Soups

The lack of acid in vegetables limits the canning of many soups without using pressure, but it doesn’t mean the ones we can make won’t be exceptional. These soups are special, unique, and safe. When producing soups, we are often canning above pH 4.0, so it is imperative to prepare with care, to test and retest. These recipes are safe if the ingredients are proper and the measurements accurate.

When you’re exhausted yet hungry, it is always a pleasant feeling to know that within a few moments you can be having a steaming bowl of delicious, healthy, and flavorful homemade soup. As an added bonus, the maker will know it will not be over-salted, and there are none of those unheard of chemicals none of us can even pronounce mixed among freeze-dried onions and this and that. And on hot summer evenings when the thought of a big dinner is beyond comprehension, there is little more refreshing than a light supper consisting of a bowl of chilled soup, a salad, and a break of bread.

Soups are mostly canned in quarts because they typically serve four, but pints work wonderfully for those quiet evenings at home alone, so consider making both when it comes to soup, and make several runs. When friends get sick, a jar of soup makes for an easy trouble-free meal. A quart of homemade soup also makes a perfect house gift and is far more considerate and caring than a bottle of wine. In the last chapter of this book, there will be suggestions on how to customize such a splendid gift.

Soups

Black Bean Soup

Black bean soup is something to adore. After a hard day of work when I need just enough to cut the edge off the day’s hunger, I heat up a can of my favorite soup and enjoy it with a freshly baked small loaf and an excellent quality butter. One by one, those great cans of yesterday have vanished from market shelves. Today we are left with gourmet, they say, but it tastes marginal at best. In the past, I never could bring myself to create something better than what was so good, but now a void demands filling. Here we go!

Canning Notes
Ingredients
4 pounds dry black beans (12 cups prepared beans)
2 cups finely chopped onion
2 cups finely chopped celery
2 cups finely chopped carrots
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 cup olive oil
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sherry (optional)
2 tablespoons salt
12 cloves garlic, minced
12 bay leaves, boiled in 2 cups water*
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne powder
1 teaspoon citric acid
Directions

Prepare the dried black beans the day before: rinse the beans, place them in a pot with water covering twice the depth of the beans, bring to a boil, turn off, and allow to sit overnight.

Rinse, put in new water, and bring to a boil. Cook until soft and then rinse well. Measure 12 cups, discarding the balance. Add the beans to a nonreactive canning pot along with all other ingredients except the citric acid. Heat the soup to 160 degrees F before making the first of TWO pH tests. If pH is above 4.2, lower by adding 2 tablespoons vinegar plus 2 teaspoons orange juice and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. If still too high, add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid at a time and continue until pH is at 4.2.

In a blender or food processor, purée the soup several cups at a time. When complete, return to pot and bring to canning temperature of 210 degrees F. Check pH a second time. (This is a most important check since all the ingredients have been opened by the purée process.) To reduce to 4.2, first add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid. Stir in well and check pH. If necessary, do one more time. If pH still requires lowering, add 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon orange juice, and 2 teaspoons sugar until pH is correct.

Maintain the canning temperature of 210 degrees, pour in sterile jars, seal, and invert for 2 minutes minimum.

Serving Suggestions

Black bean soup can be either a spectacular first course or a complete dinner. For a first course, it is a rich soup and, based upon dinner, you will have to decide how much to serve—either a ramekin or a small soup bowl. A dollop of sour cream in the center is attractive and adds to the flavor; and a slice of lemon attached to the side of the bowl comes off well, the acid working its magic.

For a supper, along with the sour cream and the lemon slice, pour in a 1/2 ounce of quality sherry and sprinkle cheddar cheese on top. Serve it with a roll or a baguette. There is little else needed to be content.

*Boil the bay leaves in the water for 10 minutes; add additional water if necessary. When complete, discard the leaves and then add the water to the recipe.

Soups

Burnt Sweet Potato Soup

I owe the descriptive “burnt” to a farmers market patron. Thank you! She suggested it because I had overcooked the potatoes, and the caramelized sugars that oozed out made the flavors of this soup even better. Now, we always overcook the potatoes when preparing them. Rich in vitamins A and C, with excellent portions of fiber, protein, potassium, and beta carotene, this complex carbohydrate—the simple sweet potato—alone can sustain life for many, many months on end. The Center for Science in Public Interest (CSPI) ranks the sweet potato nutritionally as the highest eatable vegetable Americans consume by over one hundred points. With credentials like this, it is only fitting that we make a few jars of this soup to serve on frosty fall and winter days. It doesn’t get much healthier nor taste better beginning with autumn’s cool.

