It has become a tradition for our family to help some friends move their cattle to pasture in spring. This is always an exciting day, depending on the weather and attitude of the cows.
One year it was so wet and muddy that we had to abandon one of the three-wheelers in the mud.
This year was hot and windy; the cows and calves tired quickly and needed to be watered twice during the 22-kilometre trek. Our standup supper beside the truck gave the cattle and cattle drivers another needed rest break. With calving completed and the cattle in pasture, there is a welcome shift to a more relaxed chore schedule.
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Pickling vegetable marrow
Dear TEAM: I have been looking for a recipe that my mother used to make years ago. She grew vegetable marrows and made a jam with vegetable marrow and walnuts. Would you have any recipes made from vegetable marrows? – L.S., Alder Flats, Alta.
Dear L.S.: Here are three recipes.
Vegetable marrow marmalade
12 cups ground 3 L
vegetable marrow
10 cups sugar 2.5 L
6 oranges
6 lemons
1 14 oz. can 398 mL
crushed pineapple
1/2 cup water 125 mL
2 cups walnuts 500 mL
(optional)
Put vegetable marrow through food chopper. Then put in a pot to cook together with water for about one half-hour. Watch so as not to burn. Stir often.
Grate the orange and lemon rinds, then peel off the white layer and discard. Put oranges and lemon rinds through a food chopper. Add this to the marrow juice along with the grated rind, sugar and pineapple. Cook for 11/2 hours or until thickened. Stir often, especially toward the last hour of cooking. Add walnuts, if desired. Remove from heat; skim foam using a metal spoon.
Fill a boiling water canner with water. Place 12 clean half-pint (250 mL) mason jars in canner. Cover, bring water to a boil; boil at least 10 minutes to sterilize jars at altitudes up to 305 metres (1,000 feet). Place snap lids in boiling water and boil five minutes to soften sealing compound.
Ladle marmalade into a hot jar to within 0.5 centimetres (1/4 inch) of top rim to leave headspace. Remove air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between glass and food. Readjust headspace to 0.5 cm. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre lid on jar; apply screwband just until fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining marmalade.
Cover the canner. Return water to a boil and process five minutes at altitudes up to 305 m. Remove jars. Cool 24 hours. Check jar seals. Sealed lids curve downward. Wipe jars, label and store in a cool, dark place.
Recipe source: Baba’s Cook Book by Emily Linkiewich, 1979. Canning information source Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving 1996.
Vegetable marrow jam
6 pounds vegetable 4.5 L
marrow (about 18 cups)
9 cups brown sugar 2.25 L
2 lemons, rind and juice
2 ounces dry whole 55 g
ginger root
Prepare marrow by dividing into four pieces lengthwise. Remove seeds and pulp. Slice as you would cucumber. Put in a large pan, add sugar and let stand for 24 hours. Add lemon juice and rind, and ginger tied in a bag and boil slowly for three hours. Boil rapidly for the last 10 minutes. Pour into hot sterilized pint (500 mL) jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Then follow processing instructions in vegetable marrow marmalade recipe.
Source: Home Canning, Alberta Agriculture Homedex 1151-1. compiled by Blue Flame Kitchen Home Economists 1980.
Mustard cucumber or vegetable marrow pickle
10 cups peeled, 2.5 L
diced ripe cucumber
or vegetable marrow,
cut in half-inch (1 cm) cubes
11/2 cups coarsely 375 mL
chopped onion
2 tablespoons salt 30 mL
1 teaspoon turmeric 5 mL
1/2 cup dry mustard 125 mL
1/2 cup flour 125 mL
2 teaspoons salt 10 mL
2 cups brown sugar 500 mL
3 cups vinegar 750 mL
1 cup water 250 mL
1 tablespoon celery 15 mL
seed
Combine vegetables with the salt and let stand one hour. Drain thoroughly. Cook gently in about two cups (500 mL) water until tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
Fill a boiling water canner with water. Place four clean pint (500 mL) mason jars in canner over high heat.
Make a mustard sauce by mixing turmeric, mustard, flour, salt and brown sugar to a smooth, thin paste with 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the vinegar. Heat remaining vinegar and celery seed to the boiling point. Slowly add some of the hot vinegar to the mustard paste, blending well. Return to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly until slightly thickened, about five minutes.
Place snap lids in boiling water; boil five minutes to soften sealing compound.
Add drained, cooked vegetables to mustard sauce and bring to boil. Pour into hot sterilized jars leaving a half-inch (one cm) headspace. Remove air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between the glass and food; readjust headspace. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Then follow processing instructions in vegetable marrow marmalade recipe.
Source: Jams, Jellies and Pickles, Canada Department of Agriculture 1956. Canning information source Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving 1996.
