What are you canning now?

[rancher hicks]

Sorry I've been away.

I'm back to work and so tired, I haven't done much.

I've still some apples to do and there are plenty out there. Went to the regional market and bought some more plums. I plan to do some more Plum lime but with only half a lime this time.

I'll have to buy tomatoes if I am to do any up. There are still peaches to be had and some grapes, though not so cheap. I should just buy some peaches and freeze them as is.

Was at Country Max and bought a stainless steel rack for my canner. That means I can toss the rusting one out for recycle it somehow. I also want to buy a smaller blue enamel canner for doing pints, 8 oz and 4 oz jellies.

 

[MandalaMaMa]

Get this book. Canning is soooo easy. And I am a novice. Just started this year. Just don't be afraid of it. Follow the basics and sterilization and you'll be fine. There is some stuff you'll tweak and make your own and it is so much fun and the results are delicious and you are the envy of all your friends and family

I love this canning book. My husband bought it for me last year as I too am new to canning. It's great. I have used it so much this year

 

[Lillahimed]

I looked at the book but I'm more of the wing it kind of girl.... most of the time it works, but sometimes well

 

[jomoncon]

I looked at the book but I'm more of the wing it kind of girl.... most of the time it works, but sometimes well 

The book is great, especially as a starting point for developing new recipes. There's so much info in it besides the recipes. I experiment with fruit-based jams & jellies a lot. But for meats & veggies, or anything that needs pressure canning, I prefer to follow established recipes.

It's amazing how many of the recipes in the book have been posted on various web sites.

 

[MandalaMaMa]

The thing I love about this book is that there are recipes for canning veggies in a hot water bath and not a pressure cooker. Because I haven't invested in one of those yet. This year I made 36 pints of the pizza sauce and 24 pints of the first salsa recipe in this book. A friend and I made the dill green pickles and the green chili sauce with our cherry tomatoes. So I have really enjoyed using it this year.

 

[Lisa and girls]

The thing I love about this book is that there are recipes for canning veggies in a hot water bath and not a pressure cooker. Because I haven't invested in one of those yet. This year I made 36 pints of the pizza sauce and 24 pints of the first salsa recipe in this book. A friend and I made the dill green pickles and the green chili sauce with our cherry tomatoes. So I have really enjoyed using it this year.

Holy moly that's a lot of pizza sauce and salsa!
I've got a pressure cooker. Hubby got it for me last year. I'm just terrified to use it. :/ I know it's silly. But you hear horror stories. I need to get over it and try it out. I hear they are wonderful.

 

[MiniCoop]

Holy moly that's a lot of pizza sauce and salsa!
I've got a pressure cooker. Hubby got it for me last year. I'm just terrified to use it. :/ I know it's silly. But you hear horror stories. I need to get over it and try it out. I hear they are wonderful.

Hi Lisa , I was nervous about using my pressure cooker too, and then I found a wonderful site that took me step by step on how to use the All American pressure cooker. It is the Prairie homestead site, http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/08/how-to-use-a-pressure-canner-part-1.html
It's broken up into 3 parts. I followed her instructions and it was a breeze. I now have 7 pints of tomato soup in the pantry. Good luck

 

[bachbach1]

Aren't there two types of diabetes? I know DW was told she has it but she's not changed her diet. Not that I didn't try to help by taking every diabetic cook book out of the library. She's very stubborn.

There is type one, where your body doesn’t produce any insulin. Insulin is a natural hormone, it is sort of a chemical gateway that allows sugar to enter cells, and wast products out. Type 2 diabetes your body doesn’t produce enough insulin, so you have to take oral meds, and sometimes insulin injections. If you ignore diabetes, it is insidious, it's the #1 cause of total blindness, nerve death, nerve pain, and limb amputations, you can effect your brain eventually, but a person that ignores it, normally dies of other complications before that happens. I have type 2 and I am insulin resistant, my body doesn’t use insulin well, so I have to inject huge doses of insulin. Sugar is OK, though as long as the normal every day diet doesn’t have much sugar, or carbs, Carbs all turn to sugar. Because of this I can only eat bread two or three times a week. When you have diabetes real bad not just a mild case of type 2, when you eat sugar it feels like you took a drug, a drug called feel bad as I say. I know a lot of people who ignore it, you cant beat unless you stay on top of it. That is it Diabetes 101, LOL


Canning ?, I just canned about 20 pounds of smoked pork shoulder, that will be fast food that is really good. I have to stay away from jam and sweet goodies as much as possible.

 

[3goodeggs]

Quote:
I decided that it would be easier and cheaper to can my own beans. Canned beans have gotten too expensive for me, so I was going to soak dried beans then can them.

Knowing that I saw many a post on beans here, I figured it would be in this book. They have fresh beans, like black eyed peas and soy beans. I bought red, pink, pinto, black, kidney, and garbanzo. I make a bean heavy chili using all of those at the same time.

Anyone do this?
is it possible? Will I kill my family?
If it works, I am doing lentil and split pea too.
It took me a year to empty the pantry, and now that it is- I am having grocery store sticker shock. (Bad garden year last spring)

 

[3goodeggs]

I Love the new google humming bird search engine! They call it 'caffeine". I just typed in 'how can I can dried beans?' And here it is!
http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2013/04/how-to-can-dry-beans.html
Perfect!