I made 7 half pints and 2 quarter pints of Jalapeno Jelly last weekend. All "store-bought" stuff unfortunately, but I was OUT!!! LOL
Deanna

Hi,

I've decided to keep track of what I can/put up this year.
So far I have done:

(4) 1/2 pints of blueberry syrup
(1) pint of blueberry syrup
(3) 1/2 pints of chocolate raspberry syrup
(2) pints chocolate raspberry syrup

I used berryies in the freezer from over the summer. I was worried about liking the chocolate raspberry sauce, but it's pretty good.

Andrea

Well January is Seville orange season so I have been making marmalade. I've done 5 kilos and have the same amount again prepared and ready to boil up when I get the time. We have 4 jars left from last January so I must be getting the quantities about right.

Does freezing count as 'putting up'? If so I try to keep the freezer of my ancient parents filled up with ready-to-heat dinners so I generally make extra for family meals. Tonight I froze portions of 'bangers and mash' with swede, yesterday it was lasagne and the day before roast lamb and gravy.

Sure, anything that is treated somehow to prolonng its shelf life so it will last longer..

Of course freezing counts. Drying too! I plan on doing a lot more drying this year.

We put something away but not sure if it would be considered 2008 or 2009?

10 dozen filled pies (8 dozen mixed greens and 2 dozen peach) done in the north Louisiana style (Natchitotches to be more precise) are now in the freezer.

I pulled out all my frozen greens (from last spring) that I grew, since I am getting some new greens growing now. Mixed them with swiss cheese, caramelized onions and smoked hot peppers. The peach ones were filled with some peach preserves that I made in the summer form our peach abundance but froze instead of canning. Pop them in 350F oven for 20 minutes and eat.

flora,

You bet it counts!

Especially to your "ancient parents," who I am sure appreciate your frozen goodies immensely. Believe me, I was sure to lay claim on this thread last fall to the freezer dinners I put up for my new-parent sister and brother-in law.

Always lovely to hear what you're up to over there. My aunt in Canterbury says there has been some unseasonably warm weather; I'll try not to be jealous while I freeze....

Zabby

Zabby could you post that peach ginger chutney recipe? I'm looking for a good one for next year. I'm on an Indian cooking kick.

Well, FINALLY, after months and months, I got to do some canning!! I made 5 half pints of applesauce (I need to do more), 5 half pints of cranberry conserve, and 4.5 half pints of brandied apricot pineapple preserves. I had those apricots sitting the the fridge for ages so I finally decided to use them up. That preserve didn't gell to well, I should have chopped up and apple and added it to the mix for the pectin. I just do not like the high sugar jams.

So I now have some stuff to give as gifts. I made so much jam two summers ago that I am only now finally getting to the end of the supply. I now have enough to last me until strawberry season!

Zabby - your aunt in Canterbury spoke too soon. We are having SNOW! Worst falls in 2 decades in London. Kent also looking very white today. Obviously nothing like Canada, but we're not used to it and it gets us very excited.

Some way back in this thread you mentioned candied ginger. Can you share your method, please? I love ginger in any form.

It's been years since I preserved my own food, and I wanted to get back to doing it again, so I purchased a new pressure cooker this winter. So far my husband and myself have put up Fifteen Bean Soup, Beef Barley Soup, Tomato Soup, Split Pea Soup, Chicken Vegetable Soup, Southwest Vegetable Soup, Beef Chile, Beef Stew, Sauerkraut and Kielbasa, and Beef, Red Wine and Mushroom Stew. I'm so glad I found this forum. Can't wait to try all the great recipes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Preserving food with my Pressure Cooker

Pressure COOKER for cooking things. A pressure CANNER is used for CANNING things. A pressure cooker cannot be used to do any home canning. But you can use a pressure canner for pressure cooking things at lower pressures of 5 lbs or less. Please try to keep these descriptions correct. It would tell me that your home canning is unsafe if its done in a pressure cooker.

Oh Herb Lady, that picture is an inspiration!!!
Just beautiful.
I am soooo looking forward to getting out in the garden. However, here in cold, snowy, frozen NW PA it's gonna be a while. (:
Cream

Oh, I do apologize. I did use an All American Pressure canner.

herblady - my first impression was "wow" - and welcome to the forum. What an inspiration!

cabrita - sorry I'm so long in reply - but just now have assurance that the wine grapes I ordered - quite awhile ago - are now, hopefully, being sent. I thought companies were hard up for business, but it sure took a long time to get my order filled. I'm looking forward to planting those chardonnay grape vines - the hole is dug.

