What are you canning now?

[mamatink7]

I have a small stand selling my jams & jellies at a local farmers market. I'm running low on a lot of things so this week is a major jelly making week. So far this week I've made Grape Jelly, Sugar Free Grape Jelly, Cherry Jam, Sugar Free Cherry Jam, Crawfish Jelly and Thai Pepper Jelly. I still have to make Sugar Free Blueberry Jam, Peach Vanilla Bourbon Jam & Raspberry Reaper Pepper Jelly.

I really have to stay organized to get all this cooking done efficiently. I get my pectin in bulk from Pomona Pectin and Pacific Pectin. I buy my jars & lids in bulk from a local distributor. Went there Monday & picked up 24 dozen boxes. When I'm processing my fruit, I buy in bulk and then freeze in vacuum bags in the amount that I use for a batch. Right now, peaches are in season, so I've been buying the seconds from a vendor at the farmers market. Peel & chop them & freeze in 8 cups batches. I grow a lot of my own peppers, so the habanero, jalapeno, thai & reaper peppers get frozen in the amount I use in a batch.

I've also learned that you can double most recipes. I give it a try & if it's successful, I use the doubled recipe. One thing that makes doubling successful is to bring the jam to 220 degrees rather than boiling for 1-2 minutes. This way, I can make 12-16 jars at a time rather than 6-8. Also STEAM CANNER!! Since they've been determined to be safe for water bath canning, it has cut my processing time by at least half.

I love to experiment with new recipes & flavor combinations. 2 years ago, I made a plain peach jam that didn't sell at all. In browsing the web, I found the Peach Vanilla Bourbon Jam recipe and it's been a big seller! Both Pomona and Pacific Pectin have great help lines if I ever have questions.

I'll never get rich selling at the farmers market, but it does help supplement our retirement income. Plus I've made some great friends with the other vendors and customers. And the customers' dogs also!!

lol. Sorry just had to laugh at how ironic it is, you sound just like me. We make a bunch of funKY sounding ones to try on customers and go with it. Husband names them. BP jam: high octane, Rather jam, tornado jam, Sunrise, sunset jams. I'm still known as the jam lady around our county.

 

[jomoncon]

lol. Sorry just had to laugh at how ironic it is, you sound just like me. We make a bunch of funKY sounding ones to try on customers and go with it. Husband names them. BP jam: high octane, Rather jam, tornado jam, Sunrise, sunset jams. I'm still known as the jam lady around our county.

We do the same thing with the funny names. We have a Swamp Pop, and a Watermelon Crawl. I also put funny pictures on the labels for the kind of jam it is. This is the picture that's on our Strawberry Jam:

 

[mamatink7]

We do the same thing with the funny names. We have a Swamp Pop, and a Watermelon Crawl. I also put funny pictures on the labels for the kind of jam it is. This is the picture that's on our Strawberry Jam:

love it!!! How do you get the pics??

 

[jomoncon]

love it!!! How do you get the pics??

I use avery.com to print my labels. I use a size 2x4 inches for the sides. For the fruit I'm using, I do a google search, or Bing, for strawberry clip art. I like to use drawings / clip-art for the images instead of photos. When I find an image I like, I save it to my computer and then import it into avery. Here's a sample of what my Blueberry Jam label looks like. The blocked out info is my email & phone number. Under Louisiana labeling laws, I must have my contact info on the label.



And I just picked figs from my tree & my neighbor's 2 trees. I think I'll have enough figs for a small batch of fig jam for this weekend!! Customers have certainly been asking for it.

 

[mamatink7]

I use avery.com to print my labels. I use a size 2x4 inches for the sides. For the fruit I'm using, I do a google search, or Bing, for strawberry clip art. I like to use drawings / clip-art for the images instead of photos. When I find an image I like, I save it to my computer and then import it into avery. Here's a sample of what my Blueberry Jam label looks like. The blocked out info is my email & phone number. Under Louisiana labeling laws, I must have my contact info on the label.



And I just picked figs from my tree & my neighbor's 2 trees. I think I'll have enough figs for a small batch of fig jam for this weekend!! Customers have certainly been asking for it.

nice, thank you for sharing. Yes, it's an FDA requirement for labeling. I have avery labels but didn't know about the website or adding clip art.

 

[jomoncon]

nice, thank you for sharing. Yes, it's an FDA requirement for labeling. I have avery labels but didn't know about the website or adding clip art.

The avery website makes it so easy. You can save the design so the next time you need it, you can just pull it up. It's works wonderfully for me.

 

[hippiestink]

Canned filling for my mini apple pies this week. It's kind of like an apple butter, but with more sugar and a heavier hand with the spices.

 

[mamatink7]

Well picked 2 flats of blackberries yesterday!! So excited.
1 flat will make 4 Canning recipes including 1 new recipe.
Finally feel progress

 

[appps]

Well picked 2 flats of blackberries yesterday!! So excited.
1 flat will make 4 Canning recipes including 1 new recipe.
Finally feel progress

How big is a flat?

Can't wait till ours flowers in the spring! Got quite a lot last year in its first year so excited to see what I get this time

 

[mamatink7]

How big is a flat?

Can't wait till ours flowers in the spring! Got quite a lot last year in its first year so excited to see what I get this time

berry flat is 12 pint boxes