Anyone do lots of home canning/food preserving?

[Scoop]

I have both a pressure canner and a water bath canner. I don't even use the water bath canner any more. I canned well over 200 jars last year. I canned corn, beans, pickles, applesauce, raspberry jelly and jam, strawberry jam, blackberry jam and jelly, and tons of tomato sauce. I've been canning almost 25 years now and there just isn't anything like opening up a jar of home processed food, especially if you grew it. When I get a chance I'll post a really awesome pickle recipe. I canned 30 jars one year and thought it would last 2 years. Nope! Gone in 1 year! The kids just inhaled them! I don't even use any other pickle recipes now. I'll see if I can get that posted tonight. I gotta get to work!

 

[brandytab]

Canner here, too!

I only use boiling water bath currently - don't have a pressure canner. I hope to get my hands on one this summer, though.

We can what we grow in our garden. My fave recipes are Blueberry Lime jam, Banana jam (talk about YUM with peanut butter!) and Dilly Beans.... my kids eat those up faster than pickles! Oh, can't forget the zucchini relish. That's the best thing to do with a bumper crop of zucchini for us.

The best forum, I believe, is the Harvest forum on www.gardenweb.com -- just some amazing canners always willing to give direction and advice

 

[Scoop]

Here's the Polish Dill Pickle recipe I use. My late father-in-law gave this to us.

For cold pack:
Brine - 1 cup vinegar to 3 cups water
For each jar:
2 Tbl. sugar
1 Tbl. canning salt
1/2 tsp. pickling spice
1/2 tsp dill seed
5 peppercorns
1 clove of garlic, sliced

Place garlic on bottom of quart jar and place pickles till 1" from top. Add all other seasonings on top of pickles. Pour brine over, up to about 1/2" , wipe rim of jar and seal. Place in water bath. Boil for 10 minutes. Take out and place on towel to cool.

That's how my father-in-law did it. I steam mine in the pressure canner for a full 10 minutes. I heat the brine to boiling before I put it in the jars. I also use warm jars so I don't crack them by doing that.

 

[tamsflock]

Banana jams sounds good would like to try that!! I make blueberry strawberry and raspberry jam every year. Blueberries look like it isn't going to be a good year for them here. I had so many last year it was great!!
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[Acre of Blessings]

Banana Jam sound yummy

 

[WingingIt]

I can quite a bit, too. This is the first year in a long time that I've been able to have a big garden, so I'm thrilled that we should end up with shelves and shelves of food instead of the salsas, tomatos, tomato sauce and pears that was all that I was able to preseve last year. So glad to see so many others here that can!

 

[brandytab]

I'll dig up the recipe for you all this weekend. I actually put cherries in it, too - maraschino. It's SOOO good. There's not a person who hasn't liked it yet!

It's not canning season for me yet, so I'll have to go and find my recipe stash

I might have to can some though if I dig it out. I use the reduced old bananas at the store to whip these up.

I also wanted to add that it's BWB safe - there's enough lemon added to bring the acidity up.

 

[BeckyBird]

Sweet! My husband just bought a pressure cooker and canning supplies today. He canned some chicken and ground beef, and then together we are making some blueberry jam. I think canning is really fun already, so I will also be checking here for more yummy recipes!

Also, we are going through the deep freezer to make room. We are canning some of the frozen vegetables and fruits, just to get them out of the freezer.

P.S. Those dilly beans sound awesome!

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I have a Presto Pressure Canner I've been using about 6 years. This is one of my favorite things!! I love to have those glass jars in my cabinets just full of home grown goodies!! I gave away jars and jars of apple butter, salsa and muscadine jam for Christmas last year!! Yep, canning nut here too!!

 

[brandytab]

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How fun! I can't wait to can some stew meat for the winter. And chili - my girls can live on that stuff!

The dilly beans ARE awesome. The jars just disappear. People who think they won't like them are surprised and end up eating a whole can. Funny thing is that you'd think that cooking the beans and then cooking them again while processing would make mushy beans -- but they are cruuuuunchy!