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The pressure!

Posted at 3:38 PM on September 8, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan (4 Comments)

Now that there is a chill in the air, I am feeling the pressure to squeeze all kinds of good eating out of the remaining days of summer. I find myself eating a lot because, well... I know what a locavore winter is like up in these parts. Our dinners have at least three vegetable sides. For my birthday, I even convinced my carnivorous husband to go all veggie. Nice.

I feel guilty not purchasing piles and piles of veggies at the market, but even more guilty if they go to waste on my counter top. We continue to can like we live without modern appliances. The huge pressure cooker sure makes light work of 20 pints of salsa.

My favorite canning project we undertook was making creamed corn. I know, I know. No one is really supposed to like creamed corn. But that is because you have been eating it out of the can (something I would argue still has its place). However, if you can it yourself, it is easy and darn delicious. I almost opened one of the jars we made because I couldn't wait to go back to the market this week.

The process is as simple as blanching the corn, cutting it off the cob with a serrated knife (really scraping to get the milk) and then adding some boiling water to the jar with the corn. I am sure there are more specific recipes out there, but that is the basic idea and it tastes like summer in a jar. Now I have to find where to get the cheapest ears of corn. I saw $5 per dozen at the midtown farmers market. Does anyone have it cheaper in Mpls/St. Paul? I need to make many more jars!

Comments (4)

Salsa!?!! I finally collected enough fresh green chiles and tomatoes to give this a try, first time ever. (I've made fresh salsas only.) I tried a couple of recipes from a New Mexico extension office. New Mexico = salsa, right? The first two attempts -- yuck. Bitter. Either I need a better recipe or I need to move on to pickles, right now. But the kids want salsa. Would you consider sharing your recipe??

Posted by Cher | September 10, 2008 9:46 PM

Sure, I'll share what I do. But it is so involved, I'll post it as a separate blog post very soon with the request that you reciprocate with your successful canning recipes/best practices.
Cheers,
Sareen

Posted by Sareen | September 10, 2008 11:27 PM

At the Richfield farmers market you can get a good deal from the corn guys at the very end of the market. It is only open on Sat and closes at noon.

Posted by Mimi | September 15, 2008 8:12 AM

Thanks for the tip. we will see if they are still selling corn next week. Richfield isn't too far from us.

Posted by Sareen | September 15, 2008 8:50 PM