What are you canning now?

[ninjapoodles]

If the steroids help my back, we're trying for apples tomorrow, for applesauce and apple butter. Hopefully.

Can you really not make applesauce from Granny Smiths? That is Bella's favorite flavor of Mott's Organic applesauce, but all the recipes say not to use them?

 

[ozark hen]

ninja, I use Dogpile as my search engine, it encompasses all the other search engines into one. Anyway, I just typed in, Why can't I use Granny Smith apples for applesauce? It came back with lots of hits. yes, you can use granny smith's but also use a sweet apple like gala or fuji in with them. Use extra sugar. Lots of folks mix granny smith's with sweet red apples for applesauce. do it girl!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I guess I'll just get whatever I can of as many varieties as are available, huh? Can't go wrong there. I'd like to do unsweetened applesauce, so maybe I'll stick to mostly sweet varieties. But I LOVE my Granny Smiths!

 

[JennsPeeps]

I was going to say that you could use Granny Smiths but you'd need extra sugar.

Why not do apple pie filling instead?

I've got to do the apples that have been sitting in a basket in my kitchen since last weekend.

 

[Msbear]

I buy granny smith applesauce for my son at the grocery store and it is awesome! We both enjoy it. I'll have to check and see how much more sugar it has than regular varieties. I try to stay away from the stuff as much as possible but I've kinda given up with the fruit juices etc. dept. If they say no sugar, it's just because they've added artificial sweetener and that's even worse!

The granny smith does have a certain tang but I think it's a nice change.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Henry'schickens :

I'm lucky to have a kitchen in the basement so I was able to have tomato sauce, apple butter, and cinnamon pear jelly going at the same time. Next I'll be making cranberry-habanero jelly. MmmmMmmm!!

If I ever get a new house (

) my basement is going to have a canning kitchen! Oh, how nice it would be not to have to put all my lids and supplies away in order to serve a meal and then get them right back out again!​

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Farmer Kitty, Yes that is a huge advantage being able to leave everything out as is and go upstairs to cook the meals. If I didn't have that extra kitchen I doubt I would be canning as much. A good year will see 300 - 400 jars of different things. Mostly pickles. My DH and DS can't seem to get enough of those! Pickles are the most requested item from family and friends along with hot jellies I can. Going to get started now on more apple butter and the cranberry/habanero jelly like I mentioned before.
Have a great day ya'll!!
K

 

[Daycare Mom]

Well, I was hoping for 50 quarts of applesauce today. I ended up running out of apples and only got 33 quarts. Oh well, I guess I will be picking some more and canning again another day. I am sure I will end up with 50 by the time I am done!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I just have to know--how many POUNDS of apples are you saucing? I made applesauce with 20 pounds of apples today, and only got 6 quarts of sauce, and it was hard work! I can't imagine doing 50 quarts! How many batches would that be?

Also, I have just a few pears (like a couple pounds) that I'd like to do something with, jam or something, but I have so little...does anyone have a recipe for some kind of pear/berry combo? I have strawberries and blackberries in the freezer I could use, as well as grapes. I have blueberries, too, but they're far too precious to go into jam or jelly!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Quote:
I just did three hens.
I put them into my slow cooker (7qt and had to cut some up) and added water to about 2 inches from the top (remember you will get more juices out of the chickens and need to leave room for that) then I added my favorite seasonings and let cook on low overnight. In the morning I deboned the chicken and loosely packed into pint jars. Add either water or the broth you made with the chicken. Leave a 1 inch head room. Put on your lids and pressure can @ 10 pounds for 1 hour 15 mins for pints or 1 hour 30 minutes for quarts. The extra broth I canned down to use later.