May all your lids seal!
Happy New Year!

We still have 2 quarts of lentils - that nobody wants to eat! They were processed in similar fashion - BUT - turned out like re-fried beans - solid mass, with dark oily looking substance on top, and yellowish fluid - that looks a lot like olive oil. Can't imagine what happened. I tried to find out if lentils had oil in them - like soy beans, but the Internet information said they were "pulse" beans, which are different from "oil" producing types, like soy. Sooo - my family heeded what I said when I started canning, "if it doesn't look right, smell right or taste right, don't eat it."

Anyway, subsequent bean cannings look OK.

This is my first 2010 offering, hope I can contribute more this year. Most of my late 2009 stuff went into the freezer - lime sorbets, shurbets, curds. But did a lot of sourdough stuff too - pumpkin waffles, rye and grain bread, etc.

Happy New Year - and God Bless!

Bejay

Not much but it's a start. I've been waiting for the cold weather to start canning soup and the cold weather is here!

~ Tracy

Larry

First, I was a little concerned that the recipe only called for 1 tbs and 1 tsp of acid for three cups of tomatoes. And also called for a cup of basil, 2 shallots and garlic (plus some other spices.) The ratio seemed a little low. But I gave it a shot.

For a bruschetta, it had way, way too much basil. It was actually pretty gross. I ended up dumping 6 more cups of my own tomato puree and making a tomato basil sauce out of it and that turned out pretty good. I'll use it during the week as a sauce for pasta and pizza so all was not lost.

Back to the drawing board and hopefully, I'll have something to post soon. I'm thinking about trying the "Fiesta Corn Relish" next.

Your observation certainly sounds reasonable to me, and thank you for the reassurance. Now I wonder if other small dried beans might prove to be as thick - i.e. dried peas, etc. I guess I just assumed if they were dried beans and peas, that the recipe was safe.

I appreciate hearing from others who have had experience recently as I'm learning that books don't always give hands-on information.

Thanks for that.

Bejay

Now I'm thinking some fun things from Small Batch Preserving that Readinglady was so kind as to send me some time ago...

Annie

I'm just now making jam from those blueberries I picked in August and I'm getting chicken "pieces" out of my freezer, I've been saving necks, wing tips, carcasses until I got enough to can stock.

It's much nicer to can in January in Michigan than it is in August, LOL, so I freeze fruit and can stuff later! I just made apple butter, habanero gold (from frozen habaneros) and pear preserves over Christmas.

Annie

Yesterday, finally got around to my Weck canning jars, with the clamp-on glass lids and rubber rings. It was mostly a trial run, as I'm still a bit hazy as to what to use them for.

Sooo - 8 small juices made from cranberry, lemon and lime juice. I left 2 in the fridge for immediate consumption - to see if anyone liked the combination. One went into the freezer to see if the glass would "take" it. The others are on the panty shelf. The recipe seemed a bit "iffy" but that was all the fruit I could muster for the time being.

Why isn't lemon or lime very popular in canning recipes. Can I can lime or lemon juice in these containers. Need help.

Bejay

"greenhouser, gardening season doesn't start here in Northern Michigan until about May, but it doesn't stop me, LOL."

Not me! I'm usually done by the first killing frost. I had some late pears given to me and canned them with cinnamon in a light syrup.

"I'm just now making jam from those blueberries I picked in August and I'm getting chicken "pieces" out of my freezer, I've been saving necks, wing tips, carcasses until I got enough to can stock."

My freezer was so full of peppers and greens I had no room to save chicken parts for stock. I mean my freezer was wall to wall this year.

"It's much nicer to can in January in Michigan than it is in August, LOL, so I freeze fruit and can stuff later! I just made apple butter, habanero gold (from frozen habaneros) and pear preserves over Christmas."

When do you get a rest? :)

jude

12 half-pints frozen mandarins in water/simple syrup.

Quite a few lemons and limes ripening - may try curd, sorbet, shurbet again as they were quite popular on the first time around. Otherwise, will freeze in ice cube trays or make juice. Hard to find uses for all the citrus, but sure try.

