---
season: winter
section: putting up
---

- this is a watching-over season more than a putting-up one. tend what was set aside in fall.
- check the krauts. skim what's floated, weight what's risen, taste once a week.
- cold weeks are smoking weather. country hams hang in the meat house. bacon comes out of the cure and goes over the fire. cold smoke holds best below forty degrees.
- holiday fats render down. lard and tallow into crocks for the year ahead.
- citrus comes up from down south now. marmalade is a january project, all afternoon at the stove.
- bottle the cider vinegar started in spring. taste it. the mother goes back into a fresh batch.
- inventory the shelves. what didn't get eaten tells you what to make less of next year.
- the sourdough starter, kept on the counter or back of the fridge, gets new flour and a fresh jar.