Covid Journal, Day 181: Green Tomato Mincemeat

59 this morning and cloudy with showers threatening although they never materialized. A nice day, highest was about 75. I learned that the haze we've been experiencing is the smoke from the fires on the West Coast. How strange, and how sad. In some way it makes me feel connected to all the people affected by the flames.

It's 8:30 in the evening as I write, and I am finally finished for the day. It was, as always, a busy one: ebay listings in the morning while Larry took care of his morning routine--chickens, dogs, cat, gardens--then we got together to clean out the freezer. It's been a couple years since we tackled it and it was in need of some serious attention. And of course we found a lot of things that needed to be disposed of. I also took some lessons from this cleanout--never again will I freeze peaches or green beans, because I forgot they were up there. 

The beans were freezer burnt and had to be tossed. The peaches I thawed and made into jam this evening. In future all beans and peaches will be canned, because that's what I have always done. I froze the peaches last year when I read about how good frozen peaches are; but one has to remember to use them, right? The green beans, I have no idea, but probably they were the leftovers from batches that were snapped for canning, but weren't enough to bother with. Again, I would have to remember they were in the freezer and use them. 

Another never-freeze-again: pumpkin. I put up a LOT of it two years ago, apparently, and promptly forgot about it. Lesson learned.

The upside is that I now know what's up there, and what space we have. Which isn't a lot, actually, with a hog due for butchering in October or November and deer season coming in November too. So we may be on the lookout for an additional freezer.

After the freezer work, I had another project to do, making mincemeat. It's been 3 or 4 years since I made it and I tossed out the leftover jars in the cellar in the spring. I do love mincemeat, although I know it's not everyone's cup of tea. Homemade is nothing like the storebought, though, and I bet most people who think they don't like it might change their mind if they ever tasted the real thing. I make green tomato mincemeat, which uses green tomatoes, apples, a few lemons and oranges, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, brown sugar, canola oil and cider vinegar--I think that's all. Last time I made it I also used ground meat, and some people use ground suet. I substituted the canola oil for the meat. Other people also add nuts, sultanas, currants and candied fruit; I added dried cranberries this time. 

Green tomatoes are so pretty, aren't they?

Cut up apples from our tree, raisins, cranberries, oranges, and lemon get added to the tomatoes.

Then it all goes through the food processor.

Spices, brown sugar, cider vinegar and oil are added, then all of it is cooked for an hour and half. It turns a rich brown and gets pretty thick.

My old Tappan stove gets a workout every day this time of year. Every burner in use: water in the kettle back left burner for sterilizing jars, peach jam on the front left, mincemeat front right and jar lids heating up in boiling water back right.

I don't really measure anything for the mincemeat, just make sure that the bulk is apples and green tomatoes. This batch is absolutely delicious and worth all the work. All the fruits and raisins are chopped up in the food processor; I won't lie, it takes a while to make. I started at 3:00pm and the last load just came out of the water bath canner. But I can't explain the sense of accomplishment when it's done. And the house smells heavenly.

I made the peach jam while the mincemeat was cooking, making sure to keep the mincemeat stirred and occasionally feeling like a one-armed sailor, but everything went well, especially after Larry came in and helped with washing jars and stirring. I also had a pork loin roast--a freezer find--in the crockpot, covered with some frozen apple pie filling. Both needed using up, and the roast came out absolutely delicious. A trick to remember for the future.

It is the time of year when almost every day something needs to be put up. Yesterday I processed the sauerkraut, made more pasta sauce and made a small batch of banana peppers in tomato sauce. Tomorrow we have to go to our booth in Ravenswood, but Saturday I'll be making salsa and dehydrating peppers. The harvest season is really upon us.

I listened to the radio while I worked today, and heard an interview with actress Susan Sarandon about her new movie, Blackbird. The movie is about a woman with ALS who decides to end her life on her own terms, with the assistance of her husband. She invites all of her children and their families to come for the weekend, at the end of which she will end her life. I could not help but be horrified by the premise of the movie. What mother would inflict such a weekend on her family? Is it as manipulative as it sounds to me? I understand her decision to end her life, but not having her children there to act like everything is normal, just a family weekend, when they know what her plans are. If you see this movie, I'd really like to know what you think of it.

