Canning and preserving, to fill shelves with colorful jars, is great, but what now? How do we incorporate home canning in meals? For me, it was a bit of a learning curve. Recipes usually do not ask for home-canned produce. Some popular brands of condiments or salsa on a grocery store shelf might have found their way into a recipe. For the most part, we had to find our own way.
My goal with food preservation is to create simple, nutritious, and delicious meals from what grows in our garden. Since our growing season is so short, we preserve a lot of what we grow for winter. Canning is one of the 5 ways we preserve food. Incorporating home-canning in meals is a big part of it.
Cooking in freestyle allows us to use what we have in our pantry. If freestyle cooking is new to you, head over and learn the basics here.
In this blog post, we share many ideas for incorporating home-canned goods into meals and two bonus recipes to use up all the home-canned goods in your pantry. We will cover:
Using home-canned condiments
Using home-canned side dishes
Cook with home-canned food
Using home-canned fruit
Using home-canned condiments
Condiments are usually used in two ways: as a table condiment or for preparation and cooking. We will cover cooking later. Here, let’s look at condiments added to food after cooking to enhance a specific flavor or complement the dish.
Ketchup, mustard, hot- or barbecue sauce can all be made at home. Our first choice is salsa to make and use at the table.
One of our favorites is Carrot pepper salsa with roasted veggies. Here, in combination with Nut cheese sauce and home-canned chickpeas. Click on the links to find all the recipes. Yum!
Any root vegetables, as well as squash, work with this combination. In the picture above, we used homegrown chickpeas and roasted spaghetti squash.
Another favorite of ours is Ranchero Salsa. It is not as hot as the fermented hot pepper sauce that we also love, but way more flavourful than plain ketchup. It can easily replace it, though, for example, with homemade French fries.
Salsa or hot sauce adds color and flavor to a dish. However, it does not have to be a sauce that will spice up a dish. Pickled hot peppers and garlic scapes taste and look good, too.
Get creative with your home canning. If you use many condiments, find recipes that can replace the ones you buy at the store. The All-New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving might give you some new ideas.
Using home-canned side dishes
Using pickled or canned veggies as a side dish is the simplest way to incorporate canned food into meals. Many common vegetables, pickled or pressure-canned, find their way onto our plates.
One day, I served my pressure-canned carrots in orange juice, warmed up with some sesame seeds, to dinner guests. One of our guests wanted to know more about them, assuming it was some fancy recipe. I still remember her surprised look when I revealed that they came out of a canning jar.
Many of our canning recipes are specifically made to be side dishes. Here is pepper lecho served with pan-fried potatoes. Potatoes go so well with home-canned veggies, and oftentimes the potatoes themselves have been high-pressure canned.
Here is our popular zucchini salad served with Mujadara (Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions) cooked in the Instant Pot. Mujadara is so filling and simple to make.
Mujadara recipe
1 cup lentils
3/4 cup whole grain rice
1 -2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon or to taste ground cumin
1 teaspoon or to taste salt
3 cups of water
Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes
Top with Caramelized Onions in some butter.
Mujadara can be served plain; however, we like it with one of our canned side dishes. As a reader worded it: “It’s like opening a jar of summer” to add to a simple dish. Serve it in an extra bowl, or together on one plate.
Here we served it with Zucchini tongue. Cucumber and tomato lecho or pepper lecho are other options. Each time the dish will taste a bit differently.
Cook with home-canned food
If you are canning soups and stews that are already a dish on their own, that is great. Here, we look at ideas that are not already meal recipes. How can we incorporate home-canned food in cooking?
Cooking with home-canned food allows us to make homemade fast food without compromising. What makes a good side dish (see above) also makes a good soup.
This is not an actual recipe here, I might just cook some pasta (about half a pound), add a jar of pressure canned beans, a jar of veggies or Zesty salsa, a cup of homemade vegetable broth, spice it up with some homemade garlic powder, cumin, turmeric, hot pepper powder, or fire cider pulp and the soup is ready to serve. Instead of pasta, winter squash works well too.
Or I use a pound of pasta, a jar of Ikra, and kidney beans, and make it into a casserole.
Ajika salsa is the way to go if I need an instant sauce. It tastes great on its own, but warmed up with a heaped spoon of peanut butter, it turns into a creamy delicatessen. I’m sure any canned salsa would work; however, ajika is packed full of garden goodness, making it extra special.
Using home-canned fruit
Last but not least, let’s look into home-canned fruit. We all love jam on a sandwich, but home-canned fruit can do more. Here we look into brunch or dessert ideas, or just a sweet treat in between.
Jam is a great place to start, though. It is so simple to make. Mix it with your favorite plain yogurt, and you have an instant dessert. I also like to add a tablespoon of chia seeds to thicken.
Apple jam-topped crepes do not just look appetizing; they are delicious.
Canned fruit is great for baking. Find a dozen ways to preserve apples here.
It does not have to be a pie; here are steamed buns baked on top of a canned jar of apples. Quite often, I simplify this process by using homemade buns, topped with canned fruit and/or juice, and warming them up quickly in the microwave. Tastes almost as good and takes a minute. If you follow us on Instagram, you might have seen me sharing pictures.
And since sharing yummy recipes is so fun, here is one more for you. If you are not canning dry beans yet, learn here how.
Black beans chocolate pudding recipe
1-pint jar (500ml) of black beans, best home-canned since we use everything
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (use less if using extract)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix together in a food processor or blender till smooth.
Top with canned pears (Spirited pears taste best here), or any canned fruit of your choice, and enjoy.
Now it is your turn. What are some ways you incorporate home-canned food in your meals? Please share in a comment below.
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Thanks for the ideas, and the prodding to look at my larder a different way!
Your CARROT PEPPER SALSA RECIPE looks wonderful! I tried making an Apple Salsa and was so happily surprised at the outcome. I had an abundance of apples and was searching for other ways to use them in meals. Going to try that Black bean chocolate pudding recipe, YUM!
So far I’ve only made rhubarb-orange jam, which is a sort of jam/marmalade. My mother makes rhubarb and strawberry jam, which is neat because they come out of the same raised bed.