Blind Pig & The Acorn

Appalachia Through My Eyes - Carving Pumpkins

Over the last few days, folks who celebrate Halloween have been carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. The famous Jack-O-Lantern started out as a lowly turnip or beet. In the old days, folks in Ireland predominately used turnips-and sometimes beets-to make lanterns. Once Irish immigrants made it to the US they quickly realized the Pumpkin made a far better lantern than the turnip.

Chatter and Chitter are too old to care about carving pumpkins these days-and when they were little I wouldn't let them-mean uh? Oh they got to carve pumpkins at the folk school and other community type functions-but not at home. Sometimes I'm frugal beyond reason-and maybe pumpkin carving is a prime example. I just could never bring myself to waste a perfectly good pumpkin. I'd let the girls decorate the outside with stickers or better yet-just admire it as it sat among Granny's crocheted jack-o-lanterns. Then as soon as Halloween was over-I'd put it in the freezer.

 
First I cut the pumpkin into manageable pieces.

Next I use a spoon to scrape out the insides-making sure to put all those sticky seeds to the side to roast later on.

I place the pumpkin pieces on a cookie sheet or roasting pan pour some water (about a cup) around them and bake at 350 till done. It takes a while, after about 45 minutes-I start checking to see if they are soft yet. The length of time it takes depends on the size of your pumpkin pieces and the heat of your oven. (some people coat their pumpkin pieces with oil before roasting)

Once the pumpkin has cooked-I scrape it from the shell into a bowl and mash it with a potato masher-you can also use a food processor if you'd like a smoother texture. Next I freeze it in the amounts I need for the pumpkin recipes I make most often.

To roast the seeds-wash the gunk off of them-dry on paper towels-place them on an oiled/buttered cookie sheet and stir to coat-roast at 350 for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Before roasting you can sprinkle them with salt and/or any other spice you like. Store in an airtight container.

Did you carve a pumpkin this year?

Tipper

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How To Make Old Timey Pear Preserves

 
Since my sink has recently been full of pears-I thought it was a great time to republish one of my old posts: Granny's Pear Preserves.

Portions of this post were originally published here on the Blind Pig & the Acorn in October of 2008.

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Granny's Pear Preserves recipe has been handed down through her family for over 4 generations. I like it-because the preserves are tasty-and so easy to make.

 
Peel, core, and quarter your pears. Slice the quarters into slivers.

 
Place slivers in bowl, pour sugar over, stir, cover, and let sit overnight in the frig (use 1 1/2 cups sugar for every 2 quarts of pears-you can use more or less sugar to taste).

 
After sitting over night-cook pears slowly on medium heat until the juice has thickened. While sitting over night-the pears will have made a little juice (the amount depends on how ripe your pears are) you may need to add additional water to the pears prior to cooking to keep them from sticking/scorching.

At this point-we have our jars sterilized and hot. We ladle the hot pears into the hot jars and seal with a hot lid and ring. As the jars cool they seal. This is called the open kettle method of canning.

ALL canning references will tell you NOT to do it this way-that it is dangerous. We feel comfortable doing it the old time way-because its always worked for us. But I totally get it if you're not o.k. with it. If you'd rather-ladle hot pears into sterilized jars-add tap and ring-and process at least 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

 
Pear preserves are great over biscuits, warmed up and served as a side-dish, or straight out of the jar-that's how Chitter and Chatter like them. It makes me happy to know I'm at least the 4th generation of my family using this pear preserves recipe. It also makes me happy to open a jar on a cold winter day and eat them.

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Even though this post was originally published in 2008, every once in a while someone will stumble onto it and send me a question about it. A few weeks ago a lady sent me an email about the preserves. She was hunting a pear preserves recipe that tasted like her Mother-n-Law's-who was no longer living. A few weeks after I answered her question I got another message from her. This quote came from the 2nd email:

"He almost got tears in his eyes when he tasted the preserves and said, " Them taste like my Momma's." It made me so happy, and thankful!"

Yep that made me pretty happy too.

Tipper

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How Granny Makes Kraut

 
Last summer I showed you how to make Kraut the old time way-in a crock. It was only after I met The Deer Hunter that I learned how to use a crock for pickling. Granny doesn't use one-she makes her Kraut in the jar. Pap and Granny have been making Kraut this week-so I went and watched.

