Tell me about your canning/food preserving.

[HoneyBBQ]

I've always liked canning and preserving. Done it for maybe 5 years now, each year. I like reconnecting with the food and my daughter helps me, and sometimes H -- it's a family way to spend time.

Started with bread and butter pickles 5 or so years ago and worked my way up.

This year I've made:

bread and butter pickles
grape jam (from grapes growing in our yard)
applesauce
slow cooker chai spiced apple butter
peach jam

I'm getting pretty good at it. It used to be an all day affair but I've really streamlined and gotten fast at it. Next year I'll have to figure out something to do with zucchini because we got so many from our garden this year some went to waste.

What do you make/can/store?

[Deleted]

I freeze. Zucchini noodles. Tomato sauce. I do fruit sometimes if I have excess. Pesto, ketchup, grape jelly, applesauce... Not a lot. 

[Sharon]

On a regular basis I can beans, peaches, pears, tomatoes, make applesauce, make boysenberry and raspberry jelly, make sweet pickles.  Sometimes I also can cherries, apricots and make other types of jelly or jam (grape, strawberry etc).  I also can tuna and salmon.  I have in the past canned corn but found I prefer that frozen.

I freeze corn, broccoli, peppers, blueberries, other cane berries (boysens, marions, blackberries), apples, strawberries.  The berries and apples are used for pies/cobblers.  The blueberries for oatmeal and muffins.  I also freeze zucchini both grated and sliced.

In the past I have also made my own tomato paste but that was a lot of work for low yield.  I will probably do it again if I have easy access to a lot of tomatoes.

ETA:  I would like to branch out into drying herbs and possibly drying fruit.  My DD and I are talking about splitting the cost and sharing a food dehydrator.

[t-dog]

I canned fig preserves for the first time this year. Small batches of 3 or so jars at a time on 3 separate occasions. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

[giramomma]

I used to freeze strawberries, green beans, and peas. With the addition of the peanut and some crazy growing seasons, it hasn't happened for a few years.

I also have a recipe for cherry rhubarb jam from our favorite family vacation spot that I make.

I grew ornamental corn this year. That's drying in my garage.

[HoneyBBQ]

Sept 21, 2015 15:02:47 GMT -5 t-dog said:

I canned fig preserves for the first time this year. Small batches of 3 or so jars at a time on 3 separate occasions. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

I forgot, I did fig jam last year but we transplanted our fig this spring and got no figs this year. Maybe next year.

[The Home 6]

I put up some drunken peaches! They were a smashing success. Next year, I plan on making more with some pecan whiskey rather than the bourbon I used this go round. 

My folks brought a ton of tomatoes from their garden last weekend and my mom and I put up 7 pints and 2 quarts of diced tomatoes. They also brought canned beans, tomato sauce, and pickles. My mom makes the BEST pickles. 

[megaptera]

I try to do/learn more each year. This year, I learned how to make jam without the use of commercial pectin. I was thrilled. (It's the little things, lol. )

I also like dehydration (fruit chips/leather, jerky, herbs, etc.), lacto-fermentation (sauerkraut, pickles, carrots, radishes, etc.), and freezing (mostly berries).

[kittensaver]

Wow - - where to begin. Okay, I'll begin with the jealousy, lol . I'm jealous of those figs! I'm also jealous of those with a dehydrator. I'm still borrowing one when I need it .

I'm an urban food gardener with 3 plots (me and two other women) in a community garden, so we work pretty much year-around in preserving whatever comes out of the garden that we can't use and don't give away (to family, friends, neighbors and the food bank). It's periods of concentrated work (any where from an  hour to a full 3-day weekend), but the payoff is weeks and weeks of food at your fingertips that's ready to go when you want to put a meal together fast.

Excess herbs get dried and put into spice jars; lemons, oranges and grapefruits get juiced and frozen in cubes, and the peels get candied (cooked in syrup, rolled in coarse sugar and dried out, then dipped in chocolate for gift giving); excess tomatoes (green), cucumbers, beets, carrots, peppers, onions, fennel, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and watermelon rinds get pickled or fermented; peas, beans, broccoli and corn gets frozen; winter squashes and pumpkins get roasted and peeled, drained overnight through cheesecloth and then the pulp canned or frozen; zucchini and summer squashes get shredded in the food processor, drained in cheesecloth, rung out in a kitchen towel (to make sure it is super-dry) and then frozen in recipe-size portions; apples and pears get sliced super-thin, dipped in syrup and dehydrated to make fruit chips (or cut into 1/4 inch dice and dehydrated for making granola). Dehydrating takes many hours but 99% of it is hands-off, which is nice.