Some broccoli needs "doing" today as they produced well. Possible puree for frozen soups - with milk added after thawing. Easy out.

Still trying to organize freezer - as it is so full, and garden coming on strong with new veggies.

Bejay

I didn't much like that bruschetta stuff, either. I also tried a bruschetta recipe from the BBB, and it was a bust as well --- way too vinegary, not garlicky enough, too runny. I have decided that, alas, bruschetta really needs to be fresh or one may as well not bother.

Meanwhile, I've had pears peeled & sliced & cranberries all measured out in the freezer to make Ellie's Cranberry-Pear-Lemon Jam since late fall and still haven't gotten to it. Gonna be another couple of weeks, at least, the way work is going. Sigh.

I am enjoying the fruits of canning labours past during this busy time! Today we had blackberry-applesauce with breakfast and salsa on our chicken fajitas for dinner; DH cooked up some turkey wieners on Saturday and had the bright idea to put some Habanero gold on them --- yum!

And, while it's not strictly harvest-y, I made two loaves of whole wheat bread on the weekend for sandwiches and toast (DH sliced both and one's in the freezer). I often make a one-rise french-type yeast bread to eat fresh out of the oven for supper, but it's been years since I made our everyday sandwich bread. Suddenly this weekend I looked at the bread in the store and thought, "I don't want to pay for that! I've got flour and yeast at home!"

Z

The zucchini bread recipe works well for this purpose - so -It's about 3 loaves bread, 2 large logs of refrigerator cookies - the kind that is frozen, then slice off whatever you want - then bake. It's a nice quickie.

Also biscotti x 2 recipes - the first didn't last very long. I found them to have a bit of an after-taste of "too sweet" but good otherwise. Perhaps I can use less sugar - don't know, maybe someone can advise me.

Have been baking lots of sour dough type breads, keeping up with the culture very well. Is there any danger of over-use - dunno, but it still smells nice and sour - not bitter.
The last loaf was made with rye, cardamom, whole wheat and unbleached flour - turned out well. I've ordered some dark rye from King Arthur - and will give it the next trial.

If the rainy weather keeps up, I may learn to make bread before spring!

Bejay

Golden Mango Chutney

2 cups C&H Pure Cane Granulated Sugar
1 cup distilled white vinegar
6 cups mangoes (4 to 5), peeled and cut in 3/4-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped (medium)
1/2 cup raisins, golden
1/4 cup ginger, crystallized and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. mustard seeds, whole
1/4 tsp. red chili pepper flakes (hot)

Combine sugar and vinegar in a pot; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, until syrupy and slightly thickened, 45 minutes to 1 hours. Stir occasionally during cooking. Pour into clean, hot jars leaving 1/2-inch headspace; close jars. Process in a water bath 15 minutes.

Makes 6 (1/2-pint) jars

10 lbs grilled sweet peppers, peeled, bagged and frozen.

8 quarts mixed citrus glaze (marmalade left liquid on purpose)

4 1/2 pints mixed citrus marmalade (same as glaze but used pectin so it is solid/gelled, a mix of oranges, grapefruits, minneolas, meyers lemons and eureka lemons.)

Dried hot peppers: cayennes, dried, stemmed and ground up (a little finer than cayennes ground for pizza). I separated the cayenne peppers and after grinding I got a little spice jar worth, maybe 3-4 oz. Already tried some on pizza, good!

Dried hot peppers: mix of cayennes, pequin (mostly), aji limon, serranos, sweet espalettes, chocolate new mex. About 4-5 oz, ground up very finely, just in case it is too hot for human consumption, it will be used in the garden to deter squirrels and cats from newly planted beds. It does smell good, but have not dared taste it yet.

The dried hot peppers and citrus are from our garden, the sweet peppers appeared on my counter after a food commercial, and were much appreciated.

Just picked some nice parsley, oregano, cilantro and some onion/leek scapes - with trays put in the dehydrator. I will chop the cilantro and put in ice cube trays. This is my first try at freezing them in trays. Last year, I just washed them, packed them in a plastic bag and froze. It isn't like fresh, but then not many things are.

Put 10 small cups of lime sherbet in the freezer yesterday, and used up some of my dried plums in 3 loaves of zucchini bread.

The last of "09" strawberries and boysenberries are defrosting for fruit cups, so am hoping the new crop will yield a bit more this year.

I've wrenched my back a bit - so I'm late getting some things planted - sure hate myself when I'm "under the weather" but I think in a few days I'll be out there again.

Durn!

Bejay

I had the same experience with lentils and decided not to bother canning them any more. They cook so quickly anyway.

DD and I plan to can some quarts of various white beans. DH and DS can't eat any white bean so I rarely cook them. DD and I would like to have some on hand for US to eat. We had planned to do that this winter and here it is mid-March already!

I have large limas, great Northern and navy beans. I don't know how the limas will work though. I've never tried them.

15qts and 23 pts Elderberry Jelly
4 qts and 3 pts Elderberry Syrup
33 qts Apple Butter
20 large zip locs of diced Rhubarb
Frozen Chicken stock cubes, pork and beef cubes
Numerous zip locs of squash and zucchini

I am hopeing to add peppers and salsa to the list for this year along with herbs.

However, Elery and I cured and smoked 25 pounds of bacon last weekend for the freezer, and we were very happy with it. Maple cured and smoked over apple wood, it's yummy.

Annie

Z

Gorgeous!

Wish my family enjoyed marmalades more - we have such an abundance of citrus here. But a lot is consumed fresh anyway.

Missed seeing you on the forum. Nice to have you back.

bejay

Continuing with my preservation efforts log:

4 quarts frozen Minneola juice

2 pints frozen cilantro-mint-tamarind sauce/chutney

Medium basket lemon thyme herb for drying

2 quart bags steamed snow peas for freezer

1 gallon minneola syrup (fridge storage)

Aren't they gorgeous? Their use for pressure canning was discussed here recently, I think in the thread about re-usable lids. IIRC, the company recommends using three clamps rather than two to hold on the lids during pressure canning. (The clamps are like rings, apparently, in that they can be taken off after the seal is formed; there's a rubber gasket with a tab that points downward when the vacuum seal is formed --- you can see it on the far right in Melly's photo of the many jars.)

There seem to be places you can order them online in North America for a lot of $$. I'm hoping a friend or relative visiting Europe will bring me back some onetime....

Z

You just answered something that I've been wondering about. Recently, I ordered some of the small juice Weck jars - they are so delightful. I did a BWB of cranberry/orange juice in them, but as the recipe was my own, I was unsure of the shelf "keepability" of the juice. There were no recipes that I could find that used orange juice in a BWB setting.

So, I wound up freezing the juice instead. As it turned out, the juice was consumed early enough anyway, so that safety didn't become a factor.

However, many questions still remain as to their usage, and no one has mentioned before, as to the reusable ability of the seal mechanism - rubber rings/clamps.

Would you consider them on a par with the Ball lids - insofar as reuse is concerned - in other words, replacement of rubber rings vs replacement of lids.

I'm looking forward to canning berry jam in the small Wecks that I now have, and perhaps juice later on.

Bejay

Good to know! Our Canadian dollar is doing better (which isn't necessarily good for the Canadian economy, much of which depends on the assumption that the U.S. dollar is stronger, but hey). But maybe it's not worth my waiting for some non-existent on-the-spot-in-Germany bargain....

Z

Here there's not a lot of canning going on, but I did manage 12 more half pints of the cranberry/citrus marmalade last week.

Now I'm going to focus on wedding appetizers, Elery's son is getting married in May and invited 600 people. Elery agreed to handle all the appetizers for an "appetizer reception" beofre the ceremony, so I'm starting on mini quiches this week and putting them into the freezer.

I suppose that's putting something up, but we'll be eating them on Memorial Day weekend, LOL, so they won't be "put up" for long.