Canning Notes
Ingredients
12 cups mashed baked sweet potatoes* (about 9 pounds)
4 cups Granny Smith apples
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (pulp included)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 cups fresh apple juice
3 tablespoons finely diced fresh ginger
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon salt
15+ cups water or ham stock (enough to thin recipe to soup consistency)**
Directions

Bake the sweet potatoes (about 3/4 to 1 pound each) in a 425 degree F oven until the centers are soft when skewered with a fork and the skins show the first signs of burning, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Peel and core the apples and bake with the sweet potatoes just until soft, about 20 minutes. After the sweet potatoes are done, mash or purée them with the apples, fruit juices, and ginger.

Put all ingredients except the water or stock in a nonreactive canning pot. Over medium heat, slowly add the remaining liquid, mixing well while keeping below boiling. Continue adding water or stock, reducing thickness until soup reaches the desired consistency (or make a concentrated product to be thinned before serving).

Cook for 10 minutes. Perform a preliminary pH test. This is critical and pH may require adjusting (see canning note above for guidance). Bring pot to canning temperature of 205 degrees F. Be extra cautious. The soup will bubble and splatter as it approaches a boil. Unlike a splattered drop of water, this thick, hot soup is more akin to molten lava and can cause severe burns.

Finally, hot-pack in sterile jars, seal with sterile lids, and invert completed jars for 2 minutes minimum.

Serving Suggestions

Being so nutritious, this soup can stand alone as a simple yet hearty and healthy meal. Accompanied with a salad, few simple and quick meals can compare.

When preparing the soup as a complete meal, consider adding a little cream, float a pat of butter in the center of the bowl, and make a squiggly design with dark brown sugar. Kids and adults alike will lick their bowls.

In a more formal setting, offer it as the soup course. It is rich and, since we expect our guests to eat their dinners, serve in a ramekin instead of a bowl, with a lime on the edge while holding off on the butter, cream, and brown sugar design.

*There are two common varieties of sweet potatoes grown in the United States and found at farmers markets, at roadside markets, and in groceries. The one you don’t want to use has a light skin and yellowish meat, which becomes dry and crumbly like that of a regular baking potato when cooked. Look for the darker garnet-skinned variety with a deep orange meat, which is moist and mushy when cooked.

**Water may be used in this recipe instead of ham stock since meat, especially ham, offends some. Plus there is no low sodium ham base readily available. So either use store bought and eliminate the salt in the recipe or make your own. In either case, when using stock, it must be reduced to pH 4.2 by adding cider vinegar, a tablespoon at a time prior to being added to the recipe.

Soups

Butternut Squash Soup

Fall not only begins the season of soup, it is also the season of squash—pumpkin, acorn, and butternut, to name a few. Once you have mastered the canning principle of pH control, then you are ready to put up this delicious yet complex repast. Canned thick, it can be reduced with cream, milk, or water to the serving consistency most appealing to the user. There is a theory, and it makes sense, that if one eats produce within the season of harvest, the body is in natural harmony with its caloric and nutritional needs for the coming months. Butternut is a fall/winter squash, making this recipe ideal as a chilly evening supper.

Canning Notes
Ingredients
9 cups butternut squash (3 or 4 medium squash)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (vegetable or vegan broths work too)
3/4 cup butter, melted
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups finely chopped red onion
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, baked, and puréed
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1-1/2 cups orange juice
1-1/2 cups lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon coriander
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
Directions

Split the butternut squash lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, and bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the meat is soft throughout. Scoop out the insides and discard the skins. Mash well or purée with some of the broth to ensure the squash is not lumpy. If you do not have a food processor, a potato masher will work fine. For safety reasons, the soup MUST be lump-free.

Make a paste with the butter and flour. Place remaining ingredients in a nonreactive pot, bring to 210 degrees F (not quite boiling), and take the initial pH test (VERY important); adjust until pH is 4.2.

When pH is correct, pour into sterile jars, seal, and invert for 2 minutes minimum.

Serving Suggestions

The flavor of the soup is exceptional yet sophisticated. The yellowish green orange can be best accented by floating a few tarragon or thyme leaves in the center of each bowl; either herb is a natural with butternut.

