Piccolo Giardino Homemade Jams, Jellies and Pickles at Villa Paula

 Piccolo Giardino is inspired from a trip to Italy. It means little garden in Italian.  We stayed at a Hotel called Piccolo and at another one called Giardino.  I was fortunate to have a little garden this year and became
engrosed in gardening and canning.  Being my name is Paula, the Villa Paula, Piccolo Giardino line is introduced. I still have a long way to go, with more canning and putting up jams, jellies and pickles. If you don't want to make your own, please visit the Etsy Shop PiccoloGiardino.  If what you are looking for is not there, please email to inquire about special orders.  Custom orders are welcomed.  Most everything can be made to order except the Fig products, since they are out of season. 
Up next will be the Bread and Butter Pickles. 

It's been a frenzy of pickling the last month. 
The house smells so nice.  One day, it is vinegar and allspice, the next it is garlic. 
Sweet and saucy fruit, like strawberries, the aromas are just fabulous.  I had no time for making wreaths this week, as it was all about the canning. 

The garden is a bit winding down now.  With the outdoor water ban, things are looking a little tired.
Fortunately, most of the herbs are still in pots and I brought those to the porch railing, where I can
water from the kitchen. The tomatoes will have a bumper crop soon, if we get some rain.   I managed to make everything I intended in the Watch Pot Never Boils post.  Not a cracker in the house, so I tasted them all with the extra jars I make for home right with a spoon and all were great.  I'm liking them all, but like the Basil Jelly with Red Pepper, the vinegars, and pickled garlic so far the best.  So much fun to experiment with the pickled garlic.  A friend stopped by and offered me some of his fresh fennel, so I used that in some pickled garlic cloves with red chile peppers, and waiting for those flavors to marry. 

Without my regular camera, I was able to take some pictures and get them up.  Although not as clear, they were taken in natural light outdoors, so the colors may be a little more true, but a little less clear as
with my normal camera, still on holiday. 


Cranberries and Mango Jam
To make your own, follow any of the standard canning recipes for fruit.
I adapted from the Ball Complete book of Home Preserving.

The book tells how to use different fruits using a standard recipe.



Blueberry Jam
Standard as per Certo or Sure-Jell



Basil Herb Jelly with Red Pepper
I made this jelly using again a standard recipe, but I added a splash
of basil vinegar. 




Homemade Basil Vinegar Italy Cruet 
Love these Bormiolo Rocco Cruets

I also got some tall decorative vinegar bottles of the Rocco line
and can't wait to fill them with those vinegars that are waiting in the
wings of steepland.  I started some Lemon Vinegar with Lemon Verbena
and Garlic. 

Cranberry Orange Vinegar
Basil Vinegar




Homemade Dill Pickle Spears (using my homemade dill vinegar)



Pickled Garlic


I think this is one of the favorites and so versatile.  You can use on anything.
I just made some little baquette toasts with olive oil and chopped up garlic.  You canuse for bruschetta, soups, stews, salads, dressings, roasting meats, just about anything you can think of and you can eat them plain.
 
To make your own, heat vinegar and your choice of spices, a little bit of sugar if you want. Some I did and some I didn't.  I noticed no difference yet in the ones with sugar.  I just made some
with garlic, fennel and dried red chili peppers.  Bring to a boil
and pour over garlic cloves you placed in hot sterilized jars, seal and process in water bath.
These are excellent to use in everyday cooking. 

 
I also made a concoction of green peppers, cucumbers, golden raisins, tomatoes and made a mixed up relish. 
It is macerating overnight and will put up tomorrow evening.  Although my hexagonal jam jars will be delivered tomorrow, I may want to get to putting jam in those.  Will have to see after I get  home from work.
I also just found my mother's best friend's recipe Thelma's Peppers.

The peppers are really marinated in an olive oil/vinegar combo, so they are not for preserving, but rather
for the refrigerator.  If you plan to make these for Christmas gifts, make sure you make them close to
the holiday, and label as such.  I'm going to try to get to these next week.

I'm still steeping vinegars, most recently lemon, garlic with lemon verbena, which won't be ready for

another few weeks.
Vanilla and Anise Extract are also in the works.  They take a long time, so
if you want to make your own for Christmas and Holiday gifts, you may want to start now, as they
take about three months.  Just get some vodka and vanilla beans.  Split the vanilla bean so it oozes out and
place in jar with vodka.  I used 4 ounce jars for this.  Cover and keep in the dark, shaking a bit every few days or even once a week.  For the Anise extract, use star anise and maybe a larger size jar, since the star anise is bulkier than the vanilla.  Oooh, they are heavenly. 



Ciao!