I kicked off the season of canning classes at The Happy Cook last night.    Thanks everyone who came out – I had a blast, I hope you did too while learning something.   I’m happy to report that the jam I rushed into jars last night that hadn’t quite set was good and firm when I got up this morning.  Hooray.   A jam success story!

I popped open a few jars of pickles  in last night’s class and when asked for the recipes, I promised to get them up on here.  My friend Justin was there with his camera last night, capturing the class for an upcoming blog post for The Happy Cook and I’m going to let him sum up the class for everyone while I post the requested recipes and links.

And for everyone who didn’t make it to last night’s class, there will be plenty more as the season progresses.  Keep an eye on my Events page, for others.  I’ll be at The Happy Cook again on May 28 with more hot water bath canning and on June 11 with pressure canning.  Onto the recipes…..

First up, Green Bean Pickles.    The recipe calls for them to sit for a minimum of 6 weeks – in our house, we prefer to let them sit 6 months.  For those of you who’ve never had them, these are not dilly beans.   These are the easiest pickles I make – you pack your beans, salt, garlic & basil in jars, add vinegar and boiling water to top off and voila.  I make these two & three jars at a time as I harvest pole beans I can no longer give away come the end of August & September and when we pop them open,  there is always someone who picks up the jar and polishes the whole thing off.

Next, Curried Pickled Squash from Marissa McClellan from Food in Jars while she was writing for Serious Eats.  The recipe calls for zucchini, but zucchini is pretty interchangeable with yellow crook neck squash, especially when they are both going gangbusters come the end of July, beginning of August and you discover multiple bags having been dropped on your front porch and you’ve got to do something with it that you’ve yet to do with it.  Which means, curried pickles.

Lastly, my pickled peach recipe.  I thought I’d posted it on here previously, but it turns out I haven’t.  While we’re still waiting for strawberry season to kick into full gear, it never hurts to start looking ahead to peach season.

Pickled Peaches

2 cinnamon sticks

½ teaspoon whole cloves

1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger, cut in large chunks

1 teaspoon ground allspice

3 cups sugar

2 ½ cups water

3 ½ cups white vinegar

A peck of peaches (10-14 pounds),

Plunge peaches into a large pot of boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute.  Drop into bowl of ice water.

In large non reactive bowl, crush 500mg of vitamin C tablets and combine with 2 quarts cold water.  As you peel the peaches, drop into the prepared bowl to keep from browning.

Pit and quarter the peaches.

Place cinnamon, cloves & ginger in a cheesecloth bag.  Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, allspice and bag of spices in a nonreactive pot.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the peaches and gently simmer until they are just heated through.

Pa ck the peaches into clean, sterile jars.  Pour the hot syrup over the peaches, leaving ½” headspace.

Process the jars in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.

(Note – This summer I have been experimenting with processing them for only 10 minutes for pints and the result has been a firmer peach.)

Yield – 12 pints