Freezing Okra Mama's Way

As I've said before, there's no better way to eat okra than cut up, rolled in corn meal and fried... a mess of fried okr-y! A Southern tradition.

My Mama and the rest of my family always looked forward to the hottest days of summer when the okra, a heat-loving veggie began to ripen and a mess of fried okry was sure to find its way to many a summer supper, along with fresh sliced tomatoes, green beans, new potatoes cooked with just a bit of butter, and whatever additional bounty the garden offered. No meat needed! You never missed it!

Mama spent many summers trying to capture and preserve that summer "Fried Okry" flavor so we could enjoy the same yumminess come wintertime... just slicing and freezing the okra resulted in a big frozen lump that took forever to thaw and when it did was mushy and hard to roll in the meal... she tried freezing the okra pods whole but then you either had to slice hard-as-a-rock okra pods or wait til they thawed and again... mushy! Canning them resulted in slimy slimy and un-fry-able (pickled and canned are great, as is sliced and canned in veggie soup or gumbo, but we're talking okra for frying)...

So after quite some time and much trial and error, Mama came up with the following method... it's not perfect... nothing can take the place of fresh, fried okra... but it's pretty darn good...

Here's what she did... and what I did with my recent abundance of okra...

I sliced it up like I would to prepare for frying... My DH was a wonder... a gentleman and a scholar... he sliced all those itchy, slimy okra pods for me while I worked on other things... God bless that man!!!

Love Love Love that sweet man's hands!

I sprinkled a light coating of cornmeal onto the sliced okra (you want a light coating here, makes for the BEST fried okra... I hate that thick coated store-bought deep-fried stuff, it's NOT traditional, Southern-fried okra... Light coating of cornmeal! Just what sticks to the damp okra... shake off the rest!)

Then I spread the meal coated okra onto a baking pan and baked it to a partial-doneness in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. It doesn't get brown, it only sort of bakes the corn meal onto the okra and dries it out a little so it doesn't stick together so much when frozen.

I took it out of the oven after the 20 minutes or so (work in batches if you have TONS of okra!) and allowed it to cool completely.

Once it was cool, I bagged it up and vacuum sealed it (don't have to vacuum seal, it's just what I did and since I have a vacuum sealer and CAN, I did... Mama never did) Freezer bags or containers will work fine.

If you DO have a vacuum sealer and decide to vacuum your okra... stop the seal about halfway through the vacuuming step so it doesn't squish the okra completely flat! You don't want that.

Pop your bags of okra into the freezer and you have "almost as good as fresh" fried okra to look forward to next winter!

Canning Salsa

Salsa!!!! the condiment that has overtaken ketchup as condiment of choice... we eat it on tacos and other Mexican food, as well as on chips, baked potatoes, scrambled eggs... you name it... salsa is the flavor to add to just about anything. As a matter of fact, last night I had some plain rotisserie chicken, shredded up in a bowl, salsa on top and crackers on the side (don't judge!!!! it was a delicious snack!)

After a visit to the farmers market where I had the pleasure of purchasing tomatoes and a variety of peppers, well of course I had to can up a batch (or three!) of salsa... here's what I did...

I peeled, cored, and chopped 7 cups of tomatoes (Tip: to peel tomatoes easily, I put them in the sink and poured boiling water over them, let them sit a few minutes, then started peeling... the peel slips right off)

I coarsely chopped 2 cups of onions (I used purple onions because that's what I had on hand)

I coarsely chopped a cup of green bell peppers (am I being too coarse here? *grin*)

Next I seeded and chopped 8 jalapeno peppers (so as not to be too coarse *another grin* I chopped these finely) If you like more heat you could leave the seeds and veins in the jalapenos, I didn't want so much heat. Also WEAR rubber gloves while working with hot peppers or you WILL burn your hands, I KNOW this from experience!

I finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic

After all this chopping I was ready to put it all together... 

In a large, stainless steel saucepan, I combined the tomatoes, onions, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, and garlic...

