Offices, classrooms and civic groups around the country are gearing up for their annual canned food drives. From now until the new year people will pile prepackaged, non-perishable food items in cardboard boxes and promptly forget about hunger and homelessness for the rest of the year.
Obviously, this is a generalization, and likely a bit unfair. But as the season of the can drive bears down on us, I have to wonder – is it time to can the can?
We need a new kind of food drive. One that helps build a sustainable infrastructure for healthy local food for everyone. One that is premised on valuing the land and the people in our community. One that is rooted in justice, not charity. (more…)
This time instead of choosing a specific recipe to hack we’re opting for a seasonal theme: THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS!
nutrition consultant and chef in the bay area. I really respect the work she’s doing and think we all would be better off if we took an holistic approach to nutrition and our relationship with the food we eat and where it comes from. Her mission is to help people choose “foods that sustain the health, vitality, and nourishment of themselves, their communities, and the earth.” 
If you are interested in learning more, check out her site: 
It’s cold, it’s rainy, and the temperatures have dropped. When it starts to get chilly, I love making soup. It’s a great way to use up fall and winter veggies from the farm and is usually foolproof. Veggies + broth + herbs = deliciousness. My mom gave me a general idea for this recipe and I just adapted it based on what we got at the farm this weekend. Try it with whatever you have on hand.
I’m trying to catch up a bit. About a month ago I made a huge batch of raspberry jam. We have gorgeous raspberries at Brookfield but at most we got about a quart with our share – perhaps enough for a small tart or something, but ours usually disappeared before having the opportunity to become an ingredient in an actual recipe. They’re so tasty – we would munch on them on the ride home, have them on our cereal in the morning or over ice cream for dessert.
I love the simplicity of making jam. I rinsed the berries, put them in a pot, crushed them with a potato masher, mixed in the juice I was using for a sweetener, gradually stirred in the pectin, and let it all come to a boil. I did end up adding a very small amount of sugar in the end, about 1 cup (considering I had 24+ cups of fruit, that’s not much!). The jam was pretty tart and a little sugar cut the acidity just enough.
Once the jam boiled for a couple minutes it was ready and I poured it into sterilized jars. I have a large-mouthed canning funnel that makes this job easier and neater. Once the jars are filled, with a small rubber spatula you can take a quick swipe around the jar to get any air bubbles out. Then you want to wipe of the top edge of the jar to make sure there’s no jam there to prevent the lid from sealing on properly. Once the lids were screwed on I processed the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, you take the jars out of the boiling water and just let them be for a about 24 hours. This is my favorite time because the cans make a pinging pop-pop sound as they seal and you know they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. The next day – make sure each can is sealed by pressing on the lid. If it doesn’t give you know it’s sealed. If you can depress the top – you have two options. You can put the jam in the fridge – it should last 3 weeks or so. Or you can reprocess it in boiling water again. Sealed jars should preserve the jam for about a year.
If you’re interested in canning and looking for materials (jars, canning pot, accessories, etc.), check out your local hardware store. I’ve been surprised by the variety of canning supplies the hardware stores near me have had. For step by step instructions on making and canning jam, most boxes of pectin include them.
The winner of this month’s challenge is Kate G. for her 
