Muscadine Grape Jelly

This weekend we were looking for something to do while waiting for our daughter to finish up feeding the horses at the barn where she rides. We drove past a place where we had previously picked grapes on Highway 90: Windy Hill Vineyard. They grow a Florida grape known as muscadines. These are large grapes with a particular flavor and large seeds.

Not yet ripe grapes growing on the vine.

 They had many rows of muscadine grapes. Pick your own were about $1.30 per pound, and you could buy pre-picked muscadines for $1.80/pound. They only take cash or check, so make sure you bring one or the other. They told us a full bucket would cost about $15.

Great social distancing activity, we were the only people in our row.

 We drove down to an area where they told us we could find both the red/purple muscadines and the golden scuppernongs and tried to keep our total under $20 (which was all the cash we had). We wanted to make jelly and from past experience, each of the varieties makes their very own beautiful color of jelly. The scuppernongs tend to have a sweeter flavor.

We picked both the purple muscadines and the scuppernong (gold) variety.

We ended up with about four pounds of each. Not enough for a full batch, but I did find this small-batch recipe: Small Batch Muscadine Jelly I used 2.5 pounds of each type to get the 2.5 cups of juice required (I had to add 1/2 cup water though because I couldn't squeeze more juice out, perhaps 3 pounds would be better). I got to use the frozen lemon juice I had from my Meyers lemons last winter. I estimated 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for the "juice of one lemon". I ended up getting four 8oz jars from each variety. The smaller batches work well because I have had had to toss jelly that didn't get eaten within 18 months before.

Garnet and Gold Muscadine Grape Jelly

We still have some muscadines left to eat fresh, although I have seen muscadine pie recipes as well. I love the flavor of muscadine grapes, they even are used in my favorite wines from Lake Ridge Winery Southern White, Southern Red, and Sunblush. I can usually find the white and red varieties at Publix.

Gator Sausage Sliders

So in my last post I mentioned that we had got some alligator sausage through the Red Hills Online Farmers Market. I found a recipe for alligator sausage sliders with roasted red pepper remoulade that also had instructions for refrigerator pickles. My husband made it and it was delicious. We didn't plan well or we could have had a nice vegetable side. This dish could have been more local by using local or homegrown cucumbers for the pickles.

We chose to eat alligator because I am allergic to mammalian meat and it is nice to have another option besides poultry, fish, or vegetarian dishes. Gator has an interesting flavor, I saw it described as a cross between chicken and pork. It is really tasty. And while alligators were once on the endangered species list, conservation efforts have brought their populations back. They are now managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that regulates their harvest by hunters, licenses trappers of nuisance gators (gators that have lost fear of humans and are a risk to people and pets), and regulates gator farming.  

The alligator meat that we purchased was from our local nuisance wildlife trapper who also runs an alligator farm: Vaughan Gators We hope to buy different types of alligator meat from them in the future to try some other recipes.

Recipe found here

Pandemic Pickled Okra

So it has been about two years since my last blog post. I have been busy working on a PhD in Biological Oceanography. However, with the pandemic of 2020 I started worrying again about food supply chains and well, with being home for the last four months I have had some time. I also took a break from dissertation writing (because working from home while having kids at home and even trying to school them did not mix with my PhD work).

So both my husband and I have been working in the garden and things are growing. We both love pickled okra (the kids, not so much). But it's pricey (approximately 3.50 per 16 oz jar, sometimes more depending on brand). However, my six okra plants have only started producing (we were a little late in planting) so I bought a pound of okra from the Red Hills Online Market . I also grabbed some gator sausage there because a couple years ago I got a tick bite that makes me allergic to all mammalian meat and it's nice to have something other than poultry or fish). I also got farm fresh eggs since my new group of chickens are not laying yet (also a pandemic food supply scare purchase after having been chicken free for over a year due to a run down coop that needed fixing to be predator proof).

I got two buff orpingtons, two easter eggers, and two noir marans from Woodville Ace Hardware. They are supposed to be sexed pullets, but surprise! We ended up with a rooster (10% error rate) who will be going off to freezer camp later. 

I picked up my market bag from Espositos (one of their hubs) on Thursday but I didn't have the rest of what I needed and that had to wait until the weekend. I didn't have mustard or dill seeds on hand, and not enough apple cidar vinegar.

Ingredients include 1 lb okra (plus one I got from my garden), 6 garlic cloves, and apple cider vinegar, dill seed, mustard seed, crushed pepper flakes, and salt and sugar for the brine.

The brine is mostly vinegar and my 9 year old came in after I was done to tell me the kitchen smells terrible. Sorry kid.

Here is the end product. We are waiting for all the lids to pop. I think there should be more than 1 pound for the six jars I got (per the recipe) because they didn't all pack well.  I also need to be careful to pick them at just the right size, I had to cut some in half to fit in my jars.

My okra plants look promising, they have the coolest flowers, so hopefully, I will get to make some more in the future. Perhaps a spicy variety using dried peppers.

This batch of pickled okra was not cheaper than store bought (I estimated $2.47 for a 8oz jar) but now that I have some of the main ingredients (dill and mustard seed) it will be cheaper in the future, especially if my gardens starts producing more okra. Best of all I got to dust off my grandma's canning pot.