Then added a 5.5 ounce can of tomato paste

3/4 cup vinegar (I used apple cider because I like it best, white would be good too)

1/2 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

I brought the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Then reduced the heat and boiled gently, stirring frequently until it thickened... took about 30 minutes.

While everything was simmering and thickening, I prepared my pint canning jars by placing them in a pan of water set over two stove eyes and bringing them to a boil to sterilize them.

And I simmered my lids and rings in a saucepan of water until I was ready for them

Once my salsa was thickened and smelling wonderful, I ladled the hot mixture into the hot pint jars, leaving a half inch of headspace and removing any air bubbles.

I wiped the rims, centered the lids onto the jars, and screwed the bands down to fingertip tightness.

I processed my salsa in a boiling water bath... place jars in the canner, cover with water, bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes... then removed the jars with my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool and to listen for the PING! of each successfully sealed jar.

It's salsa time!!! 

Canning Granny©2011 All Rights Reserved

Canning Okra Pickles

Ahhhh okra, the fruit of the South!

Not far from where we live in S.C. there's even a small town that holds a festival each year honoring this vegetable with its Annual Irmo Okra Strut. We love our okry south of the Mason Dixon Line (if you're a true Southerner, that's how you say it, Oak-ree!). Of course, the BEST way to eat okra is fresh out of the garden, sliced and rolled in cornmeal and fried (another Southern favorite, FRIED... fried anything!)

I recently scored a half bushel basket of okra from the farmers market and enjoyed a "mess" of fried okra (in the South, a "mess" of anything is enough for a meal for however many people you need to feed... it's a Southern measure of volume, a "mess") I remember when I was growing up sometimes Daddy would pick okra and if there wasn't enough for a "mess" for supper, Mama would slice up some green tomatoes and add to the okra so there WOULD be enough for a "mess." Yummy!!! Okra and green tomatoes, chopped, rolled in cornmeal, and fried in Mama's well-seasoned cast-iron frying pan... and served alongside a fresh sliced ripe tomato... Mmmmm... makes you wanna slap your grandma!

With my plethora of okra, I thought I'd make another Southern favorite... okra pickles... here's what I did...

I chose the smallest okra pods for my pickles, washed them and sliced the stem ends off (taking care not to slice too deep, don't want to open the seed end and let out all the innards)

I prepared my pint jars by sterilizing them in a pan of water set on two stove eyes, heating them to boiling.

I simmered my lids and rings, keeping them hot until I was ready for them.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, I combined 3 cups of water

3 cups white vinegar

1/3 cup canning and pickling salt

And 2 teaspoons dried dill weed (you could use dill seed or fresh dill if you want, I happened to have dill weed on hand)

I brought the mixture to a boil over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the salt. I reduced the heat and kept the mixture hot until I was ready to use it.

Meanwhile...

I packed the okra pods into the hot jars to within a generous half inch of the top of the jar.

I added to each jar... one clove of garlic and half a small hot red pepper (I used chili peppers)... stems removed, halved lengthwise and seeded (and may I UNDERLINE the importance of wearing rubber gloves while cutting or seeding hot peppers!!! Even if you think "Hey I only need two or three, I'll just do them without fooling with getting the gloves out... ask me how I know!... I had burny hands all afternoon!)

Ladle the hot pickling liquid into the jar to cover okra, leaving half inch headspace. Remove air bubbles (a butter knife run down the inside of the jar between the okra and the jar will work nicely) and adjust headspace if necessary by adding more pickling liquid.

I wiped the rims, centered the lids onto the jars and screwed the bands down to a fingertip tightness.

I processed the jars in a boiling water bath (place jars in the canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water, bring to a boil) processing them for 15 minutes.

After the processing, I removed the jars using my jar lifter (a handy dandy gadget that saves hands!) and placed them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING! of each successfully sealed jar!

Okry Pickles!!! Makes a delicious addition to a relish tray... and a nice change from your average dill pickle!

