What are you canning now?

[Beekissed]

Today....corn!!!

 

[shortgrass]

Thanks for the replies! I knew coming on to BYC was a good idea. =]

I use the butter trick too for the foam. Works great! The jam did set fine as far as I can tell. I had one scoop too many so that got put in a glass dish in the fridge. Used it this morning on biscuits and it tastes great!

In my search last night the two answers I found were "it'll be fine, just maybe not best quality ever (aka:runnier than usual)" and "acid level/pH will be off causing the jars to go bad". I'm OK with a little runnier, but I'd hate for someone who eats my jam to get sick/food poisoning. Does anyone here know about that or how the lack of lemon juice (I usually use a fresh squeezed lemon) will effect shelf life? A few of my egg customers asked to buy jam. I'm wondering if OK to sell or if I should keep this batch for myself. It would be a bummer (for them & my wallet), but, like I said, I don't want anyone to get sick cuz I forgot a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. =/

If you don't feel good about it, jkeep it for yourself ... But IMO you'll be fine... Blueberries are very acidic on their own, so not to worry about the ph

 

[shortgrass]

Today....corn!!!

Beekissed, is that green pepper in those? I can't tell.... I quit canning corn and freeze it now... I could never get it to not be chewy when canning it.... But I'll try it again if that's a pepper

 

[Beekissed]

That's a green tomato! It's to add acid to the jar and that seems to be sufficient, as it keeps the corn from spoilage even when it's been canned in a water bath or steam canner instead of a pressure canner. That rubbery corn is the reason we stopped pressure canning corn back 40 yrs ago. When canned in this method, though, its far superior to frozen corn...no comparison, really.

 

[rancher hicks]

Seems to me they grow good on fence lines once they get started. I see my neighbor has a chain-link fence with a few. I'm going to wait a bit before I go after some. To me, the problem with wild grapes is they're WILD. The vines and roots goes everywhere.

Mostly genetics on the size of grapes . Rain can help some . Here in Illinois we have what is called summer grape that grows wild . Small pea sized fruit that is ripe now . Each region has a native grape species .

The grapes and vines a friend gave me were growing on a chain link fence. They are planted near a chain link fence now too.

These I picked are pea sized. I think even wild grapes can be trained. Right? After all the prune and train regular grapes. I don't mind if they get scraggily as long as I get some grapes. Though it does take a lot of grapes to the cup.

Many of the wild grapes I see on the internet in different areas are bigger.

I watched a segment on California and with the drought the grapes will have less juice and the wine will be less and more expensive.

 

[rancher hicks]

That's a green tomato! It's to add acid to the jar and that seems to be sufficient, as it keeps the corn from spoilage even when it's been canned in a water bath or steam canner instead of a pressure canner. That rubbery corn is the reason we stopped pressure canning corn back 40 yrs ago. When canned in this method, though, its far superior to frozen corn...no comparison, really.

How many hours did you spend? You're much more ambitious than me.

 

[Beekissed]

How many hours did you spend? You're much more ambitious than me.

I don't know...never really measured the hours when canning. It's a job, like other jobs, but when canning you can do other things while the batches process, so a very productive day no matter how many hours it takes. Making food takes time!

It's important to me to eat quality foods when I can get them and that often takes work, but is sooooooo worth it. Like today...killed 3 fat hens this morning and will be putting them in a jar in just a moment. That's quality meat, free ranged and fed FF, never given a med in their lives and lived happy every day but the last one. Not bad. Gourmet quality meat for just a little work. I'm worth it!

 

[shortgrass]

I don't know...never really measured the hours when canning.  It's a job, like other jobs, but when canning you can do other things while the batches process, so a very productive day no matter how many hours it takes.  Making food takes time!     It's important to me to eat quality foods when I can get them and that often takes work, but is sooooooo worth it.  Like today...killed 3 fat hens this morning and will be putting them in a jar in just a moment.  That's quality meat, free ranged and fed FF, never given a med in their lives and lived happy every day but the last one.  Not bad.  Gourmet quality meat for just a little work.  I'm worth it! 

Yes! You ARE worth it! DH gives me a hard time about what he calls "doing things the hard way", but I can taste the difference, and I can feel it in my heart when its been made with bare hands...

I've been trying to copy my late grandmas pickles.... I never will, but I will always try

After looking, I realized it was a green tomato lol... I suppose the acid tenderizes the corn?... I have sweet corn all over the place, maybe it's time to try canning it again

Thank you!


Oh! It just hit me!! You are boiling water canning the corn?!?!?? That's why it's not rubbery!!! That and the tomato lol.. . wow duh ha-ha

 

[Beekissed]

The acid renders a low acid veggie into an acidic one, so taking away the need for pressure canning it. And it works! We've never had a spoiled jar of corn in all the years of using this method and, believe me, we have put up some CORN using this. We used to do 100 qts + a year of every veggie we grew~large family, homesteading off the grid and all~so that's a lot of corn over many years and a lot of eatin'.

 

[rides2far]

Beekissed, how long do you boil the corn? Are those pints or quarts? I'm still at the HWB stage of my canning career, so I'm very interested in how you are canning your corn!