The Joy of Giving

Over the recent holidays we were the recipient of any number of stocking-stuffer gifts; many of them edible. Cookies, brownies, candies, popcorn, a selection of fine English teas and much more.  Most interesting was a one-pound bag of dried, pitted plums.  Evidence of it being more blessed to give than receive?    

An interesting gift for sure and knowing I would need some time to figure-out how to incorporate them into our diet I placed them on a shelf in the pantry aside the nuts and other baking ingredients.  However, there was something about them that was different.  Sort of off.  I couldn't put my finger on it.  Time passed.

Then, while watching a movie comedy on a recent evening I had a Eureka Moment.  Fetching the bag I produced it for the Missus and asked if she noticed anything unusual?  Nope.  Anything odd?  Nope.  Anything missing?  Such as branding, like Del Monte, Sunkist, etcetera?

Yup.  That bag was devoid of any evidence of who produced and packaged it.  Prominent in the generic packaging was a missive extolling the nutritional virtues of dried, pitted plums, a government website and a big, honking, USDA Logo.  I'm no fool, I'm a tree farmer.  And just like any other farmer or rancher I know the USDA all day long.  

From all outward appearances we had come into possession of a one pound bag of genuine USDA surplus commodity dried pitted plums the likes of which find their way to school lunch kitchens, supplemental meal programs for seniors, children, qualifying families and food pantries.  

This was nowhere near as exotic as being on the receiving end of a twenty pound block of surplus commodity pasteurized process American cheese food product but since we don't share surplus food commodities with poor nations any longer my dried, pitted, plums were clearly unworthy of needlessly languishing in my pantry; or worse yet - a landfill.  

Ecstatic with solving the origin mystery of our bag of deep purple wrinkled fruits I was motivated to put them to good use.  So I asked ChatGPT what to make with precisely one pound of dried, pitted, plums.  Suggestions included all manner of cakes, tortes, braised meat dishes and more.  Looking for easy I replied in clarification with one word:  Jam.

I was going make some jam.  Fortunately, I had everything necessary in the pantry so I put my prunes (that is what they are after-all) to soak overnight and ran a full dishwasher at bedtime to wash and sanitize a half-dozen half-pint jars in preparation for an easy-peasy recipe for prune jam the following morning.

Here it is...

Prune Jam — Water-Bath Canning Instructions

Why this is safe

• Prunes are naturally acidic
• Added lemon juice ensures pH stays safely below 4.6
• Water-bath canning is appropriate (no pressure canner needed)

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried pitted plums (prunes)
• 2½–3 cups water
• 1½–2 cups sugar (do not reduce below 1½ for shelf stability)
• 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice (important for acidity)
• Optional:
  
• 1 tsp vanilla or
• ½ tsp cinnamon or
• Orange zest

Equipment

• Water-bath canner or large deep pot with rack
• 4–5 half-pint jars (or 2–3 pint jars)
• New lids, bands
• Jar lifter, funnel, bubble remover

Step 1: Prepare Jars

1. Wash jars, lids, and bands.
2. Keep jars hot (simmering water or dishwasher).
3. Heat lids in warm (not boiling) water.

Step 2: Make the Jam

1. Soak prunes in water 8 hours or overnight (or simmer 20 minutes if short on time).
2. Transfer prunes and soaking liquid to a pot.
3. Simmer 20–30 minutes until very soft.
4. Blend smooth or chunky. (I used a stick blender for slightly chunky)
5. Add sugar and lemon juice.
6. Simmer 10–20 minutes, stirring often, until thick and glossy.
7. Optional spices go in during the last 5 minutes. (I chose vanilla)

Jam should mound on a spoon and wrinkle on a cold plate.

Step 3: Fill Jars

1. Ladle hot jam into hot jars.
2. Leave ¼ inch headspace.
3. Remove air bubbles.
4. Wipe rims clean.
5. Apply lids and bands finger-tight. 

Step 4: Water-Bath Process

1. Place jars on rack in canner.
2. Cover with 1–2 inches of boiling water.
3. Once water returns to a full boil, start timing:

 Processing Time

• Half-pints or pints:
  10 minutes (0–1,000 ft elevation)

Adjust for altitude:

• 1,001–3,000 ft → 15 minutes
• 3,001–6,000 ft → 20 minutes
• Above 6,000 ft → 25 minutes

(I processed five half-pint jars for 30 minutes)  

Step 5: Cool & Check Seals

1. Turn off heat, rest jars in water 5 minutes.
2. Remove jars; cool 12–24 hours undisturbed.
3. Check seals (lid should not flex).
4. Remove bands, wipe jars.

