Ended Official BYC 2023 Summer Fair Contest—Canning & Preserving Contest

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Most likely, it was kombucha, at one time these creatures were very popular in the USSR. Then they somehow disappeared, but now they are on sale again, they are brought, it seems, from China. I am not a biologist and somehow I was little interested in these issues, I only suspect that this is some kind of creature, something similar to a jellyfish. It lives with people in jars, feeds on sugar and saturates water with the products of its vital activity. It probably doesn’t sound very appetizing, but for some reason we sometimes drink.

As a child, I often drank this thing, but now I don’t, due to the fact that this creature is thermophilic, and it’s usually cool in my house. The fact is that I weigh 125 kilograms and can’t stand the heat well, so in winter I regulate the heating to low temperatures, up to about +17 C. Kombucha cannot live in such conditions, she will get sick. Therefore, I do not drink this drink and do not buy this creature. Most often I just drink fruit compotes. Ordinary boiled fruits and berries with added sugar.

There is also a rye drink kvass, similar to beer, usually made from rye bread, flour, grains, yeast and sugar. Only beer is usually made from barley, and this drink is made from rye. Well, kvass is most often rarely brought to the state of alcohol, it is most often either a non-alcoholic or low-alcohol drink. Although if kvass is kept for a long time, it can become more alcoholic than strong beer.
I sometimes make kvass, for kvass they usually sell rye must concentrate here, in 0.5 liter jars.

Oh yes, kombucha! That makes sense. I have made my own kombucha here at home after having the mushroom drink in Russia, but didn't relate the two because they tasted different. But now that I think of it, they were similar. I have also tried the fruit compotes when in Russia. Those were delicious. His grandma mostly made them from berries. I would love to make those at home but our food/drinks here in the US are already so packed with sugar, I try to watch my sugar intake.

I have also had kvass, although not the homemade kind. I can sometimes get it in bottles for my fiance here at the European market. Do you make your own kvass? Do you have a recipe?

 

[Pasha838]

Oh yes, kombucha! That makes sense. I have made my own kombucha here at home after having the mushroom drink in Russia, but didn't relate the two because they tasted different. But now that I think of it, they were similar. I have also tried the fruit compotes when in Russia. Those were delicious. His grandma mostly made them from berries. I would love to make those at home but our food/drinks here in the US are already so packed with sugar, I try to watch my sugar intake.

I have also had kvass, although not the homemade kind. I can sometimes get it in bottles for my fiance here at the European market. Do you make your own kvass? Do you have a recipe?

We preserve a lot of compotes because the winter here is relatively long and it is not always easy to get fresh juices or fruits. In addition, this is a good storage method - if a lot of apples were born in a certain year, then you can put them on compotes and drink them safely for a couple of years (if you store them in a cold cellar or refrigerator, canned in jars).

A kvass recipe usually consists of something rye - rye flour, or rye bread, or even rye grain. The second component is yeast, the third is sugar. All this is simply mixed with water and stands for two or three days at normal, room temperature (but not in extreme heat).

Frankly, I won’t risk voicing the recipe for good kvass, because it’s not always easy to make, and I’m a rather lazy person and just buy rye concentrate. I dilute it with water, add sugar and yeast, and after 2-3 days I get kvass. Moreover, I would not say that this kvass is ideal - it is rather some simple and cheap drink that is not so bad to drink just water, but not so good to make it for years every day.

