times activities. A popular thing to do in the heat of the summer days is make homemade ice cream. There are several really good ice cream makers on the marker. They all work pretty good. In an earlier blog I talked about making peach ice cream. I now have another ice cream idea: Peach Custard Ice Cream. It is not difficult, in fact I could even make it. So that must tell you something. The ingredients are not expensive, so let's make it tonight. Give me a call and let me know what time, I will be there ready and willing to partake.

Shopping list: 1 quart whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 3 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 6 cups peach jam, 1 tablespoon vanilla.

In a heavy sauce pan heat milk and cream to just below boiling(watch this is a little tricky). In a medium size bowl beat the eggs with the sugar. Add egg mixture, flour and salt to hot milk. Cook until thick. Turn off heat. Add peach jam and vanilla and stir well. Chill before freezing in ice cream maker. This will make 1 gallon of Peach Ice Cream the old fashioned way. I promise it will taste better than anything you can bring home in that funny bad from your grocers. You family will notice the difference. That recipe is enough for me, so you better make 2 times that amount. I told you it is that good.
I tried to keep this short, but there is too much to talk about and cook. Well maybe next time I will talk less.......NOT.

I bet you never expected the variety in this blog. We covered a big range of things to make.

I would put Peach Salsa here, but I am saving it for the Salsa blog. You have to keep watching for it. Salsa will be along in a few blogs. Same goes for all you Chutney fans. I will dedicate a whole blog and maybe 2 to both Salsa and Chutney.

Special note!!!!!!!!!!!! Coming very soon, The Austin House jams & Jellies web site. You will be able to order from some of our biggest selling items. We willnot have our list like before with over 700 items available online. This will be 10 or less of the best.

Please let me know what you would like to make or any ideas you have for the next blog. Just drop me a note at jellymanga@gmail.com

Don’t keep my blogs a secret, and pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you can you can it. Say Yes I Can, Can It!