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As I’ve mentioned in the past, I love instagram for numerous reasons, but the very best reason is for the amount of friendships I have made over the years. One of the very first friends I made on instagram was Stephanie from @MinnesotaFromScratch – a lover of pickles and all the canned wonders of the world – a woman after my own heart!
Over the years I have oggled her amazing jarred creations so wasn’t surprised when I heard that she was coming out with a cookbook- Can It & Ferment It: More Than 75 Satisfying Small-Batch Canning and Fermentation Recipes for the Whole Year!
If you love pickling, fermenting, and canning then this is the book for you. I always have a pickling/canning guidebook out when I do my canning and this book has officially become my new guidebook! I was thrilled when she asked me to help promote it and even sent me a digital pre-release copy to review!
Below is the interview she gave me with regards to her canning, pickling and fermenting empire. Oh to be able to live in her house with her constant fermenting crocks *swoon*.
Read the interview, buy her book and start making pickled everything!
Interview with the Author: Can It & Ferment It by Stephanie Thurow
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW4_RC7FjzQ/?taken-by=minnesotafromscratch
What sparked your initial interest in canning and fermenting? Did you teach yourself or have a mentor?
I grew up eating fermented foods, such as kimchi and I also always loved everything pickled. As I got older, I decided I wanted to learn how to make pickles and though my great grandmothers were canners, the tradition was never passed down. The only person that I knew that canned was my boyfriend’s (now husband’s) aunt. She taught me how to make jams, pickles and pickled beets. Fermenting was self-taught through a lot of trial and error.
I love that the book offers a canned and a fermented option for each fruit and veggie- it allows for such a wide range of flavors. Have you come across any fruits of veggies that just have to be processed one way or another?
Pumpkin. Though it’s in my book with a canned and fermented recipe, it actually can’t be water bath canned. The recipe I provide for Pumpkin Butter is actually a refrigerator recipe.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXspXubF-HV/?taken-by=minnesotafromscratch
What is your favorite fermentation recipe? Favorite canned recipe?
That is a tough question to answer definitively, I love them all, really.
The recipes I tend to make the most for my family and myself are garlic-dill pickles (canned), pickled jalapeno slices (canned), a large variety of jams (canned), kimchi (fermented), green tomato salsa (fermented), curtido (fermented), and sauerkraut (fermented).
I almost always have at least 3-4 jars or fermentation crocks full of fermenting veggies on my kitchen counter at all times throughout the year.
I know how involved your daughter is in the canning process. Is there a recipe that you developed especially so that she could participate?
I haven’t designed any specifically for children, but I definitely pick more kid-friendly recipes if I know my daughter is going to be home to help, such as jam (she can wash the fruit, cut it, eat it, mash it up, measure out ingredients, etc.) a less-friendly kid recipe, for example, would be pickled jalapenos, in which she wouldn’t be able to cut the peppers up.
What do you run out of first in the winter?
For many years, we’d run out of pickles first. I need to can about 30 quarts to get my household through the winter.
What do you do in the winter when there isn’t fresh produce to can or ferment?
I’m fortunate to live in an area that has indoor winter farmer’s markets and several wonderful co-ops nearby, that offer local food throughout the year. I am able to make ferments all winter long and even make some root-veggie pickles, such as watermelon radish pickles (canned and fermented).
And the question we are all dying to know:
Pickles- Sweet, Spicy or Plain jane dill?
I’m a regular dill pickle fanatic but spicy would be my second choice.
Connect with Stephanie:
Minnesota From Scratch website.
@MinnesotafromScratch on Instagram
@stephlovestocan on Twitter
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX6kwhzlA9f/?taken-by=minnesotafromscratch
Doesn’t Can It & Ferment It sound like an amazing cookbook?!
Well you’re in luck because Stephanie has agreed to provide one lucky ready with a free copy of her book!
Enter the giveaway below:
Or Purchase the book on Amazon today: