Pickling Salt and Other Canning Supplies

On July 31, 2023May 10, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, TopicLeave a comment

Canning season is upon us, and I’ve been writing canning-related pieces for several websites. If you’re new to home canning or experienced but looking to learn more about key ingredients and tools, these articles and product reviews provide valuable insight and suggest supplies you may want to keep handy over the next few months.

You can also find plenty of info on the basics of home canning, how to get ready to can, and other canning topics here on the blog. Beyond the new pieces I share in this post, you’ll want to check out the roundup of my go-to canning cookbooks for The Spruce Eats.

Personally, I’ve started my canning season with tart cherry pie filling, which I canned up using recipes from Preserving With Pomona’s Pectin and The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving so that I can compare the two versions and decide which I prefer. I’ve also made a batch of Roasted Raspberry Syrup, a particular favorite in my sister’s house. Using other preserving techniques, I’ve been playing with rhubarb, currant, cherry, mixed berry, and other shrub variations and keeping my fermentation crock full with curtido, an El Salvadoran cabbage slaw preserved with pickling salt, based on recipes from my pickling cookbook.
Learn about choosing Pickling Salt and Other Canning Supplies

Dill-Infused Yogurt Sauce or Dressing

On July 6, 2023July 6, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, Ingredient, TopicLeave a comment

Dill may be an annual herb, but it self-seeds so readily that I think of it as part of my perennial collection. Like cilantro, I save some seed to use each year in the kitchen, letting the rest drop in the garden for next year’s crop. Dill seed isn’t quite as versatile as cilantro seed (better known as coriander), but I keep a bit on hand to use in pickles and mustards.

Fresh dill fronds can find more uses, as I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. Sometimes called dill weed to distinguish it from full dill heads or individual seeds, its strong flavor goes a long way, although I do pile it on when making gravlax. With a self-seeded crop, I can harvest plenty of fronds without running short on dill heads. We recently discovered another bonus of growing dill: a brood of black swallowtail caterpillars. They’re such beautiful and effective pollinators I’m happy to share some of my dill with them.
Learn to make Dill-Infused Yogurt Sauce or Dressing

Beyond Tasty

On April 7, 2023May 10, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, UsingLeave a comment

I’m excited to announce that my writing endeavors have been expanding to include several new-to-me publications—and going beyond featuring recipes, cooking techniques, and kitchen tools.

When I started this food blog in 2016, I was primarily working as a freelance editor with a few writing projects for some of my editing clients. After I published my cookbook The Complete Guide to Pickling in 2020, I began writing more pieces for other publications. With the launch of my Twice as Tasty column in the Flathead Beacon in 2021, I continued to spend less time editing and more time writing. In recent months, I’ve begun to work with an even wider range of publications.

You can now find my writing and photography on Kitchn, Taste of Home, and Health.com, even as I continue to write for The Spruce Eats and my weekly Flathead Beacon column.
Learn more about my latest projects

Kitchen Favorites: Canning Cookbooks

On January 27, 2023January 24, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Topic1 Comment

It might not feel like canning season with garden beds buried in snow. Still, seed catalogs keep arriving. To my mind, the smart way to grow and preserve your own food is to follow the progression from buying seeds to planting to harvesting to canning. That means that now, as I choose varieties from seed catalogs, I’m noting the recipes that I hope to can in summer or fall.

If you think the same way, you’ll want to be leafing through some of the canning cookbooks in my recent piece for The Spruce Eats. I originally wrote this roundup in 2021 and shared more about sourcing safe canning recipes in a related blog post. I’ve updated the list with new editions of some of my favorite canning books plus a couple of newer releases worth adding to your canning shelves.
Learn about choosing and using canning cookbooks

Best Gifts for Foodies

On December 21, 2022December 20, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Grilling, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

When I was asked to come up with some categories of gifts for foodies—and ideas to fill them—I didn’t hesitate in saying yes. My work for The Spruce Eats has given me many chances to suggest kitchen-focused gift ideas based on the tools I use every day in my own kitchen. This product roundup let me explore further ideas for specific types of foodies, from cocktail geeks to gardeners.