After that my daughter Amanda is getting married in October, she and her "significant other" have been together 9 years now, it's about time! And I'm baking the cake for that one, so I don't know how much canning I'm going to do this summer, but she'd like to "borrow" Zabby's idea and have me can a bunch of little half pints of salsa for favors.

Annie

Hi Annie,
I'm glad you she is still enjoying the sprinkles. The move kept me from preserving anything last summer. Not sure how much I will do this year but all the soon to go bad citrus was impossible to turn down. We've been putting marmalade in plain yogurt for breakfast. Yummy. Today I baked a carrot marmalade cake for Easter. Last night we had pork loin with pepper marmalade and goat cheese. I'm detecting a theme.
Melly

3 quart bags sauteed Georgian collards (freezer) - note here, I am NOT recommending this variety

1 quart bag sauteed radish - various - greens (freezer). We ate the roots in salads.

1 gallon bag sauteed cauliflower and brussels sprout greens (freezer) - We ate the cauliflowers and never got sprouts from the Brussels sprouts, but their leaves are very tasty and mild. We staggered the planting and varieties of cauliflowers and BS with different DTM, so more will be harvested...

So what am I eating fresh? I am eating the kale fresh, lacinato (black tuscan) and red winter kale. I am sure i will be freezing some later on. I recommend both varieties.

Surplus -

Green onions.
Leeks.
Cilantro.
Parsley.
Celery.
Bibb lettuce - fresh salads.
Spinach.
Carrot tops.
Cabbage - some large - if aphis don't kill them - will be "kraut.
Beet greens.

Most of the above are frozen for veggie soup stock later, when all are harvested, for now bagged and in the freezer or dried and jarred.

Oranges - fresh eaten and/or frozen in cute Weck jars (individual servings).

Finally planted my pole and bush beans - and hope they won't rot in the cold soil. Oh - spring where art thou? And the cucumbers - poor things only 1 in. tall and shivering. (Need more pickles).

Bejay

PS I am ausuming that when you hear that pimple on the cap pop and sink in means that the process worked? I also made this post seperate b4 I saw this one, so hope you all dont mind me repating myself...lol

That's right---when you hear the "ping" as it's often called (though to me it sounds more like a soft "thwuck"), that means a vacuum seal has been created and the jar lid has popped inward. You can poke the tops of the jars and feel if they're all sealed---they should feel firm; any that have some "bounce" in them didn't seal and should be reprocessed or kept in the fridge.

Congrats on all that apple butter! Put a pretty label on and tie a bow and there's all your Christmas presents!!!!

Welcome to the forum.

ANNIE,

How lovely about Amanda! I know it'll be a lovely celebration. And how lucky that the wedding guests get a canned goodie from you! THe ones I made for my friend were a big hit. It was actually the idea of my friend, the bride; she grew up in a small town and had come across this homespun touch before and knew I'd be happy to do it. They had a small budget, but some very clever folk helping them plan, and very sophisticated very urban wedding attended by a lot of city artist folk (they're actors), so the country touch of the home-canned goods was a real novelty and tickled everyone. The groom comes from a big Philippino-Canadian family and all his usually highly critical aunties, to whom the home canning idea was also totally foreign amused had a GRAND time selecting their goodies from the available choices in the big basket.

Looking forward to hearing what you come up with!

And, of course, about that cake!

Z

Thanks
Mark

They pop after the boiling (I think how it works is that air escapes under the lid while they're boiling, so there's less pressure inside the jar than out; when they start to cool, the pressure from the outside air pushes down on the lid, and the rubber edge --- softened by the heat--- makes a seal so no more air gets in or out.)

Mine often go all at once, too, starting the second they start coming out. Though it can take up to a day, so if any don't pop right away, don't give up!

Wow, that must be some apple haul you got to cook down to that quantity of apple butter!!!!!

The guidelines call for using a pressure canner to process broth. It's only high-acid foods like fruits that can usually be done in a BWB. I only do BWB myself, so I freeze my broth. It's SO much better than commercial! I make a veggie stock, too---saving up ends and peels in a big bag in the freezer till I have a potful.

