STOP FOOD WASTE                    

There is nothing that makes me feel more guilty than cleaning out the refrigerator and tossing food that has been kept too long or has visible signs of spoilage. Thanks to Jim and Sue Farr for this article on preventing food waste.

One of the goals of home preservation is to prevent waste of excess fruits and vegetables. However preventing food waste should be something we apply to all of our produce and groceries. Did you know that 40% of all food in the United States is wasted? Reducing food waste is one of the easiest things you can do to help fight hunger, fight climate change, and save money. Wasted food has profound financial, social, and environmental impacts.

Three changes in your behaviors will help you reduce your food waste:

1. Plan It: go shopping with a plan, you will save money and waste less food.
2. Store It: proper storage of produce keeps them fresher, longer.
3. Eat it: Keep track of your fresh produce and leftovers. Eat them before they go bad.

For more information go to: http://stopfoodwaste.org

The above StopFoodWaste website also provide tools to help you plan your shopping, track your food purchases and tips on proper storage of produce and other goods. Take the 10 minute Fridge Reality Check to gauge your food habits and where you can improve to help stop food waste.  

Another very useful tool that will help you keep your produce as fresh and nutritious as possible is from UC Davis. Proper storage of fruits and vegetables will maximize their wholesomeness over time but it is not obvious which fruits and vegetables should be stored at room temperature on the counter, which should always be refrigerated and which should initially be stored at room temperature and then transferred to the refrigerator after a period of ripening. It is also important to keep humidity levels appropriate to the produce and occasionally measure the refrigerator temperature to make sure it is in the proper range, 34-40F.

Go to: http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/files/230110.pdf for the UC Davis Table of Produce storage recommendations based on scientific testing. It is a good idea to print out the chart and keep it handy in your kitchen. Besides keeping your produce fresher longer, it pays dividends preserving taste and nutrition of the produce.

One last comment, there is a great movie entitled 'Wasted! The Story of Food Waste". I would recommend this movie for everyone. Please be aware there are a few scenes where language is an issue (that's Anthony Bourdain). Its a great lesson on how poorly we treat food in America. You can find the movie thought an Internet search. Prepare some popcorn and your favorite beverage and enjoy the show

Have a happy and healthy 2021!

FOOD SAFETY TIPS FOR COOKING POULTRY

In an attempt to eat healthier, many have switched to eating more poultry and seafood and less red meat. Nothing against red meat, I love a good thick charbroiled steak, especially on special occasions when one might go out for dinner. But at home, many tend to cook more poultry. We just finished the holidays and turkeys were on many tables. In the summer there is plenty of chicken legs, thighs and quarters for everyone.  Covid-19 brings special attention to food safety issues. So it is important to prepare, serve and store your food in accordance with the recommendations of the CDC.

Anytime is a great time to enjoy family meals together, whether just in your household or when the pandemic is less, amongst friends, and by keeping food safety top of mind you will have meals that are safe for your family. Here are some food safety tips that you should keep in mind:

• DO NOT RINSE POULTRY IN SINK: Washing or rinsing poultry such as turkey or chicken is no longer recommended by the CDC. Washing poultry in the sink will spread the germs from the poultry to other surfaces in the kitchen.

• COOK TO THE CORRECT TEMPERATURE: Cooking poultry to the correct temperature will guarantee that the poultry is safe to eat. Poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165F. Make sure to use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature and do not rely on pop-up temperature indicators that sometimes are attached to turkeys.
  

• WASH HANDS: Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling turkey and other poultry and is a good practice to get into when you handle any food in the kitchen.

• AVOID CROSS CONTAMINATION: Use a separate cutting board for poultry, remember to avoid cross contamination. Wash cutting boards, utensils, dishes and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing and before you prepare the next item.

• REFRIGERATE LEFTOVERS at 40F or colder as soon as possible and within 2 hours of preparation to prevent food poisoning. It is always a good idea to check the internal temperature of your refrigerator with a thermometer to make sure that it is at or below 40F.

• REHEAT ALL LEFTOVERS TO 165F before serving. Again make sure that you use a thermometer to measure this temperature, guessing the doneness by time is no guarantee it will be at the proper temperature.

These and additional tips and food safety information is available at the following CDC websites:

Food Safety Tips for the Holidays:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/holidays.html

Food Safety Tips For Your Holiday Turkey:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/holiday-turkey.html

Four Steps to Food Safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html

By keeping food safety top of mind, you will have food safe and enjoyable family meals.

Thanks to Jim and Sue Farr for the meat of this article

What is your favorite spread to go along with peanut butter. Typically we choose a jelly or a jam or marmalade or some fruit topping made with fruit, sugar and pectin. We have many recipes for many different fruits and fruit combinations for our jellies and jams. But have you ever tried a fruit butter? Since we are all hunkered down and have time on our hands here is a new challenge for you, try making a fruit butter with your favorite fruit. Apples are readily available, but Jim and Sue Farr have given us a recipe and a resource to make butters other than peanut or apple. Try this after you go to your favorite Farmers Market and get a supply of your favorite fruit. Enjoy!

Fruit Butters: More Than Just Apple

When I was growing up when we ran out of Welch's grape jelly for our breakfast toast, next in line was a jar of my mother's homemade apple butter. Besides apple butter which was a staple in many homes in the 50s and 60s, there are now recipes for making a variety of fruit butters beyond apple.

