Is all your canning done?

[jerrymrc]

Was just thinking about this today as I was finishing up my last batch of jam for the year. Had already done others but the store had Peaches on sale so I said WTF. I did pick up a small carton of Strawberries and now we have some Peach/Strawberry jam to try this year.

Next up in a month or so is the pressure canner to do some meats since I am not a big fan of using it in the middle of summer and I have that option at this point in time.

 

[kycrawler]

nope , apples are just now ready here i have a 4 year old that loves apple sauce and glazed apples

 

[Deltaten]

I'e got a half bushel of COncord Grapes to make jell out of. I picked 'em last Thurs and stuck 'em in the fridge...no time to do it no with all else that's going on.
Hope to get to them this week yet

Paul

 

[scaldwellk]

Man I would love to know how to cann. I have a pear and a apple tree and a grape vine. Jelly would be great. How do you do it?

 

[deerollman]

i too would love to start. there was a newspaper article here in urban NC recently, about people canning. apparently there is no distributor in the entire county for the supplies. maybe ebay?

 

[Deltaten]

scaldwellk:

Just go tothe grocery and buy a box of Certo pectin for making jelly. Directions (out the wazoo) on the box. Lotsa receipes on the net, too. I'm gonna try the "cold pack" process for mine, seems easier.

I'm also gonna use the food strainer/grinder we got a few yr ago for applesauce. It spits out the seeds and peels on apples, so I figger it might do the same for grapes?

Stem, clean and sort out the bad ones; cook/blanche a bit in pot; process thru grinder; back in pot just to boil; add sugar, then Certo (might not be in right order..from memory!); pour into boiled jars and close loosely. Let cool and check for seal.

Sound right, Jerry?

Done Time to eat Jam!
Paul

 

[jerrymrc]

scaldwellk:

Just go tothe grocery and buy a box of Certo pectin for making jelly. Directions (out the wazoo) on the box. Lotsa receipes on the net, too. I'm gonna try the "cold pack" process for mine, seems easier.

I'm also gonna use the food strainer/grinder we got a few yr ago for applesauce. It spits out the seeds and peels on apples, so I figger it might do the same for grapes?

Stem, clean and sort out the bad ones; cook/blanche a bit in pot; process thru grinder; back in pot just to boil; add sugar, then Certo (might not be in right order..from memory!); pour into boiled jars and close loosely. Let cool and check for seal.

Sound right, Jerry?

Done Time to eat Jam!
Paul

Bout right Paul. Jams, jellies are a "cold pack" along with Tomatoes/fruit and acidic items.

A batch for me is 2qts of fruit. 6-1/2-7-1/2 cups of sugar, lemon juice. Put into pot and bring to a boil on high heat. add Pectin and stir for a min or so. Prep jars/fill/lids and put into pot. process/remove/let cool/remove bands. Jam/jelly is ready in a week or so. Makes 12 6oz jars.

For those of you that want to start. Just go get one of the big blue 18-20qt pots. Buy jars, sugar, and any of the pectin at the store. there will be instructions in the box for all kinds of fruit.

I had not canned for 20 years but it all came back to me in a hurry. BTW our local Kroger has bunches of jars, lids and supplies. I get my jars by scanning the "thrifty nickle" I just did pick up 2 cases of wide mouth qts (still sealed) and 3 cases of assorted jam/jelly jars for $3 a case. New they are $9-11.

 

[dirtyrice]

mmm peach strawberry jam sounds delicious. i should try that out sometime also. i can get very fresh and GREAT tasting peaches and cherries from the local farmers market way cheaper than the fancy grocery stores too and way fresher than any other chain grocery.

 

[Deltaten]

It just tickles me pink that we're all so damm'd domestic

THe hunting/butchering threads; Beer/wine production; gardens and waterfalls; then the food/gourmet threads...now this!

We do it all!

"And a Country Boy can survive"...as long as there's jam on the menu

 

[gunplumber]

I've been contemplating canning for the past few weeks - I am particularly interested in pickling peppers as peppers and tomatos are two plants I seem able to not kill.

But I've been wondering just how cost effective it is?

Whats the shelf life?

Whats the setup cost?

Adding in the labor and the material cost - and the variable of whether you're growing your own food or not - isn't it cheaper o just buy professionally canned stuff?

I occasionally do charity work at our local cannery and I just can't see how doing it at home can compete with the 30 cans a minute even a small peach preserve line can turn out.

I recognise it as valuable skill to have, but question it on the basis of cost effective food storage.

