What are you canning now?

[3goodeggs]

Quote:
You probably have the hard pears, They won't soften but when they are yellowish and sweet, they are ripe.
The under ripe fruit makes a better jelly.
You can try wrapping them in newspaper and putting them in a paper bag overnight. Do not forget to check them or you will have a bag of mush.

last year I diced them up and mixed them with apple. I was able to skip the pectin. But you need to be comfortable with the sheeting off of a spoon method. It took a long time for me to get it down. There is a very accurate description of it in the ball canning book.
Get a package of certo or sure jell and follow the instructions. I have started to use the ball low sugar pectin because everything is starting to just get too sweet for me anymore.

Good luck with the pickles.

 

[rancher hicks]

I notice that the recipes for raspberry jam and strawberry jam call for no pectin. Is this right. I hope to waterbath can this stuff is that right? How long do I boil it in the water?

plus the last time I made strawberry jam it called for 7 cups of sugar and was way to sweet.

Aslo how many cups of strawberry equal a 1 and a half pints like one recipe calls for?

The raspberry is just 4 cups berries to 4 cups of sugar and no pectin. It it that easy?

 

[jenny_kap]

i dont use pectin when i make jam or preserves, but only fruits, sugar and a little bit of water. but my jams and preserves are very sweet. this is the old way of making them.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Rancher.......I do one cup of sugar for every cup of smashed strawberry pulp. It comes out sweet, but not too sweet. And I almost never use pectin, you just have to cook it longer until it sheets on a frozen spoon.

 

[rancher hicks]

Ok so I did all the raspberry's and got 12 4oz. jars. The first batch was sweeter than the second. DW liked the second. I did mash more berries into the four cups. No pectin either of course. So I expect I'll keep the recipe which isn't that hard to remember. 4 + 4 that's easy enough. I can get more raspberries. $2.99 a pound.

How long after I plant some of my own can I expect berries? Also can I use the same 4 X 4 recipe for black berries?

I've got to go do the strawberries. I expect this will be the last I can get of them. Can't let them go to waste.

Ta, ta for now

Rancher

Oh I forgot, what about the red currents and jelly? Anyone got a recipe for me? I've never done jelly before. They've also got some red and green gooseberries. What about those?

 

[Happy Chooks]

I do 2 cups sugar for every cup of blackberry pulp.

I put my raspberries in bare root. I picked off all the blossoms the first year (really hard to do but it's better for root growth) and I got berries the 2nd year. I get 2 crops per year, one in the early summer and one in the fall.

Can't help you on the red currants, haven't done those.

 

[pinkwindsong]

Quote:
You probably have the hard pears, They won't soften but when they are yellowish and sweet, they are ripe.
The under ripe fruit makes a better jelly.
You can try wrapping them in newspaper and putting them in a paper bag overnight. Do not forget to check them or you will have a bag of mush.

last year I diced them up and mixed them with apple. I was able to skip the pectin. But you need to be comfortable with the sheeting off of a spoon method. It took a long time for me to get it down. There is a very accurate description of it in the ball canning book.
Get a package of certo or sure jell and follow the instructions. I have started to use the ball low sugar pectin because everything is starting to just get too sweet for me anymore.

Good luck with the pickles.

reat advice thabks so much
Pink

 

[classicsredone]

Do any of you guys do lacto-fermentation? We LOVE cortido made that way. It is made with cabbage, shredded carrots, diced onions, your choice of pepper, some sea salt, and whey. It tastes just like salsa, but with a fizzy kick.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Well I did the strawberries with a recipe at Epicurious.com It called for 4 1/2 pints of berries, 4 cups of sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice. So I converted the strawberries pints to cups and figured 6 3/4 cups. Now I mushed up the berries and put in 6/3/4 cups or just a little over and the rest the same.
The recipe said it makes about 4 cups which would be 4 , 8 ounce jars, right? Well I got 9. I don't get it , how could that be? DW and DD's said it tasted real good. But I just don't understand how I got more than twice the number of jars.

My second batch of raspberries was slightly tarter than the first but that was cuz I smushed in more berries. DW like it tarter so that was good.


How many rows of raspberries to I put in? How many jars of jam do you all do for the year? When do I plant them? Any variety better than another or do I plant more than one variety?

 

[Anna_B_Happy]

I have been a busy bee canning all the summer fruits. I love the book titled "mes confitures" by christine ferber. I had heard good things about it, so I bought it online. Her jams dont use store-bought pectin and have some really great flavors....here is what I tried so far:

Strawberry with mint and black pepper. I loved it and have made it again already. The mint gives it a clean flavor and the pepper makes it warmer. Very subtle and very good stuff.

Strawberry and blackberrry.

Strawberry.

Blackberry.

Apricot with vanilla bean

Apricot with mango

Apricot with sage honey. They had beautiful apricots and sage honey at the farmers market.

Fig with vanilla bean

Fig with orange and walnut. I plan to use this on my cheese trays with my homemade goat cheese. I had something similar in a restaurant. Absolutely divine.

I also put up 6 quarts of blackberry pie filling. Blackberry pie is my favorite.

And I made tons of lemon syrup from my mom's lemon tree (this was a few months ago) which we are enjoying as lemonaid now.

And, I made several jars of mango chutney w/ hot peppers.

I just started canning again this year. Haven't canned in about 20 years, since I was about 20 ish. I am feeling very productive and proud of myself.