Good luck,

Z

Thanks and Happy Gardening
And Cannining
Mark

Mark

If you are going to be a canner for life, it's probably time to invest in a Ball Blue Book if you haven't already---costs about $6 and FULL of recipes, DIAGRAMS & PHOTOS (I know you said you like to SEE things explained!) and useful advice.

It seems like only yesterday I discovered the kind folks on this forum myself and got all kinds of encouragement for my early canning tries. But it was about seven years ago, I think!

Z

Gardensewer,
I figured the apple pie recipe waould be better as I like to make deep fried apple pies (almost like the hostess type, but without all the adatives) That way I can make them any size and shape and freeze them. Taste great heated and served with vanilla ice cream (also homemade)

Happy Harvesting and canning
Mark

happy Harvesring and canning
Mark

Also drying several trays of celery leaves and making celery salt from ground celery and salt - partially dehydrated now.

Two trays onion scallions dehydrated for seasoning.

One tray lemon juice cubes frozen.

Several gallons frozen orange juice.

3 pkgs frozen snow peas.

2 pints frozen broccoli.

I note the strawberry fields have a "U-pick" sign posted already. The rains haven't been to their liking, I'm afraid. They may be having problems with marketing them. Hope to do jam and sauce soon as it dries out somewhat.

Bejay

1 quart frozen cauliflower leaves.

1 quart frozen beet leaves.

2 quarts frozen brussels leaves.

24 pints and 6 half pints mixed citrus marmalade.

We are also getting strawberries for the first time. Growing Sequoia, Quinault and Chandlers. No preservation yet, we eat all the ones that ripen as soon as the fruit gets all red. So incredibly delicious and three flavors! wow, I wonder why I never grew strawberries before? such a pretty plant too.

Zabby, Amanda has chose to have a "harvest theme" for her wedding, the girls are wearing chocolate brown dresses with burgundy sashes, and the flowers are shades of gold, brown, orange, burgundy. The canned goods will be a nice tie in to that, but I'm still working on the cake. Maybe autumn leaves in those colors. Readinglady was kind enough to send me a link for a place where I can buy a pallet or so of tiny faceted 4 oz. jars for the salsa, jam, etc.

right now I'm still working on those appetizers for 600, so I've been putting appetizer cheesecakes in the freezer. Half are going to be topped with habanero gold and half with some of that cranberry grapefruit marmalade. I'm sure glad I canned all of that marmalade, but I'll have to make more Habanero Gold.

Somehow I never have enough....

Annie

Yesterday, made beet soup - using frozen chicken stock - from holidy chicken - and adding another pint of vegetable broth canned recently. The garden yielded 8 carrots, some garlic/leek/onion salvage - parsley, along with fresh beets. Saved the leaves for my side dish with vinegaret dressing for supper.

I decided the recipe needed a bit of acid - so added a small can of chopped tomatoes - yield 9 pints for the freezer.

Today - must use more cabbage - so it's cabbage rolls with rice, ground beef filling - top with left-over spaghetti sauce and melted jack cheese on top. My, those cabbages have been great this year.

Tried using some of the early brining sauerkraut on a Ruben sandwich with home-made brisket for dinner last evening - nice crunch to that sandwich - so perhaps I'll just refrigerate some of the kraut for that purpose, rather than process. I noted this on several previous posts here.

Fun.

Bejay

I took a few months off from canning to plan the garden, do some seed trading, start my seeds, and obsess over my seedlings. It's just about ready to start hardening things off, so I'm spring cleaning and going through the freezer.

Over the last few weeks, I've put up a few things, all pressure-canned entrees or side dishes:

Boston Baked Beans with Quebec Maple Syrup - 10 litres
Gulyas with Pork Tenderloin and Chocolate Porter - 7 litres
Full O Beans Soup with Kielbasa and Smoked Ham - 14 litres

The bean soup is a man-food favourite so I feel compelled to ensure there's plenty of that in the larder. I never did get around to making that blood orange marmalade back in January, so when I saw blood oranges still available at the market, I picked up 3 lbs and will devoting time while it's busy thunderstorming here on Sunday to magically transform that into jars of garnet-coloured marmalade. Also, the pickled garlic I made right before Christmas got rave reviews so I may have to make another batch of that in the near future.

