I'm waiting for my canning jars to finish cleaning and sanitizing in the dishwasher, then I will start chopping the produce for more chutney. I have the stuff to make another batch, so figured I might as well do it and get it over with. And while I'm at it, I'm going to do another batch of honey-glazed red onions late this afternoon or early tonight. The onions have to be pressure-canned and the best way to do that is on the side burner of the grill outside. So if everything goes according to plan (and you know how that goes!), I should have another batch of chutney and another batch of red onions done today.
Rick is working OT until around 10:30 this morning. When he comes home, we're going to go to a local orchard to see what they have in the way of peaches. I'd like to can a bushel or so or peaches for Rick to have in his lunch this winter. He takes a lot of applesauce in his work lunches and I think peaches would make a nice change for him from time to time. He said he'd help me with the peeling and pitting, so we're going to see how much peaches would cost. I will also need a box of quart jars as I don't have any quart jars at all. Peaches are water-bathed canned, so that won't be bad. Plus, maybe I can get a nice peach pie out of some, too. Or at least maybe some peach dumplings. Or a cobbler...come to think of it, cobbler would taste pretty good right now.
So far I've done two batches of lime pickles, two batches of cinnamon pickles, a batch of bread-and-butter pickles (which I said I wasn't going to do, but the cucumbers produced well this year), a batch of honey-glazed red onions, and a batch of old farmhouse chutney. And then hopefully we'll get some peaches done, too.
I did four quarts of freezer cabbage; two for my sister and two for me.
My sister and I are still talking about making chili sauce. She is the chili sauce expert; I've never tried it. And her grapes are almost ready for another try at some grape jelly. Her elderberries are almost ready, too; my BIL would dearly love a couple of elderberry pies and that's usually my department.
I don't can tomatoes, but I do roast them and then freeze the puree for sauce. I do have some dehydrated tomatoes in the freezer. And I still want to try making tomato powder.
And next month, Rick and I will freeze a bushel or two of applesauce. I won't can applesauce because it's too easy to freeze.
Plus we have the other stuff from the garden in the freezer.
It's been a productive summer for the most part......except for the deer and raccoons stealing our corn!
I think the worst part of canning is the initial investment. Since I do pressure-can, I bought a pressure canner; it took us a while to get the hang of that thing, too. We finally decided that it works best outside on the side burner of the grill. It doesn't want to work right on the smooth-top stove in the kitchen; I have trouble getting it up to pressure and then keeping it up at the pressure. On the grill....it just goes right up to pressure and whistles for the time it's supposed to and life is good.
I tend to use a lot of pint jars and half-pint jars. The half-pints are good for chutneys and such, especially since it's just Rick and me for the most part. I give a lot of stuff to my sister and BIL and to Rick's mom and dad, too. Half-pints work out well. Pint jars work for my glazed onions and for the pickles, again because it's just the two of us....and because Rick does not eat much in the way of pickles. So most of the time, it's just me nibbling on pickles. I will do peaches in quart jars, simply because a quart jar would last Rick 3-4 days for lunches. He loves peaches. I mentioned pears, but he really doesn't care for them.
I swear that come the beginning of June next year, I will have the following items in my canning pantry: at least 25 pounds of sugar, two gallons of white vinegar, at least two packages of lime, a nice container of alum, at least two pounds of cinnamon candies, and enough canning jars to see me through the season. I ran out of lime this year and made a mad dash to our local hardware store early one morning on my way to work; thankfully, they had it. I ran out of cinnamon candies this year and made another dash to our local candy store one day over lunch at work....and bought the last pound they had at the time.
I still haven't done that much with the dehydrator, not as much as I'd like to. We did zucchini chips this year and they were quite good, especially the salt-and-pepper chips. Did some tomatoes this year, too. Hopefully I'll get some tomato powder done, just to experiment.
Does anybody else can or freeze or do any kind of preserving?
Rick is working OT until around 10:30 this morning. When he comes home, we're going to go to a local orchard to see what they have in the way of peaches. I'd like to can a bushel or so or peaches for Rick to have in his lunch this winter. He takes a lot of applesauce in his work lunches and I think peaches would make a nice change for him from time to time. He said he'd help me with the peeling and pitting, so we're going to see how much peaches would cost. I will also need a box of quart jars as I don't have any quart jars at all. Peaches are water-bathed canned, so that won't be bad. Plus, maybe I can get a nice peach pie out of some, too. Or at least maybe some peach dumplings. Or a cobbler...come to think of it, cobbler would taste pretty good right now.
So far I've done two batches of lime pickles, two batches of cinnamon pickles, a batch of bread-and-butter pickles (which I said I wasn't going to do, but the cucumbers produced well this year), a batch of honey-glazed red onions, and a batch of old farmhouse chutney. And then hopefully we'll get some peaches done, too.
I did four quarts of freezer cabbage; two for my sister and two for me.
My sister and I are still talking about making chili sauce. She is the chili sauce expert; I've never tried it. And her grapes are almost ready for another try at some grape jelly. Her elderberries are almost ready, too; my BIL would dearly love a couple of elderberry pies and that's usually my department.
I don't can tomatoes, but I do roast them and then freeze the puree for sauce. I do have some dehydrated tomatoes in the freezer. And I still want to try making tomato powder.
And next month, Rick and I will freeze a bushel or two of applesauce. I won't can applesauce because it's too easy to freeze.
Plus we have the other stuff from the garden in the freezer.
It's been a productive summer for the most part......except for the deer and raccoons stealing our corn!
I think the worst part of canning is the initial investment. Since I do pressure-can, I bought a pressure canner; it took us a while to get the hang of that thing, too. We finally decided that it works best outside on the side burner of the grill. It doesn't want to work right on the smooth-top stove in the kitchen; I have trouble getting it up to pressure and then keeping it up at the pressure. On the grill....it just goes right up to pressure and whistles for the time it's supposed to and life is good.
I tend to use a lot of pint jars and half-pint jars. The half-pints are good for chutneys and such, especially since it's just Rick and me for the most part. I give a lot of stuff to my sister and BIL and to Rick's mom and dad, too. Half-pints work out well. Pint jars work for my glazed onions and for the pickles, again because it's just the two of us....and because Rick does not eat much in the way of pickles. So most of the time, it's just me nibbling on pickles. I will do peaches in quart jars, simply because a quart jar would last Rick 3-4 days for lunches. He loves peaches. I mentioned pears, but he really doesn't care for them.
I swear that come the beginning of June next year, I will have the following items in my canning pantry: at least 25 pounds of sugar, two gallons of white vinegar, at least two packages of lime, a nice container of alum, at least two pounds of cinnamon candies, and enough canning jars to see me through the season. I ran out of lime this year and made a mad dash to our local hardware store early one morning on my way to work; thankfully, they had it. I ran out of cinnamon candies this year and made another dash to our local candy store one day over lunch at work....and bought the last pound they had at the time.
I still haven't done that much with the dehydrator, not as much as I'd like to. We did zucchini chips this year and they were quite good, especially the salt-and-pepper chips. Did some tomatoes this year, too. Hopefully I'll get some tomato powder done, just to experiment.
Does anybody else can or freeze or do any kind of preserving?
