Condiments from Scratch Archive

Tomato Gastrique

Last week I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Lynn Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift of The Splendid Table, at a guided tomato tasting event for Muir Glen Organic, the brand I work on. Read more ›

Tangy Mayonnaise

I have a confession to make. There are two condiments that I consistently buy and rarely make from scratch: Heinz Ketchup and Hellman’s/Best Food’s Mayonnaise. For this scratch cook, this is a travesty. Read more ›

Chive Blossom Vinegar Recipe

While cruising through Instagram the other day I came across a number of photos of beautiful chive blossoms and several posts about chive blossom vinegar. Doh! I totally forgot to make my chive blossom vinegar! And my garden chives are covered in blossoms. The time is now. Read more ›

Habanero Hellfire Hot Pepper Jelly

I know, I know. It’s a little late to be making hot pepper jelly, right? It’s almost Thanksgiving. We got a little busy, what with a vacation to New Orleans, winterizing our gardens and chicken coop, and a way-to-early snow fall and hard freeze. Read more ›

Backyard Maple Syrup

As Winter shifts ever so slowly to Spring, sugaring time is upon us. As I drive through the hills of northern New England on a recent visit to my Mother’s house, I see spider webs woven throughout the trees, trailing over hill and dale, collecting the running sap to be boiled down into thick liquid gold. Around every bend of those curving country roads is another placard selling gallons of the stuff. It’s maple syrup time. Read more ›

Habanero Sriracha

I just returned from a lovely Caribbean vacation on the island of St Martin/Sint Maartin. Half of the island is French, the other, Dutch. The two main food styles are French and Creole West Indian. And the Creole side really likes habanero hot sauces. Bottles of the stuff grace every table in multiple levels of really hot to hotter than hell. Read more ›

Fermented Hot Sauce

My partner Christopher is the pepper king in this family. While I focus on tomatoes, he takes on peppers, mostly hot chiles. This year he grew Scotch Bonnet, Jamaican Red, Caribbean Heat, Giant Cayenne, Tabasco, Thai Dragon, Jalepeño, Read more ›

Extra Smoky Tomato Jam

Tomatoes keep straggling into my kitchen from my fall garden, rather scarred, cracked and water-logged. A week of rain and cool temps have left them a little worse for wear, but they gallantly keep right on producing. In my book, the best way to work with these late season tomatoes is to concentrate their flavors by cooking them down into something thick and rich, like Smoky Tomato Jam. Read more ›

Winter Cure of Preserved Meyer Lemons

Preserved lemons are the darlings of the citrus season. They make the perfect counterpoint to a dreary winter’s day by adding wonderful bright flavors to slow cooked dishes like beans and grains, braised meats, salads, pancakes and sweets. And they make a fabulous addition to a martini. Read more ›

Cranberry Mustard

My giant jar of Stout Beer Mustard finally ran out. Always one to try something new, I pondered what kind of mustard to make next. There are so many possibilities! But with the holidays around the corner and a jeweled bag of Wisconsin cranberries in the fridge, a festive mustard was in order. Could cranberries and mustard go together? The trick was to find the right balance between bitter, sour, sweet and salty. Read more ›

Stout Beer Mustard

I have a mustard-lover in my house. He eats mustard with everything; sandwiches, salad dressing, marinades, cheese, sausages, steak, veggies, you name it. I don’t even buy mustard anymore because it would put me in the poor house. So I like to make my own, in volume, a quart at a time. It’s ridiculous.