Canning Season

[Randy]

Kya, I just spotted a previous post where you asked me if I scalded pears. I have never heard of doing that, but am willing to try it. I do like to cut into the pears and inspect them though. I do three sprayings in the spring and I don't get very many worms, but I do get some. This year, weather was problematic and I wasn't able to spray right on time so I had a few more hitchhikers. The day I spray has to be calm so the spray isn't blown away. It has to be dry and stay dry for at least several hours after the application. It also has to be at the right time according to the bloom cycle. I have to wait for the blooms to fall from the tree or risk hurting the bees. The second application should go on 10 to 14 days after the first one and the third apllication 10 to 14 days after the second one. Trying to get that done in an area that is known for rainy days makes it pretty interesting.

I finished up the second batch of salsa (medium) today. Taste and texture were right on. I think it's one of the best batches I ever made. I got 12 quarts and 12 twelve ounce jars out of it.

 

[Randy]

I forgot to mention that while I was working on that salsa, I opened a new box of lids (Kerr) and saw an interesting bit of info. There was a recipe there for using canned tomatoes and a package of Ball spices and stuff for "mild" Fiesta Salsa. I tried some packaged salsa mixes several years back and wasn't very happy with the results, but I am opinionated and other people may think they are pretty good, especially when the garden is under a foot of snow or something. But there was also a web site on the box sponsored by the parent company, Healthmark, LLC. I knew that in the past a company by the name of Altrista had bought Kerr and Ball and merged them, but a couple of years ago they changed hands again apparently to this Healthmark outfit. The web site is pretty neat though as they have recipes and kits for canning. Ball has a stainless steel 21 quart water bath canner available now that comes with a glass lid. My first thought was that was not a good idea, but they went on to say that now you can actually see when the water starts to boil and start timing instead of having to lift the lid several times to check on it. It is too late now, but Ball also gave canning classes in 11 states this last summer with Oregon being one of them. The class was in Silverton where the Oregon Garden is located. Our OreMudpie and FlowersForYeshua live fairly close to Silverton and I'm not really all that far away. The web site is www.freshpreserving.com I poked around a bit and thought it to be pretty interesting. I have three water bath canners, but I still am enthralled with that glass top idea. I wonder if you can buy spare tops. I can just see me dropping that sucker.

 

[Kya D]

We used to scald pears just like peaches and slice them in half. Then we used a metal melon baller tool to take the string and core out of each half

 

[gonepostal]

I have really been on a canning and freezing rampage this summer, espescially lately. It must be the bear in me that is afraid about starving during the winter...or maybe that is the chipmunk!! I have done some different things this year including Habanero Peach Jam, no sugar Peach Jam, Vegetable juice, green tomato slices(to make fried green tomatoes this winter)...and today if I am motivated I am going to make Caramel Apple Preserves. I want to make something with Pears yet too, some sort of preserves or jam, or butter. I am still looking for the perfect recipe. I have decided that instead of taking wine to all of these dinner parties that we attend I will take a jar or two of homemade preserves. Heck, people can go and buy their own wine, but I bet that they won't find too many places that have Habanero Peach Jam!
I am sad that the summer is coming to an end.

Jade---I think we all are in that "self preservation" mode this year. I know canning products are scarce in the stores this year--people are grabbing them up as soon as they get on the shelf!! I have been having a hard time finding alum. I usually get it at the "Amish" store but they sold out both times before I could get there! I ended up having to buy a "LITTLE" jar(1.9oz.) at the store in town for $4.50 !! It only did one batch of pickles. Anyway--------can you post your recipe for the caramel apple preserves? That sounds delicious! Also-how do you make your vegtable juice? Have wanted to try it but havn't yet. Does it take a lot of veggies?

 

[Jade]

Here is the recipe for the Caramel Apple Jam:
http://www.recipezaar.com/381082

Pete's V-8 Vegetable Juice
Recipe #249487 | 1½ hours | 30 min prep | add private note
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My Notes:


Aug 28, 2007

This is a friend's home canned version of V-8 that we love. Use it for a pick me up or a great bloody mary. The vegetables can be altered to taste. You could add horseradish if you like. We personally don't add the leak and modify the allspice to 1/2 tsp for the whole batch instead of per quart as Pete did.
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Ingredients
8 quarts tomatoes, quartered
8 stalks celery & leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
3 small onions, chopped
2 hot peppers
1 leek
1 cup carrot, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon allspice, per jar
1 lemon (sliced into 7 wedges)
worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper


On the Veggie juice, I sorta modified the recipe adding some canned beets and leaving out the green pepper. I also added horseradish to ours. It is pretty much as you want...add or delete veggies. It is really good and since I am cutting back on sodium these homecanned recipes work best for me.

 

[Jade]

Oh, and I am waiting to next week for the caramel apple preserves, I want to get some more apples this weekend or early next week. The new crop is in now!! Yippee! Yesterday instead I made Pumpkin Apple Butter and Jalapeno Apple Jam. Now I need more jars again, ha. Oh well, I am enjoying myself, that is what is important. Hubby thinks that I am out of control, but that is ok. I know I will have some unique hostess and Christmas gifts this year that aren't going to cost us a fortune.

 

[Randy]

I have bought 8 dozen additional jars so far this year and will need some more in the next few days. I put up most of the salsa yesterday in quart jars though and those stay home. It's the small jars that don't come back as a rule.

