Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Playing Pioneer


I took that picture last night. Those are some of the tomatoes we'd picked and some of the beans I'd pickled. Today after my walk on Whitehouse Road which was lovely and not too hot I decided to do something with the tomato bounty. Or at least some of it. There's a part of me that doesn't want to do a thing with these tomatoes except to eat them, one after another. But I figured that we'll be getting more and we can't possibly eat all of them or least it would be very difficult and not very prudent and I wanted to make some ketchup.

Years and years ago Mr. Moon's daddy put in a garden and he did what I call farmer-gardening meaning he wasn't exactly what we might describe as all-natural or organic or anything even remotely like that but by god, he grew some tomatoes! He grew so many tomatoes and brought them to me to do something with that my kitchen became a canning factory. I canned tomatoes and salsa until I was sick of canning tomatoes and salsa. So I tried making some ketchup and I have no idea what recipe I used but I remember it as being so very good and not much like what comes from Heinz although I do like Heinz ketchup. Truly.

I got out the canning Bible, the Ball Blue Blue Book (and yes, that is the name of it) and found a recipe in it that sounded pretty okay.



So I tried it. First I had to dunk the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or so to get the skins off. And this is what they looked like in a blue bowl after I'd done that.


Now aren't those just pretty? 

Then the recipe said to "cook them" along with chopped onions and red pepper until soft. I like the fact that they just assume you know how to do that. 



So I cooked the tomatoes and peppers and onions in my big Le Creuset pot that my man gave me for Christmas until they were soft and then I drained the vegetables, keeping the juice and pureed them in the food processor although the recipe said to put them through a strainer or a food mill. My copy of the Blue Book is from 1999 so there you go. I put the puree back in the pot with the juice and boiled it down for about an hour. I suppose you would now call this "reducing". We used to just call it "boiling it down."
At that point I added a spice bag with a half a cinnamon stick, some mustard seed and celery seed, then some allspice, a tiny bit of ground cloves, sugar, a bay leaf, and salt. And set it back to boiling. You cook all of this for about twenty-five minutes and then add vinegar and cook until thickened. 
Of course while all of this is happening you have to boil your jars and lids. 

Every time I'm in the canning process I recall what it was like to can in a kitchen without air conditioning. 
Hell would be the short answer. I know because when I was a young hippie I used to can and pickle like crazy and we did not have AC. 

Can you imagine being one of those ladies who had to put up food in the Florida heat? Using a woodstove? It must have gotten up to at least a hundred and ten degrees in those kitchens. And this wasn't any hobby. This was do or die. Literally. If you didn't grow a lot of food and then preserve it your family would just starve in the winter. 
And no running water either so you either had to haul water for the canner from a well or a pump out back. 
I love to think of myself as being all Florida pioneer-y and stuff here in my old house where women have been canning and keeping chickens and making bread for a hundred and sixty years but I'm just playing at it. I doubt I could last a week doing what those women really did. 
But I do love to play at it. 

So after my ketchup had thickened and my jars and lids were sterilized I filled the jars and processed them for ten minutes in boiling water in the canning kettle and although all of this is just a picnic in the park compared to what the strong women did in the olden days, it's still a bit of work. 

And guess how much ketchup all of that picking and peeling and processing made? 

Two pints. 


Exactly two pints. But those are two pints of the most delicious ketchup you can imagine and my kitchen smells like tomato heaven. 
And besides- what else am I going to do here in the days of the pandemic? 

Jessie sent out a picture of Levon today. 


He's showing off his new dress and new track-hoe underwear. The dress has pockets. He's so happy. August, however, burst into tears because he wanted a new dress too. 
Of course I'll make him one. And of course it will have pockets. Everyone needs pockets and that's all there is to it. 

I'm off to go snip and snap and cook some green beans, slice tomatoes, bake pork chops and sweet potatoes. I might even make some muffins. Have you ever grated fresh ginger into your muffin batter? 
You should. 

Love...Ms. Moon



25 comments:

  1. I am impressed! Ketchup from scratch? Wooey! Meditative, but labor intensive. And I thought I had it *bad* last week when my apricots all dropped and I jammed for 3 days straight. Back in the early 70's when I was in my early 20's.....went to spend 2 weeks with a fellow hippie friend who had moved to Idaho to homestead. I got a good dose of the urgency of canning when things *come in*.....and spent 10 days in the kitchen helping her can corn, beans and tomatoes. Exhausting but rewarding and I have a fond memory of that time. Being somewhat self sufficient is not for wimps! VERY rewarding, though.
    Susan M

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    1. It IS rewarding, isn't it? And so satisfying for some reason.

