Canning and preserving

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
This past autumn I made a dozen jars of applesauce and another dozen jars of spiced apples with rum and cloves.

Made fig preserves last week.

This week I'm planning on doing peach preserves and a plum/mango jam. I also am thinking of doing crushed tomatoes or a creole tomato ketchup.

I'm a Ball gal, but I do like the mason jars with the metal clips.

Anyone else getting busy with the summer bounty??
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Just about to water bath 10 half pints of peach preserves. I used about 8 pounds of peaches, a cup of honey, 3-4 pounds of sugar and 1/2 c brandy.

Still in the pot is a fruit blend - mangoes, plums and lime. Probably only get 4 jars of that.

Damn, it smells very good in here.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I've never really done any canning and preserving although I've watched my mother and dad do it long ago. I'm sure their techniques weren't up to date.

I'm thinking that I'd like to try doing some pickled okra. I love it, and it's pretty pricey in the grocery store. Okra gets cheap, cheap when it really starts coming in. I'd also like to try some green tomato relish, which you can't even find anymore in the grocery stores around here. Hubby even looked for it at Central Market, and they didn't have it. It's great with fried fish.

So, yeah, now I'm probably going to do this. Thanks for the inspiration, Vera. :biggrin: I'm sure I'll have lots of questions later.
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
Anyone else getting busy with the summer bounty??

Yep. DW & I were at the farmers market today and the cukes are coming in 2-3 weeks early this year due to an exceptionally warm spring. We'll be canning pickles in the next week or two with our friend Carmen. We've done as many as 120 quarts.

Once the pickles are finished we'll can some tomatoes for sauce throughout the year. The Wisconsin tomatoes are delicious as opposed to the bland maters of Florida so I'll haul a couple cases south with me in October.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
I bought a small basket of kirbys today..$6 for 9 or 10 of them. If I was to pickle them, I'd get maybe 3 or 4 1/2 pint jars. I love bread and butter pickles. Maybe I'll get another basket next week. This way I can get a bigger yield and it will come to about a dollar a jar.
 

Phiddlechik

New member
Our farmers market starts up this Tuesday. We had a long, cold, wet spring, then really hot with lots of grasshoppers. Trucks come up from CO, and there are berries from OR, usually. We'll see.
Sometimes, I've put in a quarter cup of Captain Morgan into my peach preserves right after I take it off the burner, and before ladling into jars. The alcohol really enhances the natural flavor of the fruit.
 

rickismom

Low Carb Home Cook
Site Supporter
Yep. DW & I were at the farmers market today and the cukes are coming in 2-3 weeks early this year due to an exceptionally warm spring. We'll be canning pickles in the next week or two with our friend Carmen. We've done as many as 120 quarts.

Once the pickles are finished we'll can some tomatoes for sauce throughout the year. The Wisconsin tomatoes are delicious as opposed to the bland maters of Florida so I'll haul a couple cases south with me in October.

Oooooh, that tomato sauce sounds good Buzz! Care to share the recipe??? lol
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
When I made the figs I put the bourbon in during the cooking process. Flavour is still there, but not the tiny kick. With the peaches and mango/plum I put the booze in after cooking, before ladling.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Yesterday's handywork

July2010051.jpg
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
I got back into canning this year because the freezer is full (of DS's crappola). Made up some raspberry & blueberry jam, and some bread & butter pickles. I re-processed the blueberry jam this morning because it was blueberry syrup (no set). Hopefully this time it will set up with the additional sugar, lemon juice and pectin.

Rasp-BluePreserves.jpg


Bread-n-Butterpickles.jpg
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I'm on Step One to making some green tomato relish:

GreenTomatoRelish1.jpg



These tomatoes are probably a little riper than they should be, but I think they'll still work.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Everything looks so beautiful, you guys!

Cooksie, those tomatoes a HUGE. Where'd you get them? Did you remove them from the vine? How come?

I'd love your recipe for green tomato relish, too!

Lee
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
What's in your recipe, Cooksie??

Everything looks so beautiful, you guys!

Cooksie, those tomatoes a HUGE. Where'd you get them? Did you remove them from the vine? How come?

I'd love your recipe for green tomato relish, too!

Lee

I don't have a recipe yet, but I will soon. I looked at the recipe on here, but I don't want to use green peppers. The green tomato relish that I'm used to just has tomatoes, onions, and the syrup. I may use the syrup posted on here and just leave out the green pepper. Not sure yet.

I got the tomatoes from a vegetable/fruit stand. I went by last week and he had a big "Green Tomatoes" sign, but he was closed. I went the next day, and he said he was out and probably wouldn't get anymore. So just by chance I went again today, and he had some :punk:. They're not totally green, but I think they're good enough.

I'm sure that I will have questions as I've never done this before :mrgreen:.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Some of the old style lids had a lot more sealant to work with, and I've heard of people getting 3 or more uses with the same lids. The lids today have less sealant on them, and I would not feel safe reusing them. One of the reasons I heard for NOT reusing lids, is that the tops of the jars are not always flat, and can even have surface imperfections that a new lid will conform to, but when reused, the lids will rarely (if ever) end up in the same spot, thus raising the potential for not sealing.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
Oy! My mistake. Lids are the flatties with the seal. I mistakenly thought the term lids meant the outer screw bands.
 

mhend

New member
I am beginning to tackle grilling, and I love it. Canning is the next thing on my list. I always watched my grandmother do it, but didn't pay enough attention! I have always been afraid of it...that I won't have the sterilized properly or sealed properly, etc.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
mhend, you'll know if the seal isn't properly sealed. If that happens you can either freeze what didn't seal, or refrigerate it and use it as though you just opened a jar.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Few questions before I get started:

My plan was to use a large stainless spaghetti pot with an insert, but all four jars won't sit down in there with the strainer/insert in place. Plan B is to just set the jars in the pot (no insert) and use tongs to remove the jars. OK?

How long do the empty jars have to be in the boiling water to be safe?

What about the lids with the sealant, just a quick dip in the boiling water?

Does 12 to 15 minutes in boiling water for the filled jars sound right?

Salt choices - sea salt with no iodine or just plain iodized table salt?

I'm planning on using a mix of:
green tomatoes
onions
white vinegar
sugar
salt

All suggestions appreciated :).
 

Phiddlechik

New member
Looks great. Processing time depends on the recipe (I look for recipes with processing times, or better yet, look up the recommended processing times on Ball), and one's altitude. We live at about a mile up, so I need to adjust my processing times accordingly.
 

loboloco

Active member
An old thread that needs new life. About 2 weeks ago, I canned 20 pints of squash. Today I and my mother tried a dill pickle recipe to the tune of 20 qts. Have to wait 6 wks for the stuff to be ready, but every jar sealed.
 
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