How To

This month’s Canadian Food Experience Project focuses on resolutions. I could have used my culinary bucket list as my contribution, but I don’t do proper resolutions and felt this was a bit of a cheat.  Then I rethought things. I’ve been wearing blinkers. The word “resolution” has...

A lot of recipes, especially for jams and sauces, call for a non-reactive pot or bowl. When a recipe writer specifies a non-reactive vessel, we're not trying to be confusing or cryptic or sound like a know-it-all -- even if that's how we come off....

My bedroom closet houses clothes, shoes, a cat-clawed housecoat, my knitting needle collection and a food dehydrator. Too wide for our narrow pantry, this unit spends most of the year in a corner of my closet looking like an abandoned R2-D2 action figure on Boxing...

As the late-summer harvest reaches its peak, I've been covering the basics of homemade jams and jellies. Making delicious, well-set preserves isn't alchemy but you do need to have a few basic pieces of equipment and understand what's required to make jams safe. Below is...

Even with a solid recipe, good ingredients and the right equipment, telling when a jam or jelly is set can be tricky. If you don't cook it long enough you can end up with fruit sauce. If you cook it too long you have a...

For those who are coming late to this series on homemade preserves, you might want to read the two previous posts. 1. Essential Tools for Making Preserves  and 2. Key Ingredients for Great Homemade Jams and Jellies. For those, like me, who just want to...

So, now that you have all the preserving equipment at hand, what goes into a delicious, properly set -- and safe -- batch of  jam or jelly? Other than a recipe written and tested post-1989? Not all that much. You actually require more equipment than ingredients...

I made my first batch of jam with nothing more specialized than two Dutch ovens and mismatched mason jars that had been collecting dust and dead spiders in the basement. Because I feared spiders more than bacteria, I put all my effort into sterilizing the...

The vanilla extract on the left is full of seeds and has a whole pod in the bottle. The vanilla beans on the right are fresh, fragrant and supple enough to knot. Both products are Really Horrible. Seriously. They're from Really Horrible Enterprises located in Ottawa, ON. I...