Teriyaki’s -  When Ray was in the service he spent some time in Okinawa Japan.  The women learned he liked to cook.  Men don’t generally cook in the orient.  They took Ray into the kitchen and taught him how to cook authentic teriyaki.  We added out Urban Survival touch by adding pineapple or garlic to each jar we made. 

 

Hot Garlic Sauce- About 6 years ago I was at my niece’s house and she had some garlic sauce a friend of a friend had made.  He pasted it out around the holidays.  It was in a small jar, but Packed with garlic flavor and HOT.  I remember eating that and saying “Wow, someone should sell this, it is sooo goood” Little did I know it was going to be Ray and I who made the sauce to sell.  It is one of our best sellers!

 

Champagne Mustard-  Ray said he had this recipe for many years.  It is only good if you make it with the champagne vinegar.  This special vinegar is quite costly, not appropriate for commercial canning.  We were selling at a farmers market one day and the vendor next to us asks “ hey, you know someone who wants some Champagne vinegar cheap?”  Well, we jumped on that one and bought 20 boxes.  This is the best mustard.  It is creamy, spicy, and sweet all at the same time.

 

Chow-chow-  Chow-chow  is made with green tomatoes hand picked from Camp Verde.  When the farmers in get their first frost, the tomatoes stop turning red.  Plus this time of year, the farmers are ready for the season to be over.  They call us and give us 48 hours to come get all the green tomatoes before they plow in the fields for winter.  Well, we picked 1,100lbs. Of tomatoes in those two days.  This recipe is from women who actually homesteaded the town of Pine.  Ray got to can with her when she was in her 90’s.  This is the recipe they took to the county fair 5 years in a row and won first prize.

Quite an honor. 

 

Bread & Butter Onions-  We make our bread & butter pickles with a sweet onion.  We had many people who told us how much they like the onion in the pickles.  So we took out the pickles and made just bread & butter onions.  One way to please the customer.

 

Beets & Onions-  This recipe has been around for a very long time.  I some times call this memory food.  It is an old Amish recipe.  So many times people taste this beet and just stand there saying nothing.  I am thinking, Oh gosh, something must be wrong.  When they finally speak, it is usually I remember this recipe because of my Grandmother.  Then buy themselves a jar.  There has been a time when a statement like that has made my whole day.

 

B.F.D.-  this is our big freakin dill pickle!  We decided to name it that because it has so much dill in the recipe.  We use a lot of dill weed and dill seed.  We put a lot of effort into keeping our pickles as crispy.  After our pickles get out of the hot bath, we put them in front of a fan.  This stops the cooking process and helps keep them from getting mushy.  Remember this and try it yourself if you make your own pickles.

 

Watermelon Rind-  We have been asked to make this for a long time.  Our problem was too much waste.  Why throw all that watermelon away or try to eat it all!  Ray decided to make watermelon wine.  That used up all the meat of the fruit.  We pickled the rind and dried the seeds to make a medicinal tea and made wine!  We had no waste at all.  We just needed take our time and find the right recipes for the whole fruit.