 
While Pap chops the cabbage-Granny sterilizes the jar. I have no clue why she only does one at a time-but that's how she does it.

 
Granny puts one teaspoon of sugar in a sterilized jar;

 
she packs the jar full of chopped cabbage-but not too tightly-Granny says it needs a little room to work.

 
On top of the cabbage-Granny adds 2 teaspoons of salt.

 
Then she fills the jar with cold water; adds the lid and ring and seals tightly.

 
Granny sits the jars out on the porch while the Kraut is making. Sometimes the juice will seep out around the lids-the mess is easier to clean up if it's outside.

 
I asked Granny how long it took the Kraut to make-she said "Oh at least 2 weeks, but I like to leave mine on the porch till cold weather then I'll carry it to the basement."

Granny also said she thought the sun made the Kraut work faster. I said "Does a jar ever explode?" Granny said "Why Lord no it may run out some but it won't explode." Granny's a worrier-after a few minutes she said "Well if it ever did explode it wouldn't hurt nothing outside no way."

Have you ever made Kraut in the jar?

Tipper

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LOL In Appalachia - And A Blue Ribbon

I'd like to say a big "THANK YOU" to all the Blind Pig readers who made it to the Young Harris Arts & Crafts Festival over the weekend. I got to meet a few of you in person for the first time-which was so nice!

Even though-I thought I'd melt more than once-it was a great festival-I sold some folk art-did some pickin' and grinnin' with Pap and Paul, talked a whole lot about the Blind Pig, and I entered 4 items in the canning food preservation contest. I still can't believe-I won 1 Blue First Place Ribbon (Blackberry Jelly) and 2 Red Second Place Ribbons (Peach Preserves & Grape Juice). 

Now for the LOL. The other day Pap shared this story with me-one of his friends told it to him years ago.

A new preacher was elected to the local church. Once the preacher began the usual tradition of going home with members for Sunday dinner it became apparent this particular preacher had an insatiable appetite-to the point that folks began to dread having to play host to him. Members of the church knew their turn to have the preacher home for Sunday dinner would come sooner or later. 

Pap's friend's father-decided he knew exactly how to handle the situation when he and his wife were called on to feed the preacher. As everyone sat down to the dinner table, the father said "Well preacher we don't have much but we're more than willing to share what we do have. We're going to have some onions and salt for dinner." The preacher said "Oh I don't eat onions." The father said "well help yourself to the salt."

Tipper

p.s. Paul over at Saltcreek has started a rural radio program-you can listen to his most recent streaming program-which has old and new country music, old retro commercials, and you might even hear Paul and Pap somewhere in the mix. Click here to jump over and check it out.

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Grape Hull Jelly

 

The Grapes are ripe and ready for the jars lined up on my kitchen counters. We have an abundant supply of wild fox grapes that grow along the creek, Granny has tame grapevines in her backyard, and Miss Cindy has a friend with more grapes than he can use-so my Grape supply this time of the year seems endless.

Sometime during the last year I heard my Aunt talking about Grape Hull Jelly. I had never heard of it-so I was curious. She went on and on about how it was so much better than your usual grape jelly.

The Blind Pig family mostly prefers jelly to jam-so I kept thinking about Grape Hull Jelly and wondering if we would like it or not. Finally I decided to try it thinking if we didn't like it I could always give it away for Christmas presents.

The first problem I ran into-I couldn't find a clear recipe of how to make grape hull jelly. So I kinda made mine up as I went.

~first I washed the grapes-and popped the insides out into a pot-reserving the hulls for later

~next I added some water to the pot and cooked the skinless grapes for about 15 minutes (I added water till the grapes were almost covered)

~I poured the grapes into my ricer-to get the seeds out-a food mill would also work good for this step or if you had to you could use the old timey method of cheese cloth/pillow case

I felt good about the process up to this point, but when I thought about adding those hulls back in-I just couldn't get my mind around what the texture of the jelly would be like. I almost gave up and just made jelly from the hull-less juice-but I kept hearing my Aunt's voice in my head.

