The first Seattle Edible Exchange

Yesterday was my first-ever food swap.

Boy, oh boy I made out like a bandit!

Ever heard of a food swap? An edible exchange? As a preserver with a pantry full of treasures, I've been eager to get involved with such an event. It's a perfect way to share one's pantry: trading with others. Here in Seattle, Emily Bader took the bull by the horns and started a Facebook page for Seattle Edible Exchange, then followed through by hosting the swap on her verdant patio in Ballard.

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Roasted Rhubarb Ketchup

Updated on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 9:19AM by Brook Hurst Stephens

I've been making so many different recipes with rhubarb lately...

...if only I had the time to post about all of them today...sigh. For the sake of time management I decided to pick just one thing to blog about this morning and I opted for my current favorite: Roasted Rhubarb Ketchup.

Why did I choose this recipe? I think it's a remarkable achievement to turn something somewhat unusual like rhubarb into a common everyday condiment like ketchup. But this my friends, this is no ordinary ketchup. It has layers upon layers of flavors. Sweetness, spices, substance...it's all here.

Dare I add it's pretty sexy too?

As sexy as a sauce made from petioles of oxalic acid can be.

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Opening up jars: Apricot~Pineapple Jam

iPhone photo  - June 10th, 2011

I just opened up a jar of jam I made nearly a year ago. Part of my promise to myself to open up the older jars in the pantry to make way for my newer projects. You know what? The contents of the jar are even more flavorful and complex than the test jar I sampled right after I made it last July. 

Apricot~Pineapple Jam always reminds me of my grandma....

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Boozy Bing Cherries

 Boozy Bing Cherries make Manhattans even better!

Start with one pound of fresh sweet cherries, rinsed & drained. one clean quart jar and one sterilized needle.

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Roasting Hatch Chiles

Look closely at the wisp of steam.

Do you see anything?

I think I see a happy dog.

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Spice up your life with my Sweet~Hot Jalapeno Slices

 

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First of all: Do I need to remind everyone to WEAR GLOVES? Latex, rubber, nitrile, vinyl...something to protect you from the Jalapeno peppers' capsaicin oils (specifically, the capsaicin oils binding with vanilloid receptors, all of which are odorless and colorless.) Jalapeno burns are nothing to mess around with.

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It's Banana Jam, but better...it's Monkey Butter!

Thanks to Canning Across America,

for making this their photo of the week.

Join the Canvolution on Twitter!

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 Monkey Butter on a SMALL piece of toast - the "45 calories per slice" stuff

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Spring is in the air and it smells a lot like Rhubarb~Grapefruit Preserves

It's springtime and I'm in love.

With rhubarb.

My neighbor has been sharing her robust patch of rhubarb with me, and I am taking full advantage of her generosity. 

No matter how happy this abundance of rhubarb makes me, it's difficult to stay cheerful when it's been raining for 42 days in a row. In Seattle we have endured the rainiest (and coldest!) April on record.

I can't think of a better way to chase away the rain than with sunny citrus. In this case, I chose grapefruit. Looks sort of like the sun, doesn't it? That's not a coincidence.

 No Photoshop color enhancements here...this is the real deal!

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Ball 4 ounce jars. I can never have enough of 'em!

These jars are one of my very favorite things in the whole wide world.

I keep these stocked in my pantry for a few reasons. Their diminutive size makes them ideal for creating "sample" jars of recipes you are testing, and for gift-giving too. I'm a huge fan of small batch canning, and these jars are perfect for those smaller amounts of precious preserves that you want to stretch as far as possible. Listen, I know you worked hard to pick that pound of dandelions! Don't put your entire batch of delectable Dandelion Jelly in one pint (16 ounces) jar...divide it up into four (4 ounce) jars instead.

It's good to be able to share homemade preserves with your neighbors, friends & family, so when you see these small jars, buy a box of them.

Trust me...you'll be glad you did. 

Perfectly Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns

 Pickled Fiddlehead Fern Shoots

Last Saturday, my friend Leslie and I went on a General Foraging walk in the woods, led by "Fat of the Land" author Langdon Cook. It was a lovely sunny day, which added to my desire to spend more time in the lush forests of the Pacific Northwest. The fact that there are so many nutritious things to forage and eat has inspired me to do it earlier in the spring next year, and to plan on doing it more often this year as well. 

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Strawberry~Rhubarb Jam...full of sweet-tart goodness.

  Only one of the many ways to enjoy Strawberry~Rhubarb Jam

One of the first jams I make every Spring is a blend of Strawberries and Rhubarb, for fairly obvious reasons: they are two of the first fruits of the year. In Seattle, and many other places, rhubarb is at its peak between April and June, and strawberries follow closely after.

This is a wonderful project for beginners for a couple reasons. There are just 4 ingredients, and as you will see, it only takes a few simple steps, from start-to-finish. 

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One more thing to love about Springtime? Strawberries + Rhubarb. One of my all-time favorite flavor combinations.

Next post: Making Strawberry~Rhubarb Jam

Working on this blog post, but I need to stop and run outside...the sun is shining here in Seattle  and I have flowers to plant...