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Two Unusual Methods of Food Preservation

Posted at 11:34 AM on August 18, 2008 by Autumn Long (8 Comments)

Last week I put up garden produce using two methods of preservation that are somewhat unusual yet highly successful.

First, I canned a batch of green beans using a family method we call "dry canning." It's very similar to the typical snap-bean pressure-canning process, with one exception: The jars are not filled with water! I know, it sounds crazy, right? Everyone thinks so at first, but my grandmother used this method to can green beans for years, perhaps even decades. She taught my parents how to do it, and they taught me. None of us has died yet. Here's the scoop:

Prepare your jars, lids, and equipment as you would for normal pressure-canning. Clean and snap your beans. When your jars and lids are sterile, pour about an inch of boiling water in the bottom of each jar, and pack each hot jar tightly with beans. Place a hot lid and ring on each jar, and pressure-can them as usual (for my Presto pressure canner, this means 20 minutes at 10 pounds pressure for quarts). My jar-sealing success rate with this method is almost always 100%, and "dry canning" keeps the beans much firmer and fresher-tasting than beans canned in water.

Moving on, now I'll share a traditional pickled-pepper recipe given to me by a friend and neighbor. Like the green bean recipe, this method of preservation is similar to traditional pickling, with one exception: The jars don't seal! Again, this sounds crazy, right? I thought so, too, but after tasting my friend's fantastically crunchy pickled peppers, I had to try it. Her Croatian mother taught her how to preserve peppers in this way, and, again, no one has died yet. Here's the recipe for a batch of about a dozen pints:

Bring 3 cups vinegar (apple cider or white), 1 cup salt, and 9 cups water to a boil in a large pot. Remove the liquid from the heat source and, keeping the lid on the pot, allow it to cool to room temperature. Slice Hungarian wax peppers in half lengthwise and remove their seeds and membranes. Prepare your pint jars, lids, and rings as you would for normal pickling. When your jars and lids are sterile, place 1 head dill (and/or some dill leaves), 1 clove garlic, a pinch of oregano (optional), and 2 Tablespoons olive oil in the bottoms of the jars. Pack the peppers upright tightly into the jars. Add another clove or two of garlic and a bit more dill on top of the peppers. Cover the peppers with the cooled vinegar mixture, leaving 1/8-inch head space. Place a hot lid and ring on each jar. Although the jars do not seal since the pickling liquid is cool, the peppers keep well in a cool, dark place. And they are delicious!

Next up, I'll be canning some dilly beans. The tomatoes and peppers are ripening very slowly due to cool nighttime temperatures and cloudy days, so large batches of salsa, sauce, and the like are yet to come. It's nice to be able to ease into the canning season rather than dive in head-first. Does anyone else have unusual preservation techniques they'd like to share with fellow locavores?

Comments (8)

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Autumn,

Thank for sharing, both sound very interesting. I am guessing in the case of the beans, the hot water in the pressure canner sterilize the beans via steam. I like the idea of have crisp beans. Can't wait to try these methods.

Gina

Posted by Gina | August 18, 2008 6:12 PM

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Little A - I can vow to your readers that the dry canning of the green beans are wonderful and taste like they came right out of the garden. Autumn, your mom's green beans are really good (thanks LP!) and my personal stock is almost gone. Are you sending some of yours to Georgia so I can compare yours against hers?

Posted by JR | August 18, 2008 10:45 PM

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Gina and JR (aka Uncle John, aka Li'l J), thanks for your comments. Good luck with your canning this year, Gina. I think you'll be pleased with the results of the dry-canning method. As my bean-lovin' uncle can attest, they taste fresh and delicious. Uncle John, you know mom is usually the green bean queen 'round these parts, but their bean crop is late this year, so I've got a jump on them for the time being. I think I could manage to send some samples your way :-) We'll await your professional opinion. Do you like dilly beans?
Happy summertime harvesting,
Autumn (aka Li'l A)

Posted by Autumn Long | August 19, 2008 9:29 AM

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Hi Autumn,

Way back in March or so, on the topic of lunch I promised you a pickled pepper recipe. These won a blue ribbon at the Nevada State Fair. So, here it is along with my grandmother's canning method which keeps the peppers crunchy and no one has died yet.

