Preserving Your Harvest

[Smokerbill]

I transferred my latest batch of sauerkraut into pint jars and put them in the fridge. It turned out great this time.

 

[tripletfeb]

Does the low temp pasteurization help keep them crisp?

My parents swear adding a strawberry leave to the jar helps keep the pickles crisp.

Your parents are correct. Strawberry leaves have tannins in them, which, beyond the health benefits, work great at keeping pickles crisp. Grape leaves do the same

 

[Smokerbill]

I started my next batch of sauerkraut yesterday. Store bought head, about 970 grams. I chopped it coarsley, slices 1/2" to 3/4" thick, and those cut into about 3/4" sections. It'll be chunky kraut I guess.

2.3% salt concentration, plus an added 500ml water at a 2.3% concentration to keep the level well above the cabbage. And I like to have extra kraut juice. It's good for sipping sometimes.

 

[Smokerbill]

I woke up early for some reason today... 3:30. So I made my Oregon Grape jelly. I ended up with three half-pint jars that I processed in boiling water, plus enough to spread on a piece of toast. One Ball lid, two Walmart Mainstays lids, all sealed tight.

I put the extra bit in the fridge and it jelled nicely. I used the pectin I extracted from green apples last weekend.

There was no consistency in all the Oregon Grape jelly recipes I found online so I came up with my own measurements...

1.5 cups boiled and strained Oregon grape juice
0.5 cups apple pectin extract
2.5 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice

I have two cups of the apple pectin left, which I froze. Then I went back to bed and slept til 9am.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Today it's been 4 weeks since I fractured my thumb on my dominant hand of course. 2 more weeks to go supposedly, but it's feeling better and I'm gently using it and doing some physical therapy on my own. Since I refuse to have surgery, I'm avoiding the doctor at present time.
So, everything I do takes 10 times longer, and everything has been a struggle. Since I've been hurt, I've still managed to can 20 pints of green beans, 15 jars of dill pickle spears (my husband cut my cucumbers for me the night before). I've frozen sweet corn, shredded zucchini, peppers, green beans and tomatoes.
Before being hurt I canned Black Raspberry Jelly, Jalapeno Jelly, Peach Jalapeno Jelly, Strawberry Jelly, Cherry Jelly and Sweet Relish.

 

[Smokerbill]

Man, did I ever mess up. I attempted another 3 pint batch of dill pickles and this time I packed them in tight. I cut all of the larger cukes in half so I could really pack them in tight on top of the dill heads and mustard seeds.

Well... I think I screwed up by not making sure all the air was out of the jars before I screwed on the lids and processed them. The rings AND lids completely popped off of two of the jars so they were wide open during most of the 10 minute processing boil. Sheesh!

After removing the jars from the pot I inspected the jar tops and threads and didn't feel/see any damaged/cracked/chipped glass.

And luckily I made too much pickling brine and had a full pint jar I was saving for later. So I drained all the water from the jars that popped open and refilled them with fresh pickling brine and put lids/rings back on. I'll put them in the fridge once they cool off and I can wash them.

Hopefully there's still enough flavor left in the dill heads to flavor the pickles. I'll re-inspect the glass to make sure there are no shards of chips before I eat the pickles.

I would've never thought that the lid and ring could pop off of a jar. Seems like the glass would shatter before that happened. Live and learn.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I had one sad little deformed cucumber so I sliced it up and put it in some leftover storebought pickle brine as an experiment. At some point I want to try the whole process from scratch but my dill this year has been very pitiful.