What are you canning now?

I don't mean to butt in or put a dent in any one's canning efforts - but - Salsa is a very tricky product and can be risky if not made according to tested recipes. I have done quite a bit of research on it. Here are a couple of links from two different Universities that have tested recipes. Please be careful with making up recipes.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_salsa.html

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/PNW0395/PNW0395.pdf

This is the cautionary message that I have come across more then once when it comes to making and canning Salsa.

IMPORTANT
The only changes you can safely make in these salsa
recipes are to substitute bottled lemon or lime juice for
vinegar and to change the amount of spices and herbs.
Do not alter the proportions of vegetables to acid and
tomatoes because it might make the salsa unsafe.

Hope this is helpful.

Sandee

I am exhausted and excited all at once! I just made 7 jars of fig jam, and 7 jars of lime jelly. Then the wonderful lady with the fig tree called me and picked me a whole colander FULL of figs for me to pick up in the morning!!!

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Quote:
- Add a can of tomato paste to thicken it.
- Typical herbs/spices for salsa recipes are cilantro, cumin, garlic, oregano, black pepper.
- Did you use any peppers - some sweet bell or banana, and a few hot like anaheim, hot banana or jalapeno.
- It also needs some acidity to get the salsa flavor. At least the lime juice - but I usually put ACV in mine. (The Salsa Verde recipe I use is lime or lemon juice, no vinegar.)

Hope this is helpful....Kim

After reading about Acre of Blessings canned corn, I started thinking maybe I need to try preserving corn this way. Growing up, we always froze corn and that's the way I've always done it. But, freezer space is always a problem here.
Please, tell me about canned corn. Is it mushy? Does the color stay bright? Most importantly, how does it taste? I need to know how frozen corn compares to canned corn.
Share your tips and suggestions for canning corn, please.

And, without looking it up, I'm fairly certain I've read that it's pressure canned. Is that how you all do it?


Thanks so much~

Quote:
I too have always froze my corn. I'd love to know more about canning too.

So Far I've been a good little canner. I've done 30 quarts of dill pickles, 20 quarts of beets, 12 pints of organic black raspberry jame, 8 pints of blueberry. We really gear up the end of august and do our 150 to 200 quarts of tomato puree. Hope the tomatoes are good this year b/c I am completely out and last year I had the blight!

Calling all pressure canners... My Mother is buying me a new pressure canner for my early birthday present. It will be a back-up for my antique one. She bought a Presto 16 quart canner but this contraption does not have a dial gauge on it. It is called a 'regulator'. It does 5, 10, and 15 pounds of pressure. Does anyone have this style? Should I get one with a dial gauge that I'm used to? Now I'm trying to remember if the pot was shiney or aluminum. I always thought I would want the bigger one but long term use has me sticking with the 7 quart capacity so I can easily move it. I have searched but not much info on the gauges. Your experience would be helpful.

Quote:
Mine has a guage, but I personally like the weighted older styles better. We move quite a bit so I'm always worried my guage might not be accurate but with the weights, they aren't going to change, so once it's up and going, I know it's right. I'm not sure if the weighted ones are called regulators or not, though, sorry.

Quote:
I'd never heard of it before this year, either. I saw it mentioned in this thread and then I saw a recipe in a magazine and decided to try it. I have to say, it's a bit tangy but still sweet, I think it would be great mixed in with a lightly dressed potato salad. That's how I plan to use it the first time, anyway.

Here's the one I used:
16 to 20 fresh ears of corn (it did not take that many ears for me, they must have had MUCH smaller ears) You want 8 cups of corn kernels.
2 cups water
3 cups chopped celery (I don't like celery so I didn't put it in)
1 1/2 cups of chopped red sweet peppers
1 1/2 cups of chopped green sweet peppers
1 cup chopped onion
2 1/2 cups vinegar
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp pickling salt
2 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
3 TBSP cornstarch


Shuck corn and remove silk and cut kernals from the cob (do not scrape the cob). Measure 8 cups of corn into a big non-reactive pot with the 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 5 minutes (until corn is nearly tender) then drain.

In the same pot, combine the corn, celery, peppers and onion. Stir in vinegar, sugar, mustard, pickling salt, celery seeds and turmeric. Bring to a boil and boil gently, uncovered for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

Stir together the cornstarch with 2 tbsp water and add to corn mixture. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly, then cook 2 minutes more.

Ladle into hot (prepared) jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Should make roughly 5 pints.

Quote:
- Add a can of tomato paste to thicken it.
- Typical herbs/spices for salsa recipes are cilantro, cumin, garlic, oregano, black pepper.
- Did you use any peppers - some sweet bell or banana, and a few hot like anaheim, hot banana or jalapeno.
- It also needs some acidity to get the salsa flavor. At least the lime juice - but I usually put ACV in mine. (The Salsa Verde recipe I use is lime or lemon juice, no vinegar.)

Hope this is helpful....Kim

I put it all through colander and got enough juice out of it so its the right consistency now. I added cilantro and garlic, salt and sugar as spices and some jalapeno peppers for some zing. My DH was brave enough to taste it after I strained it and he says its not bad. A little heavy on the cilantro. Not great but he'll still eat it. I will add the lime juice tonight and see if that helps too. I won't be canning this batch obviously but I would like to get it to where I like it so I am able to can the next batch. My main problem was figuring out how many tomatoes to use. Like I said, I wanted it smooth and not chunky so when it called for x quarts of tomatoes, was that whole, chopped or pureed? After I peeled, cored and seeded the tomatoes I filled my blender almost 3 times full. Not packed in. Then I think I put in 5 or 6 small to xtra small onions, 6 jalepenos with seeds, 1/2 C sugar, 1/4 C salt and 3 tsp. garlic and then the cilantro. I think thats all that went in. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.