Soup or stew?

• What is the difference between soup and stew? On the most basic level there is no absolute difference. Like ancient pottage, both soup and stew descend from economical, easy, healthy, forgiving, and locally sourced family feeds. Throughout time, these two interrelated menu items converge and diverge. Modern American cultural context does, however, separate soup from stew quite simply. The test is not in the ingredients or method, but which course it is served. Soup is starter/accompaniment; stew is main course.

• Soup, in some contexts, variously became regarded as haute cuisine (consomme, vichyssoise), healthful restoratifs (18th century French Restaurants & Jewish grandmother chicken soup), and economical family fare (commercial vegetable beef, tomato). Soup can be served as first course (classic menu), lunch (paired with sandwich or salad) and dessert (fruit soup). It can be served hot (most) or cold (gazpacho, cucumber). Either way, the stock reigns supreme.

• Stew is generally appreciated in larger chunks as main course, always served warm. Slow cooking renders tough cuts of meat delicious. The fact "stew" was a verb before it was a noun means much. Deliberate slow cooking with minimal moisture produces amazing results. Stew is generally regarded as community feed ( Brunswick Stew, Kentucky Burgoo & Booya) or family fare; not eligible for haute cuisine.

Today's recipe... Remember... Disclaimer: Some folks don't always follow updated USDA canning methods, they may live in another country where the standards are not the same, they may use heirloom methods passed down through the generations, they may choose other canning methods not recommended. Use this recipe at your own discretion, or adapt it to your own method. I am sharing these recipes EXACTLY as they were sent to me and take NO responsibility for them.

We've had kale growing all winter in our garden. I've made kale chips, eaten steamed kale, fed kale to the chickens regularly... and it just keeps growing...

Now that spring has arrived, we needed to make room in our garden for our summer crops, so I chopped down all the kale and ended up with a wheelbarrow full and overflowing... so I decided to can some of it... whatever didn't get canned could go to the chickens... they love the stuff... it's like chicken candy to them!


The following method of canning works for kale and any other greens (spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens, collards, etc.)

I chopped the kale into  bite-sized pieces and removed all the tough stems and yellow pieces. Then I rinsed it several times to remove any dirt and sand and bugs... sand seems to cling to greens so it takes several rinses!


Then I filled my two biggest stockpots to the brim with kale and covered it with water to blanch... over medium heat I brought it to a boil until the greens were wilted down nicely... you don't want to raw pack greens, they cook down too much, you'd end up with  two bites of greens and a whole lot of water!


Meanwhile I boiled my pint jars and lids and kept them hot until I was ready for them.


Once the kale had wilted down, I began filling my jars with the greens using a slotted spoon.


I added liquid from the cooking pot whenever necessary to cover the greens, leaving a one inch headspace. I removed any air bubbles and adjusted the liquid as needed. I added a half teaspoon of canning salt to each pint (this is optional).


I wiped the jar rims with a damp cloth and tightened on my hot lids and rings to fingertip tightness.

I processed my jars of kale in my pressure canner at 10-11 pounds pressure for 70 minutes (quarts would be 90 minutes). After processing, I turned off the heat and let the canner cool down naturally (don't rush it or you might get broken jars!) Once the pressure in the canner reached zero, I took off the lid and removed the jars using my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING! of each successfully sealed jar!


I ended up canning 16 pints of kale... still had quite a mountain of greens left in my wheelbarrow... the chickens enjoyed some as a treat... and the rest went into the compost bin... I still have one more row of kale to harvest... I think I'll dehydrate the rest... Love me some kale chips as a snack!

Left, Sweet Potatoes in brown sugar syrup. Right, in water.

Sweet potatoes are in season... we didn't grow any this year and I've been meaning to take a trip to the farmers market to get some for weeks now... but life gets in the way... and I get lazy... and it's 45 minutes on the other side of town to the market in an area we just don't frequent unless we specifically plan to go... and I get lazy...

This weekend, Mr. G and I were out running errands... Lowe's, grocery shopping, JoAnn's... he received a call from a fellow he'd been talking to about buying some new toy he wanted... the guy wanted to meet in Dixianna... AHA!!!! same road as the farmers market... sure, let's go to Dixianna! And we can swing by the market and see if they still have sweet potatoes... and we did... and they did... and I bought 80 pounds of sweet potatoes! Yay!

Back home to can them...

Here's what I did...


First, I filled my ginormous stockpot with whole, unpeeled sweet potatoes and covered them with water... brought them to a boil and boiled for 10-15 minutes, just to make them easier to peel (raw sweet potatoes are a BEAR to peel!)... I drained them and let them cool until they were easy to handle without burning myself... then I peeled... and peeled... and peeled...