If you can’t find a recipe in English using a search engine, try using an online translator, type in the word kvass, and search. To make this action easier for you, I looked for recipes, but they are in Russian. They can be translated automatically (if I'm not mistaken, the right mouse button in the browser), and in principle there is nothing abstruse or complicated there. The only thing is which recipe is good or bad, I won’t undertake to decide, because I don’t understand this issue well - I will advise the recipe, but some nasty muck will turn out. Therefore, I will not take responsibility)) Frankly, when I first made kvass, I really got disgusting that you can’t drink, and I had to redo everything four times before I got a completely tolerable drink that was not dangerous to health. Making kvass, like making beer, requires some experience and skill. Which I don't have.

https://1000.menu/catalog/kvas

They also make a slightly strange dish called “okroshka” from kvass, something in between a salad and a cold soup, but, to be honest, I don’t eat it at all. My parents love it, but I don't, and I don't understand how i can eat it at all

As for sugar, in Russia society is split into two warring camps - some argue that sugar is very harmful, others - that sugar, on the contrary, is very useful. The second camp is more aggressive, to the point that they can start swearing if they start to prove that they can’t eat sugar. There are probably 3 factors here:

1. During the collapse of the USSR, there were serious problems with food shortages. In those days, we were greatly helped (by the way) by American humanitarian aid, as well as huge chicken legs, which went practically for next to nothing. Well, at this time, sugar, which was extremely scarce and expensive, began to be declared unhealthy. And the people who used it began to perceive these things as an attempt to deceive themselves and leave them hungry and poor. Therefore, to tell them that sugar is harmful is the surest way to make them very angry.

2. For some reason, some Russians have no susceptibility to harmful products at all. For example, my grandfather, who, as a war veteran, received many expensive food packages from the state (which included black caviar, good sausage, and yes, sugar in very large quantities), after the hungry years of the war, he ate a lot of sugar. He actually ate about 2 kg of sugar a day, and when he died at 97, he never developed diabetes. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of genetic mutation, but some Russians can eat as much sugar as would make a normal person feel at least unwell. Frankly, I have the same situation, although in principle I am overweight - I weigh 125 kilograms. True, I differ from ordinary fat people in that I lead a fairly active lifestyle, constantly carry some kind of weight and walk kilometers with a herd through the hills, where you have to not only walk, but also climb. Often I collect stones in bags there, and bring these bags loaded with stones home, it happens that I carry 80 kg of stones in a bag on my shoulders for several kilometers, because my mother wanted to make a flower bed out of stones, and I have money to buy stones no, because I'm lazy and too lazy to work for money.
Ah, well, yes, I don’t eat much less sugar than my late grandfather, but at the same time I don’t have diabetes and it looks like I won’t.

3. Sugar substitutes sold in Russia are extremely unhealthy. They are of extremely poor quality and are produced for the most part not by the food industry, but by the chemical industry. As a result, the people who used them got a number of health problems, and after that, the rest, looking at them, on the contrary, began to eat even more sugar. It got to the point that after replacing sugar with a substitute in soda water, they stopped buying it!

And it turned out that sugar becomes more expensive and becomes some kind of elite product, they buy it, stock it up, and swear if they try to give something else instead of it. The only respected sweetener here is only bee honey. It is also eaten a lot, and active sales are going on, it has come to the point that some people have quit working, left the city, breed bees and live in the honey trade.

Therefore, if you go into the recipes of many canned Russian cuisine, you will see sugar everywhere, even in cucumbers. There is not so much of it there that they are sweet, but it is customary to add it there. 50 g per 3 liter jar.

Moreover, Russian sugar is made from a beet variety, and it is much sweeter than cane Cuban. Although, of course, many of the Russian people will eat all their Russian sugar and buy cane sugar in Cuba, and they will also eat it.

Well, it's easy to guess which camp I belong to regarding sugar
If I now count how much sugar I have in my house, it will come out at least 500 kilograms. Moreover, it was bought both at retail in stores and in bulk, in 40 kg bags.

The final touch to this picture can be voiced by the fact that there is not a single recipe for kvass without sugar. Kvass without sugar is impossible, yeast will not work without sugar.

In general, everything can be defeated in Russia - drug addiction, drunkenness, infidelity of wives or husbands, but sugar is invincible. Here I can remember my grandmother, who once ate 3 liters of jam in one day, and in Russian jam sugar goes in a ratio of 2 to 1, 2 parts of sugar and only one berry.