As for the garden, it's mainly herbs that I'm harvesting at the moment, but Duane built me 3 additional raised beds for Easter, all for early stuff, so I'm very close to being able to harvest Red Russian and Dwarf Curled Blue Vates Kales, Ruby Pac Choi, Tatsoi, Giant Red Mustard, Arugula, Pea Sprouts, and Daikon thinnings. I also have over-wintered white onions that I'm using whenever I need tender spring onions or the green tops as scallions in salads and stir fries. There's Florence Fennel in the front yard and I like to add the fronds to salads. The herbs, though, are the real stars in spring here. I have chives like everyone around here, lots of sage that could really use some pruning and dividing, chocolate mint, spearmint, lovage, lemon thyme, oregano, marjoram, anise hyssop, and borage in various stages of being harvestable. I also have lots of garlic greens right now. It won't be long before we have scapes to use in soups and stir fries too.

Ah spring, don'tcha love it!

I had tons of violets blooming in the lawn so I made up 4 250ml jars of violet flower jelly, just in time for Mother's Day. I macerated the flowers using the bottom of a glass before adding boiling water to make an infusion and the colour is amazing. It's a very delicate floral flavour, very Victorian.

Annie

I make a "Blueberry Sunshine" Cocktail with mine.

Muddle together:
2 lemons - thickly sliced
~ 1/2 c. blueberries
leaves from ~ 10 stalks of lemon balm

Let sit for ~ 1/2 hour

Then add:
1-1/2 c. simple syrup (I usually add some of the simple syrup to the pitcher to muddle, and then add the balance now)
2 c. seltzer
1 c. rum (or an additional cup of seltzer)

Strain and pour into tall glasses full of ice. Garnish with fresh blueberries and fresh lemon balm leaves.

My 5 year old loves this - the version without rum.

I'm planning on experimenting this summer with canning this as a jelly. I make my Mojitos in a similar fashion - and I sucessfully made Mojito Jelly this winter.

Unfortunately, borage re-seeds in ever increasing amounts, if allowed to set. I feed lots to the chickens, and it makes great compost "greens" - but that is about all I use it for.

The flowers are edible, I hear - adding them to salads, jellos, etc., but haven't tried them.

Bejay

I use my lemon balm and borage extensively, so it doesn't bother me that some consider them to be "invasives". It's true that borage does self-seed readily, but I use the sprouts in salads while the leaves are still small and tender. They have a flavour reminiscent of cucumbers and both the flowers and leaves are edible. I recently acquired seeds for the more rare white-flowered borage and I'm excited to see what that looks like with the blue this year.

I use lemon balm in salads as well. It's especially good when in combination with Thai basil. I'm not a huge fan of it in tea, which is the traditional use, I believe. I find it a bit too strong for my liking. I also like it for using in marinades with other lemon herbs such as lemon basil, lemon thyme, lemongrass.

Lemon basil, by the way, makes a jelly that tastes exactly like old-fashioned lemon drop hard candy. I grow the Mrs. Burns variety of lemon basil, which has been touted by Richters Herbs to be the highest quality, but I've never grown it side by side with other lemon basils to confirm that.

I'm doing a trial of the sauerkraut - 5 jars canned, 4 pints frozen, and 3 jars plain refrigerated - just to see the difference in taste and texture. Canning does make it a bit softer - but if used in a casserole anyway - doesn't matter, but used in a sandwich - might be nice to have crispy.

New garden stuff a bit slow coming - but boysenberries looking good - may have a few later this month.

Bejay

This week - 9 pint jars of green tomato pickles and two quart jars of fridge pickles with cucumbers from the csa basket.

I have lots of peppers from the csa that will be something. Also plan to make baby carrot fridge pickles.