I have a question - and also I made a copy of your notes for future reference - on the fig and mixed fruit wine recipes, thank you. One question, I thought you didn't boil fruit juices when making wines, as that would hinder the ferment. Maybe that doesn't apply here. You mentioned boiling the fig mix 30 minuts.

We are eating out of garden - mostly lots of salads and stir fry stuff. Some squash seeds escaped and seeded some fine small fruits to add to fries, and lettuces, bok choys are doing well. Planted more onions and a few early starts of tomatoes (never give up) - but they probably will hang around until late August anyway.

Planted more snap peas and Chinese cabbage. The Valencia oranges are coming - but sour yet.

My grandson helped me grind a large cut of sirloin tip that we found on sale. I hope to introduce my grandchildren to the joys of preserving and using all of the nice equipment I purchased since my introduction to this forum. He enjoyed the job, and is anxious to try making sausages in casings, which I haven't done yet, but it's in my "to do" list.

The biggest effort is in converting the frozen stuff that I stored last summer - mostly converting to juices and drying - apricots, plums, apple sauce etc.

The almond trees are all flowering out and the bees are busy pollenating. The newly planted apples - Ein Sheimer, Anna and Gala dwarfs all have blossoms, but I will pick them off, once they help pollenate the established trees, as I don't want them to produce too young.

The borage (purple flowers) that re-seeded under the fruit trees are attracting the bees - and will be a help with fruit production again this year. My apricots were almost overloaded last year.

So - God willing - it looks like another "fruity" summer season in my back yard orchard.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Bejay, sorry for the confusion, my notes are a little cryptic. Boil for 30 minutes but only the mix of sugar, citric acid and water. This inverts the sugar from sucrose to fructose and glucose (if my memory serves me right). Now you have a syrup, let it cool and add to the fig mix. I should also add that the fruit was thawed out into a very large bag that contains all the pulp, the fruit juices seep trough the bag, the syrup is added to that mix. It is a bit messy to make but good! Straining the large bag with the fruit fibers is done later. Throw it on the compost pile of course.

There is an common enzyme to convert cane sugar into invert sugar. Its called Invertase and is much better at doing the job compared to any added ingredients or cooking. Wine made from any grape juices (must) should not be boiled. It does kill of wild yeasts however, but when making wine, its far more reliable to make it with a specific yeast culture bred for making a wine out of juices. Usually a cultured wine yeast has more strength and is able to ferment more reliably. The use of a sulfur to kill the wild yeasts in juices prior to adding a true wine yeast, will also help reduce the chances of it going to vinegar.

OOOps! I forgot to add 'yeast' to my list of ingredients. I used red wine yeast, even though the colors of the wines were golden and peachy (like a rose), I thought the mix had an assertive enough taste to use red wine yeast. Of course, no boiling of the fruit, and the temperature of the must should not be too hot or it will kill the yeast. Ours went crazy! we had quite an active fermentation process, lots of bubbling.

Make the invert sugar any way you like, I just suggested one method, which is what I used.

Sorry about the omission of the yeast (duhhh)

Ken - I've often wondered about the added sulfur in wine. Sometimes, it is very pronounced (commercial wines) and I have heard that some folks are allergic to the sulfur - or perhaps the alcohol (couldn't prove it by me).

Is it possible, then, to eliminate the sulfur when making home-made wines?

Another 2 c's.

Bejay

Yes, you could eliminate it, but at the risk of a juice turning to vinegar. The vessels that hold the must are also sulfured. Any item thats near or comes in contact with the juice must be very clean. A water trap is used during fermenetation to reduce any possibility of air getting inside. During fermentation is when the must can be 'infected'. I am allergic to sulfur meds at 5 years old, I only remember by did giving me an injection to counteract a 'sulfa' drug that was used to get rid of ear aches in both ears. I don't recall what actually happened, but my parents were paniced when I started getting a bright red rash all over. I think the injection was epinephrine to get the heart pumping a bit faster. Today, I have not been affected by sulfur anymore, even when eating raisins and other dried fruits that are treated with it. Its your call on its use in a wine, but do keep it mind that its almost like chlorine where is decreased through evaporation and is something that just goes away once the item is exposed to air. When my wines started fermenting the foam was being pushed out the water trap. It was a big mess to clean up, as I had to remove the trap several times and clean it. Without the sulfur I added previously, it probably would have been expensive vinegar. Most wine yeasts are bred to be resistant to sulfur. Home bread yeast will also die from exposure to sulfur. Not only that, the yeast smell and taste linger if you use bread yeast in wine making. Only one that I know of that quickly dies if exposed to sulfur is champaign yeast. I lost a $7.00 packet of that yeast. It was an odd type and looked like a few cut up dried mushrooms..