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  2. Ambitious! I am sure it is not ketchup, not even close, it deserves a new name- heavenly tomawwto elixir sauce of the gods- something like that.I was lucky back in the olden days to have two wood stoves- one in the kitchen and one on the porch- winter and summer. I only canned fruit, though, nothing fancy.

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    1. Yes, I think that's what I shall call it, Linda Sue. If you can can fruit, you can can anything.

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  3. Ohio was never, never so hot and humid as Florida, except when we spent August and September, canning.
    Your grand babies are all wonderful. Trackhoe undies. That Jessie is a whiz bang mom.

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    1. I know you must be right- no matter where you can, it's going to be hot because it's always in the hottest months and there's just so much heat being created.
      Jessie is most definitely a whiz bang mom.

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  4. Wow! You are a great pioneer and I bet that ketchup is heavenly!

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    1. I am not even close to being a pioneer but the ketchup is pretty darn good.

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  5. I love the track hoe underpants! And I am always impressed with your abilities in the kitchen. I see lots of fries in your future!

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    1. Aren't they just the cutest underwear you've ever seen?
      I don't think that fries will be worthy of this precious ketchup. But I don't know what will be.

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  6. Your ketchup sounds tasty, but time consuming. I recently discovered a very easy way to make a nice tomato sauce ( served hot). Halved tomatoes in a dish, just remove the stalky bit......cut side up. Drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and black pepper. Roast for about 3/4 of an hour. Put in a blender with some good quality balsamic vinegar and whizz til smooth. So easy and delicious served with plain veg or anything you fancy!!

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    1. That does sound really good, Frances. I think I might try that. Thanks.

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  7. Thanks for that "recipe". I've always been terrified of canning and yet I know that's stupid. I breastfed my kids so never really "learned" how to sterilize bottles and somehow got it into my head that the kitchen had to be as sterile as an operating theatre before I could give the baby a bottle. I've got a few books on canning so you know what, I'm gonna be brave and give it a shot!

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    1. My mother had the same attitude about sterile bottles and kitchens when I was born but she mostly got over it although I can remember sterilizing my little brothers' bottles. Canning is easy. You can do it. I promise.

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  8. Think you just outlined the reason a woman's life expectancy was closer to 40 than 80 back in those days. :)

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    1. Exactly. Throw in menopause and hot flashes and I wouldn't doubt that some women just took themselves to the river and jumped in and drowned themselves.

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  9. That ketchup sounds like the laborious process of making lemon curd. Wonderful but tiny results!

    I'm planning on some ginger in future baked goods now. Great idea.

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    1. Well, it's like sewing I guess- so much easier to buy stuff already made but such satisfaction in doing it ourselves.
      You will love the ginger results. I know you will.

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  10. Poor August! Maybe he just needs a reminder that you were making him dresses before Levon, and now Levon has to catch up.

    Two pints of ketchup actually seems like quite a lot, considering how long it takes us to get through a Heinz bottle. Then again, you have an extended family to feed, too! It does seem like a lot of work but I bet it tastes better, knowing you made it.

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    1. You may be right about August. Jessie probably told him that but I'm sure his little heart was broken.
      Two pints of ketchup should actually last awhile. It is SO good.

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  11. The ketchup looks incredible -- I'm amazed at all you do, to tell you the truth. If you'd last a week, I guess I'd last 1/2 a day.

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    1. Well, I doubt I'd last much longer than a day, given a choice. Those poor women just didn't even have one. No wonder so many of them had to take to their beds with "nerves."

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  12. I think my favorite thing we canned in my childhood was relish. It included green tomatoes and that is the extent of what I remember of the recipe. My mom was in charge of the important stuff. I just turned the crank on the food grinder. Levon is adorable.

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    1. Yes, I've seen recipes for green tomato relish. It must be so good.
      I think Levon's adorable too.

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  13. wow, homemade ketchup. I'm impressed. I don't can cause I think all that cooking in the water bath just destroys the nutrients. that's why I freeze. I can make that choice because I am a modern women. but all us modern women (and men too) even those of us who think we are capable and strong would just flat out die of heat stroke or physical labor if we were plonked back in time.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.