Asparagus
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and trim the asparagus.
Cover with boiling water and boil rapidly for 15 minutes.
Drain and arrange the asparagus heads up in wide-mouthed jars.
Fill and seal
Adjust the rubber seals and fill the jars to overflowing with boiled and cooled water.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt and lay the rubber seals and lids loosely on top.
Stand the jars in a boiler on a rack and surround them halfway with cold water.
Process and finish
Cover the boiler and bring to a boil, then boil for 1.5 hours.
Lift out one jar at a time and quickly fasten or screw down the top without lifting it from the jar.
Keep the jars protected from drafts until cool.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Asparagus
- Is the food being preserved, its texture softened by the initial boil and sealed in the jar.
- Salt
- Seasons the asparagus in the jar and helps preserve its flavour during storage.
The step that matters
Boiling the sealed jars for 1.5 hours. The long boil in the water bath must bring the contents through heat to kill spoilage microbes. Short or weak heating can leave living organisms that spoil the jar later, so the boiler must keep boiling for the full time.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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