Mincemeat is an old, old method of food preservation, dating back to the pre-refrigeration days. The earliest recipes seem to be from at least 500 years ago, and are very little like what I make. Shakespeare even referred to it in one of his plays. Mincemeat was literally minced--chopped--meat with spices and a preservative liquid, probably alcohol of some sort, and was a good way to keep meat for long periods. It was probably stored in a crock or stone jar in a cool place. I have read the mixture was allowed to ferment before being consumed. I have to admit, that does not sound good to me. Today's commercially-prepared mincemeat probably contains little, if any meat, and is likely somewhat similar to my homemade version. 

To read more about the history of this ages-old treat, check out these sources:

Smithsonian Magazine

Wikipedia

What's Cooking America

Why Christmas

BBC.com

History.com

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Welcome, Autumn: Charms, Poems and Recipes

Although the temperatures do not feel like it, autumn in all her glory is just around the corner. Today, it was 91 degrees (F) and felt like full-on summer, but surely this will soon pass. I browed through some old photos to remind myself that yes, fall is coming. This one is of our road, taken a few years ago:

So, to get us ready for the season, here's a charm you may want to try that is supposed to be done around the autumn equinox:

"The following charm used to be thought effective if spoken during the time of the Harvest Moon--that is, the full moon occurring within a fortnight of the autumn equinox, September 22 or 23.

When you go to bed, place under the pillow a Common Prayer Book open at the part of the marriage service in which is printed 'With this ring I thee wed'. Place on it a key, a ring, a flower, a sprig of willow, a small heart-cake, a crust of bread, and the following cards: the ten of clubs, the nine of hearts, the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds. Wrap all these around in  handkerchief of thin gauze or muslin. On getting into bed cross your hands and say:

Luna, every woman's friend,

To me thy goodness condescend; 

Let me this night in visions see

Emblems of my destiny.

If you dream of a ring or the ace of diamonds, it means marriage; bread, an industrious life; cake, a prosperous life; flowers, joy; willow, betrayal in love; spades, death; diamonds, money; clubs, foreign travel; hearts, illegitimate children; keys, great trust and power; birds, many children; geese, remarriage."

Harvest moon, 2010

While I am not planning to try this charm, I would truly hope that there is no marriage, death or remarriage in my future! I'd take the children, travel and joy, though.

One of my favorite writers is Thomas Hardy. I know he's out of favor these days, but I am still a fan. One poem I particularly enjoy is his Night-Time in Mid-Fall.

It is a storm-strid night, winds footing swift through the blind profound; 

I know the happenings from their sound; 

Leaves totter down still green, and spin and drift; 

The tree-trunks rock to their roots, which wrench and lift 

The loam where they run onward underground. 

The streams are muddy and swollen; eels migrate to a new abode; 

Even cross, 'tis said, the turnpike-road;

 (Men's feet have felt their crawl, home-coming late): 

The westward fronts of the towers are saturate, 

Church-timbers crack, and witches ride abroad. 

And another by Hardy:

Autumn in King's Hintock Park

Here by the baring bough
  Raking up leaves,
Often I ponder how
  Springtime deceives,---
I, an old woman now,
  Raking up leaves.

Here in the avenue
  Raking up leaves
Lords' ladies pass in view,
  Until one heaves
Sighs at life's russet hue,
  Raking up leaves!

Just as my shape you see
  Raking up leaves,
I saw, when fresh and free,
  Those memory weaves
Into grey ghosts by me,
  Raking up leaves.

Yet, Dear, though one may sigh,
  Raking up leaves,
New leaves will dance on high---
  Earth never grieves!---
Will not, when missed am I
  Raking up leaves.

A bit of a melancholy note in this one, perhaps, but then Hardy's work tended that way usually.

