What are you canning now?

[marymac]

Quote:
Oh my gosh is that dill pickles with garlic I see? My grandmother used to can dills that way but I cant find her recipe anywhere.

Would you share yours?

Garlic Dill Pickles (Hot Optional)

Packed into Jars:
Cucumbers (sliced)
Garlic (peeled) 2 cloves per quart, 1 per pint
Dill florets 1 per quart, small one per pint
Grape leaves (2 per quart, 1 per pint)
Fresh Cilantro (3 stems per quart, 1 1/2 per pint)
Hot peppers (optional, 2 jalapenos per quart)


Mustard seed (appx: 1/4 to 1/2 tsp per quart)
Peppercorns (appx 1/2 tsp per quart)
(or alternatively instead of jalapenos, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper)


Liquid
5 c vinegar
1 c water
4 tbs pickling salt
1 tsp sugar

1. Prepare jars as you would normally for BWB canning. Place into jars in this order: Garlic cloves, Grape leaves, dill florets, cucumbers (tightly packed) and jalapenos (if making hot pickles).

2. In a sauce pan bring vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a slight boil.

3. Pour liquid over cucumbers in prepared jars.

4. Into the top of each jar add the mustard seed, peppercorns, and cilantro (and crushed red peppers if making hot).

5. Put on lids and rings and process in a BWB for 10 minutes.

Make sure you poke a few holes in the jalapenos or any pepper you use.

I had to really think hard about this as I tend to start with a recipe and then just start adding things... I did open the small jar of pickles I made and they're good! I would like them to be a bit more garlicky, but I suspect that would come over time as they cured. However, they were not particularly crisp, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I forgot I was processing them and they processed waaay longer than 10 minutes, than does the recipe. Ooops!

Don't look askance at the sugar. They're not sweet at all. I added the sugar to the recipe because I believe a little bit of sugar helps give a fullness to the flavors in a sour recipe.

The great thing about this recipe is you can make as much or little as you want.

Enjoy!
Terri

5 c of vinegar to 1 c water sounds really strong. Are you sure this is correct?

 

[insiderart]

5 c of vinegar to 1 c water sounds really strong. Are you sure this is correct?

It is the recipe I've been using. But then I like really sour things, so I liked it (I thought about eating some of those pickles before breakfast this morning, but decided that was just too weird). I'm sure you could adjust the liquid part to use your own personal favorite ratio.​

 

[Whispering Winds]

I will be doing green beans next week. I checked this morning and saw nice little ones, so a few more days and I will be up to my ears in green beans. Time to go get the canner out of the attic. My tomatoes are not good this year, can't figure out what it is, but I think my soil is lacking. Need to have it tested. Pumpkins look good, sweet corn is coming and also have pole Italian Roma's coming on too. LOTS of g.b.'s it looks like, and not much else. . .dang it.

 

[tackyrama]

I have just started a batch of fermented dill pickles using a recipie I found on a U of M web-site. The best pickles I ever tasted by far were some my brother made in a old wooden whiskey barrell. The fermented kind. He would load up the barrell, set it in the cellar, turn it every day till it quit bubbling. Man were they good! I haven't got to taste mine yet but I'm hopin' they're half as good as my brother's.

Update 8/08/09: I just taste tested these pickles and WOW are they good! Every bit as good as I hoped. You gotta try pickles this way, they are light years better than store bought! There is just no way to compare them. They just need a little more time to ferment all the way through.

Use the following quantities for each gallon capacity of your container. (food grade plastic containers work too)

4 lbs. of 4-inch pickling cucumbers
2 Tbsp. dill seed or 4 to 5 heads fresh or dry dill weed
½ cup salt
¼ cup vinegar (5%)
8 cups water and one or more of the following ingredients:
2 cloves garlic (optional)
2 dried red peppers (optional)
2 tsp. whole mixed pickling spices (optional)

Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard. Leave ¼ inch of stem attached. Place half of dill and spices on bottom of a clean, suitable container. Add cucumbers, remaining dill, and spices. Dissolve salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers. Add suitable cover and weight. Store where temperature is between 70° and 75° F for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting. Temperatures of 55° to 65° F are acceptable, but the fermentation will take 5 to 6 weeks. Avoid temperatures above 80° F, or pickles will become too soft during fermentation. Fermenting pickles cure slowly. Check the container several times a week and promptly remove surface scum or mold. Caution: If the pickles become soft, slimy, or develop a disagreeable odor, discard them. Fully fermented pickles may be stored in their original containers for about 4 to 6 months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly. Canning fully fermented pickles is a better way to store them. To can them, pour the brine into a pan, heat slowly to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes. Filter brine through paper coffee filters to reduce cloudiness, if desired. Fill jar with pickles and hot brine, leaving a ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water bath, or use the low-temperature pasteurization treatment.