Storage

• Shelf-stable: 12–18 months
• Store cool, dark, dry
• Refrigerate after opening                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
  
                                                                                                                                          The yield was five half-pint jars and a sixth scant half pint that went into the fridge for immediate use.  My jam was definitely very prune-like with a satisfying sweet and tart finish.  The vanilla I added was a keeper.  Aside from putting this on a toasted English muffin this jam could also be used like a chutney with pork or poultry.  It would make a fine glaze on braised pork, duck, chicken or a baked ham.  A tablespoonful in a fruit smoothie would add sweetness and beneficial fiber; same for plain Greek yogurt.  If you're making your own BBQ sauce from scratch or simply want to amp-up a bottle of store-bought this is just the ticket to add some depth.                                                              
   
   
  The USDA leaves much to be criticized; nevertheless, the agency's food and nutritional programs serve to feed needful citizens and make use of the bounty of surplus food generated by America's efficiently-productive farm sector.  Someone got those prunes from a channel completely out of my league.  And they were thoughtful enough to gift those prunes. Perhaps prunes are evidence of largess and therefore a prized gift.  Perhaps they don't care for dried fruit or were stumped over how to utilize them.  I'll never know the answer to these questions.  Thankfully, they weren't pitched into the kitchen garbage. The virtue of frugality is not lost on me.  Just goes to show - never question the value of a gift.  Be grateful and put it to good use - Acts 20:35. 

What's For Dinner?

As a general rule I do the cooking around this joint.  And it's usually just the two of us. So it's not like I'm up to my elbows in pots and pans.  

I was chatting with someone on a private FB page last week about how our dietary choice fit (or didn't fit) with HHS's new inverted food pyramid.  We eat red meat with venison at the top of the list followed by chicken, pork and fish (typically salmon) as proteins.  Beef is at the very bottom and is usually a ground chuck burger sourced from our butcher.  We eat a  pile of veggies and this time of year I eat Irish porridge (with blueberries) nearly daily.  I also can and freeze produce from our garden, fresh-caught fish, venison in all forms and plenty of homemade soups. 

We drink milk, use butter and cheese and have incorporated duck fat in frying potatoes for as long as I can remember.  Having gotten air popper for making popcorn I picked-up some coconut oil to flavor the product with a little fat along with salt.  I'm told it's a movie theater hack.  I'll report on results later.  

This time of year the weather conditions can be so unpredictable or inhumane that grilling outdoors or firing-up the brick oven isn't worth the trouble.  Consequently, the new GE range with an expansive cook top, traditional oven/broiler and a second oven/broiler with convection and air frying settings allows for quite a bit of versatility. 

In any event here's a few dinners from the last month in case you're nosy.  And because we keep our own schedules for outside interests and activities we're not averse to leftovers in case someone needs to pack a meal or is eating alone.

It all works out in terms of variety and division of labor.

And for a couple of old farts our metabolic labs are in good working order.

You are what you eat.

Pork chop plate

Pan-seared salmon

Cheese and mushroom omelet - breakfast for dinner

Winner, winner, chicken dinner   

Lox Anyone?

In a continuing quest of life-long learning and terrific food; I learned how to make bagels this week.  

The three sesame beauties in the upper left hand corner are mine.

 

The elongated 'things' are fancy wieners in a bagel dough shroud.  Very yummy!

 

Since I already know how to make Gravlax; homemade bagels complete the circle. 

End of Tomatos

If you are a pizza snob like me by now you would have noticed that imported San Marzano tomatoes are now selling for $6 (give-or-take) for a large can.  Sure, you can purchase a quality domestic product for less $$$; but there is nothing like the genuine article grown in the rich volcanic soils in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  Alas, the on-again, off-again, individually and personally negotiated Trump import duties (tariffs) are taxes that make imported food an expensive nuisance.  Such is the price of snobbery.

If my household was supporting a spouse and three teenage kids consuming a gallon of milk a day I would also tell you the bread, fresh fruit, produce, beef, dairy, deli meat for lunches and eggs are also up in price too.  And for a working family trying to make ends meet on the grocery bill along with sports uniforms and extracurriculars and a mortgage - life might be a challenge under Trump inflation and taxes.  But he doesn't care.  And I digress.

Last week, after putting the big garden to bed, I finally canned the last batch of San Marzano tomatoes grown in the crappy clay soil of my peninsula garden.  One bowl yielded two last pints of these garden gems.  So, yeah, there is a means to cutting costs.  Grow your own applies to veggies too.  And these are pretty darn tasty.  My two - yes, only two - San Marzano plants were tomato factories. The bunker shelves are well-stocked. 

