Canning Club!

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  • LoriT129
    LoriT129 Posts: 312 Member
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    Lori- I don't use pectin in my jams.. it's straight up fruit, spices and sugar.

    3 cups of your fruit
    1 cup sugar
    citrus zest
    cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice/cayanne (really whatever)

    Bring to boil and boil until when a horizontal line is drawn on the spoon (I use wood padle) and the top line does not run turn off heat and let cool a little. Put in your jar and then can. I don't do frozen jams tho so not sure if it would make a difference.

    Last batch I tried using honey and reduced my sugar... didn't thickin up as nicely tho... so it looks like I have some triple berry sauce for ice cream and meats! lol

    Good luck!

    Hmmm...I think I will need to try this one. Sounds great!
  • mamaturner
    mamaturner Posts: 2,533 Member
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    Just made 3 diff jams- Raz Cherry with lemon and cinnamon Blackberry cherry with orange and ginger blueberry cherry with lemon and allspice... num! Dilly beans tomorrow.. never done 'em anyone have any good recipes?
  • LoriT129
    LoriT129 Posts: 312 Member
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    LOL...I don't even know what a Dilly Bean is!! Does it have another name?
  • TropicalKitty
    TropicalKitty Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Mama, you're too cool. haha I'm going to have to learn from you with the jam stuff. I'd never think of those combos!

    Lori - I didn't know what they were either so I just googled: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/dilly-beans/Detail.aspx
  • mamaturner
    mamaturner Posts: 2,533 Member
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    tropical- thank you! I'm a chef by trade so crazy flavors of all sorts for all kinds of foods are always popping into my head... poor hubs, lol. And thank you for the dilly bean recipe! I had checked foodnetwork.com and tasteofhome.com and giving up. I was just gonna make up a liquid combo. Yes dilly beans are delicious, so are dilly asparagus, both AMAZING in a bloody mary!

    My fav. jam combo is probably pineapple plum... followed by a close plum berry! lol
  • mamaturner
    mamaturner Posts: 2,533 Member
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    2 cans whole peeled tomatoes (or preferably a few pounds of tomatoes, shocked and peeled)
    1 medium onion, diced
    3-6 cloves garlic, minced
    4-6 T good olive oil
    2 tsp granulated sugar
    4-6 T kosher salt

    In olive oil sweat onions about 10 min with 1-2 T salt
    Add garlic and cook another 1-2 min.
    Put tomatoes thru a food mill and add to onion and garlic
    Add sugar and 1-2 T salt and simmer about 45 min with lid half on.

    Taste, and add salt as needed.

    Very basic but SOOOOO delicious. Last time I added lean ground chuck to the batch and I love topping it when you use with meals with fresh herbs, especially basil!

    So I'm laying on the floor just now and think back to this post ( I just finished making more) and I knew I had some measurements wrong!!

    change- 2 large garlic cloves
    3 T good olive oil
    2 tsp. kosher salt.
    Sorry off quite a bit, hope yall taste as you go! Perhaps later if I have time I'll add it to the recipe database! Otherwise you can make this and use Homemade Marinara.. it should pop up!
  • kelika71
    kelika71 Posts: 778 Member
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    bump
  • TropicalKitty
    TropicalKitty Posts: 2,298 Member
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    2 cans whole peeled tomatoes (or preferably a few pounds of tomatoes, shocked and peeled)
    1 medium onion, diced
    3-6 cloves garlic, minced
    4-6 T good olive oil
    2 tsp granulated sugar
    4-6 T kosher salt

    In olive oil sweat onions about 10 min with 1-2 T salt
    Add garlic and cook another 1-2 min.
    Put tomatoes thru a food mill and add to onion and garlic
    Add sugar and 1-2 T salt and simmer about 45 min with lid half on.

    Taste, and add salt as needed.

    Very basic but SOOOOO delicious. Last time I added lean ground chuck to the batch and I love topping it when you use with meals with fresh herbs, especially basil!

    So I'm laying on the floor just now and think back to this post ( I just finished making more) and I knew I had some measurements wrong!!

    change- 2 large garlic cloves
    3 T good olive oil
    2 tsp. kosher salt.
    Sorry off quite a bit, hope yall taste as you go! Perhaps later if I have time I'll add it to the recipe database! Otherwise you can make this and use Homemade Marinara.. it should pop up!