 

[Lakeviewfarm]

Fresh salsa! Peach and mild. Picked and packed by momma and sweet girl.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Ingredients
- Dandelion Leaves
- Dandelion Roots
- Vodka ( 80-100 proof)

Finished Products
- Dandelion Tinctures
- Dandelion Teas

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

We preserve a lot of compotes because the winter here is relatively long and it is not always easy to get fresh juices or fruits. In addition, this is a good storage method - if a lot of apples were born in a certain year, then you can put them on compotes and drink them safely for a couple of years (if you store them in a cold cellar or refrigerator, canned in jars).

A kvass recipe usually consists of something rye - rye flour, or rye bread, or even rye grain. The second component is yeast, the third is sugar. All this is simply mixed with water and stands for two or three days at normal, room temperature (but not in extreme heat).

Frankly, I won’t risk voicing the recipe for good kvass, because it’s not always easy to make, and I’m a rather lazy person and just buy rye concentrate. I dilute it with water, add sugar and yeast, and after 2-3 days I get kvass. Moreover, I would not say that this kvass is ideal - it is rather some simple and cheap drink that is not so bad to drink just water, but not so good to make it for years every day.

If you can’t find a recipe in English using a search engine, try using an online translator, type in the word kvass, and search. To make this action easier for you, I looked for recipes, but they are in Russian. They can be translated automatically (if I'm not mistaken, the right mouse button in the browser), and in principle there is nothing abstruse or complicated there. The only thing is which recipe is good or bad, I won’t undertake to decide, because I don’t understand this issue well - I will advise the recipe, but some nasty muck will turn out. Therefore, I will not take responsibility)) Frankly, when I first made kvass, I really got disgusting that you can’t drink, and I had to redo everything four times before I got a completely tolerable drink that was not dangerous to health. Making kvass, like making beer, requires some experience and skill. Which I don't have.

https://1000.menu/catalog/kvas

They also make a slightly strange dish called “okroshka” from kvass, something in between a salad and a cold soup, but, to be honest, I don’t eat it at all. My parents love it, but I don't, and I don't understand how i can eat it at all

As for sugar, in Russia society is split into two warring camps - some argue that sugar is very harmful, others - that sugar, on the contrary, is very useful. The second camp is more aggressive, to the point that they can start swearing if they start to prove that they can’t eat sugar. There are probably 3 factors here:

1. During the collapse of the USSR, there were serious problems with food shortages. In those days, we were greatly helped (by the way) by American humanitarian aid, as well as huge chicken legs, which went practically for next to nothing. Well, at this time, sugar, which was extremely scarce and expensive, began to be declared unhealthy. And the people who used it began to perceive these things as an attempt to deceive themselves and leave them hungry and poor. Therefore, to tell them that sugar is harmful is the surest way to make them very angry.

2. For some reason, some Russians have no susceptibility to harmful products at all. For example, my grandfather, who, as a war veteran, received many expensive food packages from the state (which included black caviar, good sausage, and yes, sugar in very large quantities), after the hungry years of the war, he ate a lot of sugar. He actually ate about 2 kg of sugar a day, and when he died at 97, he never developed diabetes. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of genetic mutation, but some Russians can eat as much sugar as would make a normal person feel at least unwell. Frankly, I have the same situation, although in principle I am overweight - I weigh 125 kilograms. True, I differ from ordinary fat people in that I lead a fairly active lifestyle, constantly carry some kind of weight and walk kilometers with a herd through the hills, where you have to not only walk, but also climb. Often I collect stones in bags there, and bring these bags loaded with stones home, it happens that I carry 80 kg of stones in a bag on my shoulders for several kilometers, because my mother wanted to make a flower bed out of stones, and I have money to buy stones no, because I'm lazy and too lazy to work for money.
Ah, well, yes, I don’t eat much less sugar than my late grandfather, but at the same time I don’t have diabetes and it looks like I won’t.

