What are you canning now?

[shortgrass]

@rancher hicks, I don't like using frozen fruit for preserves, as it seems there's too much liquid and its hard to gauge how they'll set. But I use frozen for jellies if needed, since all I need is juice

On beans. I grow the regular old yellow wax, string, and bush green beans, plus some purple ones, then I also grow pintos. I froze about 16 gallons of green and wax, and canned 16 pints. I let everything else dry out and shelled them, the purples and pintos; I also had some Cherokee Yellows that made excellent dry beans. Very good texture on those. The purples are a bit chewier than a pinto, so I use those in stews only.

 

[rancher hicks]

@rancher hicks , I don't like using frozen fruit for preserves, as it seems there's too much liquid and its hard to gauge how they'll set. But I use frozen for jellies if needed, since all I need is juice

On beans. I grow the regular old yellow wax, string, and bush green beans, plus some purple ones, then I also grow pintos. I froze about 16 gallons of green and wax, and canned 16 pints. I let everything else dry out and shelled them, the purples and pintos; I also had some Cherokee Yellows that made excellent dry beans. Very good texture on those. The purples are a bit chewier than a pinto, so I use those in stews only.

From the Seeds of Italy catalog I've got Purple beans picked out. It's a pole type, which I'm fond of planting since it gives me more space. I plan to plant pole beans on the edge of the yard.

Plus a Pole type pea. "Telefono" . And "Alaska" peas in honor of my son and his family who just moved there from Florida.

I used Plums that I froze but added a box of pectin to set though I'm not sure I needed it. I may not use the pectin in the Plum/lemon.
It just seemed to be that the plums broke down better when they were fresh.

I've got frozen grapes, strawberries,rhubarb and pineapple. I really need a freezer just for the fruits.


Some of the varieties are French too.

 

[JesseK]

Mind sharing your beef stock recipe? I haven't gotten as much flavor as I'd like...
Thanks!!

How the heck do you delete a post? I was trying to quote WYnot but I messed up

 

[JesseK]

Got a third of a beef from a steer that the parents raised. Barely had room in the freezers.

Canned up a couple of batches of beef stock this past weekend. Use maybe a quarter of the soup bones that we got.

(9) Quart jars
(10) Pint jars
(1) Pint jar that didn't seal. Put that one in the fridge to use this week in a roast or something.

Trying this again

Would you mind sharing the recipe? I haven't gotten as much flavor as I'd like in the past.

 

[Raech]

I second JesseK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WYNot]

Sorry, have been busy and haven't been able to pop in as often as I'd like.

Didn't do anything special with the beef stock. Used the basic Ball Blue Book recipe as a guide, http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/beef-stock. Added a bit of vinegar (maybe a couple tablespoons) to the pot and simmered for quite a bit longer than listed. Started early afternoon on day one and simmered overnight and didn't can till the afternoon of day two.

 

[hippiestink]

Canned what I call Strawberry Limeade Jam ( replaced the usual lemon zest/juice with the lime equivalent). Tastes great but is a little liquid-y, didn't set up very well with my pectin. Might be that the pectin is old, it's from like two years ago. Still eating the jam though XD

 

[3goodeggs]

RancherHicks was having problems with his strawberry setting as well. I can not remember how he rectified it.
It is in this thread, maybe this time last year?
It seems to me it was a pectin problem. Liquid vs powdered?

 

[hippiestink]

RancherHicks was having problems with his strawberry setting as well. I can not remember how he rectified it.
It is in this thread, maybe this time last year?
It seems to me it was a pectin problem. Liquid vs powdered?

Used powdered pectin, and the strawberries were leftover sliced berries from a barbecue, about eight pounds. Literally picked that morning and then sliced, but left in a large container overnight so that could have effected things.

 

[3goodeggs]

I looked it up on google, sometimes it will list BYC as a source. So I was trying a cheat shortcut, but this is what popped up first.

Here's what you can do.

1. First, you wait. ...
2. If it still hasn't set, it's time to open all the jars back up.
3. Pour the jam into your widest pot.
4. Set heat to high and begin to bring the jam to temperature.
5. Whisk in one tablespoon of powdered pectin as it heats.
6. Cook vigorously until jam appears visibly thickened.