And cut them into chunks (they were still quite firm in the middle)...



I packed them into my hot, sterilized quart jars, leaving a generous half inch headspace.


In some of the jars I filled with boiling water, leaving a half inch headspace... I checked for air bubbles, released the ones I found using a plastic chopstick and adjusting the water as necessary.


And in some of the jars I decided to fill them with a simple brown sugar syrup... 2 parts water to 1 part brown sugar, brought to a boil to dissolve the sugar (example 6 cups water to 3 cups brown sugar).


I wiped the jar rims with a damp cloth, removing any potato bits and residue. Then I tightened on the hot, sterilized lids to fingertip tightness.

I processed the jars in my pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 90 minutes (pints would be processed for 65 minutes).

After processing, I let the pressure in the canner drop on its own, no hurrying it... didn't want any liquid loss (siphoning)... although a few jars DID lose a little liquid (and that's OK as long as I didn't lose more than half the liquid!)

I removed the jars from the canner using my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING! of each successfully sealed jar. LOVE the PING!

34 beautiful quarts of sweet potatoes! 14 with brown sugar syrup, 20 in just water... LONG day of canning, but such a feeling of success when they're done and they all seal! So satisfying!

When I was growing up, Mama's canning goal every year was 100 quarts of green beans, 100 quarts of peaches, and 100 quarts of vegetable soup... she canned other things as they came in, but these three remained constant... and vegetable soup, Mama style, was a staple at our house... She would pop open a jar or two of this summery mixture of tomatoes, corn and okra, add some other ingredients, like potatoes, carrots, onions, maybe some ground beef or stew meat or chicken and let it simmer while a pone of cornbread baked in the oven in her cast iron frying pan reserved ONLY for cornbread... and in just a little while it was supper on a cold winter evening... nothing better!

Tomatoes, corn, and okra usually come in from the garden about the same time so it's only natural to mix this trio of goodness together in a delicious soup base. Tomatoes, corn, and okra are coming in in our garden now so I mixed up a little batch... I won't have 100 quarts, as a matter of fact the soup I mixed up last night only made 3 quarts, but with every bite, I'll be eating deliciousness and remember all those winter evenings eating Mama's soup while my brothers and sister shared our day along with Mama and Daddy... this soup means family to me.

Here's what I did...

There's no real "recipe" for this soup... you basically use whatever amounts of each ingredient that you have on hand... I had about 8-10 pounds of tomatoes, peeled and cored... (I poured boiling water over my whole tomatoes, left them for a minute or two, the put them in cold water and the peels slip right off)

8 ears of white field corn (you could use sweet corn), cut off


1-2 pounds of okra, sliced



I mixed the three ingredients together in my large stainless steel saucepan...


I brought the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes (maybe 10-15 minutes) until everything was heated through.

I washed, rinsed and sterilized my quart jars and put my lids in hot water to simmer... keeping everything hot until I was ready to use them.


I filled the jars, leaving a half-inch headspace. I added a teaspoon of canning salt to each quart (this is optional).

I wiped the jar rims with a damp cloth, then tightened the lids on to fingertip tightness.

I then processed my jars of soup at 10 pounds pressure for 85 minutes (using the time and psi for corn).

After processing and allowing the pressure in my pressure canner to drop to zero... then waiting an additional 10 minutes to allow the jars to adjust to the lowered pressure (reducing the risk of jar breakage), I removed the jars from my canner and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool...

And to listen for the PING! of each successfully sealed jar! Live for the PING!

This past weekend I picked the last of our shelled beans and peas from our garden... I got a mixture of white beans, pintos, a pink speckled bean that I can't remember the name of, purple hull peas, and black eyed peas... not enough to really can by themselves... so I decided to make soup...

Here's what I did...

The recipe I "loosely" followed was from the Ball Book of Complete Home Preserving...

8 cups cored peeled tomatoes
6 cups cubed peeled potatoes (I didn't peel mine, they were "new" potatoes)
6 cups thickly sliced carrots (I only had about 3 cups)
4 cups cooked lima beans (this is where I used my mixed shelled beans and peas)
4 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (I used 6 ears of white field corn picked from the garden)
2 cups sliced celery
2 cups chopped onion
6 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste

I had also just picked the first of our okra and had a few pods, so I sliced them up to add to the veggie mix.

In a large stock pot I mixed all the ingredients together and brought it to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduced the heat and boiled gently for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Meanwhile I washed, rinsed, and sterilized my quart canning jars in boiling water and put my lids on to simmer in hot water, keeping everything hot until I was ready for them.

