Bottling Up Winter...

 Jarring up Winter would perhaps be more accurate. We have lived very well these past several months with many a taste of Summer coming at us by way of the extensive "canning" Katie did at the end of the growing season. As the sun softened and Autumn approached, she jarred some 65-70 pounds of heirloom tomatoes, both in whole and pureed form. Add to that the various jams, preserved whole fruits such as figs, along with more savory fair like chutneys, pickles, green beans, baby eggplants, and a variety of chili's, all making for a big dose of sunshine packed in our pantry these past gray months.


 Not one to play favorite's, Katie is doing the same in an effort to hold on to a bit of the good things that come our way during Winter. Meyer lemons, those small, bright smelling reminders of my childhood (Had a tree in our backyard when growing up.) are nearing the end of their peak, thus Katie recently put some of those away for later use with fish or roast chicken. Cara Cara oranges, juicy and sweet, were done in a marmalade with some of the Calabrian chili's that still hang in dried bunches about the kitchen. Lastly, she did grapefruit marmalade with Ruby Red's and shaved ginger. Didn't take long for us to tear open one of these, as Katie had spent the day making fresh ricotta cheese with the Dopo gang (The East Bay neighborhood mecca for hand crafted Italian food.). Toasted some baguette, spread the moist, lightly salted ricotta, added a healthy smear of the grapefruit marmalade... With a short black coffee, a damn fine breakfast.          

It's easy, especially here in California, to rely on the benefit of year round markets, not to mention World markets via ship and plane. The rub being, however, that the produce must be picked before their peak in order to travel long distance, muting the essence of fully ripened flavor. More do able than you might think this canning thing, and well worth the effort.
(Recipes on request.)

(http://www.chez-gautier.com)