A small cup of soup makes an elegant first course at an in-home dinner party. Seldom more than a 4-ounce serving is necessary, which translates to 8 servings to a quart. If four is a comfortable entertaining number, then put up a few pint jars.

For a dinner soup, serve with a freshly baked multigrain boule topped with a quality butter. There is little that is simpler or better. With suppers like this, many might wish for winter year-round.

Tomato-Basil Soup

There are many recipes for this delicious soup, but only a handful can be found in canning guides. I enjoy working with tomatoes because their natural acidity allows one to become creative without having a major acidification program added to the product. This becomes really important with soups. Nobody wants to sit down to battery acid. The other wonderful thing about tomato soups is that they are generally good either hot or cold. This one is no exception. With many subtle flavors supporting the predominant tomato and basil, this soup becomes a first-class addition to a pantry and will be used year-round.

Canning Notes
Ingredients
2-1/2 cups finely chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons finely minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
6 pounds freshly picked ripe tomatoes, peeled, cored, seeded, and puréed
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetarian broth
3 cups tomato juice
4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons coarsely ground pepper
1 cup finely chopped, tightly packed basil
Directions

Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in a pan with the butter and olive oil until the onion is clear, about 6 minutes. Purée and put in a nonreactive pot with remaining ingredients except the basil; simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Bring the soup to a canning temperature of 205 degrees F. Add the basil, blending in well before checking to ensure pH is below 4.3.

Reduce heat and promptly fill prepared sterile jars. Seal and invert jars for 2 minutes minimum.

Serving Suggestions

This is a year-around soup. In the summer, serve it chilled. In the winter, heat it and add 2 tablespoons heavy cream for each 8-ounce serving.

Or to get really fancy, serve as a bisque by making a roux of 2 tablespoons flour whisked into 1/4 cup melted butter; add to the quart of soup while heating. In all cases, place a leaf or two (or, even better, a star design) of fresh basil in the center of each bowl. Accompany with a simple baguette, and enjoy a completely satisfying and nutritious meal.

As a first course served either hot or cold, use a filled ramekin instead of a half-empty soup bowl. The deep red soup with centered basil leaves forming a star will set the tone for great dining within your gallery of food art.

Soups

Bouillabaisse

This is by far the most complicated recipe in this book, but it represents the quintessential French fish stew. World-renowned and rightly so, bouillabaisse is seldom seen in its perfected state except in France’s coastal communities, simply because it is so time-consuming to produce. Just the same, when canning, one can turn out 6, 12, or even 18 separate dinners in jars in the same time that it would require to fix one bouillabaisse supper from scratch. I took no shortcuts and, although I was forced to strengthen some acid ingredients and cut back on a few of the bases for safe canning, I managed (with the help of a canning angel) to come out with a winner, so much so that I expect to see quart jars selling on the docks of Marseilles along with the catch du jour.

Canning Notes
Broth Ingredients
16 cloves garlic, medium-chopped
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
20 cups water
4 cups white wine
1 cup olive oil
2 pinches saffron threads steeped in 1/4 cup boiling water
10 sprigs thyme
16 whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4+ pounds fish heads, fish tails, shrimp heads. and/or fish carcasses*
Bouillabaisse Ingredients
Strained broth from the foregoing ingredients
2 cups chopped leeks, white and lightest of the green sections only
6 pounds blood-red tomatoes, field ripened, seeded, squeezed, and chopped
4 oranges, juice only (reserve rind)
Zest from 2 reserved orange rinds
2 cups chopped, tightly packed fresh fennel, stems and stalks removed
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 cup tomato paste
1 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
2 pinches saffron threads, steeped in 1/4 cup dry white wine for 30 minutes in a container floating in near-boiling water
1 onion, finely chopped
6 stalks celery, sliced and diced
4 cups white wine (plus additional wine if necessary to lower pH to 4.2)
Directions

Prepare the broth ingredients: place in a nonreactive pot, bring to a boil for 10 minutes, lower heat, check and adjust pH to 4.2, and then simmer for 2 hours, covered. Strain and discard all but the liquid.

Prepare the bouillabaisse ingredients: place in a canning pot with the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, covered. Return to canning temperature of 205 degree F, test pH for second time. If pH needs to be lowered to be safe (4.2 or lower), do so by adding additional white wine.