I have made Sharon's Dill pickles (will be ready first week in March) and Maple and blueberry conserve with walnuts. That's it so far this month.

Linda

No fruit or veggie stuff, yet.. but so far from buthering this weekend.
10lbs sausage
rack of pork ribs
12lbs pork chops
15lbs scrapple
a pork tenderloin
pork roast

ham hocks, bacon are in the smoke house, be ready tommorrow.
whole ham and a brined turkey go in the smokehouse Thursday

So far this year I have only put up ROASTED JALAPENOS & OTHER MIXED PEPPERS & VEGETABLES (JALAPENOS EN ESCABECHE). Could have saved myself 3 days of research if I had logged onto this thread first. Finally made up my own recipe. It should sit for 4 to 6 weeks for the flavors to blend so I don't know how it will taste but they look great. Better try them soon as I have already given half of them away. Jim in So. California.

While most of the freezer fruit is being put to good use, now that the canned fruits are almost gone, time to make up a "rum pot" - guess that is what they call it. Only, I used brandy for mine. Remember those posting sometime ago? Using a lot of bits and pieces of fruit - in a special mettalic-free container and sousing with booze? Great stuff for topping cereals, ice cream, sponge cakes, etc.

Also noted the canned enchilada sauce was gone. I didn't have enough home-grown peppers this time, so bought several pkgs of California and New Mexico dried anchos. My pressure cooker was getting dusty - so decided it a good time to test the gauge again - using the newly purchased 3-piece weight (what a blessing).

So:

7 pints of enchilada sauce.
2 loaves of sourdough bread - great result and thanks to the poster who advised using a thermometer to test the center - (should be 190 - 200 degrees). Nice hint and best sourdough effort so far. I made whole wheat. The dark molasses was a bit heavy - may use honey next time. I was patient and let my sourdough rise slooooowly this time (both starter and sponge).

The enchilada sauce is great - comes in handy for making a "quickie" chili. Just grab a pint of pinto beans off the shelf (you did can pinto beans in your pressure cooker - didn't you?).

Then add the sauce and beans to a crockpot. Add some home ground Italian sausage and onions after browning in a bit of peanut oil, test seasonings and "viola" a nice quickie meal.

I like to add some of my home-made lemon zest salt and fresh ground pepper to highlight it. This may not be the gourmet chili recipe that a "true chili-hound" would tout as the "greatest" but it make a hearty dish when the kitchen is full of pressure cooker steam.

Speaking of steam - I had a bit of a scare making the enchilada sauce - the little round pressure valve in the center of the cover - began to let off steam. What gives? I was already at the "let the canner emit steam for 10 minutes" stage by then - so panic! But - I tweaked the center pin of the valve a bit, and the little pin in the middle jumped up and sealed itself.

I could envision pinto beans all over my ceiling fan - and I just cleaned the little jewel a few days ago. Not easy getting up on ladders for such jobs - dontcha know.

I made some "rad" date bars - using some miscellaneous dried fruit that I happened to have in the freezer - with some mixed nuts ground up. Nice - but less sugar would be better. I found the recipe on the "net" for date bars - if you use such recipes, best to check for comments - this one had 5 stars.

Freezing small amounts of snow peas on trays - a few each day for later stir fries. Wonder if I could freeze bok choy?

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Bejay, I add enchilada sauce to ground meat and than layer using corn tortilla, onion and cheese for a quicky enchilada casserole. Cook at 400 for about 45 minutes.

That sounds similar to a recipe that I like too- the only difference is that I also add pinto beans to the layers. Great food - we really enjoy the Mexican style foods here also.

I'm busy making spaget sauce and will serve the sauce from my crock pot. That way, whoever wants a helping can serve up the cooked pasta in the fridge, ladle on the sauce and Roman cheese and perhaps reheat a bit in the micro.