3. Sugar substitutes sold in Russia are extremely unhealthy. They are of extremely poor quality and are produced for the most part not by the food industry, but by the chemical industry. As a result, the people who used them got a number of health problems, and after that, the rest, looking at them, on the contrary, began to eat even more sugar. It got to the point that after replacing sugar with a substitute in soda water, they stopped buying it!

And it turned out that sugar becomes more expensive and becomes some kind of elite product, they buy it, stock it up, and swear if they try to give something else instead of it. The only respected sweetener here is only bee honey. It is also eaten a lot, and active sales are going on, it has come to the point that some people have quit working, left the city, breed bees and live in the honey trade.

Therefore, if you go into the recipes of many canned Russian cuisine, you will see sugar everywhere, even in cucumbers. There is not so much of it there that they are sweet, but it is customary to add it there. 50 g per 3 liter jar.

Moreover, Russian sugar is made from a beet variety, and it is much sweeter than cane Cuban. Although, of course, many of the Russian people will eat all their Russian sugar and buy cane sugar in Cuba, and they will also eat it.

Well, it's easy to guess which camp I belong to regarding sugar
If I now count how much sugar I have in my house, it will come out at least 500 kilograms. Moreover, it was bought both at retail in stores and in bulk, in 40 kg bags.

The final touch to this picture can be voiced by the fact that there is not a single recipe for kvass without sugar. Kvass without sugar is impossible, yeast will not work without sugar.

In general, everything can be defeated in Russia - drug addiction, drunkenness, infidelity of wives or husbands, but sugar is invincible. Here I can remember my grandmother, who once ate 3 liters of jam in one day, and in Russian jam sugar goes in a ratio of 2 to 1, 2 parts of sugar and only one berry.

Thank you! Yes, I know kvass isn't anything too special, but I think it is a comfort drink for my husband lol. So maybe I should try making it.

As for the sugar thing, you are right that many Russians do eat a lot of sugar without the health consequences you'd expect. It's kind of funny. When I was in Russia, it took over a week before I saw a very, very overweight person, like I see often in the US where we also eat a lot of sugar. However, I do think it has to do with lifestyle. Russian meal portions are often smaller, leading to lower daily calorie intake, and many Russians walk a lot of places in the city, or if in the country, do a lot of physical tasks that burn calories.

As for no recipes for kvass without sugar, I am assuming this is because it is a fermented drink. In kombucha, you have to add sugar because the culture turns the sugar into a sort of vinegar/alcohol and that's how you get the final product. There isn't much sugar in the final product of kombucha and I bet it's the same way for kvass.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Peach Jalapeno Jelly. Made with my Peaches and Jalapenos.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Refrigerator Dill Pickles!

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Peach Jalapeno Jelly. Made with my Peaches and Jalapenos.
View attachment 3608433
View attachment 3608438
View attachment 3608439

Wow! Sounds so good. Would you mind sharing your recipe? Just picked up some peaches and have some jalapeños growing out back.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

@HenriettaPizzaNolan
3 1/2 pounds of peaches thinly sliced or cubed small
3 jalapenos deseeded and chopped
7 1/2 cups of sugar
2 pouches of liquid Certo pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons butter

Put the peaches, jalapenos, sugar and lemon juice in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook until peaches are tender. If it foams add the butter.
When peaches are tender, stir in the pectin. Let it come back to a boil for 1 minute.
1/4-inch headspace, process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

@HenriettaPizzaNolan
3 1/2 pounds of peaches thinly sliced or cubed small
3 jalapenos deseeded and chopped
7 1/2 cups of sugar
2 pouches of liquid Certo pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons butter

Put the peaches, jalapenos, sugar and lemon juice in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook until peaches are tender. If it foams add the butter.
When peaches are tender, stir in the pectin. Let it come back to a boil for 1 minute.
1/4-inch headspace, process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Thank you!