    No worry about vampires in the first version! :laugh:
  • tattoodfreek
    tattoodfreek Posts: 520 Member
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    Ooohh I am going to have to try that marinara sauce recipe. Even with the extra garlic it looked good!

    I have a bunch of zucchini and am planning to do some zucchini relish in a few days.
  • TropicalKitty
    TropicalKitty Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Got my peaches in! Going to can them this week. Anything I should be aware of or is it as straightforward as it seems? (Skin, slice, put in jar with syrup, process)

    Next month the healthy co-op food thing that I got the peaches from is going to do plums and pears. So I'm thinking about what I could do with those.
  • mamaturner
    mamaturner Posts: 2,533 Member
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    Got my peaches in! Going to can them this week. Anything I should be aware of or is it as straightforward as it seems? (Skin, slice, put in jar with syrup, process)

    Next month the healthy co-op food thing that I got the peaches from is going to do plums and pears. So I'm thinking about what I could do with those.

    I would do the pears like the peaches, YUM! or a pear chutney? As for the plums (why does this word like weird?) my absolute favorite is plum/pineapple jam!!!
  • JJs25th
    JJs25th Posts: 204 Member
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    My jam- 3 cups cut fruit (except blueberries, raspberries blackberries, etc) to 1 cup sugar... I know it's kinda high in sugar.. but I don't use pectin, bring to boil about 20 min. do the custard spoon method (put spoon in jam and make a line with your finger, if the top of line doesn't run, your good) Don't cut the berries, I put in whole and at end of boiling I mash them.

    Try adding apples to your mix -- they have natural pectin in them. You maybe able to cut your sugar if you wish too.

    Count me in. I haven't canned since I was kid when My mother and I did jellies, jams, tomatoes, tomatoe sauce, green tomatoe relish (after a really nasty hail storm one year! :smile: ) But I still remember how! Today I freeze and I use a vacum packer on a regular basis-- just got my new one today in fact. Third model I have owned.
  • mamaturner
    mamaturner Posts: 2,533 Member
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    My jam- 3 cups cut fruit (except blueberries, raspberries blackberries, etc) to 1 cup sugar... I know it's kinda high in sugar.. but I don't use pectin, bring to boil about 20 min. do the custard spoon method (put spoon in jam and make a line with your finger, if the top of line doesn't run, your good) Don't cut the berries, I put in whole and at end of boiling I mash them.

    Try adding apples to your mix -- they have natural pectin in them. You maybe able to cut your sugar if you wish too.

    Count me in. I haven't canned since I was kid when My mother and I did jellies, jams, tomatoes, tomatoe sauce, green tomatoe relish (after a really nasty hail storm one year! :smile: ) But I still remember how! Today I freeze and I use a vacum packer on a regular basis-- just got my new one today in fact. Third model I have owned.

    I did notice apples thicken very well too. I made an apple strawberry jam at my last job (chef) but I wasn't able to be the one to finish it and they let it cook to long and got so hard if you threw it you'd hurt someone.. it did soften when heated, but I'll deffinilty have to try that!!
  • JJs25th
    JJs25th Posts: 204 Member
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    [/quote]
    I did notice apples thicken very well too. I made an apple strawberry jam at my last job (chef) but I wasn't able to be the one to finish it and they let it cook to long and got so hard if you threw it you'd hurt someone.. it did soften when heated, but I'll deffinilty have to try that!!
    [/quote]

    Apple jelly is one of the easiest to make, great to teach kids about jellly making. When adding it to your berry jam, go for an apple with a mild flavor and it won't be noticable. I have seen apple jelly reciepies that call for pectin, but I know my mother never used it. It was an added cost, and we were poor (that is why we were canning.)
  • TropicalKitty
    TropicalKitty Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Ok finally made my beef veggie soup to can...tasted good pre-canning haha. Organic low sodium beef broth, kale, purple hulled peas, carrots, onion, celery, potatoes, zucchini, beef. And a little pepper, red pepper flakes, and some garlic powder for extra flavor.