Meals like this are well received in our household, because we all have different hours.

Appreciate the recipe - thank you.

Bejay

Bejay

So embarrassing - following my own post, but anyway --

This was my 3rd time of brining corned beef, and must say it was delicious. I felt from past efforts that the brining could be a bit longer than the Morton's recipe on the package of Tender Quick called for. I used the pickle recipe again with 1 cup of salt to a gallon of water, adding garlic, bay leaf, dried onion, pepper, and some dried oregano.

My cut of meat was the thin end of the brisket - and only about 2 - 3 lbs., I would guess. It was brined in a covered pot in the fridge for about 8 days. It was not injected this time with brine, cuz I felt it didn't need it as it was smaller. Turned out great, reddish all the way through. It was cooked in my cast iron Dutch oven after rinsing and adding more spices, onion, WITHOUT salt, and slow simmered all day.

Other than this, most canning/cooking efforts have been in trying to improve sourdoughs and visits to the Cooking Forum have been most helpful and informative.

We liked the lentil soup that I made recently in crock pot, and perhaps will try canning lentils, using BBB for dried beans, etc., recipe. The pintos were well-received.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

OOps - that measure should be "quart of water" instead of gallon.

Bejay

The brining could be sped up by using a vacuum container and having the meat and brine stored in the fridge for about 3 days under vacuum before its cooked. The briskit is thin, so injection would have to be very shallow, or be done buy just pulling a vacuum on the meat and brine mixture. This method pulls air and liqids out of the meat and allows the brine to penetrate deeper. A 7+ days of brine soaking is probably just fine, but could be improved. Brine pumps are selling for less than $20 and there are two kinds of needles. One that is similar to a normal pointed syringe design and the other needle has side holes and a blunt end, so brine injection goes out through many side holes. Currently, I am working on high powered vacuum pumps that can be used for brining, and makes use of most of the Food Saver canisters that are vacuum tight. A corned beef can also have some dextrose added as well as a phosphate to help it hold in a little moisture and bind up the meat fibers so it doesn't crumble after cooking. The Morton Tender Quick is a bit uncontrollable as you don''t actually know how much nitrites that are added. If the brine is overly salty, it is also got a higher than normal amount of nitrites, which s NOT good for anyone.
A fermenting brine for pickles is 5.5 ounces by weight of pickling salt to one gallon of water.

I am very pleased with myself! I was reading the blog of a cute little cafe in Portland, OR called the Little Red Bike Cafe, and they mentioned that they were serving some new flavors of jam, including something called Blackberry Earl Gray. I was immediately intrigued, and the wheels in my mind started turning. How might one make blackberry Earl Grey jam? And I had just enough blackberries that I had picked and frozen last summer to experiment. (Plus, making a summery jam mid-winter during a snowstorm makes me feel naughty--like I'm getting away with something! Tee hee.)

I turned to the jamming goddess, Christine Ferber, for inspiration, using her wild blackberry jam recipe, but increasing the fruit to about three pounds, because I used my handy-dandy new Roma strainer to make it seedless. In addition to the juice of one lemon, I also used the microplaned zest. And finally, I made an infusion of about ten ounces of boiling water and four Twinings Earl Grey tea bags, steeped for five minutes, and added it to the jam. I macerated everything overnight in the fridge, in the Ferber tradition, and I cooked it down for about twenty minutes the next day that yielded a softer set, which I prefer (25 minutes would probably do it for those of you who like a firmer jam).

I must tell you, the jam turned out AMAZING! I wasn't sure if the tea would come through, but it did, without being overpowering. It just added some delightfully earthy and citrusy notes to the jam. Oh, and it yielded seven half-pint jars for me. YUM!

Wild Blackberry and Earl Grey Jam

10 oz. boiling water
4 Earl Grey tea bags
3 pounds Wild Blackberries
3 3/4 pounds granulated sugar (I might cut this back a little next time to 3 1/2 or even just 3 pounds)
zest and juice of one large lemon
1/2 teaspoon butter

Steep the tea bags in the boiling water for five minutes. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the tea bags and discard. Set brewed tea aside while you prepare the fruit.

