Tomato, tomato, ginger

     

Cored, Blanched, peeled, chopped, cooked and canned. My first summer of tomato canning and it was pretty successful. Thank you so very much to the wonderful produce guy who sold me 35 pounds of Roma tomatoes for $15 when I only asked for 20 pounds. I am now almost completely out of canning jars. I Only have 4 oz and a few half pints left . Most of my canning this year has been done using Marisa McClellan's cookbook Food in Jars. Today I canned 6 quarts and 6 pints of chopped tomatoes, 3 quarts and 2 pints plus a half pint of marinara and 1 half pint and 2 half pint jars of pickled ginger with bay leaf and black mustard seeds. 

        

                                  

 I've always loved the pickled ginger that comes with sushi and thought. Would try my hand at making my own, I used a few different recipes for all over. In the end I used  my own combination of spices and vinegars. 

                   

Pickled Ginger with Black Mustard Seeds

 1 cup rice wine vinegar

 1 cup white vinegar

 3/4 cup sugar

 1 tbs salt

 1 lb ginger (sliced paper thin)

 2 tsp black mustard seed (divided)

 2 bay leaves

Peel ginger and slice as thin as possible.( I used a mandolin) toss in a medium bowl with salt and let sit for an hour. After and hour drain and rinse the ginger slices. Put vinegars salt, sugar and bay leaves in a medium sauce pan and beta over medium heat, stirring until sugar and salt dissolve. Bring to a boil and add ginger slices for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and let cool while preparing your jars. Divided  mustard seeds between jars and using tongs or a slotted spoon pack ginger into your jars. Once the jars are packed pour remaining liquid over the ginger. Use a chopstick to loosen any air bubbles and refill with pickling liquid leavin a 1/2 in head space. Wipe clean rims and seal jars to finger tightness and process at a rapid boil for 15 mins. ( I added a small slice of beet to the pickling liquid as it was heating to add color.)