Our planned preserving splurges are strawberries in April, blueberries in May, raspberries and blackberries in August (from the U-pick farm, they go into jam or whole into the freezer), and tomatoes (also from the u-pick farm) over Labor Day weekend. This year we turned 150 lbs. of Roma tomatoes into plain canned tomatoes, tomato juice (from the skins and cores run through the juicer, we waste nothing ), ketchup, salsa and tomato paste.

[Tiny]

I've got dried apricots soaking in vinegar as I write - I'm making a batch of Habanero Gold Jam later today.

So far this year I've made:
Pear and Vanilla Jam
Spiced Pear and Vanilla Jam
Pear and Cranberry Jam
Pear and Ginger Jam (first time - it's really good!)

The "Pear Fairy" kept dropping off bags of pears as they fell from the tree So I kept making different batches of pear jam.

And now the "Hot Pepper Fairy" started leaving quart zippy bags filled with red and orange Habaneros for me - so to start I'll be making atleast 3 batches of the Habanero Gold, a batch of Habanero Mango and possibly a Habanero Pineapple jelly/jams.

In the past I made pickled Dilly Green beans, Pickled Lemon and Rosemary Yellow beans, pickled Garlic and dill Green Beans.
I did make a pickled corn relish - but I was the only one who liked it.

I'm finishing up the Tomato Jam from last year and I have one last jar of Apple Cranberry jam.

The tomatoes were sad and sorrowful this year so no new Tomato Jam.

I've done "jarring" with and without the pectin...I have a love/hate relationship with it - either it makes the jelly/jam rock like OR it doesn't do anything at all - and I have a liquid-y mess. Lately I've been opting for recipes that make small batches and equal amounts of fruit and sugar (and then an acid - like lemon juice) I also sometimes just cook the jam down to the consistency I want and skip the pectin - I've found recipes that don't use pectin - for jams and marmalades and what not. Jelly being like "jello" clear and firm - the others being lumpy/having texture and being a bit more 'loose' than a jelly.

[Tiny]

I'll ask this here - I hear I can 'stack' jars in the water bath but I'm not using 'official' canning pot and racks.

I'm using a deep stainless steel stock pot with a wire rack at the bottom. I would like to stack the little 4 ounce jars so get 12 in the pot (6 on top of 6). I might also be able to stack 4 ounce jars on top of some 'squat' 8 ounce jars.

Can I just put another wire rack on top of a layer of jars to hold the next row? Everything I read just says I can stack jars - it doesn't seem right to just put one jar on top of another... but maybe that's the way you do it?

[HoneyBBQ]

Sept 21, 2015 16:00:06 GMT -5 megaptera said:

I try to do/learn more each year. This year, I learned how to make jam without the use of commercial pectin. I was thrilled. (It's the little things, lol. )

Did you use part apples to use the natural pectin or ...? 

[kittensaver]

I've also read that you can stack jars, but the one time I tried it I lost 4 of the 4 oz. jars to breakage . And that was with separating the jars with wire racks + kitchen towels in between (following the instructions for loading the water bath when you do not have an official canning rack). I hope you have better luck than me!  

[HoneyBBQ]

Sept 21, 2015 16:24:38 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I'll ask this here - I hear I can 'stack' jars in the water bath but I'm not using 'official' canning pot and racks.

I'm using a deep stainless steel stock pot with a wire rack at the bottom. I would like to stack the little 4 ounce jars so get 12 in the pot (6 on top of 6). I might also be able to stack 4 ounce jars on top of some 'squat' 8 ounce jars.

Can I just put another wire rack on top of a layer of jars to hold the next row? Everything I read just says I can stack jars - it doesn't seem right to just put one jar on top of another... but maybe that's the way you do it?

As long as they are spaced enough to allow heat circulation and 2-3" over the top of the last jar--- why not? 

[HoneyBBQ]

Sept 21, 2015 16:31:42 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

I've also read that you can stack jars, but the one time I tried it I lost 4 of the 4 oz. jars to breakage . And that was with separating the jars with wire racks + kitchen towels in between (following the instructions for loading the water bath when you do not have an official canning rack). I hope you have better luck than me!  

Did they break during the boiling process or afterwards? 

I was reading my Bell Preserving book and it mentioned turning off the burners and taking the lid off and letting items sit for 5 minutes before removing them from the bath to allow the glass to stabilize and reduce chance of breakage. 

[kittensaver]

Sept 21, 2015 16:33:40 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Sept 21, 2015 16:31:42 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

I've also read that you can stack jars, but the one time I tried it I lost 4 of the 4 oz. jars to breakage . And that was with separating the jars with wire racks + kitchen towels in between (following the instructions for loading the water bath when you do not have an official canning rack). I hope you have better luck than me!  

Did they break during the boiling process or afterwards? 

I was reading my Bell Preserving book and it mentioned turning off the burners and taking the lid off and letting items sit for 5 minutes before removing them from the bath to allow the glass to stabilize and reduce chance of breakage. 

During .

[kittensaver]

Sept 21, 2015 16:30:33 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Sept 21, 2015 16:00:06 GMT -5 megaptera said:

I try to do/learn more each year. This year, I learned how to make jam without the use of commercial pectin. I was thrilled. (It's the little things, lol. )

Did you use part apples to use the natural pectin or ...? 

I do non-pectin jam also. The really old-fashioned way (before commercial pectin was invented) was 50% fruit, 50% sugar and enough acid (usually lemon juice, about 1 TBSP per pint) to stop spoilage. Simmer it way down until it is of a thickness to your liking. Commercial jam makers will not do this because it is too expensive/uses too much fruit. Pectin not only speeds up the process (no boiling down), it also increases jam volume, saving them $$.

ETA: I've used shredded apple in berry jams - I couldn't tell a difference between using it and not using it. But that may just be me. YMMV.

[kittensaver]

Okay - I found my recipe (on a flash drive in my purse) . Hope it copies here without getting too wonky (sorry it's long):

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN JAM WITH YOUR BACKYARD FRUIT

Wash, trim, pit and roughly slice or chop the fruit (*). Measure it (in cups) and then put it in a large sauce pan or stock pot. Add an equal amount of sugar to the pot (for example, if you have 6 cups of fruit you will add 6 cups of sugar.) Add 1 TBSP of lemon juice for every cup of fruit.

Put the pot on the stove and turn the heat to medium. Stir and mash the fruit and sugar together until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to bubble (if you HAVE to add some water to bring it together you can, but this will increase your cooking time). Once it bubbles, turn the heat down to low and allow the jam to burble and simmer gently and slowly, stirring occasionally, until the juices are clear and glistening and the mixture thickens quite a bit. This could take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Don’t rush this process or you will end up with a burned mess. It may develop a foam on top and that’s okay, just keep stirring it back into the jam occasionally. The tiny foam bubbles will burst and the foam will die back when you take the pot off the stove at the end of cooking. The jam is done when the “feel” is to your liking, or use this time-honored test:

Drop a tablespoon of hot jam onto a dinner plate, and swirl the plate around a little bit to spread out the jam. Run your finger firmly down the plate through the center of the jam; if the “trench” you create in the jam holds its shape then it is cooked enough.

While the jam is cooking, sterilize the canning equipment: put the clean jars and bands in another large stock pot and cover them with water. Put the pot on the stove and bring to a boil; turn off the heat, put in your lids, clean tongs and ladle, cover the pot and allow everything to sit in the hot water until you need it (at least 10 minutes).

To can your jam: get out a few very clean cloth kitchen towels (linen or smooth cotton; don’t use terry cloth or paper because they can shed tiny fibers you don’t want in your jam). Lay a towel on your work surface. Using the tongs (and hot pads to protect your hands), pull the jars out of the hot water and line them up on the towel, face down so they can drain briefly. Flip a jar over and ladle in the hot jam, leaving about a ½ inch space or “header” at the top of the jar. Wipe the rim with a clean, hot, wet (rung-out) towel to assure that no jam is sitting on the rim that can interfere with the seal. Pull out and briefly dry off a lid; set it on the jar rim and check that it is properly centered. Pull out a band, briefly dry it off and screw it down firmly (but not super tight) to the jar, then flip the jar back over again (top down). Repeat this process until you have canned all of your jam. Any leftover jam (a partial jar) should not be sealed but instead refrigerated and used first.

Allow all of the jars to sit, upside down, until they are completely cool. This could be several hours to overnight. When you flip them back over (right side up) tighten down the bands a little bit more. Press your finger firmly in the center of each lid; it should stay down when pressed. If the center pops up and down, it did not seal properly and should be refrigerated and used first. Label and date your jam jars.

There is also a lazy (skip the sterilization) way to can your jam: ladle the hot jam into clean freezer-safe containers; cool, cover and stick in the freezer. Thaw out and use as needed.