~I got out my food processor, chopped the hulls up to a pretty fine texture, and added them back to the juice

 
~I pulled out a box of sure jel and followed the directions for making grape jelly

So what did I think about the finished product? My Aunt was right! The addition of the hulls gave the jelly an unbelievable brightness-and my worry about the hulls ruining the texture were for nothing. As the jelly cooked the hulls all but dissolved-and I believe if I had done a more thorough job chopping them they would have completely dissolved. 

It's always hard to tell how many grapes it takes to make the amount of juice needed for making jelly-I had 2 cups left over. When I have extra juice, I put it in the frig if I'm going to make another run of jelly in the next few days or if it'll be longer than a week before my next run, I pop it in the freezer and then thaw it on the day I need it.

Since I've never made Grape Hull Jelly before-and I couldn't find a recipe I'm not sure I was supposed to chop up the hulls. If you've ever made it or ate it please leave me a comment and tell me what you know.

Tipper

p.s. If you missed Ethelene Dyer Jones' post about grapes last summer-it's definitely worth clicking here to read it. Be sure to drop by tomorrow for another Spotlight on Music in Appalachia post.

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How To Can Kraut

 

2 weeks ago we made kraut the old timey way-yesterday it was ready to can. It's normal for a skim of mold to form on top of the liquid in the crock-you can see what was waiting for me as I took the towel off.

First-take the weights out-then take a large spoon or spatula and get the mold off-discard mold.

Next take the plate that was pushing down the kraut out. Remember the large cabbage leaves I put on top-I discarded them too.

You can use a spoon, cup, or bowl to dip out the kraut and place it in a large stock pot-or in your canner. It may not all fit at once-mine didn't.

Place the pot on the stove and heat the kraut to a simmer. If you don't have enough liquid-you can add water.

While the kraut is heating up-you can begin sterilizing your jars-lids-rings. Some folks use the oven-some their dishwasher-I just use a pot of simmering water.

Once the jars and kraut are hot-you can put the kraut in the jars. I like to make sure there is enough liquid in each jar to cover the kraut. After each jar is filled place a lid and ring on it.

When you get to this point of the process you have 2 choices:

*We use the open kettle method of canning the kraut-which means the kraut is hot-the jars are hot and once you put the hot kraut into the hot jars and add the lids and rings-they seal as they cool. Both my family and The Deer Hunter's family have used this method for generations-so we feel comfortable with doing it. However-if you do any research on the method-you'll see modern day instructions warn you the open kettle method of canning should never ever be used to preserve anything.

*Your other choice-is to place the jars of kraut in a hot water bath. The Ball Canning Book says too: process pints 15 minutes and quarts 20 minutes in a boiling water canner. 

I ended up with 14 quarts and 1 pint of kraut. I think it's the best we ever made-it was crisp, white, and so yummy. Most of all I love that we grew the cabbage.

If you didn't see the directions on making kraut the old time way in a crock-you can click here to read about it.

Tipper

p.s. The winners for the Shirley Stewart Burns cd giveaway are: Glenda-and Kenneth Roper! 
 

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How To Make Kraut - The Old Timey Way

 
The Blind Pig household has spent the morning making Kraut. We always make Kraut when the zodiac signs are in the head (we use the head sign for any pickling we do). This year our Kraut making is more exciting than usual-since we grew the cabbage ourselves. Due to the generosity of Hometown Seeds sponsoring our garden-we were able to grow enough cabbage to use for this run of Kraut-we usually have to buy it.

Typically when we make Kraut-we shred the cabbage with knives and a cutting board-cause we like a coarser texture of Kraut. This year The Deer Hunter wanted to try using the food processor to chop the cabbage. Before we had done 2 heads-my processor gave up the ghost. Making do with 2 really small choppers we managed to get it all chopped. But at this point in the game-I'm thinking it's easier and quicker to go the coarse chop knife method unless you have a heavy duty chopper/shredder.

We used an 8-gallon crock. We really didn't have enough cabbage to fill it-but both of us were anxious to use the crock-it was The Deer Hunter's Grandmother Lura's. We only recently acquired it-and couldn't wait to make something of our own in her old crock.

To make Kraut the old time way you need:

• a crock (last year we discussed using food grade plastic containers, but I've never used one-so if any of you have used them with success-please leave a comment and tell us about it)
• shredded/chopped cabbage-save a couple of your bigger cabbage leaves whole-to cover the Kraut while it's working
• salt-either pickling salt or un-iodized table salt
• peppers are optional-but we usually mix in a few banana peppers
• a plate-and 2 quart jars filled with water

 
You begin layering your ingredients-by places about a 2 inch thick layer of cabbage and sprinkling on sliced peppers if you're using them.

