J Is for Jerky

The beauty of jerky is you can use almost anything to make. Though I have not personally tried it with all of these, I understand it can be made with beef, venison, turkey, pork, chicken, salmon or rabbit. You can even use ground meats for making jerky. The options for flavoring it are just as varied. Common flavors are teriyaki, barbeque, mesquite and spicy.

Tips for Making Jerky

Trim all the fat off. Use only the lean portions of the meat. The fat will become rancid and ruin the jerky if left intact.

Slice the meat when it is still partially frozen in order to control the width of the slices more easily. Slices should be between ¼” to 3/8” thick. The thicker they are, the longer they will take to dry out.

Marinade

You can use almost anything to marinate the meat. It depends on your personal tastes. Here are some common marinates to try:

Worcestershire Sauce

Soy Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

Barbeque Sauce

Beer

Wine

Italian Dressing

To these you add your spices. We’ll get into recipes for specific flavors later on. For now, these are the basic spices you can use to make jerky: salt, pepper, garlic powder, sugar, onion powder, cloves, cinnamon, and curry. You name it and you can use it.

Let the meat soak in the marinade overnight, for at least 12 hours. Fish and chicken can soak for 4 to 6 hours. Remove the meat from the marinade and pat it dry with paper towels. Marinates don’t work well with ground meats. Instead, add the seasonings you want and use as is.

Dehydrating

Follow the directions that came with your dehydrator for settings. I use between 150 and 175 degrees. Meat will reduce by about 30% when it is done. It should be dry but not brittle. Some cuts of meat are dry enough in six to eight hours, while ground meats can three or four days to complete. Keep checking on it and remove it when it has achieved the consistency you like. Store it in a Ziploc bag or some Tupperware and you’re all set!

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Posted in: dehydrating,recipe,technique,tips

“G” Is for Canning Green Beans

Green beans are a major vegetable stable at our house. They find their way into all kinds of things. They low calorie (44 per 1 cup), low-carb (5 gms net per serving) and a good source of vitamin C (20% USRDA). It’s also one of the vegetables everyone in our house enjoys. So green beans are something I can and freeze every year. Fortunately for me my garden supports bean crops well. I grow a lot of my own but still haven’t mastered growing enough so that I don’t have to buy more.

Canning

Canning provides longer shelf life than freezing when it comes to green beans. Frozen beans are good for up to 18 months while canned beans, if done properly are safe to use up to 5 years later. Jars should be stored where they will not experience wide swings in temperature. A cool, dark place is best.

Supplies

For every half-pound to pound of green beans, you will need 1 quart or two pint jars and the appropriate lids and caps. One bushel of beans will usually yield 14 to 20 quart jars. Because green beans are low acid, they must be canned in a pressure cooker. You will need jar tongs, a funnel and some dish towels.

Prepping the Beans

Buy only fresh, crisp beans that are free of scars or imperfections. Minor imperfections can be trimmed away. Any type of green bean is suitable and is a matter of taster or availability. Trim both ends and cut beans to desired lengths. Common length choices are from 1 inch to 4 inches. Some people do several jars of each length to provide options for recipe selections later on. Rinse the beans in cool, clean water.

Prepping the Jars

Check all the jars for cracks and chips and discard any that are damaged. Only use new flat lids each time to ensure a good seal. Prying the lid off once it’s been used can cause warping or bending. However minute the bending might be, it can cause the lid to fail to seal properly if used again. You can reuse the screw caps so long as they are not rusted. Sterilize the jars and lids in either boiling water for ten minutes or in your dishwasher if it has a sterilize cycle. Keep the jars warm until ready to use.

Filling the Jars

Boil enough water to fill the number of jars you are processing. Most canners hold seven or eight jars. Fill the hot jars with the clean, cut beans. Gently press the beans down to firmly pack and leave 1 inch of space at the top of the jar. If you prefer, add ½ teaspoon of salt to each jar. This step can be omitted if you want to avoid additional sodium. Place funnel in jar and carefully pour boiling water I, maintaining the 1 inch space at the top of the jar.

Use a spatula to dislodge any air bubbles. Wipe off the jar with the towel and place the lid on top. Screw on the cap until just tight. Don’t tighten it all the way. Continue until all the jars are filled.

Processing the Beans

Start heating 3 to 4 inches of water in the pressure cooker while you are filling the jars to save time. Place the jars into the pressure cooker and secure the lid. Once the pressure has built to 11 pounds, start timing the beans. Process jars 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts for young tender beans. If older beans, almost ready for shelling, were used, increase the time by 15 and 20 minutes respectively. . Let the canner cool down and make sure all the steam has escaped before trying to open the lid. Stem is very hot and can cause burns.

Finishing

Use the tongs to remove hot jars from the pressure cooker. Set them on a towel on the counter and leave them for 24 hours. Then, check the lids to make sure the jars have a good seal. Wipe jars and apply label to glass or using a permanent marker, write the contents and date on the lid. Then store until ready to use.