 

[jerrymrc]

mmm peach strawberry jam sounds delicious. i should try that out sometime also. i can get very fresh and GREAT tasting peaches and cherries from the local farmers market way cheaper than the fancy grocery stores too and way fresher than any other chain grocery.

I buy most of my canning fruits when they are in season and cheap. Here in Colorado some items are only out there for a couple of weeks at the farmers markets. Pickles I do every other year. 24 qts lasts us 2 years. I'm going home to Oregon in a couple of weeks so the Strawberry jam I canned last month gets the taste test. My mom still cans but not as much as she use to.

 

[dirtyrice]

cool right now i'm more looking into dehydrating fruits for storage. but yea the best sweetest tasting peaches i've ever had were from the farmers market. and its always good to support the local economy.

 

[Deltaten]

Mark:
*IF* ya have the stuff and the produce to hand; it makes sense to do it. Factor in the labor costs, as it were, and it does not. Some of it is the satisfaction of knowing that you CAN do it, if need be. I know you can relate to that.

I just so happen to have a crate or two of canning jars in th basement, a large s.s stock pot and a grape arbor. Only natural to combine them for some self-satisfying work that results in a great treat that will last thru winter.

The local farmer has a peach orchard. He says that the good canning peaches will be in this week. I'm gonna pick up enough to do a dozen or so quarts.

M-m-m-m-m! Fresh (canned) peach cobbler for Christmas Dinner dessert.

A dozen 8 oz. jelly jars runs about $8.00 'round here. $2.50 for the sugar and $3 for the Pectin. Fruit's free, so my end cost is pretty low.

'Bout as cost effective as reloading or building yer own FAL

Give it a try! One more skill set for yer book
Paul

 

[spatin]

OK now that you have opened the question, I have been thinking about how to can meats, i.e., beef, chicken, elk (if I'm lucky this year) and other protein like that. The day may come when we can't just keep the next several meals in the freezer and I wanted to learn how to can it in jars.

Is that difficult to do?

I have been reading up on it and it looks like canning meat and other non acidic items are a little bit more trickey than canning things like veggies and fruits.

Sidney

 

[kycrawler]

i have some tomato's and green beans that didnt get rotated and are 5 years old and are still fine peaches , apple sauce,and jam never make it that long if you do can write the year on the lid with a prem marker

home canning lets you know whats in your food when i lived at home with my parents money was tight and we canned all of our fruits and veggies and did our own butchering/ smoking now i have a family of my own and still do some canning and help my dad butcher a beef and 3-4 hogs every year About the only thing we bought was bread milk flour sugar and breakfast cereal wish i still had the time to do it all myself

 

[olsarg]

We have several pressure canners. They are cheap used. Also replaced al the enamel pots with stainless steel no probllum with chipping. Have a few hundred jars. For water bath canning we use mayonase jars as they don't get heated as hot as when pressure canning. Canning is easy IF you can follow directions. We can fruit veggys and meat. meat takes 90 minutes in a pressure canner after it is up to presure. We buy bacon or any type of meat on sale and can it. Generally 1 lb to a pint jar. My canner holds 19 pints so we cook 19 meals at a 90 minute time. Best use for cheap beef roasts ect. We even can hamburgers. lwhen you want it you open the jar and heat or if need be eat it cold, its cooked and delicious. No need to be refrigerated so safe even with out power. great way to store large amounts. If you can it you know whats in it. and no illegal with tb ect handled it. For deer we pack cubed meat and top the jar with a chunk of beef tallow kids call it v for veal.

 

[richbug]

I have about 200 quarts put up so far. Apples and pears aren't ready yet. tomatoes are just starting, have a sink full right now.

I do:
elderberry jelly, tastes like a cross between raspberry and grape-12 qts
Dill Pickles, 20-30 qts
Pickled peppers, 40-50 pints
Pickled beets, 30-40 Qts
Green beans, 40 qts
green tomatoe and pepper salsa, 30 pts
Red salsa, 10-20 qts
tomatoes, have about 20 qts up, probably do 30 more.

I did about 100 qts of apple sauce last year, about 1/2 gone, not sure if I am going to do more this year.

I'll likely do 40 qts of pears, I did 20 last year and they were gone quick, they take a lot of work to clean IMHO.

peas and corn aren't worth doing when you can buy them for 30 cents a can, but if the SHTF, I know how.

All my produce came out of my garden, or off the family orchard 2 miles away.



as far as cost, figure lids at 8-10 cents each, you shouldn't reuse them.

Jars and rings will cost you 60-80 cents the first time, but will last nearly forever. These are a great thing to pick up at yard sales, I got most of mine for a dime or less.

