Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tattler Reusable Canning Lids
We do a lot of canning here. And the thought has always followed that in an emergency situation, canning things would be impossible without a good supply of canning lids. The jars and rings can be re-used, but the lids are supposedly a one time use deal. So we stock canning lids in the food storage. A bunch of them. But even those will eventually run out and then canning as a preservation method is done.
So one day, sweet husband got searching the internet (which is usually a dangerous thing) and found Tattler Reuseable canning lids and of course we had to give them a try. The Tattler company was gracious enough to send me some wide mouth and some regular mouth lids to review. I used them to can blueberry jam. I'll post the blueberry jam tutorial later, today we're just discussing the very cool lids.
The lids come in 12 packs, just like regular canning lids. Tattler also offers bulk pricing on them. Each lid is two pieces, the white plastic "lid" and the rubber ring gasket. You will need to have the screw on metal band that came with your jars if you bought them new. The bands are also available from Ball/Kerr as boxes of lids with bands. If you've been canning for a while you probably have plenty of the bands around.
The Tattler lids are available for regular or wide mouth jars and fit all standard canning jars like Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, etc. And at approximately $7.00 per dozen regular mouth and $8.00 per dozen wide mouth, it will only take 2-3 uses to make them less expensive to use than the standard canning lids.
So here's the instructions for using them:
Prep your jars as usual (wash, sterilize, etc.). Put the Tattler lids and rubber gaskets in a pot of hot water and heat almost to boiling. The box says "scald lids and rubber rings".
Now, their box says to leave the lids and rings in the hot water until you're ready to use them, but the little printout instructions they sent said to take the rings out and let them cool before using them, leaving the lids in the hot water. I didn't read the box until after, so I took the rings out and let them cool. I'll have to try the next batch leaving the rings in the water.
When you've got your food in your jars, wipe the rims of the jars, stick the rubber rings on the lids and put the lids on the jars. Use the screw band to tighten it all up. So far so good, right? Pretty much like using any other lid except for the part of having to assemble them before putting them on the jar.
Now, here's something new. After you've got the lid screwed on, turn the metal band back 1/4 inch. That's one quarter of an inch, not one quarter turn. It doesn't turn back very much, just a little bit.
Now the jars are ready to process in your canner. These lids are supposed to work for either water bath or pressure canning. I'll try pressure canning something with them another time. Jam goes in the water bath canner, so that's what we did. Process your food however that food is supposed to be processed. This jam was in the canner for 10 minutes.
When the jars are done processing, here's the other change. TIGHTEN the lids up when you pull the jars out of the canner. Regular lids you don't tighten when they come out of the canner, but these lids you tighten.
Let them cool at room temperature and the lids kind of suck down. I was a little thrown off by there being no "popping" sound, but they did look sucked down when they were done cooling.
To open the bottle, use a butter knife (nothing sharp) and stick it between the rubber ring and the jar and you'll break the seal. I had to take a lid off already because I wanted to give some jam to a friend, but didn't want to give them the lid. Really, they wouldn't know what to do with it. Okay, maybe after reading my post they would, but that's not the point. The point is I took a lid off.
To use it again, Tattler recommends putting the ring on the opposite direction that it was the last time you canned with it. You can see the little grooves the white lid leaves in the rubber ring if you look close--those will let you know which way to set the rubber ring next time. The next two pictures show the rubber ring taken off the lid and turned over to show the grooves. You can see the grooves better in real life than they are showing up in the pictures. You might have to get your reading glasses out, but you'll be able to tell which way the ring went so you can turn it over next time. (If you click the pictures they enlarge and you can see the grooves a little better.)
All my jars sealed fine. I've got them in the food room with the other jams and jellies now. Impressive. Why didn't I hear about these lids sooner? If I'd purchased them when I started canning it would have saved me a ton in purchasing lids over the years. And fewer old lids in the trash can. Plus it solves the problem of running out of lids in the emergency supplies.
Having canned for a long time, there are a few things I'll have to get used to when using these lids.
1. I can't just sharpie the product and date on the lid since I'll be re-using it. I had to get labels out.
2. I'll have to can some things with regular lids to give as gifts since I really don't want to be giving my special lids away.