Pick over the blackberries. Rinse them quickly in cold water without soaking them. In a preserving pan, combine the blackberries, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Bring to a simmer. Pour into a ceramic bowl and stir in the tea. Cover the fruit with a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, bring this preparation to a boil along with 1/2 teaspoon of butter, stirring gently. Continue cooking on high heat at a full, rolling boil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly. Check the set on a cold plate (it's done when you push the jam and it wrinkles--mine took about 20 minutes). Put the jam into jars immediately, seal, and process for ten minutes in a boiling water bath.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lindsey's Luscious (my cooking blog)

Oh shoot! I forgot to mention in the recipe that I ran the fruit preparation through my Roma strainer before cooking it down. I used the berry screen, and I ran the pulp through a couple of extra times to get out every drop of berry goodness before discarding the remaining leathery fibers and seeds. Of course, if you like the seeds in your jam...never mind.

Love that food strainer!! This summer I hope to make a big batch of seedless red raspberry jam. I hate seeds, they seem to always catch in the fillings of my teeth. Sometimes I have to dig them out with a dental tool pick.

Yesterday I only had a few (4) oranges so I made (Small Batch Perserving)
Orange Marmalade;

Linda

Linda, that looks like my Blood Orange Marmalade. What did you do to get the rose colour?

Oh dear...though my Wild Blackberry Earl Grey Jam (above) turned out delicious, I have discovered why it was a little too sweet. I returned to my copy of the Ferber bible, and her recipe for wild blackberry jam calls for 3 3/4 CUPS not POUNDS (3 3/4 pounds would be about 8 1/2 cups--more than double what she calls for!). However, I personally prefer a roughly 50-50 ratio of fruit to sugar. So whereas I used 3 lbs. of fruit and about 8 1/2 cups of sugar in my first batch, I think I'll scale that back to about 6 3/4 cups sugar (=3 lbs.) next time, because my jam was just a little too sweet to my tastes, not WAY too sweet. But Ferber fans might like to take that down to five cups. Anyway, just thought I'd share that info! Here's the corrected recipe:

Wild Blackberry and Earl Grey Jam

10 oz. boiling water
4 Earl Grey tea bags (I used Twinings)
3 pounds Wild Blackberries
6 3/4 cups granulated sugar (could go as low as 5 cups)
zest and juice of one large lemon
1/2 teaspoon butter

Steep the tea bags in the boiling water for five minutes. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the tea bags and discard. Set brewed tea aside while you prepare the fruit.

Pick over the blackberries. Rinse them quickly in cold water without soaking them. In a preserving pan, combine the blackberries, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Bring to a simmer. Pour into a ceramic bowl and stir in the tea. Cover the fruit with a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, if you like, run the fruit preparation through a Roma-type strainer before cooking it down. (I used the berry screen, and I ran the pulp through a couple of extra times to get out every drop of berry goodness before discarding the remaining leathery fibers and seeds. Of course, if you like the seeds in your jam...never mind.) Bring this preparation to a boil along with 1/2 teaspoon of butter, stirring gently. Continue cooking on high heat at a full, rolling boil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly. Check the set on a cold plate (it's done when you push the jam and it wrinkles--mine took about 20 minutes). Put the jam into jars immediately, seal, and process for ten minutes in a boiling water bath.

Yield: I got seven half-pints, but remember, I accidentally used too much sugar in my first batch. So I'm guessing six jars?

Here is a link that might be useful: Lindsey's Luscious

joybugaloo -

I like the idea of tea and fruit juices, and often mix the two for refreshing, less sugary "coolers." Sorry about the recipe mix-up tho - cuz that would spoil it - but happy that you found the error.

My efforts this past few weeks (outside of a very nasty flu bug - which I thought was taken care of by a flu shot this summer - "not"), is mainly trying to keep my freezer in order by using up the "older stuff" and maintaining some sort of routine. So am experimenting with lots of way to freeze stuff - like in styrofoam cups vs cardboard - the costs and effects, and best results. Mostly this has been for soups - as there are lots of nice fresh veggies now and hate to waste them. My aim is to find the best way to go from freezer to microwave (defrost) to heat - without compromizing the container or creating a health hazard in anyway. Whereas, styrofoam container is OK for ice cream (with slight defrosting) - for soups - I prefer to put the contents into a ceramic dish for re-heating, but may need a "pulse" on defrost to release the soup first.

My saved broths from the holidays are almost gone - they were so delicious and made for many great soup-type meals - along with sourdough breads. I actually think my family is being weaned to a better eating lifestyle, thanks to all of the nice information I've received over the years on this forum, and they aren't even complaining.

