What are you canning now?

[BarefootMom]

did you use a mix at all?

like mrs wages?

how many tomatoes were you working with. I usually do around 20lbs at a batch.

 

[sonew123]

haha--Thanks guys-Oh I'm definitely going for it-but maybe just canned tomatoes and not sauce this first go round haha. I have tons of blueberry -razzberry-and blackberry plants all over my property that I will pillage! those will be my first experiences with jams

Oh and I'll try canning chicken too-I have alot of roos that I can "use" in the next coming weeks

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
None of the youtubes mentioned anything about mixes

I just used onions and peppers from our garden...kind of sauteed a bunch (I'm not much of a measurer

) in a humonguous skillet, and then added my chopped up tomatoes... I don't know how many pounds of tomatoes either - there were big ones, little ones, med. sized ones, enough for a sink load (I know a 'sink load' is not a proper measurement...lol).
What I DO know is that if I had just been canning tomatoes, I would have filled up a lot more jars, because on the videos, the big tomato chunks take up more space, and there seems to be quite a bit of liquid.
But once that "sauce" got to simmering, everything just kind of condensed (even though I'd been aiming for a really chunky sauce)...and although I'd squeezed those tomatoes for all their worth, there was still a lot of liquid (too much I think) in my sauce.

Any tricks for getting a lot more of the liquid/juice out of the tomatoes, besides squeezing harder??

Happy canning sonew!!

 

[Patchesnposies]

Quote:
None of the youtubes mentioned anything about mixes

I just used onions and peppers from our garden...kind of sauteed a bunch (I'm not much of a measurer

) in a humonguous skillet, and then added my chopped up tomatoes... I don't know how many pounds of tomatoes either - there were big ones, little ones, med. sized ones, enough for a sink load (I know a 'sink load' is not a proper measurement...lol).
What I DO know is that if I had just been canning tomatoes, I would have filled up a lot more jars, because on the videos, the big tomato chunks take up more space, and there seems to be quite a bit of liquid.
But once that "sauce" got to simmering, everything just kind of condensed (even though I'd been aiming for a really chunky sauce)...and although I'd squeezed those tomatoes for all their worth, there was still a lot of liquid (too much I think) in my sauce.

Any tricks for getting a lot more of the liquid/juice out of the tomatoes, besides squeezing harder??

Happy canning sonew!!

The best place for tutorials for canning/preserving just about anything (IMO) is here: http://www.pickyourown.org/spaghettisauce.htm

Lots of tips and confidence builders to be found on this site.

 

[teach1rusl]

Thanks Patches! I've just started browsing the site and have discovered that 1) It looks like I'll be freezing our greenbeans instead of canning, since we don't have a pressure canner, 2) Roma tomatoes are the ones I want to plant next year - lots of meat/very little juice, and 3) I'll need a bushel basket of tomatoes to get 10-12 quarts of crushed tomatoes

Lots of guidance!

PS: Plus they even mention the mixes BFMom brought up...

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Pickled green beans are the fave here. I can't do enough...

 

[KDbeads]

11 pints cherries.... will have pics on blog by monday.
Have my first handful of cukes salting right now for dill chips tomorrow. Only enough for 1/4 recipe but I'm getting them done anyway.

 

[Kismet]

I know it's not kosher and wouldn't win a prize at at county fair, but I skip the blanching and peeling step. I save my large tomatoes for canning separately (and I do blanch and peel those). But, last year I had tons and tons of cherry tomatoes and small cluster tomatoes. If you peel those there's nothing left. I cut them in half or quarters, simmer them with onions, peppers, herbs, and whatever I'm adding for pizazz. When all is soft and mellow, I run the sauce through a blender. All the peels get chopped up really fine. Then, I simmer on the stove until it's the consistency that I like. I use this sauce as a base for a spaghetti sauce in winter, adding pesto (made and frozen during the summer in ice cube trays). Sometimes I will brown sausage (that I've made from the half pig I have in the freezer) in the crockpot before I go to work, add the tomato sauce and pesto and anything else if I want it chunky - more onions, celery, etc. When I get home it's already to eat.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I tried making spaghetti sauce from scratch last year. It was too much work for the quanity received.
I wasn't even canning it . . .. just wanted some for then and some to freeze.

This year I went after salsa.... it was not as bad as the sauce. You don't have to let it cook forever.
I would can plain tomatoes or salsa, not spaghetti sauce.

It is a lot of work to peel tomatoes and then chop them. After you have done it a few times you will develope a system.
It helps a lot if you have a child to help..... My daughter and I developed our system.....

She rinses the tomatoes, I mark them with an X and drop them in the simmering water for 4 minute.
I take them out of the water and put them in a cold water bath.
My daughter takes them out of the cold water bath and peels them.
I take them from her and chop them.

We set up 4 bowls and three work stations.
One bowl for of ice water. One bowl for peeled tomatoes. One bowl for chopped tomatoes. One GIANT bowl for scraps, peelings, and extra juice.

I have found a way to chop them without getting juice all over the counter.
Put the cutting board inside of a cookie sheet with a lip. The extra juice will run into the cookie sheet ( instead of the counter) and it is easier to pour the juice into a bowl from the cookie sheet.

 

[marymac]

I just found this recipe over at http://www.instructables.com/id/Heaven-and-Hell-Preserves/ thought I'd share, it sounds interesting to me. is it like that pepper jelly so many were making here? Also I would like to can it, any ideas how long?