# Let's get Canning!



## JohnT (Jun 12, 2017)

First up for canning season 2017.... 27 jars of strawberry jam. This year was a bumper crop for strawberries with warm days, lots of rain, and cool nights. They honestly never tasted so good.

The bowl is what was left after an entire flat of berries. These were the ones that were just not quite ripe enough.


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## Merrywine (Jun 19, 2017)

Wow, looks like you'll be set for a while.


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## Bodenski (Jun 19, 2017)

I love homemade strawberry jam. The recipe (if I remember right) is 5 cups of strawberry puree to 7 cups of sugar. With a ratio like that, it's hard to go wrong!


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## Julie (Jun 19, 2017)

I don't can my strawberry jam, I freeze it.


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## Arne (Jun 19, 2017)

Julie said:


> I don't can my strawberry jam, I freeze it.



Lol, I ferment mine. Sadly, tho, ours froze during flowering time. Guess I'll have to wait til next year. Next are the cherries, but they had a bad time with the cold weather also. The robins are takin them about as fast as they turn a bit red. Only a year away from a decent batch. Arne.


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## the_rayway (Jun 20, 2017)

So far we have done a Rhubarb Vanilla With Earl Grey Tea jam and a Rhubarb/Spruce tip/Mint Jelly. Strawberries won't be out until July up here  But I'm in @Julie 's camp - I only do freezer jams with Strawberries: way less sugar, and it tastes like summer in a jar.


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## montanaWineGuy (Jun 20, 2017)

Excellent. Before I started making wine, I made lots of different types of Jam. I'll have to discipline myself and make Elderberry jam with some of this years Elderberries.


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## JohnT (Jun 20, 2017)

Bodenski said:


> I love homemade strawberry jam. The recipe (if I remember right) is 5 cups of strawberry puree to 7 cups of sugar. With a ratio like that, it's hard to go wrong!



Yup, plus 1 packet of pectin and a squirt of lemon juice.


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## Julie (Jun 20, 2017)

And has anyone ever made zucchini relish? I love this stuff!


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## the_rayway (Jun 21, 2017)

I made some last year! Considering I'm more of a dill pickle relish lady only - it was pretty good! I also tried a Jalapeno Salsa this year that was dynamite - I finally found that balance between burn your face off/limey-ness/robust flavour.

I find that when someone makes a request for "____ that my mom/grandma used to make" I'll end up testing a few batches on them until I get it right. Then I put it in the yearly rotation with a note to give them most of the batch. The others usually get distributed to others I think might like them. I'm currently searching a Beet Jelly recipe similar to my Step-Mother-In-Law's. She passed recently, and many of her extended family adored this jelly. We searched her records and couldn't find it...but I'll keep looking! I find it's part of the fun.


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## Julie (Aug 14, 2017)

Canning season is really coming along so I figured I would bring this thread back up. So far I have canned bread and butter pickles and dill pickle chips. Also, freezing corn here and there. I talked to this guy about freezing corn. He says he does not blanch his corn. He cuts it off the cob, puts it in a bag and then fills the bag with water, then freezes. He claims the corn is better this way. Does anyone else do this?


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## JohnT (Aug 20, 2017)

Just finished off making 28 jars of bread and butter pickles. Then I made a single batch or eight jars of peach jam.

Boy are my feet killing me!


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## fivebk (Aug 20, 2017)

Julie said:


> Canning season is really coming along so I figured I would bring this thread back up. So far I have canned bread and butter pickles and dill pickle chips. Also, freezing corn here and there. I talked to this guy about freezing corn. He says he does not blanch his corn. He cuts it off the cob, puts it in a bag and then fills the bag with water, then freezes. He claims the corn is better this way. Does anyone else do this?



I cut the corn off the cob , put it in a large pan with a little sugar and salt I bring it to a boil and fill quart freezer bags.


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## GreenEnvy22 (Aug 20, 2017)

My wife and I have been busy.


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## Julie (Aug 21, 2017)

Nice looking canning cubbard, GreenEnvy22!

I did a batch of green beans yesterday and will do another batch today. Thinking about peach butter, I need to see how much I still have from last year.


