What are you canning now?

[erinszoo]

I understand. If I had more freezer space I would have tried it myself but one of our freezers went out so I didn't have a choice but to process all the peaches before they went mushy. Have a bunch of apples still to process. Luckily they keep for a longer period of time before they have to be done.

 

[holyhart]

I didn't know that about peaches either. Or tomatoes for that matter. I always freeze tomatoes so that I end up with enough to process at one time. It will take me all day, but I would rather process a lot in one long day, than spend multiple days doing smaller batches!

 

[Happy Chooks]

I knew that about tomatoes, but good to know it works for peaches too.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well I picked Raspberries yesterday and I think the Encore is tarter but smaller where I pick. $3 a pound to pick. I can't remember off hand what the other variety was but I picked some of both. Mine will not be ready til next year I fear. I like to use a mix of varieties in my jams if I can.

I planted Nova, heritage and Anne (yellow) It's so dry here that they need quite a bit of water. 93* today.

Anyhow they are washed and in the freezer and I expect I'll buy peaches tomorrow at the markets. Should I wash and dry them first? I expect to wash them but is there anything special I need to do other than that?

If I wait til a rainy day or cooler weather will that affect the set?

I did tell you about the "smaller" rack? In case you only want to do three or four jars?

 

[sonew123]

Ok I just bought the kitchenaid strainer/grinder attachments ...im hoping this will replace the foley mill???

What do you guys think or can any offer up the differences? i watched the videos on the kitchen aid thing and it was awesome for juicing tomatoes for,juice or sauce etc... Thinking with the 10 billion blackberries ill have the kitchen aid thing will take,hours of work away???

Let me hunt a link down!!!

 

[vfem]

Man, I just spent HOURS blanching and peeling tomatoes to fill a 12 quart pot to make tomato sauce. Sadly, I only filled like 1/3 of the quart. But I still have at least 10 lbs of tomatoes I picked a bit too early to keep the bugs from getting them. They'll be ready in a day or so. (All while I have about 1000 green tomatoes starting to blush out in the yard all at once! UGH!)

The sauce has been on the stove since 7:30ish so almost 2 hours in. Another 30min-1hour to go and it'll be ready to can. I'll be lucky to get 3 pints out of it now that it has reduced so much. I like my sauce thick though and chunky. Splash of balsamic vinegar and all those fresh herbs... the house smells amazing. I already want pasta for dinner tomorrow!

 

[holyhart]

Well I picked Raspberries yesterday and I think the Encore is tarter but smaller where I pick. $3 a pound to pick. I can't remember off hand what the other variety was but I picked some of both. Mine will not be ready til next year I fear. I like to use a mix of varieties in my jams if I can.

I planted Nova, heritage and Anne (yellow) It's so dry here that they need quite a bit of water. 93* today.

Anyhow they are washed and in the freezer and I expect I'll buy peaches tomorrow at the markets. Should I wash and dry them first? I expect to wash them but is there anything special I need to do other than that?

If I wait til a rainy day or cooler weather will that affect the set?

I did tell you about the "smaller" rack? In case you only want to do three or four jars?

Oh, you can make what is probably my favorite jam!! Peach Melba jam (a mix of peaches, raspberries and a splash of almond extract...unbelievably good!

)

I often try to wait for cooler weather for my canning days IF I can help it, but that isn't always the case. My aunt freezes all her fresh picked produce and does her canning in the winter. We both have good luck with set. Sometimes, and I have no explanation of why this happens, on rainy or really humid days, I get an extra jar or two of jam. Must have something about atmospheric pressure, but darned if I know why!

 

[holyhart]

Ok I just bought the kitchenaid strainer/grinder attachments ...im hoping this will replace the foley mill???
What do you guys think or can any offer up the differences? i watched the videos on the kitchen aid thing and it was awesome for juicing tomatoes for,juice or sauce etc... Thinking with the 10 billion blackberries ill have the kitchen aid thing will take,hours of work away???
Let me hunt a link down!!!

Not sure how well it works for juicing (I use my victorio for that), but the grinding attachment saved me TONS of time and elbow grease when I made mustard relish last year. It is my great grandmother's recipe and when my aunt gave it to me, she didn't think I would be able to make it. All my great aunts and uncles get together to make it, still using my great grandmother's hand crank food grinder (they are her children and most of them are in their 70's). The KA, grinds the veges a little smaller than the old one that belonged to my great grandmother, but I got the job done super fast and easy! In fact, my kids helped. I would think it would save lots of time with the blackberries as well. I don't remember though if it separates the seeds and skins from the juice with the juicing attachment? Not sure if you want it to or not, but my victorio has different attachments and one is for berries. Out of one chute comes all the juice and pulp, and out of the other shut is all the skins and seeds. Haven't done blackberries yet myself with it, but it works beautiful on tomatoes and apples!

Oh! And I dehydrated all the tomato skins and seeds when I was done with sauce last year. Ground it up in my spice grinder and it adds great flavor when used like any other dried spice. It can also be used as tomato paste if you add a little corn starch to it, and mix equal parts water to tomato powder.

 

[vfem]

Just finished picking another 10 lbs of blackberries. I'm going to have to freeze these, I don't have time to can this weekend.

Looks like by Wednesday I'll be dragging home gallons of figs. This is a rough month!!!

 

[rancher hicks]

Holyhart - I always end up with more than the recipe says. Better more than less I suppose.


I wish I could get some Blackberries but none of the wild ones are good. I suspect due to the dry weather. To pick them is $4 a pound. Red are $3 so i did pick some of the those.

I will freeze the peaches and bought two kinds. I also don't have time this week. The family left this am and undone work cleaning coops and mowing will take precedent.

We ate beans for dinner last night but I've no plans to can them anyhow. I can't wait for the tomatoes and squash.

Take care hope we all have an abundance of produce.

Rancher