What are you canning now?

[Maeser]

When canning apples, I indulge myself a bit and keep Tree Top Apple Cider on hand. It can add just a bit of flavor in case of bland or otherwise uninteresting apples. I've added it to both my applesauce and to my apple butter. And, in the past I've added a bit to my apple jelly mixture.

With four mature apple trees here, I'm up to my ears in canning. I can't do as much at a time as I used to, so am working on devising a new (to me) system. I pick a batch of apples, then rest for a day or two. Then process into pulp and juice and refrigerate. Rest again for a day or two. Then gather my strength, heat and season the pulp, and put up in jars. Not what I've been used to in the past, but I guess at 70 I've earned a rest.

And, the windfall apples are gathered up and fed to our two feeder pigs, a treat for the horses, and fed to chickens, turkeys and guineas. Our trees are producing heavily this year, and we've found the apple crop that is fed to the livestock has cut our feed bill this year by about 75%.

The garden was a little neglected this year, but has produced a bumper crop of nice carrots. It's raining out today, and predicted for the next few days. I'm going to dig those carrots, saute them in butter/olive oil, add a pinch of salt, thyme & parsley, and add a little homemade chicken stock and a tiny bit of demi glace. Frozen, they are delicious. Normally, I grow a large batch of pole beans, but didn't get to it early enough this year.

 

[shortgrass]

I've seen a few statements like that on here. I have a friend that does quite a bit of canning and she says her 20-something year old daughter isn't interested either. Makes me wonder why? Are younger people so used to food on demand like from a drive-up or grocery store that they can't imagine ever being without? Or have they come to prefer the taste of already prepared food? Too busy with other things? I don't get it.

I personally think it's a combination of all of what's been covered; time, money, too much work, messy, lack of knowledge, fear of failure... Lack of understanding about preparation for the future and how to use what's given at the moment... Etc etc...

It takes too long. It's boring. It's hot. It's messy. I can't text with this stuff on my hands. Lol

ROFL. They'll do it to be able to post pictures on Facebook or Pinterest

  



Exactly.   Life in a bubble holds no place for preparing for the future, even if it's only for the near future of a season or two.    Increasingly this world's youth are encased in that very small bubble of "me", as evidenced by the huge emphasis on "selfies", and feel like all things of necessity should be procured by those too old to have fun and should be given to them upon demand as their due.  It's more than a little disturbing, but it's the world as we know it right now. 

That.

Oh no time, too busy getting things for ME, not my family?. Hmmm selfies... Selfish...

Give the young ones time. When I was in my 20s I wanted nothing to do with cooking, gardening or canning. My grandmother has always canned, but none of the 11 grandkids wanted to learn. NOW, in my late 30s, I am really into heirloom varieties of tomatoes and try to grow as much food as possible. Just got hooked on canning last year. My grandmother lives 3hours away, so I now get tips through you guys.

Yep. I always loved grandmas canned goods, but my mom didn't can, so I didn't learn it young. I had my first child at 27, and it made me slow down. I chose to quit a career and be a mom. And follow my passion for gardening right into harvesting and preserving. My grandma had passed away by the time I started, so i had to teach myself. Lots of time on my hands with new baby, so I practiced a LOT. Now I teach my girls how and when and why, because I want them to know why they could never find pickles it canned beets like their mom used to make; they'll HAVE to make them themselves lol

 

[wyoDreamer]

I remember picking veggies, scrubbing cukes and all the other good things that go with home canning when I was young. My mom died of cancer when I was 10, and she fought that cancer for 2 years, so my memories were from 8 years old and younger. I started canning 2 years ago, totally self taught.

Living in Wyoming somehow triggered my need to store food ... maybe it was the fact that the power went out fairly regularly in the winter and the road to town closed even more often. Concern about loosing a full freezer of food is quite an incentive to try canning.

 

[WYNot]

That is one of the main reasons I got back into canning also. We lost not one but two different freezers. Both were full of venison and other stuff. The first one we didn't catch in time and all was lost. The second one we caught and were able to put nearly all of the venison into jars before it was too late.

I remember picking veggies, scrubbing cukes and all the other good things that go with home canning when I was young.  My mom died of cancer when I was 10, and she fought that cancer for 2 years, so my memories were from 8 years old and younger.  I started canning 2 years ago, totally self taught. 

Living in Wyoming somehow triggered my need to store food ... maybe it was the fact that the power went out fairly regularly in the winter and the road to town closed even more often.  Concern about loosing a full freezer of food is quite an incentive to try canning.

 

[hippiestink]

Canned two pints of tomato sauce and a pint of the last beans of the season. Still have at least another two pints worth of tomatoes left to ripen, so once those are done that's it! Moving on to a batch of berry jam after this, and when cranberries are in season i'll be canning lots of homemade cranberry sauce. I still have a can from last year and it's in great shape!

 

[Peep_Show]

3 pints of marinara sauce and 9 pints of applesauce. 5 of the applesauce I experimented with by adding melted Red Hots candies to the batch. Made for a bright color and a refreshingly different cinnamon to the applesauce.... I call it Candy Apple Applesauce.

 

[1FlewOver]

Well....I found this video extremely helpful....

For all of y'all using chopped onions in your recipes...Google up : 'You suck at cooking; 7 ways to chop onions'.

 

[shortgrass]

Well....I found this video extremely helpful....

For all of y'all using chopped onions in your recipes...Google up : 'You suck at cooking; 7 ways to chop onions'.

Oh wow, that had me going!

I'm glad my kids didn't just watch that lol,,, ooooh ideas ideas

 

[MistyMountain]

Thank you all for your great advice on the applesauce! I did it! I had limited supplies on hand (I used a hand mixer to puree(mostly) the sauce. I figured it works on mashed taters… why not apples? It got the job done. I only had a short period of time to process a small amount of apples that my boys managed to kick around, so I only got 4 pints, but it was a good start. All of the jars appear to be sealed, though a couple of them did seep a little. I removed the ring and gently cleaned them up without a problem. I read online that even though this "siphoning" happened, they are still OK. Is that right?

I guess the biggest thing I learned is that it takes TIME. Sadly we have a glass top stove, so I had to make due with what I had. Big waiting game for that rolling boil before I could start the clock. Oh how I miss my gas stove!! Might need to venture outside and use the side burner on the grill for this next bunch.

Anyhow, YAY! I did it! Now… what else can I can? And when will spring be here so I can plant my new garden?

 

[N F C]

@MistyMountain congrats on the applesauce! I only have a glass top range too and have managed to do a tiny bit of canning but it does that time, lots of time.