I noted a posting about making "saved" broths from veggie leaves, roots, etc., and heretofore, have usually given these to the chickens, but with my "heady" success with soups and dwindling meat broths, perhaps I'll give it a try. We just might bring down their cholesterol even more so.

One other effort - with our new-found swap partner (their avocado for our citrus), a lot of avocadoes are available to work with. I know the Calavo folks put out a really great frozen ripe avocado commercially, but I'm working on it here. Perhaps using more citric/ascorbic mix - but I also wonder if they don't also have an extra secret - mine still have a tendency to turn dark anyway.

Is anyone else "doing" avocado freezing? Would appreciate comments.

Bejay

Messy produce drawer (from several garden pickings) have been reduced to:

1 quart of cleaned, chopped and sauteed mixed greens (collards, radish greens, beets greens), frozen. (only one quart? this is OK, there are many more to come....)

Several baskets of citrus, so far I got:

8 (12 oz) containers of frozen minneola juice.
2 (20 0z) containers of frozen orange juice.

This did make two baskets disappear, but I have lots more citrus to juice but ran out of containers. I have been using plastic coke and gatorate bottles. What do you folks use for containers to hold citrus juice in the freezer? Zip lock bags do not seem to work really well, they always seem to leak when defrosted.

All that talk of stocks inpired me, too!
Chickens were on sale this week (buy one, get one free) and, while I LOVE roast chicken and lots of other chicken dishes, I found myself having a hard time planning how to cook them and use them, as I was fixated on the broth their carcasses would make afterwards.... ;-p

Ended up being roast chicken yesterday and chicken salad today --- not sure what the rest of the leftover meat will become, but I've got a pot of chicken broth (boosted with onion skins and carrot ends) cooling in the kitchen now.

Mmmmm......

Z

Buy one at $1.49 a pound and get one free.. HA! nothing free there, if thats what they charge. When I buy them is usually at about $.69 to $.79 a pound.

cabrita -

About juices for freezing, I use the plastic water bottles that you see (usually attached to a teen-ager working out - biking, jogging, etc. - ha).

They are a bit large - but I fill them about 2/3rds full, allowing for expansion, after thoroughly washing and disinfecting bottle and cap with bleach water, rinse, fill and freeze.

I sometimes like to add soda water to my juices, or sometimes tea - don't know about citrus tea, but it's a thought. Recently did some bottles of berry - cran, rasp and boysen, but they disappear fast. The family prefers the juices over jams - so this is a good outlet for my fruit trees.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Bejay, thanks! I have used the water bottles too. The newer 12 oz coke bottles are a great size (I do not drink coke but my partner is addicted to them). I also have a few two litter plastic bottles but those seem too large.

The frozen juice is the best right now for us too. I seem to be the only one that eats the marmalade and will have no time to make it in the next few weeks. Freezing is so easy and a very welcome product to use when the oranges and tangerines are gone. Last year we had some juice until August, this year I am aiming for September....

Sorellina,
I just added yellow and red food coloring. I wanted it a little more colorful.

Linda

4 loaves of pumpkin bread, 6 loaves of zucchini coconut bread, 2 chicken pot pies, all for the freezer.

Bumping this older thread since it has room on it (150 messages is the limit it appears).

Many more frozen orange/mandarin/lemon/grapefruit juice in plastic bottles (continued from older post - lost count of how many....)

2 quart jars of salt preserved Meyers lemons (one plain, one with spices).

1 pint candied lemon peels

15 pints mixed citrus marmalade

14 1/2 pints Meyers lemon marmalade

6 gallons minneola (like mandarin oranges) wine sitting now in two (2) secondary fermenters, bubbling away.

.....are you all getting the impression I might have a citrus overload? not sure what would give this impression....

OK, finally, something non-citric, and it is good:

6 gallon zip lock bags (some in quarts and some in gallons) sauteed and frozen mixed greens (combinations of: kale, collards, beet greens, chard, green amaranth, red amaranth, radish greens, and mustard greens).

4 quart bags lightly steamed fresh pea pods (sugar snaps and snow peas)

Last week the first rhubarb was available, so I put about 10 pounds of that in the freezer, asparagus will be ready next week, probably.

I also canned 9 pints of chicken stock with bits and pieces of wing tips and backs that I wanted to get out of the freezer.