Canning Peaches

I learned something about peaches I didn't know before... I always knew there were "cling" peaches and "freestone" peaches and when on the search for peaches to can and preserve have always preferred freestone because of the ease in removing that pesky pit. In a cling peach the peach fruit "clings" to the pit and they're delicious for eating but difficult in preserving because you pretty much have to cut the flesh away from the seed. In a freestone peach you simply run your knife around the circumference and it pulls away easily from the pit in two halves. I always thought different varieties of peaches had different "clinginess" but I was indeed wrong! The peach expert at the farmers market, when we asked who was selling freestone peaches that day, replied that most everyone had freestones, but to be sure to ask just in case. He went on to explain that it's the season of year that designates whether a peach is cling or freestone. Early season peaches are generally cling and mid to late season peaches are freestone. Well, you CAN teach an ol' granny new tricks! I never knew that!

Thought I'd share that info!

When my daughter, Hannah, and I had our all day peach canning day recently, we canned up a few jars of simple peaches in syrup... great for snacking, with cottage cheese for a light lunch, or for making a yummy cobbler (the South's all time favorite dessert, alongside banana pudding!)

I still can peaches the way my Mama did and her Mama before her... it has always worked nicely and I see no need to mess with a good thing. Peaches are one of the few things I prefer to can using the raw pack method... like the name implies, raw packing is packing the raw fruit into hot, sterilized jars, then pouring a simple syrup over and processing them... I usually hot pack most produce because I can fit more in each jar that way, but peaches are worth having a little shrinkage going on in those jars, the juices left over in the jar are wonderful in their own way and add juiciness to cobblers... any ol' how... here's what we did...

We peeled (pour boiling water over the peaches or dip them in boiling water to loosen the peels for easy removal), halved and sprinkled Fruit Fresh over them as we went to prevent discoloring (Fruit Fresh is a citric acid)

Then we packed those juicy delicious peach halves into our hot, sterilized jars, RAW! (to sterilize the jars, we put them in a flat pan with a dish towel inside to keep them from falling over or clinking together, and water added, turn the jars upside down in the pan and bring to a boil)

We made a simple syrup of one part water, one part sugar... bringing the syrup to a boil and making sure all the sugar is dissolved.

Once the raw peaches were packed into the jars (sometimes this takes a little maneuvering, like a jigsaw puzzle!)... we poured the syrup over the peaches, filling the jar, leaving a half inch of headspace. We removed any air bubbles... we used a plastic tool that came with our canning kit, but a butter knife works just as well... just run it down the inside of the jar, between the fruit and the side of the jar. If there's a good amount of air released, more syrup will need to be added to fill back up to the half inch headspace.

We tightened our hot, sterilized jar lids and rings onto the jars to fingertip tightness (we had simmered the lids and rings in hot water, keeping them hot and simmering until we were ready for them).

We processed our jars of peaches in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes (fill a canner, or large stockpot to the tops of the jars, bring the water to a boil, reduce heat to a gentle boil)

Once the jars of peaches had processed, we removed them from the hot water using a jar lifter (such a handy gadget!) and placed them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool.

And to listen for the sound of the PING! of each successfully sealed jar! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that sound!

Notice how the peaches shrank up a little during processing,
leaving all that lovely peachy-flavored syrup? It only adds
to the deliciousness and makes a great base for cobbler!

Can't wait to make a cobbler!

My Mama always made a super easy, super delicious cobbler using home canned peaches (you can use any fruit really)... here's how she did it and, again, I see no reason to stray from this perfection...

Melt a stick of butter in a 9x13 inch baking pan (I use a glass one)

Meanwhile mix a cup of self-rising flour, a cup of sugar, and 3/4 cup of milk in a mixing bowl

Once the butter is melted, pour a quart jar of home canned peaches over the melted butter in the pan, using a spoon, sorta chop the peaches into more bite sized pieces if desired... or leave them in their halves... it's a personal preference thing here!

Then pour over the flour/sugar/milk mixture... it will bubble around, surround and make a wonderful cobbler crust with the peaches and syrup...

Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown... I think it takes about 30 minutes...maybe 45... just keep checking until it's done through and golden brown... Heaven on Earth for the taste buds!