In the late summer and early fall when elderberries are in season, it’s the perfect time to make some homemade elderberry syrup! This syrup is not only delicious, but has powerful medicinal benefits as well. Elderberry Syrup Benefits Elderberries are highly medicinal, and elderberry syrup is probably one of the best homemade herbal remedies that…
Cook
Cooking and preserving traditional food from scratch is one of my passions, and it’s even better if it includes homegrown, foraged, or fermented ingredients. I prefer to use whole foods and many of my recipes use herbs, flowers, and other fresh from the garden ingredients. Sourdough is another passion, and I also have a thing for cooking in cast iron pans!
Learn how to make sourdough tortillas, roasted beets and their greens, and traditional nitrate free corned beef.
Fig Honey Butter: Homemade Preserves
If you have a fig tree in your backyard, then you know how prolific they can be! This is not a bad thing, as figs are delicious, but they don’t last long once they are ripe. They also tend to all be ripe at once! It’s inevitable that they will need to be preserved somehow,…
15+ Ways to Preserve Zucchini: Freeze, Can, Ferment, and Dehydrate
Some summers are zucchini summers, and we are in the midst of one right now! Preserving zucchini to last through the winter is actually easy to do. There are four main methods for how to preserve zucchini: freezing, canning, fermenting, and dehydrating or drying. How to Preserve Zucchini Zucchini can sometimes grow a little bit…
No Sugar Peach Jam: Canning Recipe (Low Sugar or Honey Option)
Peaches are the epitome of summer fruit! At the peak of summer, peaches are so sweet and delicious, but they don’t last long. Preserving peaches into a jam is the perfect way to experience that flavor through the fall and winter! Many recipes for jam and other preserves call for so much sugar, which isn’t…
How to Make a Gallon of Mead: A Simple Mead Recipe
You may have heard of mead before or maybe you haven’t, but one image that always seems to come to mind when mead is mentioned is Vikings drinking their grog. I don’t know a whole lot about Vikings, but I do know a bit about mead! Mead is a fermented honey and water mixture, some…
How to Cook Dried Beans: Easy, Healthy, and Cheap
In this tutorial you will find out everything you need to know to learn how to cook dried beans from scratch. With so many methods, you’ll find the one that is right for you, from the pros and cons of soaking vs not soaking, the varieties of beans to use, and how to use them,…
Fermented Jalapeño Hot Sauce
{This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving} Fermenting is one of the best ways to naturally preserve foods, and is a great way to use up a bumper crop of veggies from your garden. If you’ve never had fermented jalapeño hot sauce before, you’re in for a treat! It is a little spicy without…
How to Make Kimchi: Simple Fermented Recipe
{This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving} Kimchi is a spicy Korean side dish that is traditionally fermented, similar to sauerkraut. It is usually made with napa cabbage along with other vegetables like carrots, onions, ginger, and garlic. Korean chili flakes give it a spicy kick! Kimchi is surprisingly easy to make and so…
10 Reasons to Grow Sage for your Garden, Food, and Health
For many people, sage is the ultimate autumnal herb. Savory recipes for roast turkey, stuffing, and squash are at their best when accompanied by the addition of fresh sage. What you may not realize, even if sage is a regular part of your cooking routine year-round, is how easy it is to grow fresh sage…
Calendula Iced Tea: Botanical & Refreshing
{This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving} Calendula is a beautiful flower that just happens to also be edible and beneficial. It is definitely one that I always have growing in my garden! It reseeds itself readily and comes back year after year without any inputs. The beautiful orange color of calendula flowers make…