Canning 2009 - Page 3

[lmonter]

Has anybody made their own pectin on here?

Hubby cut down a branch on one of the apple trees to get to the wood pile without hunching over every pass through, and I hate to waste those little green apples.



Jyotsna ~ Yeah. Rotten fruit won't be so yummy unless you have a snout and curly tail. No matter how you try to dress it up.
I have to get on hubby when he cuts up strawberries for me - if he leaves little bruised parts on them and puts them in the fridge, the bruises get bigger and spread like a mean little disease against yumminess. It gets annoying.

Kiltie Girl ~ I just kinda used the strawberry lemonade concentrate recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (or whatever it is). There's so much lemon/lime juice in there that as long as you process it properly you should be good. So I subbed in raspberries for the strawberries for the raspberry lemonade concentrate, and cherries and lime juice for cherry limeade concentrate.

Owen'nZoe ~ You can can up apple slices in quart jars to use for apple crisp/apple pies/etc. as well. In case you have somewhat limited freezer space. They don't oxidize when you thaw them, and then you don't have to plan too far ahead to deal with that pesky not-thawing-immediately-because-you-said-so thing. Unless that's just me. Just a thought. I have some from last year that are just groovy - I don't need to can any more apple slices or apple pie filling for a year or three since I have so much leftover from last year.

[dachshundqueen]

I processed and canned 20# of strawberries into jam.

I processed and canned 5# of blueberries into jam.

I processed and canned 15# of figs into fig preserves. Another 5# in fridge waiting to be frozen, after I cooked them.

That's all folks! More figs to come though! Man those things are prolific.

Liz

[notwonamesalike]

[QUOTE=Kiltie Girl;14219621]Can anyone share their lemonaide concentrate recipes? That sounds devine!!

6 cups crushed fruit
6 cups sugar
4 cups lemon juice or lime juice.

Stir it all together in a pot until 190 degrees. Do not boil. Skim off any foam.

Ladle into hot, sterlized pint jars. Process for 10 minutes.

Mix 1 pint concentrate with 2-3 pints water or club soda.

We've done
peach lemonade
blueberry lemonade
raspberry lemonade
blackberry lemonade
strawberry lemonade
cherry limeade

So yummy!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

aha! I finally found that new ball blue book I bought b/c it was the 100th anniversary edition and had different recipes in it! So, here it is ladies!

Roasted Roma tomatoes

12 lbs roma tomatoes
4 bulbs garlic
1/4 c xtra virgin olivie oil
1 1/2 c chop onion
1 T minced fresh oregano
1 t salt
1/2 t coarse gr black pepper
bottled lemon juice

Roast tomatoes on gril or in broiler until skins begin to wrinkle & become lightly blackened in spots, turning to roast evenly on all sides. Remove from heat & place in a paaper bag, close tightly. Cool until they can be handled, about 15 min. Slip skins off, cut in half & remove seeds. Cut into 1/2 in chunks, set aside. place garlic in aluminum foil, drizzle w/ olive oil, wrap, roast for 30 min at 350 degrees. Cool, remove skins. Add garlic to tomatoes, stir in remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat until hot throughout. Add 2 T bottled lemon juice to each quart. Latdle hot tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/2 in headspace. Remove air bubbles, adjust caps. Process quarts 1 hr & 25 minutes in a boiling water canner.



Now, if it were me, I'd probably not chop all of them. Maybe do some halves, some whole, some chunks. I guess it would depend on the amount of romas I had. I can't wait to try it though!

[Owen'nZoe]

MMNN - Thank you so much for posting that! It sounds absolutely perfect. Now I just have to wait til I have more than one ripe roma!

[Pogo0685]

subbing...

I just have to say wow, I hope someday I can preserve as much as you all do!

[henny penny]

So far this summer we've put up a ton of strawberry, blackberry, sour cherry jam, bread and butter pickles, pickled beets, pickled watermelon rind, basil cilantro pesto and a vegetable/herb soup base preserved in salt. I'm hoping to try rose hip jam later this fall! Anyone have success or experience with that?

[janey99]

fermented pickle question -

Hi all -

As of tomorrow, my fermented sours will have been in for two weeks. We tasted at the end of the first week, and they were less than half sour, so we decided to leave them another week. At that time, the brine was fine with no scum or anything.

Now, there is a very thin layer of scum over the top, and tiny dots of mold collecting in a few spots around the rim of my container where the brine meets the rim. All the pickles are still submerged (they are weighted down).

I know most fermenting recipes say scum is OK and just skim it off, but really, is this OK? If it is OK, how can I completely skim off the scum and mold dots so that when I remove the pickles, they don't "pass through" the surface of scum? Finally, my recipe says to stop the fermenting process by storing the pickles in jars in the fridge in their original brine (they have been out for two weeks). Can I still use this brine that has had this scum/mold on it, or should I mix more with the proper ratio of salt to water?

