Preserving the Good Life

This is one of the very first things that I learned how to can and it’s a staple at our house.  If you ever researched the cancer causing ingredients in canned tomatoes that you buy at the grocery store you will never buy another store bought tin can of them.   We use these tomatoes in chili, soups, salsa, spaghetti sauce…you name it.  I try my best to can an average of 50 quarts of these a yr, that’s about 1 per week.  Red, Yellow, Pink – it doesn’t matter the color, for canning purposes a tomato is a tomato.

Blanch the tomatoes.  Peel the skins off and cut the cores out.

If you’re cold packing the tomatoes at this point you would put them in the jars with salt and process.  The difference between Cold Packing and Hot Packing is cooking the tomatoes down so that there’s no oxygen left in them to cause them to float in the jar.  When you see tomatoes and or other fruits floating in jars, chances are they were cold packed.  Refer to my canning peaches post for a good example and comparison.

Cook the tomatoes.

Skim all the foam off the top.

Ladle the hot tomatoes into hot, sterile jars.  Add 1 tsp of canning salt per jar.  My Grandma and Mom added 1 tsp of sugar to the jars too.

We water bath ours for 20 minutes.  I have seen people just put a hot lid and ring on them, cover and sit them aside.  And I’ve seen people water bath them for 40 minutes.

Peach jam is probably one of my all time favorites, at least it gives blackberry jam a run for it’s money. Growing up we had a peach orchard with over 500 trees.  Just recently some of those peach trees were replanted, and we’re just now beginning to harvest peaches after years with no orchard.  This is one of those recipes that I literally take from the farm to the jar.

This recipe yields 8 jelly jars (8 oz)

• 3.5 lbs of peeled, cut up peaches – mashed
• 2.5 cups of sugar
• Juice from one lemon, lemons are naturally high in pectin
• 1 T Real Butter
• 8 sterile jars, rings and lids

Place the jars in the oven, heat to 200°. Mash the peaches with a chopper.

Squeeze a lemon into a cup and pour it thru a strainer to catch all the pulp and seeds.

Add peaches and lemon juice to a pot and bring to a boil.  Once it’s at a rolling boil, boil for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring.

Add sugar and butter.   Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 30 minutes, stir occasionally.  Be sure to stir it enough that it doesn’t stick.  Skim off any excess foam.

Boil lids, fill hot jars with the hot jam and wipe the tops with a clean sterile cloth.  Place the lids, put the rings on and tighten.  Water bath for 10 minutes.

Water Bathing Instructions:  While cooking the peaches, I start my canner of water on high.  Jelly jars require 1-2 inches of water over the jars.  If placed carefully you can get 12 jars in the canner.  Once the jars are ready and placed in there, I put a lid on the canner and bring it to a boil.  Once boiling, I boil for 10 minutes.  Remove jars, cover with a towel and cool over night.  Don’t be surprised if your jars start sealing as soon as you take them out of the canner.

I don’t use Sure-Jell in my jam recipes for a reason.  Have you ever noticed that the recipes that call for Sure-Jell call for more sugar than fruit?  Let that sink in a minute….

Imagine having that sweet blackberry cobbler mid December and it taste like you just picked the berries….get ready because that’s what’s going to happen this winter!  Having this in your pantry, you’ll be minutes away from mouth watering Blackberry Cobblers or better yet – Blackberry Dumplings…..YUM!  This recipe takes whole blackberries and covers them in a blackberry sauce so that you have cobblers and dumplings in no time!

When my Dad called and asked if I could do something with really ripe blackberries, I stopped what I was doing and drove straight to pick them up.  Getting this many berries – don’t just happen every day.  These were too ripe to sell at the market, but perfect to preserve – only I had no time to waste…my evening plans quickly changed!  My parents know I’m a “no waste” type of gal, so they knew I’d find something to do with them!

Here’s the base recipe.  For the quantity of berries I had, I doubled it and it yielded 19 quarts and 1 pint.  Based on this recipe, I’d prepare 10 quarts or 20 pints depending on how you prefer to preserve it.  You can even can this in 1/2 pints if you’d like!  It’s all about preference.  Big family, big cobblers, quarts – that’s my preference.

• 8 quarts of blackberries (separated into 3 quarts and 5 quarts)
• 8 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Rinse and place 3 quarts of blackberries in a stockpot.  Set the other 5 quarts of berries aside.  Add the lemon juice and 2 cups of sugar to the stockpot and mix.

Cook on low, mixing constantly so that it doesn’t scorch or stick.  As the sugar dissolves, add more sugar, 2 cups at a time, stirring constantly.

