Tag: pickles

Tony’s Cowboy Candy

Tony is a former 3M colleague of our friend Chris.  Tony now lives in Eclectic, Alabama, with his wife on his grandparents’ farm.  Chris, who lives near New Richmond, is the guy who has served as camp cook for many years when our cabin becomes hunting headquarters during deer season.  When he and his wife Lorraine visited Tony and his spouse this summer, Tony introduced Chris to Cowboy Candy, a spicy relish that Chris really liked.   Tony gave Chris permission to share the recipe with me.  When I decided to try it, I asked Chris for Tony’s phone number.

Chris gave me the number and told me, “Tony spends lots of time outdoors, so you may have to leave a message, but he’ll call you back.”  I left a message and within an hour Tony and I were having a good conversation.  Tony and Chris had both retired from the Animal Health Group at 3M, and both enjoyed farm work (in moderation).   Today Chris cares for a couple of saddle horses, cuts hay in the summer and works with St. Croix County Fair Animal Projects; Tony returned to Eclectic, bought the 100 acre farm his grandparents had worked and now tends a large garden.

He explained that he first made Cowboy Candy when he was swamped with jalapeño peppers from that garden.  He likes to cook and belongs to an online cooking group, so he looked there for any recipes that might use lots of those little peppers.  He decided to try Cowboy Candy and was pleased with the result.  Their friends enjoyed it too, and when Chris took a jar to his son and daughter-in-law in Texas, they devoured it and proclaimed it excellent.

When Chris and Lorraine returned to New Richmond Chris brought me a copy of the recipe with his recommendation that I make it.  Chris has shared several good recipes that he treasures, a couple of which are already on Courage in the Kitchen.  Here is another one.

INGREDIENTS:

3 lbs. firm, fresh jalapeño peppers

2 cups cider vinegar

6 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. celery seed

3 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

PROCEDURE:

Wash the peppers and protect your hands with kitchen gloves.  Remove the stems by slicing a small disk off the stem-end of the peppers.  Discard the stems.  Slice the peppers into uniform one-eighth to one-fourth-inch rounds and set them aside in a bowl.

Stir all the other ingredients in a large pot or Dutch oven to dissolve the sugar and spices into the vinegar.  Keep stirring while the liquid comes to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer it for five minutes.

While you are heating the liquid, wash and sterilize seven half-pint jars.  Put seven jar lids into a small bowl and cover them with hot water a few minutes before you fill the jars.  

Add the pepper slices and simmer them for four minutes.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peppers to the jars, filling them to within a quarter inch of the rim.  Raise the heat under the remaining liquid and bring it to a full rolling boil.  Boil it hard for six to eight minutes to create a syrup.

Ladle the boiling syrup into the jars until it is above the sliced peppers.  Use a chopstick or a thin knife to release any trapped pockets of air and add more syrup if necessary.  Wipe the rims of the jars with damp paper towels and seal the jars with canning lids and rings to finger-tip tightness.

Place the jars in a canner and cover them with water to an inch above the jars.  Bring the water to a full rolling boil and set a timer for ten minutes.  Remove the jars when the timer goes off and cool the jars on a rack.  Let the jars cool thoroughly, wipe them with a damp dishcloth and label them.

NOTES:  For the best flavor allow this relish to mellow for at least two weeks.  Tony says a month is even better.

Chris introduced the recipe this way: “The end result is delicious with a very mild level of “heat”.  Tony likes it as a garnish for hot dogs, I believe it would be fantastic on brats!”

Tony also noted that the leftover syrup is “wonderful brushed on meat on the grill or added to potato salad or, or, or… in short, don’t toss it out!”

Mom’s Pickled Crabapples

When a friend asked whether I had a good recipe for pickled crabapples, I realized that I had neglected a wonderful treat my mother used to make every year.  I couldn’t find Mom’s recipe in her recipe boxes, so I called my sister Patsy, who told me that she might have it.  

An hour later she called back.  “I found the recipe, and it’s in Mom’s handwriting, so I bet she copied it from Grandma’s,” she reported, and read it to Jerri who wrote it down for me.  I think that the most remarkable thing about this recipe is that it includes detailed instructions for making the pickles.

When Mom’s recipes include instructions, most are terse comments that obviously assume the reader knows how to cook.  For instance, her recipe for Grandma Hopp’s cake doughnuts did not even mention that the dry ingredients needed to be mixed with the liquid.  After listing the ingredients, she merely wrote “Roll out, cut, and fry.” 

In contrast, the recipe for pickled crabapples includes a number of specific instructions:  Don’t peel the apples or remove the stems, let the hot syrup cool to lukewarm before adding the apples, don’t bring the apples to a boil, be careful not to burst the fruit, process the jars at 180º.  These details probably explain why Grandma and Mom’s pickled apples always looked good and were favorites at church potlucks.  

If you follow the instructions below, your pickled apples will wow your friends with a stem on each apple, intact skins and fruit that retains a hint of crispness.

INGREDIENTS:

9 cups crabapples about 1 inch in diameter (about 54 crabapples)

1 qt. plus 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

4 cups granulated sugar

1 T ground cinnamon

1 T whole cloves

1 tsp. mace

1 tsp. allspice

PROCEDURE:

Start by picking and washing the crabapples.  Remove leaves and discard any fruit with cuts or other defects such as worm holes. For the best result try to select fruit that are in the same size range. Don’t peel or remove the stems from the apples.

Put the vinegar and water into a large saucepan or Dutch oven.  The pan should be of non-reactive material.  An enamel or stainless steel soup pot is ideal. Stir the sugar and spices into the vinegar and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer the syrup for about five minutes.  

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool until it is lukewarm.  Add the apples to the cooled syrup and heat the apples and syrup until it just begins to simmer.  Be careful not to burst the fruit.  Remove the pan from the heat and cover it.  Let the apples marinate in the syrup overnight.

Wash and rinse five one-pint canning jars.  Using a spoon or small ladle, carefully fill the jars with the apples.  Fill the jars to within a half inch of the top with the syrup and seal them with lids and hand-tightened rings.

Put the sealed jars into a jar rack in a canner, add enough cold water to cover the jars with about an inch and a half of water and bring the water to 180º.  Process the jars for twenty minutes.

Remove the jars from the hot water and allow them to cool.  Check that the jars have sealed by pressing the center of each lid.  If it springs back, that jar must be refrigerated.  Sealed jars can be shelved in your pantry.

NOTE:  Pickled crabapples are best if allowed to mature in the jars for a week or two before eating.  

If you want more pickled crabapples, feel free to double this recipe.  You may prefer to pack the apples in quart jars.  If so, increase the processing time to thirty minutes.