Photo: Gibbs Smith

'Putting Up: A Seasonal Guide to Canning in the Southern Tradition'
by Stephen Palmer Dowdney
Gibbs Smith -- 2008
Buy it on Amazon

You know how your friend's cousin's boyfriend's grandma, like, totally killed a neighbor by innocently giving her a batch of her home-canned beans that oops, turned out to have a touch of the botulism? That's never going to happen to you. Not on Steve Dowdney's watch.

This can-vangelist has culled years of his own know-how, as well as the collective wisdom of generations of Southern cooks, into a rigorous, nigh-on religious canning primer. The recipes are solid -- almost a shade clinical -- but the opening chapter, packed with equipment tips, altitude and pH charts, preparation terms and step-by-step best practices, could be a stand-alone manual, not to mention the only one you'd ever need to buy.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Nothing tastes sweeter than homemade jam. Luckily, you don't need to be a canning pro to whip up a batch for the fridge.

I have to admit, I've never heard of Peanut Butter Bread before, but it sounds rather perfect.

I mean, if you're a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, this might be just the thing to make them with. Just think: you won't have to take the time to spread that messy peanut butter anymore, it's already inside the bread. Just add some jelly and grab a glass of milk and you're good to go (unless you love peanut butter so much you want to add more). I wonder if it makes a difference whether it's creamy or crunchy?

And I guess I should clarify by what I mean by "fat-free foods." I'm not talking about foods that are naturally fat-free, such as celery or water (those are the first two examples that come to mind). I mean foods that usually have a fat version but also have a fat-free version. On to the list (and yes, I'm well aware that fat-free doesn't necessarily mean healthy and can often be higher in sugar).

1. Fat-Free Milk: If you had asked me ten years ago that today I'd be drinking fat-free milk instead of whole milk, I would have thought you were crazy. But I love it, and in fact, can't even drink whole milk anymore. Tastes too thick and heavy for me.

When I first came across the idea of nailing Jello to a wall, I thought it was pretty funny. Strange, but funny. Now that an alert reader has pointed out to me that this was not an isolated incident and that many people out there devote time to the very same thing, I have to admit that I am a little disturbed.

My Science Project has taken their love for all things Jello and conducted a study into the "feasibility of securing Jell-O to a vertical surface by means of manually impacted cylindrical metal fasteners." In other words, they attempted to nail jello to a wall. They tried the standard recipe, jello with holes molded into it, jello with straw supports and jello with fruit. The best recipe was one they termed "ballistic jello," which involved about an ounce of gelatin in 2 cups of water.

I'm thinking that this challenge could be some sort of a party game. Possibly at the same types of parties that serve lots and lots of jello shots early in the evening.

[thanks, Eric]

When people are bored, they come up with all sorts of unusual experiments that, if otherwise occupied, perhaps they wouldn't ordinarily try. There is little doubt that this has led to some great discoveries over the years, but this particular one is probably unlikely to have widespread cultural ramifications. It involves Jello and the question of whether or not it can be nailed to a wall.

I won't keep you in suspense. Jello - or jelly if you're not from the US - cannot be nailed to a wall in its standard form. When prepared according to package directions, the amount of gelatin that gives the food its signature "jiggle" is not enough to hold it together when nailed to a board. If you live somewhere where you can purchase concentrated jelly/Jello cubes, however, you will find that it can easily be nailed to a wall.

Mystery solved.

[via boingboing]

Last month, the worldwide food blogging event Sugar High Friday took it to the extreme with frozen and chilled desserts. This month, host Delicious Days chose the theme of Jams and Jellies, just in time for preserving the fruity (and veggie) goodness of summer's produce. There were almost 60 participants, with recipes, stories, and best of all, photos, of jams and jellies made with everything from apricots to jalapeno peppers. If you're trying to figure out what to do with that basket of late-season peaches you picked up at the farmers' market, take a peek!

Jam does not have to be sweet, though it is most often defined as a preserved mixture of cooked fruit and sugar that is quite sweet. David Lebovitz kept in some of the fruit and sugar elements of a traditional jam, but added some less traditional elements to make his Shallot, Beer, Prune, and Cocoa Nib Jam. It might not be the perfect complement for your morning scone or muffin, but the sweet and savory relish makes a nice hors d'oeuvre spread with cheese and crackers or counterpart to meaty dishes, such as lamb or, as David suggests, foie gras. And even f you don't want it on a scone, it would probably still make a lovely addition to breakfast with eggs and sausage.

Jam is falling out of fashion. The sweet treat, a cooked combination of sugar and fruit, seems to be being shunned for health reasons. It's not the fruit that's the problem, of course. It's the sugar.

Sugar has been villainized by the health-craze and rising carb-consciousness of recent years and, as jams are often half sugar, it might make sense that consumers could be concerned. Of course, jam is hardly a major source of sugar in people's diets, though the fruity spreads often have much more sugar than fruit, very few people are eating jam by the jarful. More than likely, candy and sodas are far exceeding the consumption of sugar from jam, but the preserves industry is taking a hit because it is something people feel they are willing to go without.