    This was my first pressure canning experience and as my mom put it "You guys should have a reality show" The bf and I were afraid of the silly thing! I have the jars in there all nice and hot, lid on, steam spewing. Put the weight on the smoke stack thing, so the steam comes out of the air lock doohickey. Nothing changes on the pressure gauge. It's all rattly. We're ducking, afraid it's going to take off. Directions with the silly thing aren't very clear, so we're both kinda confused with stuff. Of course Presto is closed (and why do they close at flipping 4:30pm?!) We turn it on, it gets loud and we freak out. Turn it off. Calm down, try again, freak out, turn it off. Finally we decide that with the safety features (the weight will vent at 15lbs of pressure and the rubber stopper goes at 20lbs) we'll just turn it back on and let the sucker go. Took a little while but eventually the pressure gauge read something. And we thought it was broken! Then we couldn't get the pressure to come back down. The book said a high heat...yeah so I put it up to 7 (out of 9) and it got up to like 13lbs (needed 11lbs) and turned it just below medium (level 3.5 out of 9) to have it at stay at >12lbs! So other newbies...pay attention to the thing!

    90mins later I took it off the heat and went to bed.

    This morning I opened it...STINKY! I left 1inch headspace like the guides said to, but I guess it still boiled out. It smells so horrible! Luckily I have to work today and the bf is home. haha He gets to deal with the stink. I'm guessing it's from the garlic and stuff that I put in the soup.

    The stuff in the jars should still be ok to eat, though, right?
  • tattoodfreek
    tattoodfreek Posts: 520 Member
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    Got my peaches in! Going to can them this week. Anything I should be aware of or is it as straightforward as it seems? (Skin, slice, put in jar with syrup, process)

    Next month the healthy co-op food thing that I got the peaches from is going to do plums and pears. So I'm thinking about what I could do with those.

    I'm doing peaches tomorrow too. Only asking cuz you said you've never done them before, but are you aware of the boiling water skinning method?

    Hubby and I got a half bushel of beautiful tomatoes yesterday and did spaghetti sauce. I thought we'd get 7 or 8 quarts and we only got 4! I paid $15 for the tomatoes and about $15 for the other ingredients. $7.50 a jar.... it better be good! Hubby and I each did our own pan with a homemade recipe so we'll see whose is better :)
  • TropicalKitty
    TropicalKitty Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Got my peaches in! Going to can them this week. Anything I should be aware of or is it as straightforward as it seems? (Skin, slice, put in jar with syrup, process)

    Next month the healthy co-op food thing that I got the peaches from is going to do plums and pears. So I'm thinking about what I could do with those.

    I'm doing peaches tomorrow too. Only asking cuz you said you've never done them before, but are you aware of the boiling water skinning method?

    Hubby and I got a half bushel of beautiful tomatoes yesterday and did spaghetti sauce. I thought we'd get 7 or 8 quarts and we only got 4! I paid $15 for the tomatoes and about $15 for the other ingredients. $7.50 a jar.... it better be good! Hubby and I each did our own pan with a homemade recipe so we'll see whose is better :)

    I saw that boiling water/ice bath thing on pickyourown.org. But I'm glad you mentioned it, so that confirms it does work!

    As for your pasta sauce...depends on how much you cook it down too. I like thick sauce (I usually buy Ragu Thick n Hearty stuff) so I cook that junk DOWN! and the yield isn't as high. But also think that you used real fresh stuff that you know what's in it. It's cheaper in the long run to eat healthy, than to eat poorly and pay for the doctor bills. :)
  • July24Lioness
    July24Lioness Posts: 2,399 Member
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    Hi. I am making blackberry and peach jelly this weekend for my husband. next weekend I am making salsa and tomato sauce which I can use for chili, spaghetti sauce, stuffed peppers, etc................my husband asked for me to make him ketchup again too.
  • tattoodfreek
    tattoodfreek Posts: 520 Member
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    Jessy- how did your peaches turn out?

    Ours were beauties and we got them all canned yesterday. I have some floaters, and my dumb pressure canner (well, I'll call the canner dumb but maybe it's me!) kept increasing pressure when I had the stove all the way down on warm, and it got up to 9-10. I lost some fluid from the cans, and had a ton of air in them. Grrr. To top it off I scratched the top of my brand new flat top stove with the canner :(. Ay de mi!!
  • TropicalKitty
    TropicalKitty Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Jessica - yeah... so I waited too long for the peaches to ripen enough and now they are all funny. I might be able to get some decent ones out of the box, but I'm crazy busy this week so I just killed 25lbs of peaches like a moron. I think in two weeks I'm just going to do it over again from the beginning when I have more time.

    Did you do the jostling stuff to get the bubbles out before canning? And I had the same problem with my canner when I did the soup last week. Turn the temp down and the pressure still went up. Sucks about the stove top!