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## Julie (Aug 21, 2017)

Does anyone freeze corn on the cob? If so, is it any good and how do you do it?


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## GreenEnvy22 (Aug 21, 2017)

Julie said:


> Nice looking canning cubbard, GreenEnvy22!
> 
> I did a batch of green beans yesterday and will do another batch today. Thinking about peach butter, I need to see how much I still have from last year.



Thanks!
This is in our cellar. As those two shelving units are almost full, I'll squeeze one more shelving unit in yet, I'll move the one wine rack just visible on the end there to another wall. Tomato's are just starting to produce in volume so we'll have a lot more salsas and sauces coming up soon.


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## fivebk (Aug 21, 2017)

We tried freezing corn on the cob one time and it came out tasting like the cob instead of the corn

BOB


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## J-Hat (Aug 21, 2017)

GreenEnvy22 said:


> My wife and I have been busy.



Never canned anything before, but am intrigued by you photo, how long does this stuff last before it first doesn't taste fresh or good and second isn't safe to eat?


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## GreenEnvy22 (Aug 21, 2017)

J-Hat said:


> Never canned anything before, but am intrigued by you photo, how long does this stuff last before it first doesn't taste fresh or good and second isn't safe to eat?



It depends on what it is, but most stuff is good for 1-2 years.
We are still eating some 2015 salsas and jams. Typically though we try to keep stuff under 18 months.
It doesn't usually go "bad" after that point,but stuff like salsa gets more mushy, or flavours may decline.

Our highest volume use (and so what we make most of) is tomato salsas, pepper jelly, and pickled veggies. Most of it is from our vegetable garden.
The jams we mostly give as gifts.

Some of it is just finding uses for the surplus we often have. My wife has made zucchini salsa and zucchini relish because we have so much (I have about 15 zucchini sitting on the kitchen counter right now waiting to be used).

Interestingly, I don't really like any of the pickled stuff like the cauliflower, cabbage, pickles, and beets, but I enjoy making them. My wife, kids, and other extended family love all that stuff though.


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## GreenEnvy22 (Aug 22, 2017)

Ugh, it's close to 2am. Wifey and I decided to make a quadruple batch of salsa tonight, thought we'd be done before 12. Still waiting for water to boil for doing the jar bath. Economies of scale we said. It won't take 4x as long as a single batch we said. Wrong. It does take almost 4x as long. So much peeling and chopping.

We also canned 12 jars of peaches.
Thats a 20qt pot of salsa in the pic.

Gonna be a rough morning. Still have a lot of stuff left, need to make more tomorrow.
Oh and she baked a whole lot of zucchini bread/muffins too.


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## Steve_M (Aug 22, 2017)

We (SWMBO) has decided to pass on canning tomatoes this year.


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## Julie (Aug 22, 2017)

Dear Lord GreenEnvy22! that is a pile of salsa!

Did 2 batches of green beans and I had bought some roma tomatoes to make some bruschetta and naturally I bought way too big of a package, so I canned some stewed tomatoes. I might do some peaches but I think I am done for this year except for venison. I have enough tomato sauce, salsa, relish and sauerkraut from last year that I don't need to do any this year.

Oh, I did freeze some corn on the cob, going to try it next week and if it is tasty, then I will be buying some more corn to freeze.


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## JohnT (Aug 27, 2017)

Pickled cherry peppers! Nothing better with a burger or steak.


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## stickman (Aug 28, 2017)

These tomatoes are from my garden, I have 10 plants all from San Marzano seeds that popped up on their own. I'll be canning puree with basil tonight, and probably for the next few weeks as more tomatoes come in.


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## the_rayway (Sep 1, 2017)

I'm up to recipe #67 so far this year, and the tomatoes are just starting to ripen! I am actually getting all the paperwork in order to start up a little canning company on the side, so there is lots of experimenting going on at our place this year!

Favourite recipes to date: Plum Vanilla Butter, Strawberry Hot Sauce, Beyond Hot with Unstable Pineapple Tomatoes, and Cowboy Candy. My Tart Cherry Liqueur is killer this year too, and I'm excited to see how my Peach/Vanilla/Brown Sugar one will turn out. 