The trend is very noticeable in England, where jam or marmalade was served with toast and scones at both breakfast and tea on most days. I am certain that I'm not the only one who has noticed the proliferation of sugar-free "jams" on this side of the Atlantic, too.

I don't want to see jam go the way of other, once beloved, foods. Jam is delicious and far from the worst thing you can eat. Perhaps a campaign to spread awareness is in order.

When you hear the phrase "peanut butter and jelly," chances are you think of a childhood snack or a tasty lunch, tucked away in a brown paper bag. The idea might not inspire the same mouthwatering temptation that it did when you were ten, but perhaps this updated version of the classic pair is enough to. Kuidaore used Thomas Keller's take on peanut butter and jelly as inspiration to put together these phenominal treats: grown up peanut butter cups with yuzu pate de fruit "jellies".

They may not be neatly spread between two slices of bread, but I know that I certainly wouldn't turn up my nose after finding either of these in my lunch.

Most American diners don't associate Asian foods with dessert. They think about sushi and spring rolls, maybe even pad thai. Sweets are limited to a fortune cookie and a milky Thai iced tea, though there are many sweet offerings in the countries that have inspired these foods. One treat, as an article in the SF Guardian pointed out, did achieve success: boba (bubble) tea, though its heyday seems to have passed and there are no longer a dozen joints a day springing up in college towns.

Two companies think that they can continue the trend and bring their Asian treats to mainstream America. One is Beard Papa, a chain that sells only cream puffs and has become very popular not only for its high quality puffs, but for its novelty. They have done very well so far, and more locations are opening all the time.

When I was little and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day to take in my lunch, I hated it when peanut butter would get in to the jar with the jam, or vice versa. I also didn't want to have to wipe off or wash the knife halfway through making my sandwich because it seemed inefficient and, to maximize my sleeping time, I wanted a fast sandwich. As a result, I tried to use the exact amount of peanut butter or jelly, so as to have none left on the knife. At 8 years old, I thought this seemed pretty clever, but  having one of these dual-sided peanut butter and jelly spreaders would have solved my problems completely. The color-coded sides enable you to dip to your heart's content without mixing the contents of the jars. They're $11.99 and, to justify the expense on the silicone kitchen tool, you can use them for anything from buttering toast to spreading frosting on cupcakes.

Petit fours are classic party treats. True, they are seen more often on a plate of pastries at an elegant hotel then they are at an at-home party, but that shouldn't be the case. They are easy to make. You can see that I left one of mine only half covered in chocolate so that it would be easier to see the components.

Start with a store-bought pound cake or sponge cake. Cut it into one-inch cubes and then cut those in half lengthwise. Spread a thin layer of jam in between the cake slices and stack them back up. Melt down some white chocolate and dip the cake square into it. Place the dipped petit fours onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper to dry, topping them with sprinkles or other small decorations while they are still sticky. This is a great activity for kids because the chocolate can be melted in the microwave and they definitely won't mind getting their fingers sticky in the chocolate!

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Scientists around the world are working to develop a reliable process that will grow meat in a lab from a few cells. So far, they have successfully grown meat tissue that, while it smells like meat, neither looks nor tastes very much like the real thing. The process has only been done on a small scale and the results resemble jelly. Flesh colored jelly. To get an idea of what this product currently looks like, take a look at PBS's virtual taste test, which compares the properties of lab meat to animal meat.

Scientists hope to see this jelly develop into something that looks and tastes like the cuts of meat that can be achieved from butchering a cow - without having to kill the cow and with the added benefit of being able to grow the meat at home in an incubator. Achieving this goal would nearly eliminate the need for animals in meat production and reduce the total energy and expense required to feed, raise, slaughter and transport those animals.

Meat from a non-sentient source presents an interesting problem for vegetarians, as many become vegetarians for ethical reasons alone, objecting to the practice of raising animals for slaughter. Because the initial culture cells can be taken without harming the donor animal, no animals would be harmed in this type of meat production. In-home meat growth might also limit access to truly natural meat, which may raise concerns of those who are against artificial and otherwise modified food products.

There is a short video segment available on the PBS website about cultured meat and a poll which reveals that 45% of respondents would eat the artificially grown meat. I can't honestly count myself among them.

From now until the end of August, one of my absolute favorite candies is having a contest. Jelly Belly's Taste the Mystery contest has put one of five mystery flavors into bags of Jelly Belly's and, by identifying the flavor in your bag and typing your secret code in on the contest website you have a chance to win the grand prize of $250,000 among other things. Admittedly, the odds of winning are slim, but I am mostly interested in the new flavors and not the grand prize. The question-marked jelly beans come in Apple Pie, Maple Syrup, Raisin, Ice Cream Sandwich and Papaya. This particular package of mine had the Ice Cream Sandwich beans and I can assure you that they are excellent. I hope they add at least a few of the new flavors to the famous 49-flavor mix when the contest ends.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]