Food from my Prairie: Pickled Eggs

   On a farm, fresh eggs are a harvest that ebbs and flows; sometimes a feast, sometimes a famine. Preventing spoilage is a constant challenge. Often clean fresh eggs are simply refrigerated in cartons which are flipped over every few days to delay spoilage; this is not a long term solution. My prairie grandmothers used a basic pickling brine as a method of storing eggs.
   Strong believers in the 'waste not' movement, they used any left over pickling juices for their hard boiled eggs; a favorite was the bright pink brine from spicy pickled beets. Recipe found here. The eggs were cooled and peeled before being placed in the beet brine and allowed to 'work' for several days before eating.
   In and amidst the daily doings of life, extra brine was not always available; therein a recipe was required. A basic pickle brine recipe filled the gap. Being flexible cooks like me, this recipe is set for a dozen hard boiled eggs, but can be easily doubled or divided for your needs.

Pickled Eggs

    

Boil together:

2 c. white vinegar

1 c. water

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pickling spice

1/2 teaspoon each:

celery seed

minced garlic

turmeric

For canning: place three to four eggs in pint canning jar. cover well with brine, process 10 minutes in basic water bath canner. 

Or: place all twelve eggs in large canning jar (gallon size), cover with brine, refrigerate. Let 'work' a few days before serving.

   These flavorful eggs were served by my grandmothers with cold meats and crackers, but they are wonderful as an egg salad, sliced on a salad, or placed in a sandwich. 

One More Candy for the Road

  

http://pinterest.com/pin/217861700693703548/

   A little moment with Pinterest lead me to The Comfort of Cooking where beautiful peanut brittle decorates their page. Salty peanuts paired with sweet sugar brittle reminds me of candy making days with my mother. One year we stirred multiple batches of brittle with my kids, but a little mishap occurred leaving me with several burned fingers. That's why I never use a heavy bottom pot with a handle...I'm just saying.

   While The Comfort of Cooking's recipe is similar, I can't help share my family's own version passed to me and my kids from days on the prairie.

Prairie Peanut Brittle

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cup Karo

3 teaspoons butter

2 teaspoons soda

3 cups raw peanuts 

1 teaspoon salt

In a heavy bottom pot, stir together sugar, water and Karo. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to hard crack stage (300 degrees). Add peanuts and cook until golden. Remove from heat before adding butter, salt and soda. Pour mixture onto a buttered baking sheet. Once completely cooked, break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

**sometimes I have not been able to find raw peanuts..I have used roasted with great success. If they are salted, simply omit the salt in the recipe. Also, any nut works well: pecan, almond, cashew and pistachio are excellent substitutions.

Now, I am off for a day of sugar and butter..of candies and cups of coffee. Enjoy your weekend!

Grandma's Buttery Toffee

http://pinterest.com/pin/29484572532239372/

   Gazing across the amazing images on Pinterest this afternoon a vision of English Toffee from The Little Red House caught my eye. My mind wondered to holidays past and the memory of kitchens filled with laughter as we gathered over the years to make wonderful buttery toffee.

Grandma's Buttery Toffee

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup white syrup (Karo)

3 Tablespoons water

Combine these ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan and cook over medium heat to 300 degrees (hard crack stage). 

Stir in:

1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

Pour the mixture onto a buttered baking sheet and place on top:

4 large chocolate bars

Sprinkle with:

3/4 cup slivered almonds

   Once the candy cools, we break into random pieces and store it in air tight containers between layers of wax paper. You can score the candy making nicely shaped bars or squares, but I have never been that patient:) 

    This toffee recipe has passed through the years and remains a holiday staple at every family gathering, often tucked in jars and shared as a gift under the tree. Tell me some of your favorite holiday treats..I would love to hear about them.

Grandma's Prairie Broken Glass

http://pinterest.com/pin/253749760224297842/

   Winter time on the prairie was time without garden harvests or planting and plowing. Those chores out of our routine the door was open for some creative fun; candy making. One particular treat that always tempted my taste buds and fascinated by imagination was one called 'Broken Glass'. Red for cinnamon or green for mint, sugar and water magically came together to form a sheet of tasty treasure.

Grandma's Broken Glass

3 3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup water

1 tsp cinnamon oil or peppermint oil

red food coloring for cinnamon or green for peppermint

In a heavy bottom pot stir the sugar, corn syrup and water over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil. Using a candy thermometer as a guide, bring the mixture to 310 degrees. Remove from heat before adding colorings and flavorings. Pour into buttered pans (I use a buttered baking sheet). Cool completely before breaking into pieces. Enjoy!

A Few Tips:

..candy can be scored and broken into uniform pieces if done when semi-set (before it cools)

..to prevent sticking, toss with confectioners sugar before storing in airtight containers

...this recipe makes excellent lollipops if a form or free form is used

..candy making is best done in sunny weather with low humidity

**remember, boiling sugar doesn't just burn..it maims..be careful!**

   While it has been years since the days of making this magical candy with my prairie grandmothers, the memories are still so fresh and new. On rare seasons here in the south I have made this recipe with my own children, passing along the wonder and fun of these fun simple memories.

Food from the Prairie: Hot Dog Relish

   Back through the years I go wondering; over time and distance to the place where my bare feet dared to run...back to my prairie. Grandmothers are in the kitchen gathering with cutting boards and canning jars; we're making hot dog relish..a recipe all her own.