And finally, to get you in full autumnal spirits, a recipe for mincemeat. If you have never made it, take my word, it's delicious. I preserve mine in jars, and process by modern requirements. Here's a recipe I posted eight years ago (I've been blogging quite a while, it seems!):

About 20 chopped green tomatoes--sprinkle with a tablespoon of salt and let sit for one hour, then drain the tomatoes,cover with boiling water and let sit for about 5 minutes; drain again. NOTE: You can omit the tomatoes and add more of the apples  and other fruits.

1 orange--grate the rind and chop the pulp
Mix the tomatoes and the orange in a large saucepan. Then add:
12 apples, chopped fine (peel or not, it's up to you)
1 pound of seedless raisins
1 1/2 cups of chopped suet (I know, I know, sounds weird. I've actually made the mincemeat without it and liked it quite well).
2-3 oranges
1-2 lemons
3 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed firmly
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon each ground cloves and nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Cook the mixture until it's boiling hot. Pour into hot sterile jars and seal. Process pints at 10 pounds pressure for 25 minutes. This recipe makes about 10 pints.

You can vary the amounts, add lemon, nuts, golden raisins, etc. It's really up to you; just be sure to keep the proportions of ingredients the same to have great-tasting mincemeat.

For more autumn ideas check out some of my older blog posts:

How to make dried apple and orange garlands

Pumpkin recipes

Fall weather superstitions

Sources:

Hardy, Thomas. The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy. Macmillan, London: 1976.

Radford, E. Encyclopedia of Superstitions. New York: Reprinted by Greenwood Press, 1969.

The Autumn Book: A Collection of Prose and Poetry Chosen by James Reeves. William Heinneman, London: 1977.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Green Tomato Mincemeat Pie

This. is. so. good.

No kidding. This is the best mincemeat I've ever made.

This is a picture of the pie I made for Thanksgiving. Would you believe we never cut it until this morning? I confess, I had pie for mid-morning snack as I was leaving late for work (this ol' cold is as nasty one).

This pie sat in the fridge, covered with plastic and ignored because we're still trying to finish up that to-die-for hickory nut cake. But this morning I cut a slice, and oh my. It makes the taste buds sing!

If you've never had mincemeat, it's difficult to describe. It's not like sweet-sweet raisin pie; it's sweet, but tart at the same time, with such a complex blend of flavors that you can't tell where one ends and the other begins.

I wrote instructions for making mincemeat tarts and the recipe for making green tomato mincemeat in earlier posts. I was out of raisins when I made my mincemeat so I used dried cranberries and that seems to have been a happy addition.

Cranberries, grated orange and lemon peel, apples, green tomatoes, a little bit of ground chuck, vinegar, brown sugar, spices--you name it, it's in there. All cooked together, canned and processed in the pressure canner. Sounds terrible when I read it, but believe me--it's good!

Mincemeat Tarts

Mincemeat is a grown-up taste; few children seem to like its rich sweet-sour combination of ingredients. When I was young, my mother made mincemeat pies and little mincemeat tarts every Christmas. I didn't like the pies because there was just too much mincemeat in one bite, but I remember loving the little tarts.

Mincemeat began as a way of preserving meat with sugars, vinegar and spices, and evolved into a dish that is usually associated with a traditional English Christmas. Cooking in America gives an interesting dateline of the history and folklore of mincemeat.

The tarts are really just miniature pies, and making them is a simple process. What you end up with is pretty, delicious and nowadays unusual addition to the holiday table.

I make my tarts using green tomato mincemeat. If you didn't have a chance to make your own mincemeat, however, there is still a commercial variety available at most supermarkets, usually under the brand name Nonesuch. It comes in either a dry, condensed package or ready-to-use in jars, usually in the pie filling section of the store.

First, make your pie crust. It's easy, really. Here's my recipe:

Gather your tools: favorite mixing bowl, pastry blender, measuring cup, rolling pin, cutter for the circles, pastry board(or table or counter top or wherever you plan to roll out your dough), and muffin or tart pans.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (not self-rising)

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup of butter (margarine or shortening can work; I like real butter)

about 6-8 tablespoons cold water (put ice cubes in the water to get it really cold. Really.)

Mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or a fork (but the pastry blender is works best). Add the water, using only a little at a time, until the mixture will hold together. Divide the dough into two parts. Roll out on a floured surface to the desired thickness and size. (you may need to sprinkle a little flour on the dough as you roll it out if it sticks to your rolling pin, and add a little to the floured surface

Now if you were making a pie, you'd lift the pastry into the pie pan at this point for the bottom crust of the pie, then roll out the rest of the dough for the top.

But we're making tarts, so after you've rolled out the dough find something to cut it into circles. I used this one--I suppose it's a cookie cutter, but it was just the right size to cut the dough to fit into my muffin tins.

Line your muffin or tart pans with rounds of cut-out dough; then drop in spoonfuls of prepared mincemeat. (I used the green tomato mincemeat I made a few weeks ago.)

Roll out the rest of the dough and cut out tops for your tarts. (At the holidays I sprinkle the tops with red and green colored sugar. Yesterday I just left them plain.)

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the top crusts are lightly browned.

Remove the tarts from their pans as soon as they come out of the oven. The juices in the filling usually spill over the sides of the tarts during baking and if you leave them in the pans, the sugars in the juice will harden and you may have a difficult time getting them out in one piece. I use a dinner knife to gently loosen each tart from its pan and lift them out with the knife and one finger.

Then...eat! That's all there is to it.

The taste of these little pies sends me back to the old house in Manassas, the smell of pine and eggnog, the music of Christmas in the air, and everyone laughing and happy. It's a very good memory.

Green Tomato Mincemeat

photo from www.pdphoto.org/

I love green tomato mincemeat! Unfortunately, the deer ate all my tomatoes a few weeks ago, so I am tomato-less. I'll be making a trip to the farmer's market tomorrow in hopes of finding enough to make a batch of mincemeat.

Don't like mincemeat? I think you might like this because it does not have the heavy richness of real mincemeat, but it's spicy and flavorful. It makes wonderful pies, but my favorite way to use mincemeat is to make little tarts in cupcake pans. I just cut the pie dough out in small rounds, line the cupcake holes, fill with mincemeat and cover with another round of dough. They're pretty and so tasty, and again not as heavy as a slice of mincemeat pie.

My mother told me how to make this. She always made mincemeat pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes as little tarts, sometimes as small pies (think fried apple pies, but not fried--she put tablespoons of dough onto rolled out pie dough, then cut and folded the dough over to make individual pies. Delicious! I used to make apple pies like that when my boys were young). Mom preferred mincemeat with meat, but I like the green tomato version better.

I suppose mincemeat is a British thing, but pioneers and old-time farm people made it too because it kept well and was a sweet treat for winter. I have used honey and sorghum molasses to make mine, but that does change the consistency of the mincemeat, and I found I liked it better with the brown sugar.

The recipe I use:

(You may want to use a food processor to chop the tomatoes and apples--it's tedious to chop them by hand as finely as they should be chopped)

About 20 chopped green tomatoes--sprinkle with a tablespoon of salt and let sit for one hour, then drain the tomatoes,cover with boiling water and let sit for about 5 minutes; drain again.
1 orange--grate the rind and chop the pulp
Mix the tomatoes and the orange in a large saucepan. Then add:
12 apples, chopped fine (peel or not, it's up to you)
1 pound of seedless raisins
1 1/2 cups of chopped suet (I know, I know, sounds weird. I've actually made the mincemeat without it and liked it quite well).
3 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed firmly
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon each ground cloves and nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Cook the mixture until it's boiling hot. Pour into hot sterile jars and seal. Process pints at 10 pounds pressure for 25 minutes. This recipe makes about 10 pints.

You can vary the amounts, add lemon, nuts, golden raisins, etc. It's really up to you; just be sure to keep the proportions of ingredients the same to have great-tasting mincemeat.

Let me know if you try it, and if you like it. And if you have a different recipe for green tomato mincemeat, please share. I'd love to see a different version.