What are you canning now?

[appps]

berry flat is 12 pint boxes

Oh wow that's a lot then! Not sure I'll do that well from one plant lol but can always dream


Totally unrelated question was watching A guy sterilise his jars with the rubber seal and clamp lids and he put the whole thing in the oven. It hadn't occurred to me you could put the seal and all in the oven so I've been boiling them seperate. Does anybody else sterilise like that all in the oven?

Those are the only type of jars I can buy cheaply here at Kmart (was eyeing off a set of ball jars at spotlight yesterday but for $72 left them there. So an easier way to sterilise than I'm doing would be good.

 

[Raech]

I sterilize my jars in the oven, for the simple fact of I have hardly any counter space(one counter on either side of the sink). I like it because I can just leave them in the oven and fill as I go.

On a side note, making apricot leather today, and probably tomorrow if my oven doesn't hurry up. The recipe says it can take up to 20 hours. I would use my dehydrator but I don't have the nifty little paper things that people use to make leather. Any ideas on that?

 

[mamatink7]

Oh wow that's a lot then! Not sure I'll do that well from one plant lol but can always dream


Totally unrelated question was watching A guy sterilise his jars with the rubber seal and clamp lids and he put the whole thing in the oven. It hadn't occurred to me you could put the seal and all in the oven so I've been boiling them seperate. Does anybody else sterilise like that all in the oven?

Those are the only type of jars I can buy cheaply here at Kmart (was eyeing off a set of ball jars at spotlight yesterday but for $72 left them there. So an easier way to sterilise than I'm doing would be good.

yeah I know! I got 2 flats and I still need one more full flat lol.
I don't know about sterilizing in the oven and I surely wouldn't ever sterilize the lids and jars together. I'm interested in finding out how to do this as well. We get jars from our Mennonite farm store, no lids or rings included but the jars are super cheap, smooth surface. Lids and rings can be found cheap elsewhere.

 

[mamatink7]

I sterilize my jars in the oven, for the simple fact of I have hardly any counter space(one counter on either side of the sink). I like it because I can just leave them in the oven and fill as I go.

On a side note, making apricot leather today, and probably tomorrow if my oven doesn't hurry up. The recipe says it can take up to 20 hours. I would use my dehydrator but I don't have the nifty little paper things that people use to make leather. Any ideas on that?

oooo how do you make leathers? I'd love to try that. I have no dehydrator.

 

[Raech]

Puree your fruit until it is smooth(5 cups worth), add 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1-2 Tbsp honey until desired sweetness. Then lay plastic wrap over a cookie sheet that has a lip on it. Leave a couple of inches of plastic all around it, the puree pulls it in as it fills the pan. Put oven on lowest temp, then pour puree onto cookie sheet until it is 1/8-1/4 inch thick, use a spatula to smooth it and make it all even. Cook with a butter knife in the door to allow for air flow, checking every hour after 8 hours in the oven. Until it is no longer gooey in the center but is still flexible. Do not overcook it, it will become hard and brittle. When done remove and let it tool before rolling up to store. You can roll it onto plastic wrap or parchment paper. Then put it in jars for storage. You can either rip it into pieces or cut into cute little shapes.

I just pulled my first one out, it has been cooking/dehydrating for 8.5-9 hours. This is also my first time doing fruit leather, so I hope i did it right.The second pan is still gooey in the center, but it says that the top pan will be done quicker, just remove the top pan and let the bottom one keep drying away. I hope my oldest likes these because it would be a good thing to go in is school lunches.

 

[mamatink7]

Puree your fruit until it is smooth(5 cups worth), add 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1-2 Tbsp honey until desired sweetness. Then lay plastic wrap over a cookie sheet that has a lip on it. Leave a couple of inches of plastic all around it, the puree pulls it in as it fills the pan. Put oven on lowest temp, then pour puree onto cookie sheet until it is 1/8-1/4 inch thick, use a spatula to smooth it and make it all even. Cook with a butter knife in the door to allow for air flow, checking every hour after 8 hours in the oven. Until it is no longer gooey in the center but is still flexible. Do not overcook it, it will become hard and brittle. When done remove and let it tool before rolling up to store. You can roll it onto plastic wrap or parchment paper. Then put it in jars for storage. You can either rip it into pieces or cut into cute little shapes.

I just pulled my first one out, it has been cooking/dehydrating for 8.5-9 hours. This is also my first time doing fruit leather, so I hope i did it right.The second pan is still gooey in the center, but it says that the top pan will be done quicker, just remove the top pan and let the bottom one keep drying away. I hope my oldest likes these because it would be a good thing to go in is school lunches.

thank you much! I think I will try this too.

 

[Raech]

Well, one pan turned out well, the other I cooked a little bit too long. I kept drying it because the plastic rolled over the puree and steamed the edges of it, so I used another butter knife to hold the plastic down since it was mostly done. Gave the boys the gooey part since it was just about to be a brittle instead of a leather. It still rolls just not as sticky as the other pan. But the boys seem to love it, even thought it isn't as sweet as the fruit roll-ups you buy at the store. I refuse to buy fruit roll-ups so I am happy they like the apricot leather. Going to do some apple ones when the apples start to come on, or off the tree I guess. Maybe some apple cherry mix would be good, or an apple berry of some sort. The roll-ups are currently sitting in the fridge already rolled and ready to be munched on.

 

[appps]

I sterilize my jars in the oven, for the simple fact of I have hardly any counter space(one counter on either side of the sink). I like it because I can just leave them in the oven and fill as I go.

On a side note, making apricot leather today, and probably tomorrow if my oven doesn't hurry up. The recipe says it can take up to 20 hours. I would use my dehydrator but I don't have the nifty little paper things that people use to make leather. Any ideas on that?

Do you do the lids in there too? He had the whole thing rubber seal and all.

 

[Raech]

I do my lids and rings on the stove. I drop my rings in the the big pot and fish them out once it is up to a boil, and my lids in a little sauce pan off to the side. I suppose you could do the rings in the oven, just on a separate pan(in my case) but that is a lot more bending than I would like to do.

 

[1kluckychik]

Anyone here ever canned fresh oysters?