   Let me be honest- I completely dislike the stuff. Of the many canning projects I recall doing with my grandmothers this is my absolute least favorite..I have no idea why, but then, I don't like pickle relishes at all. Never the less, every so often..when my mom gets a craving for it (and the cucumber harvest is good) my kitchen fills with the aroma of vinegar and mustard...where my teens gather around cutting boards to prepare the elements of my grandmother's own recipe for hot dog relish.

Grandmother's Hot Dog Relish

6 cups diced cucumbers (I peeled mine)

1 cup diced onion

2 cups diced green peppers

the sauce:

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

4 teaspoons salt

1 cup vinegar

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup prepared mustard

Once the veggies are chopped, stir them together and set aside. For the sauce, stir the sugar, flour and salt together in a heavy bottom stock pot. Add the vinegar, water and mustard and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil.

Stir in the cucumber mixture and return to a boil; cook at a boil for five minutes.

Immediately ladle into 4 hot pint jars and process in a boiling water bath for fifteen minutes. 

Makes 4 pints of relish.

A few notes:

* the family ate this on everything: burgers, hot dogs, any meat based sandwich

* though it didn't say to, I peeled the cucumbers and seeded them..seemed logical to me

* a dear woman from our church loves it so much, she eats it straight out of the jar:)

* my farm boy says it would be better with some cayenne's in it

   As I stir, the familiar aroma fills my home...tangy vinegar and pungent mustard. My mind drifts over time where Grandpa dollops large spoonfuls over his hot dog..cooked the way he liked it..split in half and fried to a crisp on both sides. I smile..he spooned this stuff on nearly everything causing my face to scrunch every time.
 

  

Preserving the Harvest: Bread & Butters

   The crisp freshness of garden fresh cucumbers married with the tang and zing of sugar and mustard seed bring to life the wonder of bread and butter pickles. My experience shows when it comes to bread and butters you either absolutely love them or absolutely hate them; no middle ground exists.
   Growing up with large family gardens, bread and butters were part of our regular canning routine. Regular family cookouts brought these beautiful treats out of the pantry and onto the table. Grandpa and I loved them tucked in a burger right between the bread and the chips- delightful! Today my kids have grown up with bread and butters on their burgers, sandwiches, and straight from the jar.
   With wild southern seasons, cucumber harvests can be feast or famine. Last years extreme drought left us with very little to work with...which always stirs the creative juices (smile with me). Out of that terrible year of garden disaster came the flex-recipe version for bread and butter pickles.

Farmhouse Bread & Butters (Flex-Recipe)

For every 6 cucumbers:

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1 red cayenne pepper, thinly sliced (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoon mustard seed

pinch of ginger

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

 Once the cucumbers are thinly sliced, toss them with the onion and salt in a bow. and allow them to stand at room temp while mixing the liquid.

In a saucepan, stir together the remaining ingredients and bring them to a boil. Remove from heat. Drain any liquid off the cucumber mixture; add to the sauce and give it a good stir.

Place the mixture into a quart jar and chill. They are tasty after only a few hours and will keep nicely for several weeks.

   This year's cucumber harvest has been much more substantial; demanding the traditional canning version to be called into action.

Farmhouse Bread & Butters (full version)

24 medium cucumbers, thin sliced

10 medium onions, thin sliced

4 cayenne peppers, thin sliced

1 tablespoon salt

1 qt. vinegar

2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon celery seed

4 tablespoon mustard seed

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

Toss the cucumbers, onions and peppers with the salt to set while making the vinegar sauce.

Bring remaining ingredients to a boil; remove from heat. 

Rinse cucumber mixture before stirring into the vinegar sauce.

Pack into sterilized jars and process to seal.

   A few notes:

   I use hot peppers and often a clove of garlic or two to add a little extra zip to the pickles.

   If mustard seed is not found in my pantry on pickling day, I use mustard instead.

   Brown sugar is my choice, but white works just as well.

   I choose to water bath process my jars 10 minutes.

   My pantry shelves are well stocked with tasty, tangy bread and butters for all this summer's family cookouts...the question is...

      are you a bread and butter fan? or a bread and butter foe?

Food from the Prairie: Pickled Eggs

   On a farm, fresh eggs are a harvest that ebbs and flows; sometimes a feast, sometimes a famine. Preventing spoilage is a constant challenge. Often clean fresh eggs are simply refrigerated in cartons which are flipped over every few days to delay spoilage; this is not a long term solution. My prairie grandmothers used a basic pickling brine as a method of storing eggs.
   Strong believers in the 'waste not' movement, they used any left over pickling juices for their hard boiled eggs; a favorite was the bright pink brine from spicy pickled beets. Recipe found here. The eggs were cooled and peeled before being placed in the beet brine and allowed to 'work' for several days before eating.
   In and amidst the daily doings of life, extra brine was not always available; therein a recipe was required. A basic pickle brine recipe filled the gap. Being flexible cooks like me, this recipe is set for a dozen hard boiled eggs, but can be easily doubled or divided for your needs.

Pickled Eggs

    

Boil together:

2 c. white vinegar

1 c. water

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pickling spice

1/2 teaspoon each:

celery seed

minced garlic

turmeric

For canning: place three to four eggs in pint canning jar. cover well with brine, process 10 minutes in basic water bath canner. 

Or: place all twelve eggs in large canning jar (gallon size), cover with brine, refrigerate. Let 'work' a few days before serving.

   These flavorful eggs were served by my grandmothers with cold meats and crackers, but they are wonderful as an egg salad, sliced on a salad, or placed in a sandwich.