3. I'll have to find a new method of storing my jars since right now I have way more jars than reusable lids, so screwing a lid on each jar to store it isn't going to work.
4. I need a tote or something to keep the reusable canning lids in since I don't know how many times I'll be able to just put them back in their original box before the box falls apart.
None of those things are worth too much though when you consider the longevity of the Tattler Reusable Canning Lids and not having to worry about your lid supply if there is no more grocery store deliveries.
A few more notes about the lids that might be of interest: They are BPA free, made of FDA and USDA approved materials, dishwasher safe, and indefinitely reusable. The rubber rings are supposed to last 20 years or more before needing replaced. Definitely worth looking into.
I'll be canning a few more things with my samples, then picking up some more of these for our canning supplies. What do you think?
So one day, sweet husband got searching the internet (which is usually a dangerous thing) and found Tattler Reuseable canning lids and of course we had to give them a try. The Tattler company was gracious enough to send me some wide mouth and some regular mouth lids to review. I used them to can blueberry jam. I'll post the blueberry jam tutorial later, today we're just discussing the very cool lids.
The lids come in 12 packs, just like regular canning lids. Tattler also offers bulk pricing on them. Each lid is two pieces, the white plastic "lid" and the rubber ring gasket. You will need to have the screw on metal band that came with your jars if you bought them new. The bands are also available from Ball/Kerr as boxes of lids with bands. If you've been canning for a while you probably have plenty of the bands around.
The Tattler lids are available for regular or wide mouth jars and fit all standard canning jars like Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, etc. And at approximately $7.00 per dozen regular mouth and $8.00 per dozen wide mouth, it will only take 2-3 uses to make them less expensive to use than the standard canning lids.
So here's the instructions for using them:
Prep your jars as usual (wash, sterilize, etc.). Put the Tattler lids and rubber gaskets in a pot of hot water and heat almost to boiling. The box says "scald lids and rubber rings".
Now, their box says to leave the lids and rings in the hot water until you're ready to use them, but the little printout instructions they sent said to take the rings out and let them cool before using them, leaving the lids in the hot water. I didn't read the box until after, so I took the rings out and let them cool. I'll have to try the next batch leaving the rings in the water.
When you've got your food in your jars, wipe the rims of the jars, stick the rubber rings on the lids and put the lids on the jars. Use the screw band to tighten it all up. So far so good, right? Pretty much like using any other lid except for the part of having to assemble them before putting them on the jar.
Now, here's something new. After you've got the lid screwed on, turn the metal band back 1/4 inch. That's one quarter of an inch, not one quarter turn. It doesn't turn back very much, just a little bit.
Now the jars are ready to process in your canner. These lids are supposed to work for either water bath or pressure canning. I'll try pressure canning something with them another time. Jam goes in the water bath canner, so that's what we did. Process your food however that food is supposed to be processed. This jam was in the canner for 10 minutes.
When the jars are done processing, here's the other change. TIGHTEN the lids up when you pull the jars out of the canner. Regular lids you don't tighten when they come out of the canner, but these lids you tighten.
Let them cool at room temperature and the lids kind of suck down. I was a little thrown off by there being no "popping" sound, but they did look sucked down when they were done cooling.
To open the bottle, use a butter knife (nothing sharp) and stick it between the rubber ring and the jar and you'll break the seal. I had to take a lid off already because I wanted to give some jam to a friend, but didn't want to give them the lid. Really, they wouldn't know what to do with it. Okay, maybe after reading my post they would, but that's not the point. The point is I took a lid off.
To use it again, Tattler recommends putting the ring on the opposite direction that it was the last time you canned with it. You can see the little grooves the white lid leaves in the rubber ring if you look close--those will let you know which way to set the rubber ring next time. The next two pictures show the rubber ring taken off the lid and turned over to show the grooves. You can see the grooves better in real life than they are showing up in the pictures. You might have to get your reading glasses out, but you'll be able to tell which way the ring went so you can turn it over next time. (If you click the pictures they enlarge and you can see the grooves a little better.)
