What are you canning now?

[lcertuche]

Last year I had many, many peppers this year a handful. You never know. I'm about to move and will have to think about a new garden. Someone built a raised bed but I'm sure that it is too shady because it's between two huge pecan trees.

 

[MIchickenlady]

doing peaches in a couple days! woo hoo!!
Sure nice middle of winter

 

[jerryse]

Doing pasta sauce today . Here is a tip some may already know . We do not blanch and peel tomatoes for sauce . Just cut into chunks and liquify in the blender . Then bring juice to a boil and run through the food mill . This removes seeds and peel . Not much waste . You lose some flesh peeling . Less heat by not blanching . Kitchen gets hot enough . You can can on a turkey burner outside to keep the kitchen cooler .

 

[NanaKat]

You can skip the blender step too....boil the chunked tomatoes and run thru your food mill or ricer to remove the skins and seed.

I made V8 juice yesterday...added coarse chopped cabbage, celery, three kinds of peppers, shredded carrots, sliced radishes, onions, garlic and four tomato varieties.
Brought to a boil for five minutes, cooled for the ricer, boiled, jarred with some canning salt and then water bathed for ten minutes. Made 4 quarts and only had 1 cup of "debris" from the processing.

 

[rancher hicks]

When making grape jelly I added the lemon juice early. did I ruin it and what can I do about it?

 

[wyoDreamer]

@rancher hicks I think you should be fine. if you are unsure, add a little more lemon juice at the proper time. I believe it is just to make sure that the acidity is high enough for preserving, but I am not positive on that.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well the jelly came out okay and passed the fussy friend who cooks test. I have more grapes to do up.

 

[rancher hicks]

Now for why I dropped in. I've been busy with work and DW and homestead stuff.


SO, I've been busy and tired. However I dropped in to offer information about tomatoes. Since winter is fast approaching and there have been frosts, what to do with those green tomatoes. DON'T waste them. You can of course fry them up but how many can you eat? I do have recipes for green tomatoes relish too. Anyhow, pick them all and wash them in hot water and a bleach solution, OR I used vinegar. Rinse. Wash them picking off stems and dry them on cookie racks. THEN I put them in a box just the right size that fits the cookie racks. I put the greenest on the bottom. Then on the second rack more green but (and this is important) an apple. (Any kind will do I suppose). Then a third rack with those that are a bit more ripe and another apple. That was all that would fit. On top of that row I put a sheet of tissue paper, closed the box and put it in the back room which is dark and cool this time of year. I'll check them every couple of days or so. They won't taste as good as vine ripe but they'll be usable. You can of course freeze or can them if you wish, but at least they won't have gone to waste. Choose only those tomatoes with out blemish of course. Have a nice day folks hope this helps someone.

 

[Maeschak]

Green tomato pressure canning help:

I grew three huge tomatillo plants this year for some green salsa but the plants didn't work out. Tons of tiny little fruits but not enough to make my salsa. Green tomatoes I do have, though, so I tried a green tomato salsa.

I cooked up a gallon bag of little green tomatoes, added 14 cloves of garlic, 2 red onions, salt, pepper, and cumin. (No citris of any kind). I then blended it all to enchilada sauce consistency. I have no idea if I could safely water bath can my concoction so I plan on pressure canning. Anyone gave a clue how long to pressure can? I hope to do pint jars- I've read 20 minutes might be enough. Anyone know if 20 minutes is enough?

 

[jerryse]

They probably are acid enough even green . I would use the time for tomatoes .