Fat Frog Diary

 Piccalilli is pretty darn old. I was able to trace this recipe back at least 100 years. It's probably much older than that, since it's a way to preserve vegetables from the garden in a "pickle", which is the easiest type of preservation method, requiring no special equipment other than good quality preserving jars and lids. However, I do recommend picking up a set of canning tools for safety's sake.  The recipe below is from a Kerr Bottle Company preserving book from the early part of the 20th century.  Terms to Know:  A peck is 8 dry quarts or 16 pints. Four pecks make a bushel.  Gherkins are a smaller variety of cucumber, also called a "pickling cucumber." They can be nubby-skinned. They are easy to grow, and many gardeners have them in large numbers because they are easy to pickle.  Ingredients:  8 quarts fresh green tomatoes 1-quart large pickling cucumbers (aka gherkins) 2 green peppers 4 onions 1 cup salt  1 cup sugar 1 T. whole peppercorns...

Frankly, I've never made the Creamy Cucumbers. I went straight to the Marinated Cucumbers because it's basically a refrigerated pickle and works with many vegetables. 

  Canned' or 'Jarred' Butter!! I'm re-sharing this post because I've been hearing and reading about a possible butter shortage and continuing high prices for butter. I don't know if that will happen (I hope it doesn't), but just in case it does I wanted to share this again to help you all be as prepared as possible for whatever may come... bad weather, shortages, rising food prices, inflation, illness, job insecurity, etc... The more prepared we are the better we can handle whatever comes our way! I firmly believe we should 'Be Prepared - Not Scared'!! Before I go on I want to post a portion of what I've written in my 'about' section... I'm not an expert, but I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother who likes to cook and bake and store up for my family! I'll be sharing some favorite recipes. I will also be sharing canning recipes - methods - and pictures. Some of the canning recipes I share may not be FDA or U...

  Instant Pot Applesauce with No Peeling Required 8 Apples --mix them up. I used 4 Honeycrisp and 4 Granny Smith. Make sure you have about 2 lbs of apples. 1 cup water (required for the Instant Pot to function) 1/8 cup sugar (Add more if desired) 1/2 t. cinnamon 1/4-1/2 t. cardamom (optional) Read this whole recipe before beginning. Core and quarter the apples. Do not cut smaller than quarters if you intend to remove the skins later. While cutting, add freshly cut quarters to a bowl of cold water with a few tablespoons of lemon juice to prevent browning. Make sure they are all submerged in the lemon water at least once. Put the apples and the rest of the ingredients in the Instant Pot. You may use the lemon water as your required 1 cup of water, if desired. If you're nervous about that little water, you can add up to one cup more, but be aware your applesauce may be looser than you want. Close and seal the lid. Set to Pressure Cook for 4 minutes. Use NPR (Natural Pressure Release) ...

  The link below is how I got started learning to water bath preserve, and it's much easier than my foggy memories of my mother and grandmother "putting up" tomato sauce, pickles of every kind, applesauce, and other delights for the palate, bought from the farmer's market.  I have very fond memories of slurping in childish greed on a home-canned dill pickle that maybe wasn't as crunchy as the processed ones from the store but was infinitely tastier. Even the "failures" were greeted with joy and greed because they had to be consumed immediately rather than waiting a few months into fall and winter.  (10) Canning 101: A Beginner's Guide (Back to Basics) - YouTube I strongly suggest you check out the comments section of the video. Rachel gives links to Amazon so you can purchase a kit that had the tools, water bath canners, and even jars and lids. She even has a discount code for the jars and lids.  The best part is that she shows you how to use the gia...

 Shout out to Laura Davidson of A Beautiful Plate (www.abeautifulplate.com) for this recipe. It checks all the boxes for me. It's easy, fast, no peeling, no sugar, and delicious. I can even take it to the next level and water bath preserve the applesauce for this winter. You can switch up the apple varieties or add in cranberries or blackberries for a different flavor. Credit where credit is due! You can read her notes here: Instant Pot AppleSauce (No Sugar Added) - A Beautiful Plate Instant Pot Apple Sauce yield:  2   QUARTS   prep:  10 MINUTES   MINUTES cook:  7 MINUTES   MINUTES additional time:  10 MINUTES   MINUTES total:  27 MINUTES   MINUTES This incredibly easy instant pot apple sauce recipe is the perfect balance of sweet and tart, requires zero peeling, and contains zero added sugar. Using an Instant Pot, it can also be prepared in less than 30 minutes too! Almost all of the dietary fiber in apples is found in th...