Phew! Isn’t it amazing how easy it is to get
behind…This spring I honestly feel I can’t move fast enough. As many of you know, I have been rather all
consumed with The Good-Stuff getting product made, the
website created (you want to talk learning curve!), general business stuff
organized and getting the business ‘launched’
It really has been fun…but what about cooking things other than jam? What about the bees, the chickens and the toy
farm?!
The bees are doing great! The two hives made it through the
winter…yippee! Something we have been a
bit challenged with in the past and the hives are growing like crazy, in fact
they grew so fast that both hives ‘swarmed’!
Swarming occurs when a hive feels cramped in their existing home. They create a new queen to mind the fort and
the ‘old queen’ and about half of her trusty subjects hit the trail in search
of new digs (don’t you wish it was that easy in real life when you start to
feel a bit cramped…sure a lot easier than cleaning out cupboards!) Anyway, the
gals swarmed into our orange tree and we were able to collect them and then get
them to a new home to be enjoyed by another beekeeper. The whole process was totally amazing!
Our chickens are also having a
grand life…Goldie is quite the ruler of the roost and is pretty sure we built
the coop just for her. She has become an
egg laying machine, laying about six eggs a week. Our two little chicks (or two little
goof-balls as we refer to them) are growing like weeds. We got them on March 2nd when they
were a day old. Having been handled a
lot since day one has made them very friendly, actually they are quite content
to just come right up and sit in your lap…as my father would say…’who ever
heard of lap chickens…’ We named them Yin and Yang, well, because they are…in
so many ways…
We have finally cultivated the
toy farm! We are planning on doubling
the size but are a little behind the eight ball on that one. But the original plot, after weeding the
monster weeds that appeared after the rains and as soon as the sun began to
shine, is planted with tomatoes, beans, corn, squash and of course zinnias…the
other half will have peppers, eggplant, more corn and tomatoes, as well as peas
and more flowers. Fingers crossed that
will happen soon!
Now through all this I don’t want
you all to think I have not been preparing food for my own larder, think
again! As someone who uses lots of
chicken stock, I tend to freak a little when I think I might run out…so while
lots of other things were happening, I managed to get a pot of chicken stock
simmering on the stove. This is an easy
one to cram in amongst the other tasks you are doing as it takes little tending
and the results are grand. Whether you
choose to freeze it in quart size ziplock bags or pressure can it (for those of
us who are defrosting impaired) it’s a good recipe to undertake. A tip I
learned from the butcher at one of our local markets - this is a life saver
(and a money saver as well) - you can
purchase the bones left over from the ‘boneless skinless breasts’ the butcher
sells. There is lots of lovely breast
meat left on the bone and of course lots of ‘dem bones’ for great stock
flavor. Our butcher freezes them in big
blocks and then saws off a chuck (I usually get 5 LBS.) when you want to
purchase some.
Chicken
Stock
Recipe
for 5 - 1 quart jars
Ingredients:
1
Whole
Chicken (alternate - chicken
necks, wings, carcass from roast chicken, or chicken bones frombutcher) about 5LBS
1
½ GAL Cold Water
1 Carrot, peeled
1 Onion, peeled and halved
1 Celery Stalk
1
head Garlic, halved
1
tsp Salt
Few
black pepper corns
Few
sprigs Parsley
1
or 2 Bay Leaves
|
NOTE: Stock can be stored in containers in
freezer if you do not wish to pressure can.
|
1.
Get out tools
A.
Pressure canner
B.
Large
pot to sterilize jars, large pot to make stock, small pot for lids
C.
Strainer
D.
Jar
lifter
E.
Tongs
F.
Wide
mouth funnel
G.
Towels
H.
Chop
stick
I.
Ladle
or big spoon
2.
Put
the chicken in a large pot and pour in1 ½ gallons cold water. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil,
and then turn the heat down low so that the broth is barely simmering, with
bubbles just breaking the surface.
3.
Skim
off the foam that rises to the top, but leave some of the fat; it adds lots of
flavor to the stock and can be removed at the end. For a nice clear stock, do not let it boil
again, or the fat and the liquid may emulsify. turning the stock cloudy and
greasy.
4.
After
skimming, add the vegetables, salt, peppercorns, and herbs and continue to
simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
5.
When
stock has 1 hour left to cook, set up the 2 pots for boiling water
A.
Pot to starilize jars
B.
Lid
pot
6.
Wash
jars
By
now things are boiling…
7.
Put
lids in small pot to heat
8.
Put
jars in large pot
Back
to the stock…
9.
Strain
through fine strainer. Allow stock to
cool until fat solidifies, skim off fat.
10.
Bring
stock to a boil in a large sauce pot.
11.
Remove
glass jars from pot
12.
Fill
jars with hot stock, fill with liquid leaving 1” head space
13.
Wipe
edge of can with clean damp towel
14.
With
tongs put 1 lid on jar and finger tighten ring on jar
15.
Put
3 QTS boiling water into pressure canner
16.
Put
jars into canning pot
17.
Place
lid on pot and seal per canner instructions
18.
Exhaust
air from the canner and jars by adjusting heat to a relatively high setting to obtain a free flow of
steam from the bent pipe.
19.
Reduce
heat to maintain a moderate steam flow.
Allow steam to flow for 10 minutes.
20.
Place
pressure regulator on vent pipe and heat canner until pressure dial gauge
registers 10 LBS pressure.
21.
Processing
time begins when pressure gauge registers the correct pressure.
22.
Process
stock - pints 20 minutes, quarts 25 minutes at 10 LBS pressure.
23.
At
the end of processing turn off heat.
Remove canner from heat source.
24.
Let
pressure drop of its own accord, do not quick cool. Pressure is completely reduced when the air
vent/cover lock and overpressure plug have dropped and no steam escapes when
the pressure regulator is tilted.
25.
Remove
cover, if cover seems to stick or is hard to turn do not force it open.
26.
Remove
jars from canner. Set jars on board or
cloth to cool.
So
buck up, make some stock, you’ll be really glad you did!
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