Next comes the salt. The Deer Hunter sprinkles about 2 handfuls on top of the cabbage/pepper layer. He says-you can't put too much salt-but you can put to little salt. In other words-the cabbage will only pickle as much as it'll pickle-you can't really put too much salt. Makes sense?

 
Next-you put another layer of cabbage-peppers-salt just like the first one. In between each layer-it's important to pack the Kraut down-this helps draw out the water that's in the cabbage-as well as ensure you have enough room in the crock.

 

It doesn't take many layers for you to begin to see the liquid coming up over the cabbage.

Continue layering-until you've used all your cabbage or reached about 4 or 5 inches from the top of the crock.

Once you've finished the layers-take the big cabbage leaves you kept in the beginning-and lay them on top of the Kraut covering it.

Gently place a plate upside down on the leaves-pressing down slowly.

Place the 2 quart jars filled with water on top of the plate to make sure the Kraut stays submerged. I've read accounts of folks using a rock to hold down the Kraut-but we just use the plate and jars of water.

Next-place a towel over the top of the crock and tie it-so it doesn't slip off. Place the crock in a cool dry place-mine's in a corner of my kitchen.

It takes at least 2 weeks for the Kraut to work-but the longer you leave it the stronger it will get-so you may want to taste after 2 weeks and see if it's sour enough for your bunch. After you decide the kraut is ready you can put it in jars-and can it. However-you can leave it in the crock longer if you need or want too. In the old days-folks left Kraut in the crock till it was all eaten-dipping out some as they needed it. 

The signs are right for making Kraut-today and tomorrow (July 5 and 6). The signs will be right again on August 1 and August 2. I've heard about folks who always pickle in the neck-or even the heart. Among all the various opinions I've heard-it seems the higher in the body the sign is-the better for pickling. And most folks do seem to agree you should never pickle when the signs are below the heart.

If you have any questions about the old timey way to make Kraut-leave a comment or email me at tipper@blindpigandtheacorn.com Once my Kraut has finished working-I'll show you how to can it.

Tipper

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Cooking Leather Britches

Some of you may remember back in August I made leather britches for the first time. (if you missed it-click here to read about how I made them) Since then-they've been hanging in my living room.

I actually forgot they were there more than once-but Chitter or Chatter would remind me by asking if I was really going to eat those disgusting looking things. One day last week-I removed the beans from the string and soaked them in a bowl of water for several hours.

Next I drained them-put them in a pot, covered them with water, and added a piece or 2 of bacon.

I cooked them for about 2 hours-making sure the water didn't cook out. I'd never eaten Leather Britches before-so what did I think? I liked them. I don't think they are as good as the greenbeans Granny cans each summer-but I certainly wouldn't mind eating them again. I believe they would have been even better if I had used higher quality beans-I used the last in the bucket at the end of the season-and if I had used fatback to season them with instead of bacon.

I see why the old timers made them each year-it would have saved on using canning jars, the process of drying them was a whole lot easier (to me) than canning greenbeans, and they are quite tasty too. I may just string so many leather britches this summer-that I have to put some in the girls room-that should give them something to talk about : )

Hope you'll leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts on Leather Britches.

Tipper

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Canning Sausage

I love my Ball Blue Book of Preserving-its full of canning and preserving advice-on everything from blackberries to clams. This is what the book has to say about canning Pork Sausage:

"Shape ground pork in to patties or 3 to 4 inch links. Cook until lightly browned. Drain. Pack hot sausage into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Ladle hot broth over sausage, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 1 hour and 15 minutes, quarts 1 hour and 30 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner."

Pretty simple instructions for anyone who has ever used a pressure canner.

Granny never canned any kind of meat when I was growing up-she still doesn't-choosing instead to freeze any fresh meat that come her and Pap's way. Not long after I married The Deer Hunter I began hearing stories of the entire Pressley family coming together during hog slaughtering time-the men doing the slaughtering and the women inside the house preparing the meat for preservation. From the beginning I was interested in the sausage part-I'd ask "you mean you canned sausage? But how?" Even though they detailed the process they used to me more than once over the years I just couldn't fathom how it would really work. Since there was no longer anyone in the family slaughtering hogs, there wasn't a chance for me to see the process either.

