What are you canning now?

[jomoncon]

Would you be willing to share your recipe for sugar free jam?

The sugar free recipe was modified from the Ball jar of Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. There is a table on the inside of the label for canning various fruit. For each 2 cups of crushed strawberries, use:

2 cups crushed strawberries
1/3 cup unsweetened fruit juice (I use apple)
3 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbs pectin

You can use up to 10 cups of fruit, which is what I used. Combine all of the above ingredients and bring to a boil. Here's where I differ from the instructions. The label says to add your chosen sugar substitute and bring to a rapid boil for 1 minute. I've found that most of the sugar substitutes get very bitter when boiled, so I remove from the heat after boiling for 1 minute with the pectin. I use a combination of concentrated stevia (NOT the one that measures like sugar) & agave syrup, and go mostly by taste. For the 10-cup batch of strawberries, I used 2 tablespoons of stevia and added the agave until it tasted right, almost 2 bottles of 23.5 oz by weight. The BWB for 10 minutes, rest in the water for 5 minutes, remove & cool. There is some fruit float, so once he jars are cool, I start rotating them to distribute the fruit. I got 12 half pint jars.

I use the same method for making sugar-free blueberry jam. Before using the combination of stevia/agave, I had tried all sorts of sugar substitute combinations - splenda, nutrasweet, straight stevia, straight agave. They all turned out so bitter, except the straight agave. DH read about them turning bitter under heat, so we came up with adding the substitute after the heat was turned off. This works great for us.

 

[Pozees]

The sugar free recipe was modified from the Ball jar of Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. There is a table on the inside of the label for canning various fruit. For each 2 cups of crushed strawberries, use:

2 cups crushed strawberries
1/3 cup unsweetened fruit juice (I use apple)
3 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbs pectin

You can use up to 10 cups of fruit, which is what I used. Combine all of the above ingredients and bring to a boil. Here's where I differ from the instructions. The label says to add your chosen sugar substitute and bring to a rapid boil for 1 minute. I've found that most of the sugar substitutes get very bitter when boiled, so I remove from the heat after boiling for 1 minute with the pectin. I use a combination of concentrated stevia (NOT the one that measures like sugar) & agave syrup, and go mostly by taste. For the 10-cup batch of strawberries, I used 2 tablespoons of stevia and added the agave until it tasted right, almost 2 bottles of 23.5 oz by weight. The BWB for 10 minutes, rest in the water for 5 minutes, remove & cool. There is some fruit float, so once he jars are cool, I start rotating them to distribute the fruit. I got 12 half pint jars.

I use the same method for making sugar-free blueberry jam. Before using the combination of stevia/agave, I had tried all sorts of sugar substitute combinations - splenda, nutrasweet, straight stevia, straight agave. They all turned out so bitter, except the straight agave. DH read about them turning bitter under heat, so we came up with adding the substitute after the heat was turned off. This works great for us.

Outstanding, thank you! I would never have thought of combining the two sugar substitutes, and certainly didn't know about the effect of boiling on them!

 

[AnotherSusan]

Free mason jar label maker.

Saw this on a blog I visit and think it is pretty neat. Would be great for gift jars.

http://www.jamlabelizer.com/

Susan

 

[erinszoo]

Been canning up the last of the meat birds we raised this fall and making stock. We canned ten pints of stock and then decided to reduce the next batch. We started with 8 quarts of stock and reduced it down to 1 1/2 pints. It became a solid gel and we just stuck it in the fridge and have been using it like bouillon.

First time ever we had three jars come out of the canner with the lids creased and bent. Thinking the metal must be getting pretty cheap in the lids these days ...

 

[cravenchx]

Been canning up the last of the meat birds we raised this fall and making stock. We canned ten pints of stock and then decided to reduce the next batch. We started with 8 quarts of stock and reduced it down to 1 1/2 pints. It became a solid gel and we just stuck it in the fridge and have been using it like bouillon.

First time ever we had three jars come out of the canner with the lids creased and bent. Thinking the metal must be getting pretty cheap in the lids these days ...

Once again, I must recommend the Tattler reusable lids.
Try them, you'll like them.

 

[galanie]

I looked at those. That is a very old idea in reality. I remember mother had some of the old "zinc" lids that worked exactly the same way. Interesting. The only real difference in the Tattler lids so far as physical design is that the old zinc lids didn't have "rings" they were closed tops. But they had the same insert/ring idea. They used a milk glass "top" with a rubber ring, then topped with the zinc lid.

 

[flgardengirl]

If you can the meat from older roos in the pressure canner will the meat be tender?

 

[erinszoo]

If you can the meat from older roos in the pressure canner will the meat be tender?

I would think so but I honestly haven't done any. The meat we have done is just melt in your mouth tender though. You could always try one and see.

 

[erinszoo]

Quote:
We've been looking into getting some since we're canning a lot more now. Other people have recommended them to us as well and LOVE them.

 

[cravenchx]

We've been looking into getting some since we're canning a lot more now. Other people have recommended them to us as well and LOVE them.

www.reusablecanninglids.com