One of the many things I have been doing - Condiments Cupboard Part One

 as I go about my daily work and chores is re-vamping my condiments cupboard and getting items jarred up where I can. It is by its nature a slow process.  I have deliberately chosen to do this, this way. I have always used odd jars out of necessity for storing things, but this cupboard which I use on a daily basis is looking a bit unloved.  Mis-matched has its own charm, but the sizes of the jars are not always easy to accommodate or stack using up what little space is available.  I have also been finding it difficult to locate some items.  As I have topped up  on my major stock up of items recently I now have a lovely little supply of items and I want to be able to get hold of them easily and quickly.  I have therefore been using new purpose fit jars for decanting the new stock into.  It is slow work at the moment, but hopefully should make things a lot easier in the longer term.  It is also helping me by doing things piecemeal to be actually in the moment and appreciate what I do have.  Not a bad thing overall and in the greater scheme of things.  I would also mention that I buy in quite a lot of herbs in different blends as well as having a go at making my own versions.  You get more scope that way on.

One of my biggest battles has been with dropping stuff and it going all over the shop when items have been stored in their original packaging.  I use a lot of Marigold bouillon dry powder/flavouring for use in gravies but as the pot itself is a form of card with an orange lid, it has been known to drop out the cupboard and then no more bouillon to use. Not a good way to go and it tends to be a little pricy. I was therefore eager to get this one into a new jar at all costs. I like this as it adds a lot of flavour to gravies etc.  

I also have some Souper Mix in the making as well which I also use.  Different recipes different things I like to use overall.

Bearing in mind the little win I had with drying the residual pulp from the Roasted Tomato Pasta sauce I made the other day, dehydrating the pulp and turning it into Tomato powder, I decided this time to focus on something different.  I like using celery for flavouring in my cooking, but I do not like a lot of it.  I use it when I cook a gammon or a ham and usually buy it in specifically and sometimes despite my best intentions it gets wasted.  That is a definite "No-No" situation as far as I am concerned.  Tonight I had part of a pack of celery left and I therefore decided to experiment.  I prepped the celery, cut it into small pieces, blanched in a pot of boiling water then dried with a clean tea towel to mop up any excess liquid. Just over 2 1/2 hours later I ended up with a small quantity of dried celery pieces.  I have the choice of leaving them as they are or blitzing them in the food processor.  At the moment I have left it in the little pieces.  I can see a practical use for this with the way I cook, but the best part I am not wasting anything. That to me is the win.

As I work through things, I will no doubt come up with a lot more items that I will find useful and will add to the shelf as I go along.  I have always tended to do this in any event.  Each of our choices when it comes to cooking ingredients vary so much from family to family and diet to diet. In the first place you work with what you eat and what you like and tailor your cupboard to reflect those tastes.  As you move forward you discover new tastes and flavours and add new items to your Armoury. I am even looking at new to me items to add to the Condiments Cupboard whilst I am playing with making other items.

However, in the process my cupboard is also getting smartened up and being made to look tidier and easier on the eye.  Photos will follow at a later stage as the cupboard is not tidy and pristine yet.  Baby steps that are leading to fantastic ideas.

These are the jars that I am using 1pint jars from Hobbycraft.  They are a solid seal lid, although you could replace them with either Ball or Kilner two part lids if you preferred.  I have used these for bottling my Tomato sauce and they have all sealed without a fail.

I have also bought a couple of BPA free spray pumps for general use for Olive and Sunflower oil as well which will also be kept to hand and reduce the amount of oil if and when used than just tipping some in.

To date I have quite a few jars filled.  No doubt there will be more to follow:

• Marigold Powder;
• Cornflour;
• Arrowroot;
• Dried Sage;
• Dried Spearmint;
• Fines Herbes with Chervil;
• Mixed Herbs;
• Herbes de Provence;
• Oregano;
• Juniper Berries;
• Dried Culinary Lavender;
• Homemade and dried Tomato Powder;
• Home dried Celery pieces;
• Home dried Celery leaf;
• Home dried Thyme Stems;
• Home dried Rosemary Stems;
• Home dried Sage whole Leaves;
• Home dried Bay Leaves;
• Home dried Black Peppermint;
• Homemade Rosemary Salt;
• Homemade Various Broth Posies;
• Home dried Chillies;
• Homemade dried Chilli powder/flakes;

In retrospect there are going to be quite a few more jars to add in as I go along going by my current train of thought and the exploration of new to me things.  Bringing into use the Dehydrating function on my Ninja is also helping me out a bit as it is based on the worktop and easily accessible.  It is also saving lots of other little bits and bobs. My bigger dehydrator has no permanent home and has to be dragged out when doing things in bulk.  Something I hope to change in the foreseeable future.

At the moment I am also considering homemade Bouillon powder, dried fried onions, dried onions, more celery, celery leaf, dried Spring Onions to start with.  I tend to use Onion of all different persuasions quite heavily in my cooking.  Once I have more of the celery dried I will probably powder some of this as well.  I am quite heavily stocked up on Pickling Onions, Shallots, Red Onions (for Red Onion Relish) and two nets of cooking onions.  Onions usually appear in my cooking somewhere down the line.

I also have Tomato Ketchup to have a go at sometime during the week.  Thought would do a couple of different things with Tomatoes this week like a Roasted Tomato and Garlic chutney, and the ketchup now I have the Tomato press.  That will do for the Tomatoes this week; just have to go and get the Tomatoes now.  That will be a little later in the week though, once I have some of the other bits out of the way.

On top of that I have done a little shopping today and came home with a load of herbs for drying.  My emptying the condiments cupboard out revealed that I was quite low on a lot of my flavourings and seasonings.  I have therefore come home with Dill, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Sage

So another little project get the herbs dried and then decanted into their jars to fill up with new stock.

Looks as though I am going to be very busy.

So glad that the wind has died down now although it is bitterly cold (well I think it is).  Hibernation weather, although we did get to see the Sun today briefly - not seen it for ages.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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