I ladled my hot soup into the hot quart jars, leaving a one inch headspace. I removed any air bubbles and adjusted the headspace as needed by adding additional liquid from the soup. I wiped the jar rims with a damp cloth, then tightened the hot lids on to fingertip tightness.

I processed the soup in my pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 85 minutes (pints would be 55 minutes).

After processing, I let the pressure in the canner drop to zero naturally, then waited a few minutes longer and opened it up and removed the jars using my jar lifter...

I set the hot jars on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool and...

To listen for the musical sound of the PING! of each successfully sealed jar. Love that sound!


There was a little soup left over from this canning project, so Mr. G and I added some home canned chicken and had the best soup supper EVER! with a pone of cornbread... Deee-licious!

For a printable copy of this recipe, click here.

We eat a lot of hamburger soup in the winter and I like to use V8 Juice as my soup base, adding browned hamburger meat, potatoes, onions, carrots and whatever other veggies I feel like adding. It's our winter comfort food... wonderful with cornbread or crackers on a cold winter day.

I read several recipes people had posted of their version of V8 juice and concocted my own version from all of these.

Here's what I did...

I cored and quartered 25 pounds of tomatoes.


Then in the largest stockpot I had (it actually took 3 of my largest pots, I'm ordering a bigger one!) I placed my tomatoes and squished them a bit with my potato masher to get the juices flowing. Then on medium low heat I began to cook them.

I added to the pot...


An entire bunch of celery, leaves too (they're so flavorful!)

 Two green bell peppers (I had some already sliced in my freezer, so "guess-timated" two peppers).

 A cup of chopped onions.


A pound of carrots, sliced (just scrubbed and sliced them, no need to peel)


And a large bunch of parsley, roughly chopped.



To this colorful combination, I added a tablespoon of canning salt and brought the mixture to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer until all the vegetables were softened (30 minutes to an hour)

After everything was softened, working in small batches, I pressed it all through my food mill, squeezing out all the yummy juices and pulp and to remove any seeds and peels.



After I got all the juiciness I could, I poured the pulpy juice back into my saucepan(s) and heated it to boiling once again.


In the meantime, I had sterilized and heated my quart jars and lids.

In each quart jar I poured in the juice to a bout an inch from the rim...



then I added

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice


And a teaspoon of canning salt (optional)


I then wiped the rim of each jar with a damp cloth...


And screwed my lids on to fingertip tightness.



I then processed the jars of juice in a boiling water bath for 40 minutes. After processing, I removed the jars and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar! Yay!



Now... I had all that pulp and stuff left over from running the veggies through my food meal and it smelled so good and I hated to waste it by just throwing it on the compost pile... so....

I spread it out in my dehydrator...


... and 24 hours (give or take) later, I had this crispy veggie mass...


... which I ground up in my blender and am storing it in a canning jar... Vegetable Powder! To add to soups and stews for additional flavor and thickening!

For a printable copy of this recipe click here.

Back in March I planted turnips... thinking I'd get a few turnip greens... I got a few turnip greens... then I got turnips. Saturday, I pulled a five-gallon bucket about 3/4 full of turnips... one or two as big as a baseball... I told Mr. G I was gonna can them...

He said he wasn't sure he liked turnips... Don't tell him I said this, but I wasn't sure I liked them either, I know I've eaten them in the past... I couldn't remember if I liked them or not... but I wasn't going to waste perfectly good vegetables.

I decided to cook some up for dinner that night as a test to whether we actually LIKED turnips or not. I mashed them, added butter and salt and pepper and we ate them... they really didn't have much taste... Mr. G thought they could use a little livening up with some hot sauce or relish or something... but all in all, we agreed that we liked turnips... we didn't LOVE them, but we liked them.

So I canned the rest... here's what I did...

...then filled the jar with hot cooking liquid (from the pot), leaving a half-inch headspace.

 I added a half teaspoon of salt (canning and pickling salt) to each pint jar. (optional, it's a matter of taste)


To remove any air bubbles, I ran a butter knife between the inside of the jar and the contents, adding more liquid if necessary.


I wiped the jar rim with a damp cloth to remove any residue.

I put the hot lids onto the jars, tightening the bands to a fingertip tightness.


I loaded the jars into my pressure canner... and processed them at 10 pounds of pressure for 30 minutes (quarts would be 35 minutes).

After processing and allowing the pressure in the canner to drop to ZERO... I removed the lid, and using my jar lifter, took the jars of turnips out, set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool...

... and to listen for the satisfying PING of each successfully sealed jar!

I canned 12 jars of turnips... anybody got any good recipes for using turnips? I only know "Diced With Butter" and "Mashed With Butter."

Turnips on parade!