All my jars sealed fine. I've got them in the food room with the other jams and jellies now. Impressive. Why didn't I hear about these lids sooner? If I'd purchased them when I started canning it would have saved me a ton in purchasing lids over the years. And fewer old lids in the trash can. Plus it solves the problem of running out of lids in the emergency supplies.
Having canned for a long time, there are a few things I'll have to get used to when using these lids.
1. I can't just sharpie the product and date on the lid since I'll be re-using it. I had to get labels out.
2. I'll have to can some things with regular lids to give as gifts since I really don't want to be giving my special lids away.
3. I'll have to find a new method of storing my jars since right now I have way more jars than reusable lids, so screwing a lid on each jar to store it isn't going to work.
4. I need a tote or something to keep the reusable canning lids in since I don't know how many times I'll be able to just put them back in their original box before the box falls apart.
None of those things are worth too much though when you consider the longevity of the Tattler Reusable Canning Lids and not having to worry about your lid supply if there is no more grocery store deliveries.
A few more notes about the lids that might be of interest: They are BPA free, made of FDA and USDA approved materials, dishwasher safe, and indefinitely reusable. The rubber rings are supposed to last 20 years or more before needing replaced. Definitely worth looking into.
I'll be canning a few more things with my samples, then picking up some more of these for our canning supplies. What do you think?
Friday, July 16, 2010
A Thought for All You Canners of Garden Produce
When I'm canning I usually have a good chuckle over a fond memory of a friend of ours who, after receiving some homemade jam from us said: "My mom used to can a lot when I was growing up. I never could understand why she did it during the hottest part of the summer though."
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Plum Jam (Cooked Version)
Okay, I'm missing summer. We've had a good bout of snow lately and while the sledding has been fun, warm would be nice. So in honor of all the snow, here's another flashback to summer post. Plum Jam. Cooked jams are not too difficult and a little bit of fruit can actually make more jam than you might think. And one of the best parts about making jam is that you can make "variations on the theme" jams that you'll never find in a store, like cherry-strawberry or plum-pineapple or peach-jalepeno (hubby's personal favorite). So in this post we'll talk about making jam from plums, but the general process applies to making cooked jam out of almost any fruit.
I'm using the recipe out of the MCP pectin box, other recipes may vary on ingredient amounts. You'll need:
plums (5 3/4 cups chopped)
sugar (8 1/2 cups)
lemon juice (1/2 cup)
pectin (I like MCP, but any boxed pectin works)
jars (pint or half pint are good)
lids and rings
water bath canner
Step 1: Wash your plums. I got these plums from a friend who got them from a friend of hers who had too many on their tree, but then my friend picked too many of those so I got a box of them. They're kind of funny looking plums--not the kind you get in the store. They are harder, very purple/blue on the outside, very green on the inside, and kind of oblong shaped. Any plums work.
Step 2: Pit and chop the plums. Cut the plums in half to get the pits out. I used my scary food processor to do the chopping.
Step 3: Put the chopped plums in a pot with the lemon juice and heat it up. Doesn't look very "plum" colored does it? As you heat, the color bleeds from the skins and it all turns a nice plum color. About this time is also good to get your water in your canner and start heating that up. You'll also want to put all your lids in a little pot of water and heat them up a little.
Step 4: In a separate bowl, measure all the sugar.
Step 5: Once the sugar is ready, add the pectin to the pot of hot fruit and mix it in. Don't add the sugar yet. You can also add just a dab of butter or margarine to the pot (about 1/2 tsp.) This will reduce the foaming that happens when you cook the jam and make a better looking jam. Why it works, I do not know. Canning magic.
Step 6: Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly (this is why you want your sugar already measured).
Step 7: Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil. Once you hit the full rolling boil, start your timer and let it boil for 4 minutes. See? Nicely plum colored now. :)
Step 8: After four minutes, remove the jam from the heat, skim any foam, and scoop it into the jars. Wipe the rims and put your hot lids on. Put the jars in the canner and process for 10 minutes. Make sure the water is 1-2 inches over the lids of the jars, add more water if you need to, then wait to start the canning time until it's boiling.
