What are you canning now?

[Raech]

So I don't think my tomatoes that are in the ground are going to be super producers like I hoped, so I finally got off my butt and bought majority of the supplies I need for my square foot garden, spent $40-$50(I really don't want to know the number) and now all I need it the piece of wood to support my dirt, eye hooks and I can start building, hoping to find some scrap wood at my Grandpa's house that I can use to build a small frame from to wrap the whole thing in chicken wire. Had to go to 6 stores to find exactly what I needed, and still didn't get everything(Wal-Mart said they have some stuff but I couldn't find it) but I am super excited to get this going, even bought more plants, but I have a feeling that hubby won't be as thrilled when he gets home. Figure I spent $30 on the sandbox, $50 on the plastic, chicken wire, steer compost, and meat moss with a few plants thrown in there. So not bad for something that I hope will last at least a few years. Hopefully I can get a huge crop so I can make more salsa this year, tomato sauce, and paste. Pear tree is looking awesome, that year off must have really helped judging by the amount of flowers on it. Getting rabbit poop and hopefully chicken poo for the rest of my garden/flower beds this weekend. So excited for my canning garden to kick off, even if I am a little bit late.

 

[3goodeggs]

I have not canned in a year, but beans were beckoning.
So I get the canner up to 5lbs pressure and it starts dripping around the lid. I turned it off. The seal seemed fine, but..?
I have to wait for it to cool down before I can see what is going on...Now what do I do with these green beans?
I guess I can freeze them, they are cooked now. If I get the seal sorted out can I just put the quarts back in and start over?

 

[Raech]

I am assuming the beans are already in the jars with lids on. In theory, I have yet to pressure can, but if you keep the jars warm, until you get the seal figured out it should work to just put them back in and start over.

 

[3goodeggs]

That's the way I went.
I checked the seal out and it was fine. I guess it just was not sitting well.
I have done 7 Quart jars, and 8 pint jars of green beans. I have six quarts of tomatoes cooling down now. I hope they turned out well.
I usually do my tomatoes in a water bath, but I had the canner out already.

I still have 2 1/2 quarts of beans to can. I may wait for more tomatoes and do a mixed batch.
And cabbage... to can or not to can. some say you can can some say you can not can.
Kraut time.
but non fermented cabbage would be nice to have on hand for soup and stew.

 

[Raech]

That's the way I went.
I checked the seal out and it was fine. I guess it just was not sitting well.
I have done 7 Quart jars, and 8 pint jars of green beans. I have six quarts of tomatoes cooling down now. I hope they turned out well.
I usually do my tomatoes in a water bath, but I had the canner out already.

I still have 2 1/2 quarts of beans to can. I may wait for more tomatoes and do a mixed batch.
And cabbage... to can or not to can. some say you can can some say you can not can.
Kraut time.
but non fermented cabbage would be nice to have on hand for soup and stew.

How do you have tomatoes already? Mine are just starting to come on, and greener than your beans I imagine.

 

[3goodeggs]

I am in Florida, and I started them early in the greenhouse. It has been a good year so far. but it will be getting too hot real soon.

 

[jomoncon]

Last year, I started getting lots of requests for mayhaw jelly. Being a city girl from New Orleans, I had never heard of or tasted mayhaw jelly. After doing a lot of internet research, I figured out what mayhaws are. Then I started looking for the berries. Couldn't find any locally. Didn't know anyone who had any trees. Through the Louisiana Mayhaw Assoc. website, I found a company that sells mayhaw juice. Had them send me some. Since their juice is pressed, I was told it was necessary to add water to the juice, up to 30%. I started with adding 25% water to the juice.

This jelly came out fantastic. Beautiful color, great taste. I can see why people like this jelly. We had some on hot biscuits this morning and it really is good.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I am trying a new recipe for Lasagna tonight. If it turns out as good as I think it will, I may try to can the meat sauce this fall. This sauce is super thick, will that be a problem when I pressure can it? It is ground beef, italian sausage, onions, garlic, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and seasonings. It is kinda putsy, so I would like to mix up a bunch and can it. Then when I want to make lasagna, the sauce is already to go, just mix the cheeses and boil the noodles, layer, bake and eat. Still time consuming, but I think it would be more managable than cookig the sauce for 2 hours before assembly. And I can also use it for stuffed shells.

This sauce is super thick, will that be a problem when I can it?

Would you pre-cook the meats before canning the sauce, or just stir it into the rest of the ingredients, heat on the stovetop and put in the jars and can?

 

[3goodeggs]

I would google that. I know the denser it is the less safe it is to can.
I sound like a wimp, but if the blue book doesn't have it, I do not do it.

You know how when you have food poisoning all you can think about is how much that shrimp kabob was NOT worth it? Same thing here. it isn't worth it.

Maybe you can put it into quart freezer bags freeze flat and then put all of the bags into a bigger bag for extra odor absorption protection.
That is how I handle the uncannables. I pre package everything so I can pull out what I need without too much digging.



I am about to do some cowboy candy.
I never have enough of it.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have not been successful with freezing tomato based stuff, the tomato seems to separate and gets clumpy and watery. I freeze enchilada sauce, and when defrosted that stuff really separates. I can beat the heck out of it and get it to reconstitute, but I won't be able to beat this sauce because of the ground meat. I will do more research on this.

Cowboy candy - that is something with jalapenos, right?