Fruit butters, as their name implies, are smooth, creamy spreads. They are made by slowly cooking fruit pulp and sugar to a thick but spreadable consistency. Spices or a second fruit are often added to enhance the flavor. Fruit butters are often made with less sugar than jams and have less of a candied fruit flavor. They are also simpler in that they do not contain any added pectin.

Among their many uses, those soft spreads make an excellent filling for layer cakes and the basis for a delicious trifle. Just spread the fruit butter of your choice on sliced pound cake, then layer with fresh fruit, vanilla pudding and, if desired, whipped cream. They also make an excellent filling for sandwich cookies. Simply spread butter on a plain cookie and top with a second cookie. Fruit butters can also be substituted for some of the fat in many baking recipes to produce delicious baked goods that are lower in fat. Fruit butters make excellent gifts.

Tips on Cooking Butters

Butters are cooked over medium to medium-high heat. To prevent scorching, stir butters frequently, especially as they thicken and reach the doneness point. Cooking times will vary depending on the diameter of the saucepan, the type of fruit and the intensity of the heat. Most butters will need 30 to 60 minutes of cooking time. Butters cook best in a wide diameter, heavy bottomed stainless steel saucepan. The extended cooking time evaporates moisture, thickening the fruit mixture and creating a spreadable, buttery texture.

Tips on Testing Fruit Butters for Doneness

Butters are cooked until they thicken and begin to hold their shape on a spoon. To assess doneness, spoon a small quantity of cooked mixture onto a chilled plate. When liquid does not separate, creating a rim around the edge, and the mixture holds a buttery, spreadable shape, the butter is ready to ladle into jars and process.

Below is a typical example of a fruit butter recipe (Reference: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving – publication date 2015, page 57). For any given recipe there are also variations often included in the recipes depending on uses for the butter and personal tastes.

The recipe for Peach Butter

Peach butter: makes eight 8 ounce jars or four 16 ounce (pint) jars

4 ½ lbs              Peaches, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped

½ cup               Water

4 cups              Granulated sugar

Grated zest and juice of one (1) lemon

1. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine peaches, water and lemon zest and juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until peaches are soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Working in batches, transfer peach mixture to a food mill or a food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree just until uniform texture is achieved. Do not liquefy. Measure 8 cups of peach puree.
3. In a clean large stainless steel saucepan, combine peach puree and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and holds its shape on a spoon.
4. Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars and lids
5. Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot butter. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
6. Place jars in canner ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Variations:

For a more sophisticated fruit butter, reduce the sugar to 3 cups. When butter has begun to thicken but does not quite mound on a spoon, add 1 cup of your favorite spirit, such as amaretto liqueur or a sweet wine, and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until mixture mounds on a spoon.

Another variation is to replace peaches in the above recipe with pears. The 41/2 lbs of peaches is replaced with 7 lbs pears, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped. The rest of the recipe is same as the peach recipe above with the exception that grated orange zest and juice as well as nutmeg (1 tsp) may be added.

There are other fruit butter recipes using for example: crabapples, apricots, yellow tomatoes, prunes and blueberries.

These and other recipes can be found in Ball Canning Books.

I love a well prepared turkey. The crisp skin, the juicy dark meat and the white meat leftover for sandwiches. Its too bad we only have turkey ba few times a year. But one thing we do have, and we have it often is chicken. If you're a hunter there are many other birds you might find pleasing to your palette... ducks, geese, pigeons. All of these fine birds fall under the poultry rules for preparation and cooking. A well cooked bird is also a safely prepared bird.

Today's article from Jim and Sue Farr gives us the "rules" to follow so that what we eat has been prepared safely. Enjoy!

 FOOD SAFETY TIPS FOR COOKING POULTRY

In the year of Covid-19, our holiday gatherings may be quite different than usual. The group may be smaller in number but the holiday treats and meals still play an important role. So it is important to prepare, serve and store your food in accordance with the recommendations of the CDC.

The holiday season, is a great time to enjoy family meals together and by keeping food safety top of mind you will have meals that are safe for your family. Here are some food safety tips that you should keep in mind:

• DO NOT RINSE POULTRY IN SINK: Washing or rinsing poultry such as turkey or chicken is no longer recommended by the CDC. Washing poultry in the sink will spread the germs from the poultry to other surfaces in the kitchen.

• COOK TO THE CORRECT TEMPERATURE: Cooking poultry to the correct temperature will guarantee that the poultry is safe to eat. Poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165F. Make sure to use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature and do not rely on popup temperature indicators that
  
  sometimes are attached to turkeys.

• WASH HANDS: Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling turkey and other poultry and is a good practice to get into when you handle any food in the kitchen.

• AVOID CROSS CONTAMINATION: Use a separate cutting board for poultry, remember to avoid cross contamination. Wash cutting boards, utensils, dishes and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing and before you prepare the next item.

• REFRIGERATE LEFTOVERS at 40F or colder as soon as possible and within 2 hours of preparation to prevent food poisoning. It is always a good idea to check the internal temperature of your refrigerator with a thermometer to make sure that it is at or below 40F.

• REHEAT ALL LEFTOVERS TO 165F before serving. Again make sure that you use a thermometer to measure this temperature, guessing the doneness by time is no guarantee it will be at the proper temperature.

These and additional tips and food safety information is available at the following CDC websites:

Food Safety Tips for the Holidays:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/holidays.html

Food Safety Tips For Your Holiday Turkey:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/holiday-turkey.html

Four Steps to Food Safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html

By keeping food safety top of mind, you will have food safe and enjoyable family meals.