After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the canner and put them on a rack to cool. I use the ultra cool upside down oven rack with the opposite end supported by a plate.
Label and put them away. Jam of any kind makes great gifts or can quickly go with a loaf of bread or rolls to a potluck or family in need--a lot of these went out at Christmas this last year. The last round I did, I didn't have enough plums so I opened a can of crushed pineapple and used that to make up the fruit volume. That's my standby when I don't have enough fruit to finish a batch of jam, so we've had peach/pineapple, strawberry/pineapple, apricot/pineapple, and now plum/pineapple jam. They're all good.
I'm using the recipe out of the MCP pectin box, other recipes may vary on ingredient amounts. You'll need:
plums (5 3/4 cups chopped)
sugar (8 1/2 cups)
lemon juice (1/2 cup)
pectin (I like MCP, but any boxed pectin works)
jars (pint or half pint are good)
lids and rings
water bath canner
Step 1: Wash your plums. I got these plums from a friend who got them from a friend of hers who had too many on their tree, but then my friend picked too many of those so I got a box of them. They're kind of funny looking plums--not the kind you get in the store. They are harder, very purple/blue on the outside, very green on the inside, and kind of oblong shaped. Any plums work.
Step 2: Pit and chop the plums. Cut the plums in half to get the pits out. I used my scary food processor to do the chopping.
Step 3: Put the chopped plums in a pot with the lemon juice and heat it up. Doesn't look very "plum" colored does it? As you heat, the color bleeds from the skins and it all turns a nice plum color. About this time is also good to get your water in your canner and start heating that up. You'll also want to put all your lids in a little pot of water and heat them up a little.
Step 4: In a separate bowl, measure all the sugar.
Step 5: Once the sugar is ready, add the pectin to the pot of hot fruit and mix it in. Don't add the sugar yet. You can also add just a dab of butter or margarine to the pot (about 1/2 tsp.) This will reduce the foaming that happens when you cook the jam and make a better looking jam. Why it works, I do not know. Canning magic.
Step 6: Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly (this is why you want your sugar already measured).
Step 7: Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil. Once you hit the full rolling boil, start your timer and let it boil for 4 minutes. See? Nicely plum colored now. :)
Step 8: After four minutes, remove the jam from the heat, skim any foam, and scoop it into the jars. Wipe the rims and put your hot lids on. Put the jars in the canner and process for 10 minutes. Make sure the water is 1-2 inches over the lids of the jars, add more water if you need to, then wait to start the canning time until it's boiling.
After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the canner and put them on a rack to cool. I use the ultra cool upside down oven rack with the opposite end supported by a plate.
Label and put them away. Jam of any kind makes great gifts or can quickly go with a loaf of bread or rolls to a potluck or family in need--a lot of these went out at Christmas this last year. The last round I did, I didn't have enough plums so I opened a can of crushed pineapple and used that to make up the fruit volume. That's my standby when I don't have enough fruit to finish a batch of jam, so we've had peach/pineapple, strawberry/pineapple, apricot/pineapple, and now plum/pineapple jam. They're all good.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Getting Preparedness Gear on the Cheap
You all know I'm cheap. I do not like spending money and rarely buy anything new. In the wake of the free canning jar episode, I thought I'd let you all in on some other methods of finding canning supplies without paying an arm and a leg, then I thought, heck, I've gotten gear outside of canning stuff using these sources also, so even though this post started with sources for canning supplies, it's grown to sources for preparedness gear in general. And now, after following my thought process for a good three sentences, the moment you've all been waiting for . . . some of my favorite sources for preparedness gear on the cheap:
1. Yard Sales, Estate Sales, Moving Sales, Farm Auctions, etc. The estate/moving/farm sales are especially productive as folks really want to unload volume and usually aren't that concerned at making a ton of money doing it. Sometimes people don't know what they have and are willing to sell good gear for cheap. I've picked up quite a few bargains at yard sales including a large water bath canner, volcano stove, reloading press and dies, snow boots, meat slicer, tools, and firearms. Really, a great source. I try to go without my kids since they are yard sale junkies also and always want to bring home a stuffed animal or book or lava lamp (yes, I've come home from yardsales with the kids with all three of those before). Do not feel obligated to buy something just because someone's having a yard sale. This can get you into spending too much on yard sale day. Make sure it's something you need and will use. It's okay to leave a yard sale without buying anything if there's nothing there you need.
