Seed Starting

It seems to early in the year to be thinking of starting seeds, and the winter is still raging outside with snow banks taller than I am and no sign of stopping just yet. I can barely see the garden gate (it is buried that deep in snow) let alone the garden, but it is the very beginning of seed starting time up here in my Zone 5 garden.

This is the weekend when we start the earliest seeds, to give them enough time to germinate and grow strong enough to go outside at the last frost date. Mostly, this is the weekend to start onions. I also usually start Parsley at the same time as well.

Unfortunately my onion seeds haven't arrived yet, but will be here shortly, so I am preparing to plant them as soon as they get here. You have to grow "new" onion seeds every year because, unlike some other vegetables, onion seeds don't last very long. You can either grow  from the ones you collected the year before or you can buy new every year. I haven't had the patience yet to let some onions stay in the garden a second year until they go to seed, therefore I buy new seeds each year. This year I ordered "Ailsa Craig" from Heritage Harvest Seed and "Australian Brown" from Baker Creek Seeds. "Ailsa Craig" is supposed to be quite large and mild, a yellow skinned Spanish type onion, better suited to eating fresh rather than storing. "Australian Brown", on the other hand, is a great storage onion with a stronger flavour and gets good reviews for consistent performance in heavy clay soil. I'm excited about both!

I have also narrowed down my list and planned the vegetable garden. I'll be trying corn for the first time, which is exciting. I hope the racoons don't discover it!

Parsley "Giant of Italy"
Cilantro "Slo Bolt"
Basil "Corsican"
Dill "Dukat"
Summer Savory
Mint: Orange Mint, Spearmint, Apple Mint,  Chocolate Mint
Oregano
Rosemary
Chives
Thyme
Lemon Thyme
Celery "Tendercrisp"
Summer Squash "Ronde de Nice"
Summer Squash "Costata Romanesco"
Winter Squash "Boston Marrow"
Cabbage "Red Express"
Cabbage "Early Jersey Wakefield"
Cucumber "Japanese Long"
Carrot "Amarillo"
Carrot "Nantes Coreless"
Onion "Australian Brown"
Onion "Ailsa Craig"
Garlic
Bean (bush) "Piros Feher" (shelly)
Bean (bush) "Ireland Creek Annie" (dry)
Bean (pole) "Amish Gnuttle" (dry)
Bean (pole) "Good Mother Stallard" (dry)
Corn (sweet) "Simonet"
Pepper (chili) "Alma"
Pepper (chili) "Black Hungarian"
Pepper (chili) "Pasilla Bajio"
Pepper (sweet) "Marconi red"
Pepper (sweet) "Jimmy Nardello"
Pepper (sweet) "Sweet Chocolate Bell"

Tomatoes - this year's colours of choice, to narrow down options, are white and black:
Amazon Chocolate
Black Ethiopian
Black Krim
Black from Tula
Paul Robeson
Brad's Black Heart
Bedouin
Nyagous
Noire de Cosseboef
Japanese Black Trifele
Carbon
Sara Black
White Wonder
White Queen
Great White
(also one of White Beauty, Snowball, or Cherokee Chocolate)
and the paste variety Cuore di Bue

So, the onion seeds will get planted when they arrive and next up will be the Peppers (both Sweet and Chili) somewhere around the second week of March. Hopefully it will look and feel more like Spring then!

Pork Chops with Balsamic Cherry Preserves

I was looking around the kitchen, trying to decide what I wanted to make for dinner tonight, and my eye rested on the pork chops that I had bought ... beautiful, thick-cut pork chops. I had wanted to grill them and then make a sauce to pour on top. Usually I'd make a mustard-blue cheese sauce or another creamy sauce during the winter, but I wasn't really in the mood for that so I went down to the pantry shelf where I keep all my jars of preserves that I make during the summer and fall harvest.

I had made a small batch, about 4 half-pints, of a Balsamic Cherry Preserves (and I had never really known exactly where I would use it) but today I thought ... well, pork and apples go well together, pork and other fruits go well together, why not pork and balsamic cherry preserves? I just heated the canned Balsamic Cherry preserves in a small saucepan on the stovetop until it was heated through. It gets more liquid as it heats, but if you wanted, you could add a splash of white wine to thin it out to a thinner sauce-like consistency.When the pork chops were done, I just poured the sauce over top.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Definitely how I will be using the other jars. And I wanted to share the recipe for the Balsamic Cherry Preserves. I made this recipe last summer when our Cherry tree was abundant, we were overflowing with cherries, and I didn't want to use ALL of them to make jam. This sauce is something I would absolutely make again. The mix of dark, sweet cherries and a tart, tangy balsamic vinegar is almost decadent. This is nice as a sauce for Pork or other savoury dishes (Roast Beef comes to mind), but would also be really nice spread on buttered toast (or maybe even over ice cream or yogurt).

Balsamic Cherry Preserves

Ingredients:

8 Cups             Sweet Cherries, stemmed and pitted and quartered/halved

1/4 Cup           Water

1 Cup              Sugar

1/4 Cup           Balsamic Vinegar

2 pinches         Salt

 

Directions:

In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine the cherries and a splash of water. Bring to a boil, stirring and crushing the cherries with the back of your spoon. This breaks the fruit up and releases juices.

Once boiling, add the sugar, vinegar and salt. Decrease the heat slightly and cook at what I'd consider a medium boil - not going crazy, but more than a simmer. Frequently stir and crush the cherries. Cook for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let your pot sit for five minutes. Skim off any foam, and stir one final time.

Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, or refrigerate.

Notes:

These preserves are a bit looser than a classic jam. Cherries are low pectin fruits so unless you were to add pectin, it’s a more syrupy kind of final product.

Variations:
Try it with a vanilla bean cooked with the cherries. Also try using a stick of cinnamon or some finely grated orange zest.