Tag: favorite recipe

Making Friends with Fermentation

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn FermentingLeave a comment

Does fermenting at home scare you? It’s understandable but easy to overcome. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
I’m still getting lots of questions about last month’s posts on fermenting vegetables at home. If you’re afraid to ferment your own produce, it’s likely because the technique is unfamiliar. I understand the hesitation: Fermentation involves so few ingredients and tools but so much time that you worry about messing it up.

Fortunately, fermenting has a long history, and it’s modern popularity is on the rise. This translates to lots of fabulous resources to help you become comfortable with fermenting fruits and vegetables. Here are some of my favorite sources for fermentation recipes and advice.
Read more about home fermentation

Savory Spreads: Toms and Zukes

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn CanningLeave a comment

High-pectin, high-acid fruits are natural partners for low-pectin, low-acid vegetables in savory spreads. Get canning recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.

The first savory spread I canned, from Liana Krissoff’s Canning for a New Generation, featured tomatoes and basil. It inspired me not only to evolve the recipe but also to make other spreads that feature vegetables. Krissoff’s book also showed me the advantages of incorporating fresh fruit into these spreads. Pectin occurs naturally in fruits, and some fruits, like apples and oranges, have lots of it. Most fruits also have enough natural acid that you don’t need to add vinegar to preserve them safely. This makes them natural partners for low-pectin, low-acid vegetables.

In this week’s recipes, the apples don’t have to look or even taste perfect: you’re mainly interested in their pectin. So save your sweetest apples for fresh eating and use tart, underripe ones with your tomato and zucchini. You also have lots of choices for tomatoes and basil, but for the prettiest jars, stick to one color of each per batch.

Learn to make Tomato–Apple–Basil Jam and Fall Marmalade

Garden to Table

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn UsingLeave a comment

Tasty food starts in the garden. Read more about my favorite gardening resources.
Tasty food starts in the garden. It’s rare for me to post a recipe without mentioning homegrown ingredients, freshly harvested produce, and other gardening thoughts. Sometimes I make suggestions for planning, growing, maintaining, and harvesting food from your garden, including herbs, fruits, and vegetables.

But the nitty-gritty on getting your hands dirty in garden soil would fill a separate blog. I share information I glean from other sources in every post on this blog, and I’m always happy to answer questions posed in post comments or the Twice as Tasty Facebook group. But if you want to learn even more about growing your own food, I suggest seeking out some of my favorite resources.
Read more about my favorite gardening resources

The Science of Food

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Grilling, Refrigerating, Using, WorkshopsLeave a comment

If you looked at my book purchases over the last couple of years, you might think I started Twice as Tasty as an excuse to expand my food library. I’d be hard-pressed to dispute it. As my partner and I increasingly returned to basic ingredients and making what we eat from scratch, one of my greatest joys has been learning from people with far more experience, training, and knowledge about food. Although there is a wealth of helpful information online, many of my favorite sources sit on a shelf, ready to be pulled open when I’m looking for answers or ideas.

Earlier this year, I shared some of my go-to books on canning. They’re the inspiration for many recipes on this blog, and my favorites tell me not just how to best can something but also why the process works. When I want to write about other kitchen processes, I often have a different stack on my desk: books on the science of food.
Read more about my favorite resources on the science of food