I have read that the very best fermented pickles can be made by not using any vinigar at all, just salt. The pickles produce their own vinigar (lactic acid) which is why the better flavor. If I get enough pickles from my garden I plan on trying this process.

Here is another recipie for fermented pickles I found in a old church recipie book - the Mary and Martha Cook Book 10th Edition, Mary and Martha Circle, First Mission Covenant Church, Rockford, Illinois, date unknown.

Chunk Pickles:
Wash one peck cucumbers (dill size) and place in a stone crock with alternate layers of dill. Cover with brine.
Brine - 1 gallon water, 2 c vinigar, 1 c salt, alum, boiled. Cover let stand 14 days.
Wash and slice cucumbers into jars. Cover with syrup of 2 c sugar and 1 c vinigar and a small piece of alum in each jar.
Mrs. Willard Peterson
Mrs. C. Henning Johnson

If I use this recipie I plan on using the brine and not the syrup for canning them. I personally don't care for sweet pickles. I will update this post when my batch of pickles has been tasted.

 

[TipsyDog]

I was thinking of canning my zucchinni soup. I always freeze it, but I don't have room anymore.

Does anyone know if I can can it and does it need to be in the pressure canner?

Ingredients are zucchinni, onion, carrots, salt & bullion.

Thanks!

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
that's not a recommended/approved method. why risk your health? use a BWB canner or pressure canner. i use this method: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/tomato_water_pack.html

i have 2 canners of tomatoes going right now while i soak my hand (hence the reason for no caps). all told i will have canned 16 quarts and 1 pint. whew! this afternoon i am going to make jams.

hard to etype 1- handed with a cat resting her head on that 1 hand !!

ETA pic & summary!!

16.5 quarts tomatoes
8 half-pints spiced blueberry-peach jam
3.5 pints blueberry conserves

 

[chicks4kids]

Anyone have a hard time taking your bands off of your canned corn?? It's kinda sticky...maybe I either didn't tighten the bands tight enough? Or maybe too tight??

BTW...28 quarts of beans with bacon and 18 pints corn!! Yippee!!

 

[prairiegirl]

Kim, I made your pepper jelly recipe and it's a success. Thanks so much.

Does anyone remember seeing a kiwi jam recipe? I was sure I read one here and I've been searching, but can't find it.
Maybe I'll do a google search.......

prairiegirl

 

[Catalina]

Quote:
Yes- it would need to be pressure canned, because it is low in acid.

From Ball's Blue Book-

Relative Position Of Various Foods On pH Scale

Strong Acid - Process in a Boiling water canner
1
2 High Acid Foods
Lemons
Pickles
3 Gooseberries
Apricots
Plums
Apples, Blackberries
Sour Cherries
Peaches
Sauerkraut
4 Pears
Tomatoes

5 - Process in a pressure canner
Okra
Carrots
Beets, Turnips
Green beans, Spinach
Asparagus
Lima Beans

6

7 Peas
Corn

From The Ball Book -

High- acid food and acidified foods have naturally high levels of acid or have a sufficient amount of acid added to them. Bottled lemon juice, citric acid or vinegar labeled 5 percent acidity are sometimes added to recipes to increase acidity. Foods in this catrgory must have a pH of 4.6 or less. The boiling water method is adequate for high-acid foods. Generally, all fruits and soft spreads are classified as high-acid foods. Figs and tomatoes require the addition of an acid so they may be safely canned using the boiling-water method. Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and brined pickles, and foods to wich a sufficient amount of vinegar is added are also treated as high-acid foods. Some recipes may call for high-acid and low-acid ingredients but still classified as a high-acid product; these recipes must have a pH level of 4.6 or less.​

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
A group of us has compiled an index of the recipes in this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=224065&p=3