How to Make Naturally Flavoured Sugars

June 11, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Eat

Recently I've found that one of my favourite ways of working with new or interesting ingredients is to make flavoured sugar out of them. I love having unique salts and sugars on hand to add something a little different to whatever I am cooking. I'm imagining that both of these sugars would make beautiful additions to baked goods, or sprinkled on top of pancakes, or anything like that. Since I've found this to be so enjoyable, I thought I'd put the tutorial here on the blog. I should also mention that if you are local I do have some of these for sale at the Dallas Barnhartvale Farmers' Market if you want to try them and not worry about making them yourself.

The first step in making these is finding the ingredient you want to use as the flavour. This year I've used a lot of lilac, and also some immature Douglas fir cones. I have an idea to go source some spruce tips, rose petals, and other things to give this a try with as well.

Once you have your ingredient, combine it along with about a cup of sugar in a food processor, or high powered blender (such as a Vitamix). The amount you use can vary a lot. With something like the Douglas fir cones a little goes a long way. You'll have the opportunity to adjust and add more sugar later if you feel the mixture is too strong. Usually I have done about a cup or less of whatever flavouring ingredient I am using. Blend until everything is broken down and fully mixed together. You can have a look at the photos below to see what I mean by that more clearly. After this, dump the mixture into a bowl, and add a few more cups of sugar. Taste it and smell it along the way to make sure you like the strength of the flavour and aroma. When you're happy with it spread it out on a cookie sheet, tray, or really large plate to air dry. It will take a few days, so put it somewhere you can keep an eye on it, but that is out of the way. Give the mix a stir a few times a day - I usually just do a little every time I walk past - so that it dries out evenly. Try to break up any clumps, but know that the consistency will be a little more rustic than regular granulated sugar.

The sky is basically the limit with how you use these once they are dry. They make fabulous items to use as gifts, or wedding favours, since they are so unique and it is easy to do large batches. Feel free to combine ingredients, and come up with your own unique blends to use. Maybe you'll develop something that becomes your go-to secret ingredient!

As always, if you try this tutorial I'd love to hear about it in the comments, or if you post on social media use #aforagershome so I can see it!

To support my blogging endeavours, this post contains affiliate links from which I receive a small commission if you make a purchase. Every product linked here is one I have used personally and would recommend based on my experience

Dandelion Leaf Kimchi

May 27, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Eat, Find

In high school I had several good friends from Korean families, and I always looked forward to being invited over for meals in their homes because that usually meant I was going to be served kimchi. Later on I found out where the Korean grocery store was so I could make sure I always had some in my fridge. A couple years ago I realized that there were several recipes online for making small batches so I've now been making my own. I've been collecting a lot of dandelions this spring, and in thinking of ways to use them I realized that they might make a pretty good kimchi, and I was right!

I don't want to call this post a recipe per se, as I don't feel versed enough in Korean food to write one, and I relied heavily on various other online sources which I will be linking here. From how I understand it kimchi is fairly flexible, so feel free to adjust things to your preferences.

Your first step is to salt the dandelion greens. This is to start releasing the water content in the leaves. Sprinkle them liberally in salt and massage them a bit to start the process. If you've made sauerkraut before this will be familiar to you. Let them sit for about an hour and a half, and while this is happening prep the rest of the ingredients.

Chop up the veggies you are going to be adding to the dandelion greens (I used carrots, radish microgreens, leeks, and green garlic). For anything bulky make sure you julienne it finely to help the overall texture. Several of the recipes for the kimchi paste include making a porridge of rice flour to help everything stick together. I wanted to keep the steps as simple as possible, and knowing that you can make hot soup in a Vitamix blender I threw all the ingredients for the paste in there and blended it smooth. It seems to have worked really well and saved a lot of time!

If the dandelion greens are too salty you can rinse them off. When you like them toss in the chopped veggies, and massage the kimchi paste to cover everything. After that pack it in a jar so that the veggies are completely submerged. Leave it on the counter for three days, and then put it in the fridge. You can eat it right away, or you can wait for it to get more sour.

Here are some resources that are more complete recipes if you are looking for ideas on salt ratios and flavours for the kimchi paste:

Food in Jars

Maangchi

Edible Landscaper

Meals From the Pantry: Strawberry Lemon Frozen Yogurt with Chamomile

May 04, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Eat

I am getting to the point where the garden is coming to life, and I am harvesting quite a few wild plants so the recipes here are going to start to focus on more seasonal ingredients, but I wanted to post one more recipe to my Meals from the Pantry series before fully switching gears. While Frozen yogurt might not strike you as a "use up what you already have" type of recipe, the key ingredient here is jam or preserves, and I have quite a bit of that from the past canning season to use up!

I love making jam.

There's just something about commingling the different flavours that I really enjoy. I like to add unexpected herbs, or combine flavours you might not have thought of. Marisa McLellan's Food In Jars was my gateway to creative preserving, while still keeping all the guidelines for safe food preservation in the forefront. If you are going to do something like this, it is very important hat you make sure you follow the protocols to keep whoever is eating your preserves safe from botulism and other issues. One problem with my love of making jam is that I have now made so much more than I or my family can ever eat! I have given some away, but I am still left with quite a backlog, so I've been trying to think of different ways to use it all up. One day it struck me: frozen yogurt!

I used an ice cream maker, because I have one that I love, but there are methods out there for freezing ice cream without one. I think you can put your mixture in a container and remember to stir it up every hour or so until you like the consistency. I'll link to the ice cream maker I use if you're in the market for one.

While full fat yogurt, and heavy cream might require you to make an extra purchase, they are staples in my fridge. When making frozen yogurt or ice cream, it is important to get enough fat into the mixture, so because yogurt usually doesn't contain that much fat, it is important to add a bit more so that when your mixture freezes you don't get an unpleasant mouthfeel. The same is true with sugar. This recipe doesn't have any extra sugar, because we are using very sugary jam. A lot of people think of frozen yogurt as something healthy, but it really isn't. That doesn't mean you shouldn't indulge, but I'm not going to pretend like it's any healthier than a bowl of ice cream. Indulge in moderation (or not - I have zero moderation when it comes to ice cream). As always, if you try one of these recipes let me know! I'd love to see your posts on social media tagged #aforagerspantry, or drop a link in the comments!

Strawberry Lemon Frozen Yogurt with Chamomile

Ingredients

One 500ml container of lemon yogurt with as high a fat percentage as you can find.
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups strawberry chamomile jam or preserves

Takes 30 minutes, serves 4.

Instructions

Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl trying to incorporate as little air as you can.
Freeze mixture according to your ice cream maker's instructions, or using whatever method you prefer.
Scoop out of the bowl of your ice cream maker, and freeze in a container for a couple hours if you want it to be harder than soft-serve consistency. I like using a bread pan for this purpose because of the shape, but I'm looking for something that has a lid without being plastic.