I hope someone knows the answer to this - I really want to eat these pickles, but I don't want to poison myself!

TIA!

Jane

[MissMommyNiceNice]

I think I may have made the spiciest salsa known to man last night. It required 3C of chopped jalapenos. I didn't have that many since I had already done a batch of jalapeno jelly earlier in the day. So I used all the other thousands of hot peppers I planted including: Chinese 5 Color, Anaheim, Aurora, Serrano, Fish, Hot Hungarian, and probably a few others. I don't keep track what I pick, just throw it in the hot pepper basket for market. Needless to say I was burning up and I'm pretty sure I stink like hot peppers & garlic today. All I can say is, I hope my husband likes it, b/c I don't think I'll be eating much! It was more green from the peppers than red from the tomatoes! Yikes!

I did do my bread & butters last night, and they look lovely! I haven't done them in a year or two, but I have a nice old fashioned recipe that always comes out great. Now, If I could just find a dill pickle recipe I like, we'll be in business!

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by MissMommyNiceNice

I did do my bread & butters last night, and they look lovely! I haven't done them in a year or two, but I have a nice old fashioned recipe that always comes out great. Now, If I could just find a dill pickle recipe I like, we'll be in business!

I'm still working on a dill recipe as well. I think. Apparently our favorite commercial pickles are Claussen and then Vlasic. But I don't think they'd be very forthcoming about their secret recipes. *sigh*

[dbsam]

Wow...I don't do all the canning you all do and I do not have a pressure canner. I've completed a few batches of bread and butter pickles and froze shredded zucchini and green beans. I normally can spicy banana peppers but haven't done any yet this year. I usually freeze berries but only picked enough to eat this year. We've been picking wild blackberries the past week...I've never tried freezing them.

Do any of you have a recipe for freezer salsa? I have lots of tomatoes, Serrano peppers and chili peppers. I often add salsa into cooked recipes like tacos and enchiladas and thought a freezer salsa might work. (I assume it would be mushy.)

Until I read this thread I never heard of pickled watermelon rind! We have plenty watermelons ripening…I might try it.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Originally Posted by lmonter

I'm still working on a dill recipe as well. I think. Apparently our favorite commercial pickles are Claussen and then Vlasic. But I don't think they'd be very forthcoming about their secret recipes. *sigh*

Last time I did them I used white vinegar instead of cider, and that did make them better, I thought. Maybe that will help yours? I think I'm going to try the garlic pickles this year, with little or no dill.

[notwonamesalike]

Oh...man...today I'm making fig jam. The first batch was straight fig jam...second batch is spiced fig jam.

OMG. So good. I love that fig trees grow like nuts here.

[tankgirl73]

I love my dill pickles... it uses white vinegar, I would never have thought of using cider vinegar... that's for the bread and butters!

It's a cold pack, white vinegar, lots of garlic, some dill... I forget what else, I'll have to look it up. I find it doesn't make good whole dill pickles (at least I'm not doing it well enough lol) but the sliced ones are di-vine!

[notwonamesalike]

Oh figs...how I love you.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/...fe8fe898_b.jpg


I'm having a hard time uploading the actual finished canned jam...I'll try again tomorrow.

[Kritto]

lmonter, we haven't tried making our own pectin yet, but are seriously considering it. Our apple tree is old and overgrown, and all the apples turn mushy and have critters in them by the time they're actually ripe. But now, when they're green, they're in great condition and would actually be useful! So, if you get around to pectin-making before we do, please let me know how it goes... I'm tempted but nervous.

[Rikki Jean]

Wow, I just skimmed through the thread, and I am IN AWE!!! I hope that I can be a canning fiend some day like so many of you!

I'm hoping to eventually get myself a pressure canner. What is everyone here using?

[Pogo0685]

Originally Posted by Rikki Jean

Wow, I just skimmed through the thread, and I am IN AWE!!! I hope that I can be a canning fiend some day like so many of you!

I'm hoping to eventually get myself a pressure canner. What is everyone here using?

I haven't canned anything yet but my parents just bought me both a water bath and a pressure canner so I am very excited to can something!

[Rikki Jean]

I have another question- I know that you can't re-use canning lids...why is that? Can you reuse the bands? I saw boxes of lids only at the store today, so I wondered if bands were re-usable.

[Pogo0685]

Originally Posted by Rikki Jean

I have another question- I know that you can't re-use canning lids...why is that? Can you reuse the bands? I saw boxes of lids only at the store today, so I wondered if bands were re-usable.

You cant reuse the lids because the seal wont ever seal again its like a 1 time use wax like stuff (I went to a canning workshop and thats what they said) and you can reuse the bands as long as they are not rusted or bent in anyway.