Preserving the Goodness

When I moved back to Toronto 4 (eek!) years ago I decided to try canning.  I liked the idea of controlling the amount of sugar in my jam as well as being able to use the freshest local produce and trying unique flavour combinations.  Canning can be a lot of work but I find it almost therapeutic plus it’s nice to make something edible that will last for so long.

My initial forays into canning were strictly about jam but this year I was inspired by this article in Bon Appétit to do some pickling.  Yes, pickling!  I figured pickling would be even easier than jam making since you don’t have to worry about setting.  I decided to devote a weekend day to my pickling adventures because it sounded likely a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  I decided to make four types of pickles: corn relish, bread & butter pickles, zucchini dill pickles and pickled beets (I’ll list links at the end of this post).

The funny thing about canning is that I decided to can things that I never ever buy.   Let’s take corn relish, for example.  I’ve never ever bought a jar of corn relish and frankly I don’t think I’ve ever tasted it.  But with corn being so delicious this year I decided to try my hand at preserving some.  Plus I saw many a tweet from and about their love of corn relish, so I was intrigued.  I decided to use a basic recipe from Pick Your Own . I checked out a bunch of sites and there were so many variations. I figured this one would be a good start. Aside from the corn the recipe includes peppers, onions, sugar and a variety of spices.  I let the preserves sit for a week or so and then I decided to buy some hotdogs to give the relish a test drive.  Corn relish is such a great condiment!  It was perfect on my hotdog.  It really is like regular relish but with corn instead. I even put some on a chicken sandwich a few days later and it was a great addition.

Next up was to pickle some beets.  I’ve made Easy Pickled Beets before and enjoyed so I thought I’d step it up a notch and make some real pickled beets.  The Bon App article had a recipe for Picked Beets with Star Anise that I thought sounded interesting, so I made it.  I enjoy the anise flavour for the most part and frankly I kind of wanted an excuse to buy star anise, it’s such a cute spice!  The recipe also captured my attention because it involves red wine.  Not only was this a super easy recipe but the results are quite lovely.  When you open the jar you get a whiff of anise but the taste isn’t too heavy on the anise (I’m not a fan of black liquorice so too much anise could turn me off).  You don’t really get much of the taste of wine but I appreciate that it’s in there.

The pickles I was most excited to make were the Zucchini Dill Pickles.  I love dill pickles and I love zucchini and I’m not a fan of cucumbers so I was happy on all fronts.  The process of making the dill pickles was perhaps the most lovely to look at of all the pickles I made that day.  I loved filling the jars with the herbs, spices, garlic and peppers, it really made me feel like I was crafting or something.  I deviated from the recipe a bit and used a combination of green zucchini and yellow squash, not a big deal at all.  The pickles turned out well.  They have the taste of dill pickles for the most part but have a slightly different texture.  I find them a bit too spicy but I had others taste them and they didn’t feel the same way at all.  Next time I’d love to figure out how to make half-sour pickles.

Last on my preserving adventures were bread and butter pickles.  I’ve loved bread and butter pickles ever since I was little but I couldn’t tell you the last time I had them.   These are the only pickles that I have yet to try but I’m excited to put them on a burger, in a grilled cheese or on a turkey sandwich!

I can’t write a post about preserving without giving a shout out to the lovely who recently released a book all about canning (which I still have to buy!) called .

Here are the recipes that I used:

Corn Relish
Pickled Beets with Star Anise
Zucchini Dill Pickles
Bread & Butter Pickles