morsels & sauces

I love a good challenge and the husband loves a good marmalade.  This is a match made in heaven. Marisa McClellan from Foo d in Jars has set forth a  Mastery Challenge , and I could not resist. Her intention? Get as many people as possible canning and preserving and get them feeling confident about it. And so, for the next year, she set forth this calendar: January – Marmalade February – Salt Preserving March – Jelly April – Quick Pickles May – Cold Pack Preserving June – Jam July – Hot Pack Preserving August – Low Temperature Pasteurization September – Fruit Butter October – Drying and Dehydration OR Pressure Canning November – Fermentation December – Fruit Pastes Aren't you excited? I know I am. While I am growing in confidence with fermentation, see here , I still feel like a novice in all other categories. And while I have been trying to up my canning game (see here , here , here , and here ), I definitely could use some gentle direction, ha...

As a child, at the toe-end of my stocking, I always found one apple and one orange--holdovers from my mother's childhood, when her own mother would stuff an orange in the toes, a twenty-year tradition from the Great Depression . Does your family still do this? Stuff an orange into the bottom of the stocking? Stuff these globes of bounty, of sunshine, of California or Florida, of a warmer and gentler clime? Even some 80 years since the Great Depression? And citrus fruits, while available year round, take center stage in the winter, when we're all convinced there are no fresh fruits to be found. This sweet and juicy cookbook by Valerie Alkman-Smith and Victoria Pearson trots out a healthy dose of citrus-inspired recipes. Sometimes the tangerines or lemons or limes take center stage (as in the recipes for Handmade Lemon Pappardelle, Cara Cara and Blood Orange Salad with Ricotta Salata, or Lemon G â te au). Other times the citrus takes a supporting role (think Bluebe...