Some of you may remember my Mountain Folk interview with Jackie Cole last summer. Her family still slaughters hogs each fall-and as she told me the details of handling the meat, I realized her method of canning sausage was the same one the Pressleys used. As I questioned her closer she finally gave me a jar of canned sausage, told me to take it home, cook it, and see for myself. When I opened the jar a few weeks later I enjoyed the best sausage I had ever eaten. It was so much better than frozen-and almost as good as fresh. Since then I've been given jars by other folks who can their sausage in the same manner-and its all been good-not just good but outstanding-however there is just one problem-they don't pressure cook it.

This is the method they use:

 

First they sterilize their jars, lids, and rings-keeping their jars hot.

Pat out their sausage and brown it on both sides.

Place as many pieces of hot sausage as they want for a meal in a hot jar.

Pour 1 to 2 inches of the hot sausage grease/fat into the jar. Attach the lid and ring tightly-turn the jar upside down.

After sitting over night-the jar looks like this.

They store the sausage upside down until they're ready to open a jar to eat. Placing the pieces in a pan they fry them for a few minutes to warm through-using the excess grease to make gravy just like you would with fresh sausage.

I've been studying this method for almost a year. Here are some of my thoughts:

• How could the sausage keep like this-how does it not spoil since it wasn't canned in a pressure cooker?
• Does the grease protect it somehow?
• I've read some toxins are odorless and tasteless-is the sausage spoiled and they just don't know it?
• In the last year-I've found dozens of folks from western NC who can their sausage like this. Even the lady I buy sausage from said she did-and her mother did as well. Could it be folks who are used to eating it are used to eating it-you know like when you travel to another country you may get an upset stomach because of the different strains of bacteria that are present in the food and water?
• Have all the folks who use this method just been lucky for the years they've been canning it like this?
• If I followed all the directions of my canning book-I'd water bath my pickles and jelly-which I don't-so is the sausage kinda like that?
• Wouldn't you get sick easier from meat than from jelly or pickles?

As you can see I've mostly went around in circles on this one. One thing I do know-folks who were taught this method by their elders-and have used it for the last 40 years aren't about to change their minds on the subject. And although, I'm not advising anyone to use the method-I sure won't be turning down any jars that are waved under my nose.

What I want to know is what do you think? Did your parents or grandparents can sausage like this? Do you think all the folks that use the method are just lucky dogs and their day of dying from botulism is coming? If you'd always used this method with no adverse consequences would you change cause the Ball canning book told you too?

Tipper 

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Rendering Lard

For years, Pap has bemoaned the fact that food doesn't taste as good as it did when he was a child. While there are a multitude of reasons for the difference in taste-Pap decided the lard used to season or cook food with is at the top of the list. A few years back, Granny and Pap decided to make their own lard and see if it made a difference in the taste of their food-and they've been rendering their own lard ever since.

 

They get their hog fat from a local man who raises hogs. Typically the fat comes in big hunks-but this year for what ever reason the hunks had been run through a sausage grinder and came in big bags like you see above. 

 

While Pap cooks (renders) the fat...

Granny sterilizes jars, rings, and taps.

Then they drain the pieces of meat (cracklins) out of the liquid lard and

pour the hot lard into the sterilized jars. After they attach the lid and ring to the jar-they sit it on the table to cool. Putting the hot liquid in the hot jar causes the lid to seal as the jar cools. Pap says when he was a child they would sometimes put rendered lard into large crocks and it kept well that way too.

This is what the lard looks like once it's cooled-Granny says you know it's good lard if it's pretty and white. Granny and Pap use the lard in the same way you would shortening-to fry taters, season beans, make cornbread, biscuits, etc.

On one hand I think-they are using pure lard! But on the other hand I think they are using pure lard-it is pure. Have you ever read the back of a can of shortening-who knows what all those big chemical sounding names are.

Pap said one of his heart docs out at the VA hospital told him the lard they render themselves is much better for his heart than the kind you buy in the store-I believe the doc do you?

Tipper

p.s. I'd like to welcome any new readers who have arrived via David Brose's radio show-hope you enjoy your visit-and drop back by often.

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