There's not much available here yet, but I did plant potatoes and onions a couple of weeks ago, and put the cabbage and brussels sprouts plants into the garden last week. Tomatoes and peppers are waiting in the garage under lights, so in a few months, I'll be canning.

Annie

Bump. I made 6 1/2pt jars of strawberry jam yesterday. No pectin, only strawberries and sugar. I was a little worried that we would end up with syrup. I checked them first thing this morning, they all sealed and were nice and firm. My DGD commented that she wished we would have had syrup instead of jam. I can't please everyone. Maybe I will make some syrup the next time.
Donna

9 pints of Annie's Salsa, I was running out. I will be making more as soon as I get enough tomatoes. It's so good!

Just harvested all my Music garlic bulbs. Must say they were huge and were quite ready to be dug up. Was quite muddy out there and all still have clumps of wet dirt attached. They are now drying on a big screen inside my greenhouse with a fan blowing in from underneath. I expect about 2-3 weeks they will be dry enough to store indoors after trimming off the roots. Its the ONLY thing I have in my garden that has been harvestable this year.

I've been busy this week. So far, I have put up:

36 pints of annies salsa
9 half pints of strawberry jam
4 containers of roasted tomato & garlic soup (although those never made it to the freezer so I guess that doesn't count)
4 half pints of apple butter
6 pints of apple pie jam without pectin to use as a syrup
9 quarts of pickles

Everything was bought from the farm stand. I've picked enough cucumbers to make another 4 quarts of pickles. Still waiting for everything else to come in. It was really cold and wet in May and June so everything is a little slower coming in.

I recently scored some gorgeous and tasty Black Velvet Aprictos (basically, apriums--50/50 apricot and plum) for next-to-nothing at Sam's Club, and this past weekend, I made two batches of an Aprium-Pomegranate Pepper Jelly that was a spin-off of my favorite Apricot Pepper Jelly recipe. The pepper jelly turned out GORGEOUS (burgundy-colored) and DELICIOUS (tangy and spicy)! Here's the recipe, if anyone would like to try it. Also, the link below is to my blog where I posted a couple of pictures.

Aprium-Pomegranate Pepper Jelly

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped finely
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a smaller yellow bell pepper, plus one Hungarian Hot Wax pepper from my garden to make up the size difference)
1/2 cup hot peppers, seeded and chopped (I used one Anaheim-type, two jalapenos, and two serranos)
8 or 9 fresh Black Velvet apricots (or any aprium or pluot variety), washed, pitted and chopped
2 cups cider vinegar
6 cups sugar
1 pouch (3 oz) liquid pectin

Put the dried apricot bits into a microwave-safe bowl and pour the pomegranate juice over them. Microwave on high for four minutes, and set aside to let the dried fruit absorb the liquid. In the meantime, seed and chop the peppers and the fresh apricots.

Add the reconstituted dried apricots, peppers, fresh apricots, vinegar and sugar to a large pot and stir. Bring to a full rolling boil for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the pectin and stir in. Bring back to a hard boil for 5 minutes. Check the set, and continue to boil at two-minute intervals until the desired set is achieved. Fill (seven or eight) half-pint jars, wipe the rims, adjust the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lindsey's Luscious Aprium-Pomegranate Pepper Jelly

A friend dropped off a huge box of romas. She said that she had canned as much as she could over the weekend and didn't have time while working during the weekdays. I canned 14 pints of Annie's salsa and 7 pints of tomato sauce. I made one batch of salsa mild for the wimps in the family and one batch super hot, with 3 jalapeno peppers and 2 habinaros. I already have 2 batches of regular salsa. Next, I have to make some of Linda Lou's Zucchini Relish. The same friend also left a large bag of zucchinis.
Donna

Just finished 5 and 1/2 half pints of bing cherry jam and 5 and 3/4 half pints of blackberry jelly. I picked the blackberries yesterday and it took no time at all because they were huge. With the bing cherries I didn't add anything but pure almond extract because I knew DH wouldn't eat it if I made it fancy, but I'm going to get more of the cherries and make the Black Forest Preserves for myself. Got a dozen ears of corn in the freezer this week, but will be doing a lot more. I have a ton of zucchini that I'm going to shred and freeze tomorrow and a bunch of cucumbers to pickle.

A really nice thing that happened to me yesterday was that a neighbor brought me a box of tomatoes. Mine aren't ready yet. The ones she brought me were from the plants I started and gave to her.