Preserving Your Harvest

[WthrLady]

I feel your pain. I had similar struggles with plum jam today.

It's a Ball recipe I followed. No matter how long I boiled it would not reach the temp stated in the book. In the end it started to set IN THE POT! It was supposed to yield 6 half pint jars. I got 3.
Round 2 was similar but I went ahead and water bath canned it earlier. Yup it did not set properly.

I will call it plum syrup and leave it as is.

Tomorrow I will attempt with strawberries. That recipe calls for pectin.

Doesn't that just drive you NUTS!!!!

OH I saw italian plums today at the market and forgot to grab some. I want plum jelly!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Doesn't that just drive you NUTS!!!!

OH I saw italian plums today at the market and forgot to grab some. I want plum jelly!

It does make me batty.

The nice thing about plums is no complicated steps and no pectin. They have enough all on their own.

I did use my hand blender to make sure there weren't any big chunks before I started cooking it.

I suppose I COULD cook it down more. It makes such small batches it's a shame to have it not set.

 

[Sally PB]

My tomatoes are just starting to ripen in enough numbers to can. I did 4 quarts today.

I'm documenting my tomato adventures this year in this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/2021-tomato-harvest.1488366/#post-24814498

If anyone wants to stop by and talk about theirs, that would be great.

One of my goals is to have enough of my own tomatoes to can all I need, which is 55-60 quarts (for a year, for me and DH). I won't make it this year, that's for sure, but I'm getting closer. I'll still have to buy a bushel, at least.

I also froze 4 quarts of beans. That goes so quickly compared to canning. But with our most recent power outage lasting 2 days, I'd like to have stuff on the shelf that I don't need to worry about. Except I MUCH prefer beans frozen to canned. Decisions, decisions...

 

[BReeder!]

Pizza sauce update: (Cross post)

I simmered it all day again and took -12 pounds of tomatoes originally (MEAT tomatoes) and simmered them according to the directions and it was still too thing for canning yesterday, so I simmered them to what looked like pizza sauce and canned them. It was too water then. So today I simmered more and took those 7 pints and took them down to 7 HALF pints. Mrs. Wages is too sweet a pizza sauce, but it has to have high sugar content to bring up the acid as it is a BWB preservation (I'm pressure canning though). But I just wanted to try it. I won't waste my tomatoes again on it.

Citric acid (powder or liquid) or vinegar could be used to bring up the acid instead of sugar in the future or for others who do not have a pressure canner but want to preserve tomatoes.

 

[The Coastal Garden]

I love this! This is something I am trying to learn more about this year too. We have started dehydrating a lot and pickling some vegetables.

 

[Sally PB]

We have started dehydrating a lot

I use my dehydrator a lot for dried fruit and vegetables. I've done apples, peaches, bananas, cherries, butternut squash, peppers, cherry tomatoes, and probably other things I can't remember. Dried fruit is nature's candy! Love that stuff.

We've made a fair amount of beef jerky, and I've done yogurt "jerky" too.

If you have questions about preserving food, ask away! Lot of very knowledgeable people here.

 

[ladybrasa]

Ooh, what’s yogurt jerky?

 

[WthrLady]

Citric acid (powder or liquid) or vinegar could be used to bring up the acid instead of sugar in the future or for others who do not have a pressure canner but want to preserve tomatoes.

Yes. I was saying the Mrs. Wages uses a LOT of sugar in it to allow for water bath canning. It was almost a Tablespoon per POUND of tomatoes.

 

[WthrLady]

Ooh, what’s yogurt jerky?

It's like fruit roll-ups/ fruit jerky sheets, but with yogurt! It's good!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Yes. I was saying the Mrs. Wages uses a LOT of sugar in it to allow for water bath canning. It was almost a Tablespoon per POUND of tomatoes.

I always use a tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of salt per pint of tomatoes. I've never had any problems with it.