What are you canning now?

[Cryptkeeper]

Thanks Mickey. I too have to fiddle with recipes. Even when I make my own recipes for BBQ sauces and things it is very rare that i keep it the same. As a matter of fact the ONLY time i follow my own recipes is when I am making my sauces to sell, and that's only for consistency for my customers

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

I've never much cared for the liquid, although that was all my Grandma ever used. Never really noticed any difference between the boxed stuff; they've all worked well for me. If you have room, I'd recommend using the recipe for the freezer jam. Particularly with strawberry, I find it has a much better taste, since it doesn't get cooked.

I've had freezer jam. It was really good and tasted like strawberry ice cream topping (That batch was a little too sweet for me though and we didn't eat much of the quart jar. I didn't make it, my aunt gave me a jar.) Maybe I'll do a few small batches of each and see what I like better.

I use only sure jell, but IMO any of the powder is good, I have not yet had the desired results with liquid pectin, but others have.

I think I'll do a small batch with each pectin too. I dont see why not. Thanks for the reply.

 

[mickey328]

I'm with you on that! I mostly follow recipes for baking since if you don't get the chemistry right you have "issues" Otherwise, I start with something and then "tweak" it...don't like or have this...leave it out. Really like that...put in twice as much. Go through the cupboards and think...hmmm....that might be good. LOL...usually ends up edible but once in a while you get something awesome and then can't duplicate it

 

[GreenGables]

I just finished canning 12 quarts of applesauce

 

[PuffyChick]

I'm with you on that! I mostly follow recipes for baking since if you don't get the chemistry right you have "issues" Otherwise, I start with something and then "tweak" it...don't like or have this...leave it out. Really like that...put in twice as much. Go through the cupboards and think...hmmm....that might be good. LOL...usually ends up edible but once in a while you get something awesome and then can't duplicate it

OOOHhhhhhhhhh so THATS why my cakes always go flat! I am a "tweaker" too. I just can't leave well enough alone tho I am learning....slowly ..but surely.

 

[galanie]

OOOHhhhhhhhhh so THATS why my cakes always go flat! I am a "tweaker" too. I just can't leave well enough alone tho I am learning....slowly ..but surely.

Oh yeah Mickey is right, there is a certain chemistry to it. My mother took Home Economics in college back in the 1940's and they taught a lot about the chemistry of cooking. If you tweak a cake recipe you could easily mess it up. Cookies are a lot more forgiving.

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

I ended up using the regular sure jell pectin and made 3(plus a little extra) pints strawberry freezer jam. It looks good, and tastes great, but I ended up with a bunch of tiny air bubbles in the jam which makes it look like a frothy pinkish color. I used frozen strawberries, bacause I found 4 lbs bags for like $7 (1 lb fresh was like $3.50 and they looked horrible. Either moldy of way unripe.)

So will the bubbles affect anything? I ate some of the extra on a bagel lastnight. It tasted great but I had to use a little more then I thought to get full strawberry flavor. (maybe cause some of it was air?!! haha) Anyway, We'll just be eating it here. I wanted jam so I figured I'd make some instead of buying it. DBF said why dont you just buy a jar of jelly? umm.. cause its way better like this.

And I like spending the extra $10 to buy a case of jars.

lol going to can a bunch of cranerries this year, so I "needed" extra jars anyways. He doesn't really eat jelly so I'll probably be eating it all to myself..

The recipe said yeild 5 cups. I got about 6 1/2 cups. So is that extra really all extra air? I crushed the strawberries by hand but I think they needed to be more chunky. Maybe I should let the strawberries sit longer before adding in the pectin mixture. Or tap the bowl on the counter to get the air out.

 

[PuffyChick]

Weird, but they look nice. I am curious to see what the experts here make of this.

 

[mickey328]

I use the food processor for my fruit for jam. I prefer it to be pulpy but not really chunky...JMO but it's harder to spread. After all the mixing, I let it rest on the counter for a while, and a lot of the foam comes to the top. You can then skim it off...it really doesn't hurt anything, but like you said, it tends to be less flavorful because it's more air and less strawberries.

Hehe, did you let DBF try a taste? I never particularly cared for strawberry jam, even the more expensive stuff, till I made my own. OMgosh...it actually tasted like strawberries...not just sweet with a little bit of flavor...and the freezer stuff is, again in my opinion, even better. There's just something about cooking the fruit, particularly strawberries, that loses taste in the translation.

Puffy's right...they look great! Enjoy

 

[MooseOnTheLoose]

I'm a little worried - maybe some of you experienced canners can lend some advice? I put up a bunch of jams/jellies and pickles this year. All the jars sealed. I checked by pushing on the lid and also picking up the jars holding the rim/lid w/o the rings on to see if it was loose. A few times in the past few months, I heard a random "ping" or "thunk" from the jam closet and when I check, all the lids are still sealed and nothing is oozing out of any of the jars. Last Monday the hurricane came through here and I heard at least six loud thunks. I'm guessing it had something to do with the air pressure. Should I be worried? Is it normal? There's no way to tell which jars did it! They all appear fine.