The piece has just gone live, in time for your last-minute holiday shopping or to keep in mind for upcoming birthdays and graduations. The ideas go beyond tools for the kitchen to include spice blends, infused syrups and oils, lunch kits, and food and beverage subscriptions and gift packs.
Learn choosing gifts for foodies

Kitchen Favorites: Garlic Rocker

On December 5, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Tools, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

When I was asked to test an array of garlic presses last year, I hadn’t expected to keep any for my own kitchen. I grow and use piles of garlic; I’m just comfortable rock-chopping it for Sourdough Garlic Knots, slicing it for Spanish Shrimp in Garlic Oil, and roasting and squeezing it onto everything. When I owned a garlic press, it just took up space in my utensil drawer, sitting unused far too long before I gave it away.

Then, when I’d finished testing garlic presses, the look, feel, and easy use of the Joseph Joseph Garlic Rocker made it hard to give up. So I tucked it into my utensil drawer, determined to make it useful enough to justify its position in my tiny kitchen. And I’ve done just that, as I share in my latest piece for The Spruce Eats.
Learn about choosing and using garlic rockers and presses

Kitchen Favorites: Ice Trays

On October 18, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Topic2 Comments

I’ve been writing a lot recently about some of my favorite tools for freezer storage: ice trays. As I mentioned last week in my Flathead Beacon column, ice trays that make 1-cup cubes have become my new favorite tools for freezing stocks. Earlier this year, I had the chance to test and review a collection of ice trays that produce cubes in a range of sizes. While most of my testing involved making ice for cocktails, I also used some of the trays to freeze pesto, sauces, and more for quick and easy storage.

One of these trays ended up being my favorite for 1-ounce portions, as I share in my latest piece for The Spruce Eats. The Everyday Ice Tray is part of W&P’s Peak collection, along with the Cup Cubes Freezer Tray that I’ve been using for stocks. I’m not a W&P affiliate and don’t earn a commission on sales; I just really like these trays for freezing food.
Learn about choosing and using ice trays

Kitchen Favorites: Grill Mats

On October 4, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, TopicLeave a comment

Over the last couple of summers, I’ve been questioned often about one of my favorite cooking tools—one that I use not in my kitchen but on the grill. When I pull out a Yoshi copper grill mat, people are drawn not just to what I’m preparing on it but to the thin, flexible mat itself. So I was excited to share how I use grill mats in my latest piece for The Spruce Eats.

As I explain in my post, which joins my recent story about my favorite immersion blender in the website’s new “This Is Fire” series, my grill mats come in handy on a range of grills. At home, we use them on an old charcoal Weber kettle grill, which we restore to functionality every time a handle or wheel comes off. We also use Yoshi copper mats on public grills so that Grilled Fish Skewers don’t pick up the flavor of the prior griller’s burgers. We even use them aboard the Blue Mule on a small portable gas grill, setting it up in the sailboat’s cockpit to cook locally caught fish and—in a pinch—scrambled eggs.
Learn about choosing and using grill mats

Choosing Ice Cube Trays

On September 2, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Topic1 Comment

When The Spruce Eats asked me to test some top-selling ice cube trays, I had no hesitation saying “yes.” Besides using trays to freeze water into cubes, I rely on them for freezing a range of homemade sauces, syrups, pesto, and other recipes I make from homegrown produce and use in small servings throughout the year.

The website recently published my testing results and photos. I froze and used a lot of ice cubes for this project and even took several of the trays to a Twice as Tasty cocktail workshop for a wider range of feedback. Some of these trays have been in regular use all summer for far more than ice.
Learn choosing and using ice cube trays

Gearing Up to Preserve

On July 7, 2022July 7, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Column, Dehydrating, Dry storage, Fermenting, Freezing, Refrigerating, TopicLeave a comment

My fridge is currently full of macerating rhubarb and recently picked homegrown strawberries, ready to be turned today into jams and shrubs. I’m not the only one gearing up to preserve, as I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. A local farmer told me last week that her crew has made 50 pounds of Rhubarb Kimchi, building on my recipe in The Complete Guide to Pickling. Tangy Radish Rounds and Spring Asparagus Pickles are also currently popular recipes from the book.

I’ll eventually be turning rhubarb into kimchi and fermented pickles, but today’s projects are on the sweeter side. Our strawberry crop has hit its peak, so I’ll be developing some jam recipes to share down the road, featuring the sweet fruit and pairing it with rhubarb. I’ll also be canning up one of my seasonal favorites: Rhubarb–Earl Grey Jam.
Learn how to gear up for preserving