 

[Jade]

I have only bought a dozen or two...but I got lucky, my ex saved all of the jars that I used to can in when we were together and my boys brought some of them out with them when they came last weekend. He still has most of my pints and half pint jars, so I told the boys that I will trade their dad some salsa and other stuff for the jars if he can take some time to round them up for me. Good deal for both of us, I get my jars and he gets rid of stuff cluttering up his house and gets some canned stuff in return. Win Win situation!

 

[Randy]

I have been the beneficiary of several people that have given up canning, but most of the jars I got were quarts. I gave Deb a couple of dozen when she first moved back to Oregon and the other day when she was here I gave her another couple of dozen. Gave me some room on my shelves now. I will buy some more next week though as I still have more salsa to make. I would like to make three more batches (12 gallons).

 

[Gloria]

I read these posts and feel soooo left out. I lost most of my garden this year and that was very depressing. I didn't get much to can or freeze. I really didn't know what to do with myself this summer. It was so hard not being out in that scorching hot sun and humidy, sweating and dehydrating.. trying to get my bounty gathered! I was feeling much like a cool couch potato!
These recipes are so tempting, ya'll keep em coming, I'm looking forward to a bumper crop next year.

 

[Randy]

Gloria, my tomatoes finally started producing well. But I made the first batch of salsa out of Roma tomatoes and the second batch out of crusshed tomatoes from CostCo. I'm not going to complain, but those #10 cans only cost about $2.50 each. It takes three cans to yiels 40.5 cups of tomatoes ready for making salsa. That saves me about 4 to 5 hours of peeling coring and chopping tomatoes. The batch of salsa that I made was "medium" heat and it was one of the best batches of salsa that I have made as far as taste, appearance, and texture. What I am saying here is that you can still put on your canning gown and put out some pretty good stuff. I doubt I will ever stop planting tomatoes as long as I am able, but for production, I am leaning more and more to shorter working hours.

 

[Gloria]

Yep Randy, I like my home grown veggies but sometimes we have to make do with what we can get. I still have a jar or two of salsa from last season and probably more than enough tomatoes to have plenty for a batch of salsa if needed.
RJ asked me why I was canning so much last year..now he knows. You never know when the garden will fail and if it happens that we don't need the extra, someone else might.

 

[Randy]

I slacked off on the salsa for about three years. The last batch I made was just before Christmas of 2007. And it had been another year and a half before that when I made the last. I was frustrated though because David was going through it about as fast as I could make it. I'll see what happens this year though as I have labeled the salsa "Don't Touch" for the salsa that we will have at meals. On the second batch (medium), I labeled the 12 quart jars "Snacking Salsa" and below that, "Touch". I'll see if he has any restraint. He will go through a pint in less than a week though and eliminate the entire year's production and never give it a thought.

 

[Randy]

I had a jamming session today though and made 29 jars of Marionberry jam. Seventeen of those are pints and the rest of them are 12 ounce jars.

 

[Jade]

I tried the Habanero Peach Jam over the weekend, hubby told me I couldn't give any away until I tried it...now I don't want to give any away. I love 'sweet with heat'. I will give a couple of jars away to people that I know like spicy stuff. Today I am going to make the Caramel Apple Jam. We got another half bushel of apples over the weekend. Looks like it is going to be a cloudy day here, so it will be nice to do some more preserves.

 

[Mainegal]

That sounds yummy Jade, glad you tried it first before giving it away. You will have to make something else to give away...lol

 

[Randy]

I'm working on salsa again and would like to do another batch before the week is over. I'll finish the "hot" batch tomorrow and the next one will be a "medium/hot". I sent a jar to Crabber several years back that she really liked and I want to see if I can get that made again before the week is over. I'll make one more batch of "mild" salsa after that and that should pretty well wrap up the salsa making for the year. I still have at least a couple of jam sessions to do though.

 

[Dor]

I am making a pint of pepper sauce right now. My vinegar is on the stove. I picked the rest of my banana peppers in between the rain coming down and used jalapena I picked yesterday.

I plan to make a trip to Sam's or Costco this week to pick up canned tomatoes to make some salsa. I want to make the medium/hot since that is what my family likes. I will be using one of Randy's recipes that he sent me on cd. I have to get the rest of my ingredients. A trip to the Farmer's Market is in order.

 

[Randy]

I'm going to try to make it over to CostCo tomorrow and pick up some more tomatoes also. My next batch will be a medium/hot also. I still have 10 habanero peppers I want to use and a whole large bowl full of serrano peppers. I think cutting back to 10 habaneros instead of 20 will make it medium/hot. The only thing I am considering though is maybe cutting back the serranos to two cups of chopped peppers too. The worst that could happen would be for it to come out with "medium" heat. There is one recipe on that disc that I wrote down CrabberGirl's comment. I think that was about 7 years ago.

 

[Scarez]

Randy, you ole show off, geeze

I tried, again, to make some jam yesterday -- one handed. I failed miserably, and was SO ANGRY and SO SAD at the same time. My carpal tunnel surgery has really put the kabash on any canning this year for me, and I'm just sick about it; it's my only income anymore.

And they expect me to have surgery on my dominant hand??
Yeah, I dunno about that. I'm beginning to think someone left a piece of gauze inside the wrist 'er something...