What are you canning now?

[rancher hicks]

Sorry I haven't been on , but spring is trying to break through. It's very wet here and getting the garden going is a pain. Even worse is DW was diagnosed with B. Cancer and had surgery. If you pray please pray for her.

I am here though with a question about jams and jellies. I froze berries last year and have plums too. Is there something special I should know when using them? Perhaps add less water than with fresh berries?

Thanks
Rancher

 

[Blooie]

Train them as young as you can, Blooie! It is a gift that keeps giving. My mom had us scrubbing cucumbers at 5 years old.

My mom made Blueberry/Rhubarb jam one year. She really liked it and it was good, but my dad just whined about all the pies she could have made with all the blueberries he picked.

Have fun with your granddaughter, Blooie. Making memories is so important. It is one of those things that families seem to fail at now a days.

Yup! The first time she lived with us she was 6, and lived here until she was 10 or 11. The second time she was 17. Now she's a big almost 20 year old. She helped with the process of making jams and jelllies, but this time she's going to do it all by herself....she just doesn't know yet that if she wants her favorite she's gonna have to provide it! Oooh, I am evil, and must be destroyed.

My dad used to whine about Ma wasting carrots by canning them. He wanted his Bugs Bunny pie and canned carrots weren't conducive to that!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Sorry I haven't been on , but spring is trying to break through. It's very wet here and getting the garden going is a pain. Even worse is DW was diagnosed with B. Cancer and had surgery. If you pray please pray for her.

I am here though with a question about jams and jellies. I froze berries last year and have plums too. Is there something special I should know when using them? Perhaps add less water than with fresh berries?

Thanks
Rancher

I haven't had any problems using the frozen just like using the fresh. As long as you didn't add any liquid when freezing them, There really doesn't seem to be any modification of the recipe needed.

Sorry to hear about your wife, she is in my prayers. Hopefully everything goes well for her. Keep her spirits up, a good attitude helps so much. My sister is just finishing up treatment for B. cancer. She had chemo, radiation and a double mastectomy over the winter months.

 

[3goodeggs]

whoa, whoa, whoa. Bugs bunny pie?
I do need some serious details.
carrot pie?
Do tell.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Oh, forgot to mention, DH found a couple of rhubarb plants at the new place. Says they are about ready to start harvesting from.

Anyone have any uses for rhubarb besides pie or strawberry jam? I am not a huge rhubarb fan, but willing to try new stuff.

 

[Blooie]

whoa, whoa, whoa. Bugs bunny pie?
I do need some serious details.
carrot pie?
Do tell.

Yup, Bugs Bunny pie...Dad's favorite, although none of us in the family would ever turn it down. Just hated getting the carrots for it. <sigh>

We had carrot pies often when I was growing up back in South Dakota, and not just for holidays! We always had a huge garden and Ma left root crops in the ground, covered with tons of straw. They actually kept much better and longer that way than they did pulled and stored. I used to hate it when she'd send Linda and me out to move first the snow, and then the straw, to reveal the browned tops of the veggies, but the ground never froze so hard that we couldn't dig them up fairly easily. Then we had to re-cover the row, even with frozen fingers! I cringed when Dad would stretch out his long legs after supper and say, "Boy, Bugs Bunny pie would have been good for dessert." because I knew we'd be out in the cold the next day! In the early days of their marriage (Dad was actually my stepdad, married to Ma after my other dad passed away), we lived in an old farmhouse near Gramma and Grampa's farm, and Ma did her cooking on a wood/corn cob burning stove, so it took some real skill to turn out such savory dishes. Ma always managed.
At first Ma canned the carrots out of the garden, but once Dad discovered her Bugs Bunny pie there was a constant grumbling about "wasting" those good carrots. So that's when Dad decided that root crops would be left in the ground, like his family did back in Minnesota. Ma agreed, and since she was in charge of the gardening she set down the "ground rules." About half the rows of carrots were canned, the other half left out in the garden. We also left the turnips, parsnips, and beets out there as well.

 

[Blooie]

Oh, forgot to mention, DH found a couple of rhubarb plants at the new place. Says they are about ready to start harvesting from.

Anyone have any uses for rhubarb besides pie or strawberry jam? I am not a huge rhubarb fan, but willing to try new stuff.

Have you ever made that cake with rhubarb, cake mix, coconut and Jello? Oh, BOY! Is that ever good!

 

[3goodeggs]

Quote: That was so fun to read! I really enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to put it down for me. I had that Laura Ingalls Wilder image going on as I read it.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Nice read. I'm looking for a recipe for radishes... Anyone have one to share? TIA

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sorry I haven't been on , but spring is trying to break through. It's very wet here and getting the garden going is a pain. Even worse is DW was diagnosed with B. Cancer and had surgery. If you pray please pray for her.

I am here though with a question about jams and jellies. I froze berries last year and have plums too. Is there something special I should know when using them? Perhaps add less water than with fresh berries?

Thanks
Rancher

I'm so sorry to hear about your wife. I will be thinking of you two.

I don't do anything different with frozen berries.

Oh, forgot to mention, DH found a couple of rhubarb plants at the new place. Says they are about ready to start harvesting from.

Anyone have any uses for rhubarb besides pie or strawberry jam? I am not a huge rhubarb fan, but willing to try new stuff.

I have a gallon or rhubarb in the freezer and more to harvest now. A friend made us a strawberry rhubarb pie that was fantastic.

I found this recipe and saved it, but haven't tried it yet:
http://whippedtheblog.com/2010/10/15/mirandas-apple-rhubarb-cake/

A friend also gave me a recipe for Orange Rhubarb Bread. I also found a blackberry rhubarb pie recipe. I plan to play with it this year.