Voila! You have canned green beans!

These articles may help you decide how many green beans and supplies you will need if you want to can a year’s supply for your family:

Planning to Can Green Beans to Sustain Your Family for a Year: Getting Started

Planning to Can Green Beans to Sustain Your Family For A Year: How Many Green Beans Do We Need?

Planning to Can Green Beans to Sustain Your Family For A Year: How Many Jars and Other Supplies Will I Need?

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Posted in: canning,recipe,techniques,tips

“F” Is for Food Planning

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of spring. Whether you garden yourself or just look forward to buying fresh produce from the farm stands and grocery stores, we can become a little too enthusiastic about our wants and needs.

I remember one year, my mother and I had the canning fever in a big way. Peaches were available and the best tomatoes we’d seen all season. We wanted to can enough so that we would have supplies to get us through to next summer. We decided to spend a weekend canning both...at the same time.

We bought bushels and bushels of both. We planned to just can the peaches but with the tomatoes, we wanted stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa, all kinds of things. After 2 days, we were hot, exhausted and nowhere near done. I sent mom home with the idea I would finish up over the next couple of days by myself. Needless to say, my plans didn’t go well. I threw out a couple of boxes of tomatoes that spoiled before I could get them processed.

The results were less than spectacular. I had run out of tomato products before January arrived and I was still eating peaches 3 years later. I learned a lot from that experience.

·         Only buy what you need. If you are the only family member who will eat canned peaches, one bushel is more than enough.

·         Break up the canning into manageable chunks. For us, in the case of tomatoes, we use quite a bit. I learned to buy enough for one end product at a time. I spend one weekend making salsa, another making tomato sauce and so on. It is much easier that way!

·         Plan what your family will need. If you plan to can so that you have enough to last a year, there are some steps you can go through to make sure you are canning the right amount. I wrote an article about it using green beans as an example but the process works well for anything.

It is easy to become carried away by things we are passionate about. I’ve learned that if I approach it with a cool head and calm heart, I can accomplish my goals of preserving healthy, tasty food for my family while still enjoying the process and not spending a fortune on it.

Articles about Food Planning:

Planning to Can Green Beans to Sustain Your Family for a Year: Getting Started

Planning to Can Green Beans to Sustain Your Family For A Year: How Many Green Beans Do We Need?

Planning to Can Green Beans to Sustain Your Family For A Year: How Many Jars and Other Supplies Will I Need?

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Posted in: canning,planning,tips

“D” Is for Dehydrating

Dehydrated bananas, cranberries and pineapples, photo copyright Theresa Leschmann

Dehydrating foods is the act of removing moisture from food in order to preserve it. Moisture together with exposure to air is what leads to food spoilage. People have been using drying techniques for hundreds of years. Today, as I struggle make my budget work and still serve wholesome, natural foods to my family; dehydrating has become part of my routine.

Benefits

Dehydrating foods allows to grow my own foods or stock up on them when they are in season and preserve them for use later in the year when they are no longer abundantly available and therefore cost a small fortune at the grocery store. Take for instance blueberries. In June and July, you can get them everywhere, even indulge in a little agrotourism and visit a local U-Pick. By October, you can buy bags of frozen blueberries or pay upwards of $4/pint in the grocery store for fresh. Dehydrated blueberries will never reconstitute to their fresh state but you can still enjoy the flavor in numerous ways.

Uses

Dehydrated fruits can be used for baking, trial and snack mixes, even added to cold cereals. Dried vegetables are perfect for adding to soups stews, slow-cooked meals and roasts. Dried meats are often used as snacks, such as jerkies. There are endless possibilities

Supplies

If you can provide low humidity and heat, you can dry food almost anywhere. Think about sun-dried tomatoes. These are dried in the sun, exposed to the warm air. Humid locates require different measures. Food drying can be done in the oven providing you can set the temperature to lower than 200 degrees. Many foods are dried at around 170 degrees. Too hot and you begin to cook the foods. There isn’t much air flow in the oven so you have to watch the process carefully, turning the food periodically.

If you have $30 o so, you can buy a simple dehydrator. You can sometimes find them at yard sales and second hand shops too. Older models simply plugged into the wall and started heating. Newer models come with temperature settings. Either will do just fine.

Aside from the oven or a dehydrator, the only other thing you need is containers. Zipper-type storage bags are good. I recommend the freezer type for long term storage. Plastic or glass containers are also good providing you can achieve an air-tight seal. Mason jars filled with dehydrated foods make a lovely display across a counter or on a pantry shelf, in my opinion.

For more information on dehydrating you can read this article on dehydrating. Now all you need to do is buy some food and get started.

I am taking part in the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. Be sure to check out my other blogs. You’ll find them listed on the side bar. You can also read the blogs of others taking part in the challenge by using the A to Z Challenge button on the side bar tool.

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Posted in: cooking,dehydrating,drying foods,tips