What are you canning now?

[MooseOnTheLoose]

Rancher, that's why I don't have any vanilla beans, they're too expensive!!

Sorry it didn't turn out well! Blackberry buckle sounds yummy though! I went foraging for blackberries last night and there were NONE! So sad! Everything is ripening early this year. I'm out on Long Island, so we're practically neighbors!

Does anyone have a good salsa recipe they'd like to share? One suitable for water bath canning as I don't have a pressure canner - yet!

Happy Chooks - I'd love to have chickens some day, but I really don't have enough space - right now the dog gets the back yard! He would have too much fun w/ chickens...& the chickens not so much.

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher, that's why I don't have any vanilla beans, they're too expensive!!

Sorry it didn't turn out well! Blackberry buckle sounds yummy though! I went foraging for blackberries last night and there were NONE! So sad! Everything is ripening early this year. I'm out on Long Island, so we're practically neighbors!

Does anyone have a good salsa recipe they'd like to share? One suitable for water bath canning as I don't have a pressure canner - yet!

Happy Chooks - I'd love to have chickens some day, but I really don't have enough space - right now the dog gets the back yard! He would have too much fun w/ chickens...& the chickens not so much.

Well as I always say, the way to a friends house is never long.

fun w/ chickens...& the chickens not so much.

 

[rrrmamma]

Justt finished 5 pints of watermelon rind pickles. Too much work for too little yield. It is in the low 90's here today with 95 % humidity. I hate to waste anything and I had done them before, but this year they fought all the way to the jar With brining, soaking in alum, soaking in ice water. Interupted by the houseguest then boiling and jarring today, I probably won't want to taste them for 6 months

They will be a nice taste of summer when we have 3 feet of snow.

 

[mickey328]

Now I'm jealous of you, Rancher! Macs are my absolute favorite apples for cooking, preserving or just plain eating but they're really hard to come by here...they're only ever in the stores for about 2 weeks and nobody seems to grow them. We did put in a dwarf Mac a couple years ago; we're hoping for some blooms/fruit in the spring. We also got a couple of dwarf plum trees that started producing the next spring. I'm picking tomorrow and will have some excellent plum jam by tomorrow night You're right about soil conditioning...it's an ongoing project for us. We brought in a couple yards of good topsoil a couple years back and continue to compost. I found an excellent source close by for free bunny poo, which is the most awesome fertilizer...not hot like others; can till it directly in and use it as a top dressing as well. We're getting there

Not to brag, Wags, but my spaghetti sauce turned out pretty darn good this year, LOL. Unfortunately, I don't use a "recipe"...I'm the sort of cook who just starts throwing stuff in that sounds good. I used my new Roma mill to process the tomatoes, then strained them to remove a fair bit of the watery liquid. Tossed it in a big pot and added: garlic (lots cuz we love it), salt, pepper, basil, parsley, fennel, oregano (just a little cuz we're not really crazy about it). When it got to where it tasted right and was on the verge of boiling, I put it in the hot jars and processed it. Now, I do follow a recipe for baking and jams and such because if you don't get the chemistry right, they don't rise or set or what have you.

Moose, I have to ask...what is beachplum? I've never heard of it before. As for the frozen juice, the best way to check would be to thaw it out and taste it. If it tastes okay, you should be good to go!

 

[MooseOnTheLoose]

Mickey, beachplums grow wild along the coast from Maryland to Maine. They ripen to a dusky purple like a plum, but are the size of a small grape. They are a pain to pit, so most people make jelly from them, although you can make jam, or use in desserts like you would a plum, or my favorite, a beachplum liqueur by adding vodka & sugar!

http://www.beachplum.cornell.edu/photogal/biology.html

Thanks for the advice - I hadn't thought to thaw it and try it! LOL

 

[mickey328]

Thanks Moose...never been to the east coast, so I didn't have a clue! I love it when you can find yummy wild stuff like that. If you squeeze them, do the skins slip off? If so you could do that and then run them through one of those V shaped food mills. I do that when I make Concord grape jam...then I throw all the skins in the food processor to grind 'em up some and mix them back into the squashed grapes. Whenever I can, I make jam rather than jelly because I find it so much easier to spread...plus I like the pulp...not so much big chunks but nice and pulpy

I'll be you could even make a nice wine from them too.

 

[sonew123]

I bought "two vanilla beans"  yesterday.  TEN DOLLARS!   I used one for the recipe.  Black berry buckle baby and we didn't like it.  What a waste of vanilla bean. 

did up eight jars of tomatoes tonight and have plans for the apples.  

 

RANCHER NOOOOO!!!!! I bought 1 lb of vanilla beans and split it with two other women when we met at Tabs house last week!!! It cost us 6$ each and we each got about 20 huge delicious beans!!! Ill hook you up!!! Ill post the website on here!!! I just made vanilla extract tonight!!,

 

[sonew123]

vanilla extract in the making!

9 1/2 quarts of apple pie filling.

apple butter will simmer until morning!

Went to orchard and picked 1/2 bushel for 7$ Came home and processed it all but hand..24-25 lbs! All gone! Lol BANKERS ORCHARD in Plattsburg NY

 

[sonew123]

And my garage sale find today cheap cheap!!! I cantvuse the glass toppers though;( I was going to put them on ebay to get rid of them unless someone on here is interested! Make me any reasonable offer and their yours!

 

[sonew123]

RANCHER NOOOOO!!!!! I bought 1 lb of vanilla beans and split it with two other women when we met at Tabs house last week!!! It cost us 6$ each and we each got about 20 huge delicious beans!!! Ill hook you up!!! Ill post the website on here!!! I just made vanilla extract tonight!!,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-Extract-...ultDomain_0&hash=item43adc3be49#ht_3222wt_881