(*) Leave the skin on fruits like peaches, plums and apricots – that’s where the natural pectin (thickener) is. If you are concerned about fruits without a lot of pectin (like berries): wash, core and shred an apple or two (or three, for a very large batch) and add them to the pot. It will provide the pectin you want but will not impact the “berry-ness” of your jam.

[megaptera]

Sept 21, 2015 16:30:33 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Sept 21, 2015 16:00:06 GMT -5 megaptera said:

I try to do/learn more each year. This year, I learned how to make jam without the use of commercial pectin. I was thrilled. (It's the little things, lol. )

Did you use part apples to use the natural pectin or ...? 

Yes, like kittensaver said, I just used shredded apples. It turned out great.

[chen35]

Sept 21, 2015 14:50:47 GMT -5 oped said:

I freeze. Zucchini noodles. Tomato sauce. I do fruit sometimes if I have excess. Pesto, ketchup, grape jelly, applesauce... Not a lot. 

How long (if at all) do you blanch your zucchini noodles? They come out okay? 
I freeze zucchini for bread, but haven't dared try anything else.

I bottle tomatoes for spaghetti sauce.

[NoNamePerson]

  I'm so dangerous in the kitchen that a friend gave me a a fire extinguisher for Christmas one year. I don't dare do canning - would probably blow up the house or we would all die from botulism.

Ok didn't mean to hijack so carry on all you good cooks. I will just read and envy and stick to freezing stuff.

[daisy]

This year we made: bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, apple pie filling and applesauce.  Not as much as years past when we would can tomatoes and peaches; one year we made AWESOME peaches we called Drunky John Peaches (no idea why actually) made with Peach Schnaaps...OMG were they GOOD.

We also make our own vanilla - I can't imagine paying $6 or more for 3 oz of vanilla.  I make it in quart canning jars and at any time we have 4 or 5 stewing.  Also freeze zucchini here too, I have enough to make everything we eat out of zucchini for the next 20 years.  

[NastyWoman]

NoNamePerson I invite you to my favorite and fool-proof method of canning/preserving:
Drive to TJs, load up shopping cart with goodie, pay, get frozen yoghurt next door (this is the special step that makes me reconnect with food and that  I "force" myself to take   ), go home and put goodies away.  Absolutely no fire extinguisher needed

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2015 17:18:39 GMT -5 chen35 said:

Sept 21, 2015 14:50:47 GMT -5 oped said:

I freeze. Zucchini noodles. Tomato sauce. I do fruit sometimes if I have excess. Pesto, ketchup, grape jelly, applesauce... Not a lot. 

How long (if at all) do you blanch your zucchini noodles? They come out okay? 
I freeze zucchini for bread, but haven't dared try anything else.

I bottle tomatoes for spaghetti sauce.

I don't. I spiral them and freeze. I thaw them and then squeeze out liquid. I find they are best when I throw them in the crockpot with sauce and veggies and chicken, but also stir fry or put I'm pot on stove with same... But slower is better. I just tried freezing zuch lasagna noodles this year.., will let you know.

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 21, 2015 18:13:42 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

NoNamePerson I invite you to my favorite and fool-proof method of canning/preserving:
Drive to TJs, load up shopping cart with goodie, pay, get frozen yoghurt next door (this is the special step that makes me reconnect with food and that  I "force" myself to take   ), go home and put goodies away.  Absolutely no fire extinguisher needed

I can do that except for the TJ part. Assuming that is Trader Joe's. I will try that when our Whole Foods gets open. I think there is even a frozen yogurt shop close by. Thanks for the tip  

[Tiny]

Sept 21, 2015 16:32:47 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Sept 21, 2015 16:24:38 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I'll ask this here - I hear I can 'stack' jars in the water bath but I'm not using 'official' canning pot and racks.

I'm using a deep stainless steel stock pot with a wire rack at the bottom. I would like to stack the little 4 ounce jars so get 12 in the pot (6 on top of 6). I might also be able to stack 4 ounce jars on top of some 'squat' 8 ounce jars.

Can I just put another wire rack on top of a layer of jars to hold the next row? Everything I read just says I can stack jars - it doesn't seem right to just put one jar on top of another... but maybe that's the way you do it?

As long as they are spaced enough to allow heat circulation and 2-3" over the top of the last jar--- why not? 

Yes, but HOW do you stack the jars? Do you just put one jar literally on top of another (or try to balance it ontop of two jars? stagger the layers)? Do you put a wire rack on top of the first layer of jars? Do you do something else?  