The pic of the canning shelves was from a couple of weeks ago, and they're already at 100% before the tomatoes have come in, so we're swimming in food! Plus, I have around 60 jars of jam, soup, etc. in the freezer as well.


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## Julie (Sep 1, 2017)

Good luck with your canning venture the_rayway!


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## GreenEnvy22 (Sep 4, 2017)

Got access to about 120 lbs of concord grapes today, went and picked them in the morning. Then my wife and I made 17L of concord juice, 15 jars of Concord grape jam, 5 grape pie fillings.
I still have about 40 lbs left we haven't gone through yet. I may try making a small batch of concord wine tomorrow.


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## JohnT (Sep 6, 2017)

The figs finally came in... 

Made 10 jars of fig jam. Perfect with goat cheese!


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## GreenEnvy22 (Sep 6, 2017)

JohnT said:


> The figs finally came in...
> 
> Made 10 jars of fig jam. Perfect with goat cheese!



We have 4 fig trees that are heavily laden with figs. Waiting for them to ripen so we can make some jam too. Down to our last jar right now.

Awesome fig appetizer: Stuff figs with goat cheese, wrap in bacon, bake.


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## JohnT (Sep 16, 2017)

I was able to squeeze in a batch of my wife's favorite dill pickles.
It was not easy because I'm also trying to get ready for Crush!

It was worth it to see the look on her face when I surprised her with the batch.


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## JohnT (Oct 10, 2017)

Indulge me.... 

My favorite steak house is rather unique. Once you get a table, and are seated, there are buckets of pickled items for you to nosh on while waiting for the first round of drinks. There normally is a bucket of these wonderful dill pickles, a bucket of fresh sour kraut and green tomatoes, but best of all there is normally a bucket of pickled hot cherry peppers which are hot, but not too hot. 

The customers at this steak house all really come for the some thing, their famous 24 ounce Delmonico steak. Each steak comes with a side of home fries and, most importantly, one of those same pickled cherry peppers. 

I am in love with those peppers. You take a little cut of the pepper, then a cut of the steak on the same fork for an explosion of flavor. This is one of my most favorite things to eat. 

Since I like to grill at home, I decided that I need to be able to can my own. Thanks to a past member here, I got a recipe that is a spot on match and have been canning them for several years now. 

Each cookout, I bring out a jar. They are great with steak, but place on a burger (rip out the stem and seeds, and squash it flat) and you are in for a really big treat. 

Two years ago, I had a group of nieces and nephews over for a cook out. I was sitting next to my littlest niece, Irena who is a tiny little thing that just turned 20. I saw her go to eat one of the peppers straight from the jar. 

Before she could bite down on it, I warned her. I said "be careful, those are hot and I do not think a young gal like you could take it". 

OK, Not the greatest way to issue a warning. Instead of heeding to what I said, she became determined to show me how tough she was. 

As I looked her in the face, she ate the pepper. I continue to stare into her face and, to her credit, she offered no reaction to the pain she must have been experiencing. After about 30 second, I noticed a tear was running down her cheek. 

Long story short, from that day forward, the peppers were called "Russian Tears" (my Niece is Russian). 

Russian Tears are immensely popular in my family. The problem is that you need a full pound of those peppers for each jar and they are very hard to find. 

Enter the farm stand across the street. They were able to get a whole box of them for me (about 15 pounds) all for $22.00! 

Russian Tears for everybody!!! 

Last night I did my first dozen jars..


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## JohnT (Oct 10, 2017)

Coming soon, Processing and canning our own tomatoes and apple pie filling.


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## fivebk (Oct 10, 2017)

I love pickled hot peppers, be it cherry,jalapeño,pepperichino(probably didn’t spell it right). I have canned Pickled jalapeños, green chilies, I have dehydrated Cayanne and habanero and ground them to powder. I have made homemade jalapeño poppers and froze them and have made homemade fresh chili Rellenos this year . I also made and Canned sweet onion and pepper relish that is wonderful poured over a block of cream cheese and served with crackers .

BOB


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