In closing I want to announce that the big garden is being retired.  It's being seeded into native pollinator cover this fall and I'm going to install 2-3 raised garden beds in the front yard and fill them with decent topsoil and composted goodness.  I'm done gardening on my hands and knees.  Furthermore, if I want to make a giant batch of pickles there is always the Sturgeon Bay Saturday Farmers Market.

After thirty years of gardening I'm scaling-back....      

Raspberry Avalanche!

 

This is my raspberry patch. 

Obviously not very big it is singularly, the most weed infested and neglected patch on the peninsula.  Admittedly, I did fertilize it and cut out dead canes in earlier this year.  

2025 has been a record harvest. Doggo and I picked raspberries (again) yesterday; freezing everything we didn’t scarf.

By my estimate I have more than 3+ gallons of these gems in the deep freeze.

I already have plenty of homemade jam in the bunker. I can certainly make more.   I can also add these to a smoothie and my Irish breakfast porridge.

Judging from a couple of my Face Book pals there is likely a raspberry pretzel torte in my future....

Adding To Your Stash

Blue Jays are well-known for their food caching behavior, stashing nuts or seeds at hiding spots for later consumption. 

 

They bury food like acorns and peanuts in various locations, often using distinct landmarks as memory cues to relocate their caches. 

 

This behavior allows them to build up a food supply, especially for the winter months when food is scarce.

 

Blue Jay with an acorn….

Can't Beet This Treat!

Growing-up on the northwest side of Milwaukee my dad and I raised beets in the garden out behind the garage.  He counted on my help with their care - weeding, thinning and finally the harvest and pickling.  Roasted beets are good - pickled beets are better.  Dad never met a pickled beet he didn't like.  Same for my mother-in-law.  She's almost a hundred years old and most visits with her include a pint of home-grown pickled beets.  Come to think of it - all of the old timers in the family like pickled beets.  Me too.

 

If you really want to trip down memory lane after you've graciously dined-upon your pickled beets DO NOT discard the remaining contents of the jar.  Instead, go to your fridge where, if you're like me, you generally keep a stash of hard-cooked eggs in the shell.  Peel as many that will fit in the jar and place them in the reserved beet brine returning it to the fridge.  Let them set for a couple days.  Et voilà!  You will have perfectly purple pickled eggs.  Yummy!

If you’re looking for an extra-special treat cut some of the tender-young beet tops early in the season. Soak in cold water to remove any grit, rinse and drain. Sautéed beet tops are not only delicious - they're chock-full of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. They are also Gluten-Free. 

Anyway, in the early days of the Door County garden I suffered a stretch of years that my beets failed.  They either germinated and died or never germinated.  Sometimes the deer ate the delicious beet tops.  Sowing your crop at regular intervals results in continued production while avoiding an overwhelming harvest. If you like pickled veggies here's a step-by-step guide to pickling your own beets.  They're a terrific side any time of year – especially when entertaining during the holidays and awesome on a toasted peanut butter sandwich. Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________

 

Pickled Beets
A bunch of garden beets
2 large sweet onions – peeled and sliced on the larger size
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
1 T whole allspice
1 ½ t canning salt
3 ½ cups apple cider vinegar
1 ½ cups water
 

Hose-off your beets on the grass. 

 

Trim-off the tops leaving a couple of inches of stem and the tap root. Reserve the tops from the smaller beets for sautéing greens. 

 

  

Soak the beets in a sink-full of cold water to remove the remaining grit. Transfer them to a pot of boiling water and cook about an hour - give or take - until tender.  Add your beets to the pot beginning with the largest first.  

 

 

At five minute intervals progressively add more beets from largest to smallest with the last of them added at the 30 minute mark.  This way they will all be cooked-thru at the same time. Transfer the cooked beets to a sink-full of cold water to cool.  Combine everything else except the onions in a non-reactive pot and bring the brine to a slow boil.  Simmer 15 minutes. 

 

Returning to the sink slice-off the beet tops and tap roots allowing the skin to slip-off.  Set aside your whole beets. Keeping the residue of beet tops, skins and roots in the sink makes clean-up a snap.  Slice the beets with a mandolin and pack into pint jars.  

 

 

Apportion your sliced raw onion as you fill.    Remove the cinnamon from the pot and ladle the hot brine over the contents of the jars leaving 1/2 inch of head space.  Add lids and rings and process pints 30 minutes in a boiling water bath.   This batch yielded sixteen pints - I doubled the brine recipe and still came-up short and had to mix a 1/3 size batch to fill the last four jars.  

_____________________________________________________________________

Pro Tip - Use non-reactive cookware. When canning - cleanliness is right up there with Godliness. A dishwasher will sterilize your jars on the ‘Sanitize’ cycle. Boil water in a Pyrex measuring cup for sterilizing your lids. Make sure your lids have 'popped' before storing the pasteurized jars in your bunker.