I've got a wire rack at the bottom of the pot, I can get 6 jars (8 ounce or 4 ounce) comfortably in one layer.   What do I do to put a second layer of jars in the pot?

[Tiny]

Sept 21, 2015 16:31:42 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

I've also read that you can stack jars, but the one time I tried it I lost 4 of the 4 oz. jars to breakage . And that was with separating the jars with wire racks + kitchen towels in between (following the instructions for loading the water bath when you do not have an official canning rack). I hope you have better luck than me!  

Oh that sucks!  I'm doing small batch canning so I might ONLY have 3 to 6 jars (8 ounce) and possibly 6 to 12 of the 4 ounce jars.   It would suck to loose a jar much less 4!   

I'm interested in stacking because I could get ALL the 4 ounce jars in the pot at once...

Another question I can't find a direct answer to:   If I have more jars of "product" than will fit into the water bath... do I fill all the jars and put on lids/rings and then let some of them 'wait' until the first group in the water bath is done?  Or do I fill/put lids/rings on only the number that fits in the water bath while leaving the rest of the product in the warm cooking pot?    I keep reading that I can do batches in the water bath but no where ever mentions HOW to handle the second group of jars that goes into the water bath. 

[kittensaver]

It will work either way. If you want your kitchen cleaned up but don't have time to water-bath process all the jars, it's perfectly fine to sterilize your jars, load in your food, put on the lids and bands and refrigerate what you can't process today until tomorrow. Just be sure to allow the cold jars to come back to room temperature before you process them, or the sudden change in temp (from cold frig to hot water bath) might cause the jars to fail and crack.

It's also fine to refrigerate your food and then sterilize, load and process your jars the next day. Again, just be sure you don't have huge temp differences.

[Tiny]

Sept 21, 2015 18:55:21 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

It will work either way. If you want your kitchen cleaned up but don't have time to water-bath process all the jars, it's perfectly fine to sterilize your jars, load in your food, put on the lids and bands and refrigerate what you can't process today until tomorrow. Just be sure to allow the cold jars to come back to room temperature before you process them, or the sudden change in temp (from cold frig to hot water bath) might cause the jars to fail and crack.

It's also fine to refrigerate your food and then sterilize, load and process your jars the next day. Again, just be sure you don't have huge temp differences.

Thank you! This info removes my need to stack jars.  I want to put the hot pepper jam into the smaller 4 ounce jars (a batch will fill 8 to 9 little jars).  I can prep all the jars and then just process one group in the water bath and then the other.    I don't want to 'poison' anyone (well, the hotness of the jam might be lethal ) by not having processed it correctly.

The whole hot water bath canning isn't as hard as I thought it would be - it's mostly about attention to detail - following all the directions and not improvising during the process.       

ADDED: Thanks too for giving your fruit jelly/jam recipe.

I've been using the recipes from the Food In Jars blog ( Marisa McClellan).

[Apple]

To stack, we just bought another one of these for less than $10  (eta: you still want to stagger the jars, try not to put them right on top of each other or they may not heat evenly).


jet.com/product/product/fca58fe7231c49cda2c3fc146c28a8b2?jcmp=pla:ggl:home_garden_a3:kitchen_dining_kitchen_appliances_food_cookers_steamers_a3_other:na:na:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&k_clickid=7fa52d38-754d-4bac-bbe5-223bcd17bc91&kpid=fca58fe7231c49cda2c3fc146c28a8b2&gclid=CjwKEAjw1f6vBRC7tLqO_aih5WISJAAE0CYwHPpdpM0zZkAa6LLpGNy0e9yP8KMM_ZLTfLdqq1PubRoCU4_w_wcB



We mostly stack in the pressure canner, since the jars we use are too tall when we do hot water bath canning.  Also, using this instead of wire racks, we can fit more into the canner.

We didn't do near as much this year... pizza sauce, grape juice, pears, peaches.  But, we've done pickles, pickled green beans (yummy, and I don't care for green beans, or pickles), green tomato relish, and zucchini relish.  The green tomato relish is great for end of season tomatoes that aren't going to have time to ripen.

We also can chicken.  We buy a bunch and process it all during a single day.  A lot of work, but tonight for dinner I made chicken salad with the canned chicken and canned tomato relish, then put it on bread and toasted it under the broiler.  Sometimes I add fresh tomatoes, but tonight it was just the chicken salad and some cheese.

We make hamburger jerky in the dehydrator.