A basic hot water bath is less than $20. A pressure cooker is $70-100.

I can only load so much ammo and build so many guns when I am home watching the kids, canning/gardening gives me another outlet.

 

[Hole_Puncher]

I was wondering when someone would start a post about canning.

So far we have:

tomatoes 28 quarts probably do 7 more
garlic dill pickles 7 quarts & 7 pints plus 1 each fresh pack
string beans 14 pints

also have some stuff left from last year.


Mark and anyone else who mentioned wanting to learn how to can. The best thing to do is get a canning book. You can get them from the following site which used to be part of Ball the canning jar makers.

http://www.homecanning.com/usa/

Canning is not that hard but make sure you follow the instructions. Its important to follow all details.

Starting with something like tomatoes that has a high acid content is good because its pretty hard to mess them up. Also if do not get them right they let you because in about 10 days it starts oozing out of the jars and it smells pretty bad.

To me there is nothing better than opening a jar of tomatoes or pickles in the winter and smelling your garden from the previous summer!

 

[LAFAL]

Yep, done for this year. Have 15 2 ltr bottles of various juices in the freezer left over from the jelly I made and managed to can 12 quarts of greenbeans/yellow wax beans/small potatoes, 14 pints of same, 12 pints of tomatoes for stews and gumbos, 12 rabbits in the freezer plus the buffalo, fallow deer and pig. I would be out picking up muskadines right now if I wasn't 4 weeks after a major back surgery.
oh, I forgot to mention the 4 gallons of root beer and 5 gallons of english nutty brown ale I bottled the day before the surgery:beer:

 

[jerrymrc]

OK now that you have opened the question, I have been thinking about how to can meats, i.e., beef, chicken, elk (if I'm lucky this year) and other protein like that. The day may come when we can't just keep the next several meals in the freezer and I wanted to learn how to can it in jars.

Is that difficult to do?

I have been reading up on it and it looks like canning meat and other non acidic items are a little bit more trickey than canning things like veggies and fruits.

Sidney

Im going to be canning meats in October Sidney. Have to show you how and you are always welcome to use my pressure canner. 7 Qts at a time.

 

[spatin]

Thanks for the offer Jerry. I'd like to do that. About how long does it take and (2) would there be time for me to can some of my own under your supervision?
Sidney

 

[jerrymrc]

Thanks for the offer Jerry. I'd like to do that. About how long does it take and (2) would there be time for me to can some of my own under your supervision?
Sidney

Not a problem. Depending on what you want to can, ground/chopped/cubed meat takes 90 min at our altitude. Cook, fill process runs about 2hours for the first batch. I will get in contact about it when I get back on the 11th.

 

[spatin]

That works for me. I'll be out from 10/14 - 10/21 due to a mandatory ordered trip to Cozumel to teach some scuba diving (oh how boring), but I'll be back for the canning right after that!
Let me know what I need to buy and bring to the session.
Sidney

 

[Deltaten]

Jerry, et al:

UPDATE...

Just did up my grapes!

Everything in the kichen is BLUE !!!

Went well. lotsa extra grape sauce. I didn't realize just how much juice/sauce a 3/4 grocery bag of raw grapes would make, so I blanched 'em all and processed 'em. Ended up with 8 cups.

Only had enough 8 oz. jelly jars for half, so I went conservative (what else ) and did half a batch. Other than mis-laying most of my tools and having a sink full of pots, cups, grinder parts and lotsa "blue" towels; I did OK

Tastes great! All the lids "popped" as they were s'psed to and thier coolig now. When the rest of the batch is done, I'll have enough jelly for most of the year.

Peach jam and preserves are next!

Paul

 

[jerrymrc]

Jerry, et al:

UPDATE...

Just did up my grapes!

Everything in the kichen is BLUE !!!

Went well. lotsa extra grape sauce. I didn't realize just how much juice/sauce a 3/4 grocery bag of raw grapes would make, so I blanched 'em all and processed 'em. Ended up with 8 cups.

Only had enough 8 oz. jelly jars for half, so I went conservative (what else ) and did half a batch. Other than mis-laying most of my tools and having a sink full of pots, cups, grinder parts and lotsa "blue" towels; I did OK

Tastes great! All the lids "popped" as they were s'psed to and thier coolig now. When the rest of the batch is done, I'll have enough jelly for most of the year.

Peach jam and preserves are next!

Paul

Thats Cool. I will save some jam for Falfest 2007 to have on the table in the morning. I never thought about it this year.