Mix well to include all ingredients while ladling into sterile jars. Seal and invert for 2 minutes minimum.

Serving Suggestions

A French chef will tell you no good bouillabaisse has less than seven different species of fish, not counting shrimp and shellfish. Not so. Six total, including shrimp and all shellfish, is almost over the top, so maybe three or four fish will be more than adequate. Your local fishmonger will help you decide which species will suit best. When it comes to fish, some are hard (as in firm) and some soft, some oily and some not; include some of each. Here are few that work well: salmon, mackerel, grouper, flounder, tilapia, sea bass, scallops, monkfish, lobster (raw), halibut, mahi-mahi (dolphin fish/dorado), eel, whiting, bass. All eatable fish work; however, when making your selections, use no more than two oily types. Then there are the shellfish like little necks, cherry stones, mussels, and, lastly, the shrimp (cooked and peeled). Mussels and shrimp are standards so, just to be totally French, choose one more shellfish if desired for the preparation.

When preparing bouillabaisse for a supper, do a little planning ahead. Cut the fish into 1-1/2 x 1-1/2-inch squares (2 per person), or 2 x 2-inch squares (1 per person); prepare the shrimp (cook and peel, 2 per person); marinate and refrigerate all but the shellfish in olive oil for at least 3 hours; if serving four, use 1/2 cup with 2 tablespoons minced garlic.

Break the seal on the jar, pour the bouillabaisse into a 6-quart pan, and heat to boiling. Add the oily fish as a rolling boil commences. Immediately reduce heat to medium. After 4 minutes, add the non-oily fish and the shellfish; 3 minutes later add the cooked shrimp. Just 3 minutes more and the stew is ready. Although there is some prior work here, the dinner preparation will take only about a half hour. A quart jar will nicely serve four to six. And remember, no great bouillabaisse is served without a baguette along with the accompanying rouille sauce. This is a meal fit for a Sun God seated at the head of the table at Versailles.

*Fish carcasses (the leftovers after filleting) are often available at seafood stores.

Brigue Onion Soup

I might have called this version of the famous and ubiquitous French soup “Border Onion,” but the romance of a tiny village that was once in Italy but found itself in France after World War II makes a perfect simile for an onion soup made in the light traditional French style but with the addition of tomato and more onion. Being driven not only by flavor but by final pH, I was finally forced to use a small amount of tomato paste. This changed everything. It drove the pH down to safe levels, brought the color from muddy brown to a pleasing Indian red, and added a sweetness to counter the acidic solution. To further straddle the border, it might be served piping hot with mozzarella on top along with a toasted slice of French baguette sprinkled with grated Parmesan. Oh, so French! Oh, so Italian! Oh, so wonderful! The soup is definitely onion but withholds a harsh onion taste and is denser than the traditional. Smaller portions go further; and one can, if they must, thin it before serving with a little additional beef bouillon. I wouldn’t and I don’t. Quick to produce and a delight to eat, this recipe will visit my table at least twice monthly.

Canning Notes
Ingredients
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup butter
9 pounds sweet onions, thinly sliced and then quartered
4 cups beef stock or beef base
2 cups red wine
2 cups white wine
12 ounces tomato paste
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
4 teaspoons salt
Directions

Place the olive oil and butter in a large heavy-bottom pot, big enough to hold the onions with ease so they can be stirred and cooked down. On high, when oil is hot and the butter is melted, add the onions; stirring often, continue to sauté until the onions cook down and begin to brown. Add the remaining ingredients and, stirring often with burner still on high, heat to boiling. Continue until mixture just begins to thicken. Check pH, 4.2 being highest permissible (to reduce, see canning note above).

Stirring continuously, ladle into sterile jars, seal, and invert for 2 minutes minimum.

Serving Suggestions

As a complete yet light repast, heat the soup to very hot and ladle into warmed soup bowls, place thin sliced medallions of fresh mozzarella on the top, and circumscribe the bowl with toasted slices of a baguette accented with Parmesan cheese. It makes a complete meal that is filling, healthy, and full of flavor. But just because the word “soup” is in the title shouldn’t cause one’s creativity to become limited. Heated and ladled over the evening’s protein (like skinless chicken breast, pork chop, or even red meat) is an equally grand usage; maybe sprinkle a little cheese on top. It is why I not only can this in quarts and pints as a soup, but in half pints as a dinner sauce as well.

Soups