Once all the sugar is dissolved use a mixer or stick blender to blend the berry mixture. This will give you the “soupy” texture that you need in order to be able to fill the jars around the whole berries.  Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, sterilize the jars and boil the lids and rings.

Rinse the remaining 5 quarts of blackberries. Loosely pack blackberries in jars, filling snugly but do not pack the jars. You want to be able to fill the jars with the berry sauce and the more “packed” the jars, the harder it will be to fill.

Pour sauce over the berries leaving 1/2 inch for headspace.  Remove any air bubbles.

Wipe the rims with a sterile cloth, place hot lids and tighten rings.

Waterbath quarts 20 minutes, pints 15 minutes.

A few years ago my husband and I had a sauerkraut competition.  I made some my way, in an old fashioned crock and he made some his way by putting it in a jar and processing it.  We ended up with old fashioned sauerkraut like Grandma’s and some amazing canned cabbage!  This is the recipe that resulted in the amazingly good canned cabbage.

When you’re getting things together, keep in mind 1 head of cabbage averages 3 quarts of canned cabbage.

Shred the cabbage and pack the sterile jars full, up to the neck, leaving 1 inch of head space. Use a wooden spoon to reallly pack the jars.

Add to each jar 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon canning salt, and 1 teaspoon of vinegar.

Fill each jar with boiling water up to the neck.  Place hot lids, rings and tighten.

Waterbath 20 mins.  This stuff is great fried, added to soup or simply warmed up.  Enjoy!

Mama Patty is the Mama of a dear friend of mine.  She is one of the sweetest, God loving ladies you’ll ever meet.  When her daughter sent me this recipe it was cause for excitement!

Have you ever asked a friend for a recipe, only to realize that no matter how much you doctor it up, it won’t taste like her’s until you have the secret ingredient?!  And to complicate matters – the secret ingredient is homemade pickles….Mama Patty’s Homemade Bread ‘n Butter Pickles to be exact.  Now, I can say that I have the recipe for the secret ingredient to Angel’s A-MAZ-ING Potato Salad!  (Yes, that potato salad really is that good!)

This recipe has been passed down for generations in their family and now I will share it with you.  Here’s the recipe as I received it – in Mama Patty’s handwriting:

• 1 1/2 gallons of cucumbers, sliced (approximately 8 lbs of cukes)
• 3 medium onions, sliced
• 3 cups vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup canning salt
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Wash the cucumbers thoroughly.  Slice cucumbers and onions, add 1/2 cup of salt, cover with ice and set aside for 2 hours.

Mix sugar, turmeric, mustard and celery seeds and add to vinegar in a large stock pot. Heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Drain cucumbers and onions, add to sugar/vinegar mixture.  Bring to a boil, but do not boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.

Ladle the hot cucumbers and syrup into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles.  Wipe rim with a sterile cloth, place the hot lid and ring, tighten.  At this point, our ancestors would set them aside and let them seal.  Today, many people water bath for 10 minutes.  It’s your preference.

Enjoy!  And the next time you make potato salad – use these pickles instead of store bought relish!  ~ You’ll thank me later 😉

When the local grocery store had pork loin on sale for $1.88 per pound, I snatched up four huge loins.  I used this as an opportunity to stock pile some pork in my basement grocery store.

Canning pork loin can be done one of two ways.  My sister uses the “Cold Pack Method” and I use the “Parboil Method”.  They both work, they both produce a nice product.  The biggest difference between the two is the Parboil Method takes a little longer to boil the meat before you pack it into the jars.  To me it’s worth the extra 10-15 minutes to keep the proteins in the meat and not stuck to the inside of the jars.  Canning meat can leave a messy jar clean up later down the road, but parboiling helps with that a little bit.  I still prefer to use wide mouth jars just for easier clean up.

The jar on the left was Parboiled, the one on the right Cold Packed. See the difference in the jars??

Trim as much fat as possible off of the meat and cut up the pork into chunks.

Put the pork in a large stock pot with boiling water and parboil it until the scum floats to the top.  Skim the scum off.

Once boiling, boil for 10 minutes.  Ladle the hot meat into hot, sterile jars using a slotted spoon.  Approximately, 1 pound will fit in a pint jar, 2 pounds per quart, so can it according to your family size.  I have growing boys, so we use a lot of quarts.  Add 1 teaspoon of canning salt to each quart jar. Pour hot stock from parboiling or boiling water over the meat leaving 1 inch of head space.

Remove all the air bubbles using a plastic knife to keep from damaging the jars.

Pressure can pints 75 minutes and quarts 90 minutes on 10 lbs of pressure.  (Adjust the pounds of pressure to your elevation.)

Now it’s time to enjoy!  Pork tenderloin for dinner anyone?  How about carnitas….or better yet – pulled pork barbecue!  The options are endless…..