 

Salsa

Yesterday's Game Day wasn’t a complete loss.

Behold a dozen pints of the best homemade salsa this side of State Highway 29.

Those two San Marzano tomato plants are the gift that keeps on giving.  Garden peppers too.

Raising a toast to gardening and canning….

Personal Kermis

Any of you who have paid a visit know that my raspberry patch is nothing to write home about.  It’s small, full of weeds and grass and survives only slightly above benign neglect.  Two varieties of raspberry varietals were planted 20 years ago - the types lost to memory.

Nevertheless, every spring I cut most of the dead canes and give it a good drench of Jung Seed Company ‘raspberry food’ from a watering can.

Summer production was steady; this fall it has been excellent.  This patch is an overachiever.

The birds obviously get first dibs but Doggo and I pick every couple of days or so - eating as we go. These are really good on vanilla ice cream.  Anything we cannot eat in short order is frozen. I think I’m up to 1.5 gallons of frozen berries. 

There is most definitely raspberry jam in our future.   Terrific stocking stuffers and hostess gifts.  Most importantly, a barter currency.

Raining today - double batch of homemade garden salsa is on deck….. 

The Garden Chronicles

It has been a terrific year for tomatoes; half the number of plants and just about the same yield at harvest.  I have a couple of San Marzano tomato plants that are not growing in rich volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  The are thriving in crappy, Door County clay soil and are absolute tomato factories.  Consequently, our diet features tomatoes at virtually every opportunity.

Tomato tart, tomato seafood stew, venison bolognese, caprese salad, you name it.  

Just the other day I found myself with about 5+ pounds of ripe, San Marzano tomatoes so I whipped-together eight pints of homemade salsa and canned it for winter use.

We all know the uncomfortable truth; that our lover affair with fresh garden tomatoes is a brief and fleeting dalliance.  Incredibly sensuous; and short-lived.  By the time January rolls-around and Ma Nature is hurling freezing sleet against the windows and temperatures hover in the single digits we all would consider felonious behavior to get our hands tomatoes such as these.  

Can 'em while you got 'em.......

Give Peas A Chance

Picking, shucking, blanching and freezing peas.  Garden to freezer same day....

  

The Garden Chronicles

If you are a San Marzano tomato snob you likely already know that a purebred San Marzano tomato is grown in the rich, volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

This year I’ve sourced my San Marzanos from a mutant plant that has overgrown the composter.  

A very robust volunteer from 2023 garden waste.

I collected enough fruits to can and foolishly imagined a dozen half pints.

Here is my harvest.

Four half pints.

Tomatoes and cracked Spanish sea salt. That’s it.

On a foundation of my sourdough crust this is the foundation of a real Neapolitan pie….
 

Frozen Treasure

Last weekend I finally built-up enough nerve to perform a chore subject to a great deal of long-standing procrastination.

I defrosted the basement chest freezers.

There are three chest freezers in my basement and with the delivery of fresh venison to the guys from deer camp the smallest of the three was empty.  Between that and a couple of coolers I had the capacity to offload the contents of the remaining freezers and defrost each.  Freezer #1 on Saturday and freezer #2 on Sunday.  Freezer #3 is unplugged and idled until needed.

I have to say I felt a bit like Howard Carter opening King Tut's tomb; especially the top-loading chest and the hidden treasures that had found their way to the nether region of the bottom.  Smaller in quantity than I initially feared some items were so old they were discarded.  

And I had the opportunity to inventory, consolidate and rearrange the contents into a more organized fashion by application of baskets and boxes.  

And a suggestion by my lovely wife (the brains of the organization) each freezer now sports magnetic dry-erase boards on the door listing the quantity and contents of each.  

Inventory at a glance and an opportunity to really scratch my obsessive compulsive disorder itch!

Silver Lining From A Neglected Cloud

No pruning, weeding or fertilizing all of 2023.  We spent most of the year scratching our traveling itch.

 

Nevertheless, and despite the neglect, our forlorn raspberry patch produced a bumper crop of berries - most of which we froze. 

 

 

The rest we ate with breakfast cereal, vanilla ice cream or straight-up.  We learned the doggo loves them too.  The birds got their share when we weren't looking.

 

 

This weekend I converted all of the stash from the garage freezer into jam. 

 

 

21 half pint jars to be sure.

 

 

Lost the 22nd jar to a rare blowout in the canner. 

Tried it out on Sunday morning breakfast toast.  

 

Perfection!

In A Jam

Figuratively-speaking.

I finished-off the last of my imported Irish black currant jam today.

Fortunately I have been picking and freezing these red gems from our much-neglected tangle of something that used to resemble a proper raspberry patch.

There is homegrown, homemade, raspberry jam in my future....