Ingredients:

1 gallon pepperoncini peppers
1 1/2 cup pickling salt
16 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons chopped fresh horseradish
12 cups white distilled vinegar
4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar

Cut slits in peppers. Soak 12 hours in brine of 1/2 cup salt and water to cover, approximately 1 gallon. Rinse and drain.

Combine remaining ingredients, simmer 5-10 minutes until it smells right. Pack peppers into 1/2 pint or pint jars, cover with boiling pickling liquid (make sure to get some garlic and horseradish in each jar) leaving 1/4 inch head room.

The official method at this point is to adjust caps and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. That's the safest method, but it makes the peppers mushier than I like them. I didn't win the blue ribbon with this method.

So what I really do is my grandmothers way:

The packed jars are on towels on the kitchen counter so you don't have hot jars and cold tile causing breakage. After you cover each jar with boiling pickling liquid, adjust the cap. Then move on to the next jar. Wait for the jars to "ping". The cap sucks down so you know it is sealed. Almost 100% will, any that don't are for current eating. They keep great and are crispy enough to win the blue. No dead judges that I heard about.

There are also two great pickling marinades in Rosalind Creasey's Cooking from the Garden on page 195. These are for making and eating right away, as opposed to canning, so if it is outide of pepper season I freeze peppers whole, then thaw them and put them in the marinades either the night before or in the morning of the day I want them. I use the first recipe for Italian pickled peppers. I use kalamata olive oil, kalamata vinegar and kalamata olives in the second recipe for Greek pickled peppers. I call the recipe above with the horseradish Pepperoncini.

I have lots of peppers so I am going to try your recipe too. It sounds wonderful!

Here is another of my grandmother's methods, which she used for applesauce. The jars are hot from being filled with boiling water, and placed on towels on a cookie sheet. They are filled with hot applesauce, lids on and adjusted, and then put in a moderate oven for not too long or they break. After they come out, they "ping".
The vague recipe has to do with me being young and overcome by applesauce fumes. I use a boiling water bath for applesauce, but I remember helping her with the oven method.

As with all home-canned items, don't use it if it swells, the cap isn't sealed, or it doesn't look or smell right. Is that enough of a CYA?

Thanks for the new pickled pepper recipe.

Kathy

Posted by Kathy | August 19, 2008 5:46 PM

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TYPO IN RECIPE

Wow! Sorry about that. The brine is 1 1/2 cups salt. I put 1/2 cup salt, which would make the extra cup part of the pickling liquid, which it's not. The remaining ingredients start with the garlic.

I hope everyone reads this post too!

Kathy

Posted by Kathy | August 19, 2008 5:59 PM

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Kathy, thanks for sharing this blue-ribbon recipe, and for the timely correction. :-) The pickled peppers sound delicious, and you're not alone in skipping the boiling-water bath part of pickling recipes. I do the same for cucumber pickles; as the boiling brine cools, the jars seal successfully, and the pickles turn out crisp and crunchy. (And I haven't died yet.) Your grandmother's technique of placing canned applesauce in the oven is fascinating. I've never heard of that before (although my Serbian friends use the oven to heat their jars and lids before canning, rather than boiling them), and while reading your post the smell of hot fresh applesauce filled my brain. Yum!
Here's to an apple-filled fall,
Autumn

Posted by Autumn Long | August 21, 2008 9:47 AM

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Hi Autumn,

I just came across your blog. How exciting it was for me because I grew up in Jacksonburg, WV then later my family moved to New Martinsville. We still have LOTS of property out in the Jacksonburg area. My dad is out there almost every weekend, especially when he is working in Shinnston. It was hard for me to believe someone on here was from WV, let alone Wallace! haha It really is such a small world.

Posted by Arlie | August 22, 2008 10:22 AM

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Arlie, it's great to "meet" you! A small world, indeed. We drove out to Jacksonburg several times last year to visit a beekeeper on the far side of the Wildlife Mgt Area. I heard it got hit pretty hard in the flooding this June. We live on Big Elk Road, on the north side of Rt 20 across from Wallace. I hope our paths cross "in real life" someday. Thanks for reading!
Autumn

Posted by Autumn Long | August 22, 2008 2:40 PM