5 half pints nectarine/that pepper jelly
2 qts nectarine/red wine sauce
4 pts sauerkraut - fridge/or frozen
Dried onion rings and scapes
Garlic in olive oil/frozen in cubes - this year's harvest
3 pints pears - light syrup
dried mint/frozen for tea
3 pints more sauerkraut fermenting in pantry.

Of interest, when I made the last batch of yogurt from King Arthur starter - had one left over. Decided to try freezing to see if I could use later as a new starter.

It made a thick curd/whey result - which I strained in cheese cloth. Used the whey in my sour dough bread in place of milk/water, and the remaining curds were used in a ranch-type dressing with added lime juice, herbs, garlic and mustard. It turned out quite well. (another waste-not, want-not item I guess).

With our unseasonable cool weather, I'm wishing that I'd preserved more of last year's bountiful pepper crop - as this year's planting isn't too promising.

Also froze 3 half-pints apples from my young low-chill trees - hope for great things come future years.

Lotsa oranges - juicing mainly.

Bejay

4 1/2 jelly jars of Dixie Relish (a cabbage/onion/pepper relish from the ball complete book) yield was supposed to be 6 jars. I swear I measured right.

1 pint Bread and Butter Zucchini pickles (as an experiment to see if we like them - from the joy of pickling)

3 pints Cucumber Pickles with lemon (from small batch)

2 pints Aubergine (Eggplant) pickles from the ball complete book (again to see if we like them)

Not the most efficient canning session I've ever had. I did manage to time it to combine the canning on the little batches.

I noticed that you mentioned "timing for little batches" - which is something I'm now thinking about. It seems such an extra effort to keep a whole canner full of water waiting for the next "cannable" item to be harvested.

Do you have any helpful ideas to make this a bit less wasteful - either in time or money ? It seems somewhat unproductive to do small batches - (we have water shortage problems here now also - so even canning water is considered valuable).

Bejay

It's still rather early here, so we're enjoy fresh, and waiting for the rest.

I think a lot of crops will be late this year...again, due to unseasonably cool weather. On the positive side, my snow peas that didn't germinate in February...and March....and were replanted in May still have a fighting chance!

Deanna

3 pints chunky mustard pickles (from Ball Complete)
9 half pints Fiesta Corn Relish (double the recipe from Small Batch)
8 half pints vidalia onion relish

Dave

Harvested small apples (young trees) for one apple pie and 4 loaves of apple bread.

6 pints boysenberries frozen.

More garlic for garlic/olive oil frozen in cubes.(I'm sold on this - no point trying to keep dried garlic - this recipe is so great and convenient - love it).

Cherry tomatoes coming in - lots on vines - but greenies. Eating fresh, but hope to dry LOTS this year.

Orange juice fresh -

Bejay

I've only managed to make two batches of habanero gold and I didn't can either one, I just kept it in a bowl to put on top of those wedding savory cheesecakes.

Melly, where did you get the recipe for the marmalade with carrots, if you don't mind. I'd like to try that, I love marmalade!

Annie

That recipe looks delicious, but no Scotch for me, I don't like the stuff at all, so I'm glad to know yours turned out well without it.

Yes, I survived that wedding, now to get past Amanda's wedding in October.

Annie

TIA, jude

Dave

Thanks,

jude

Meanshile, I FINALLY canned this year! Woo hoo! Better yet, I spread the canning virus---made 8 half-pints of strawberry jam with a friend who'd never canned before. Bought the strawberries from the farmer same day, and boy did it turn out well. The set is a little soft (we used a recipe from the Bernardin book that calls for cooking up whole apples w/ the pith of a lemon rather than using commercial pectin or going for the long boil), but it's still quite spreadable and VERY yummy. I definitely made a new canning convert. And I'm excited that I'll have a canning buddy nearby for those marathon sessions of tomato or peach peeling!

I've had a CRAZY spring work-wise, on the road a lot, didn't even start any tomato seedlings (for each of the past 10 years I've started at least a hundred). But I bought some and was kindly given some and FINALLY got the last of them into the ground, so hopefully there will be some tomato canning, even though some of the harvest will be late. It felt so good to spend all of yesterday in the garden and the canning kitchen!

Z