My grandmother used to make these and I’ve hunted and hunted for a recipe to come close to what she made.  I found several similar recipes on Pinterest and in the Ball canning book.  We will give it a try and doctor as needed the next go around.  This is a 2 day process and a lot of work for a little yield; but the smell of it cooking….wow!

The rinds will need to be cut and let soak over night with the salt and water the day before you process them.  The thicker the rinds, the better.

• 4 qts of 1 inch cubed watermelon rinds, mostly green, some pink
• 1 cup Canning Salt
• 2 gallons of water, divided
• 3 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon of whole allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon of mustard seed
• 7 cups of sugar
• 1 thinly sliced medium lemon
• 2 cups vinegar

Cover watermelon rinds with salt and 1 gallon of water, stirring to dissolve the salt and let soak 12 hrs or over night.   Drain; rinse.

Cover rind with 1 gallon of water in a large stockpot.  Cook until tender.   Drain; set aside. Tie spices in a spice bag.  When you can’t find a spice bag – make your own – coffee filters and a string work nicely.

Combine spice bag, sugar, lemon slices and vinegar in a large pot, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Combine sugar syrup mixture and rind, simmer until rind is transparent.  Don’t over cook, you’ll end up with a lot of liquid and a little bit of rinds, more of a preserve consistency than pickles.  Remove spice bag.  Pack hot rinds and liquid into hot jars leaving 1/2 in head space.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust 2 piece ring and lid.  Water bath for 10 minutes.

The watermelons that I used yielded 6 quarts of watermelon rinds so I adjusted my recipe to accommodate and it yielded 7 pints.  .

It never fails, this is one of those things that I never have on hand when I need it.  Not to mention, I’m always a little leery of what’s in processed store bought chili so I thought we’d try our hand at canning our own.  Needless to say, my boys loved it and wanted to help jar this up – so they could scrap the pot!  This is great on a hotdog, by itself or you can add some beans and have chili beans!

Here’s the ingredients per 1 pound of ground beef.

• 1 lb of ground beef
• 3 1/2 cups of water
• 2 – 10 oz cans of tomato paste
• 1 lg onion finely chopped
• 2 T chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper

Do not brown the meat, if you do you’ll end up with clumpy, thick chili.  The trick to the smooth chili texture is to mix the thawed burger with hot water until it’s broken down and fine. We sauteed the onions, added the spices to the onions and then added that to the meat and water.

Mix well and then add the tomato paste, 1 can at a time, mixing well after each can.

Simmer 4-6 hours, stirring frequently or you can cook it on low over night.  After it’s cooked thoroughly, you may sample and adjust the spices as needed.

This roaster held 5 times this recipe and yielded 23 pints and LOTS of sampling.  So if you do 1 pound it will fit in a large crockpot and you’ll average 5 pints.  Scoop the chili sauce into hot, sterile jars, wipe the rims very well and remove air bubbles.  Adjust the 2 piece lid/ring and tighten.  Pressure can at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.  Processing will thicken the chili, so once opened add water if desired.

I know, “canning” and “cole slaw” don’t go together.  But anything that saves me time and money in the long run is worth a shot!  One thing about it – I’m not afraid to experiment when it comes to canning, especially if I have most of the ingredients on hand or it’s cheap to make.  It never fails my boys will grab a pack of hotdogs and out the door we go to the cabin.  I wanted to add something to our shelf stable pantry at the cabin for those occasions; that’s what sparked the interest in canning cole slaw and hot dog chili.  You’ll read about the chili in another post.  This recipe is simple.  Chop, shred, boil, mix and jar up, pretty much it’s that easy.

What’s pictured below yielded 5 quarts.

• 2 heads of Cabbage, shredded
• 2 Red Peppers, diced
• 2 large Carrots, shredded (if desired)
• 2 medium Onions, diced
• 2 teaspoons Salt

Mix the onions, peppers and cabbage together, cover with the salt and let sit for at least 1 hour.

Mix the syrup, heat until the sugar is dissolved and set it aside.

• 4 cups of Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Mustard Seed
• 2 teaspoons Celery Seed
• 2 cups of Vinegar
• 1/2 cup of Water

Once the syrup is dissolved, drain the cabbage mixture, rinse if desired and mix the syrup and cabbage together.  Put the mixture in hot, sterile jars, wipe the rims with a sterile cloth, tighten the 2 piece ring/lid.

Water bath for 10 minutes.

You can eat this straight from the jar and serve as a bbq vinegar based slaw.  Prefer a mayonnaise based slaw – no problem – drain (rinse if you prefer) and add mayonnaise! Enjoy!