1 1/2. Thrift stores. This is usually a good place to get canning jars in Utah anyway. A little harder to find them during canning season, though. Also I've found pretty good prices on candles and you can always have a few more of those in the storage. Thrift stores go along the lines of yard sales--there's a lot of stuff there and you can end up spending more than you planned on stuff you don't really need if you don't stay focused. Thrift stores usually collect from local people, so in better neighborhoods you will find better goods at the thrift store. Our "local" thrift store is mostly recycled Kmart stuff, so I don't usually find much there for preparedness. Also, the gear will be used so if it runs on electricity (like some kitchen gadgets) make sure to check it out in the store before you buy it.
2. Freecycle or Craigslist or other local advertising method. Put a "wanted" ad in these types of services and see what kind of response you get. In our little area there is a half hour program every morning on the radio where you can call in to sell, barter, and trade items and that could be a resource as well if you're looking for something in particular. Posting flyers at your post office or other community message board works as well.
3. Work, church, other social contacts. When they've asked for announcements at church, I've gotten up and said I needed pint canning jars or whatever and have usually gotten a response from somebody with too many jars or someone willing to trade something for jars. The good part of this system is it is often free. You could use this for learning something--"does anybody know how to knit? I'd really like to learn." You can offer to trade services or other goods for whatever you're looking for, or you can offer to pay them as well.
4. Word of mouth. This kind of goes along with number 3, but includes just talking with whoever. You know, "what have you been up to?" "Well, I've been canning a bunch of stuff from the garden this week." Then if those people ever come across a stash of cherry trees that need picked or empty jars or whatever they don't have a need for, they know who cans that would appreciate any excess.
5. Relatives. I got my pressure canner and some jars from my Grandma when she quit canning in her old age and I've already got dibs on my mom's noodle maker ;) Most people do get to the point in their lives where they won't be using that rifle as much or growing and canning a ginormous garden. Let them know what you're up to and when they don't need their gear, you might get some of it. :)
6. Ask for it. We used to have a better paying job than we do now and bought ourselves some fantastic prep gear for our birthdays and Christmas. Santa might bring you something you need or you could get it for your birthday or Mother's day or whatever. If it's a big ticket item, maybe your family could all give you gift certificates to the store that sells the thing you want, or cash donations is good also. I've seriously considered the collection deal for Christmas so I could afford the gift I really wanted, but didn't think of it until it was too late. But it's a good idea anyway.
What has worked for you?
1. Yard Sales, Estate Sales, Moving Sales, Farm Auctions, etc. The estate/moving/farm sales are especially productive as folks really want to unload volume and usually aren't that concerned at making a ton of money doing it. Sometimes people don't know what they have and are willing to sell good gear for cheap. I've picked up quite a few bargains at yard sales including a large water bath canner, volcano stove, reloading press and dies, snow boots, meat slicer, tools, and firearms. Really, a great source. I try to go without my kids since they are yard sale junkies also and always want to bring home a stuffed animal or book or lava lamp (yes, I've come home from yardsales with the kids with all three of those before). Do not feel obligated to buy something just because someone's having a yard sale. This can get you into spending too much on yard sale day. Make sure it's something you need and will use. It's okay to leave a yard sale without buying anything if there's nothing there you need.
1 1/2. Thrift stores. This is usually a good place to get canning jars in Utah anyway. A little harder to find them during canning season, though. Also I've found pretty good prices on candles and you can always have a few more of those in the storage. Thrift stores go along the lines of yard sales--there's a lot of stuff there and you can end up spending more than you planned on stuff you don't really need if you don't stay focused. Thrift stores usually collect from local people, so in better neighborhoods you will find better goods at the thrift store. Our "local" thrift store is mostly recycled Kmart stuff, so I don't usually find much there for preparedness. Also, the gear will be used so if it runs on electricity (like some kitchen gadgets) make sure to check it out in the store before you buy it.
2. Freecycle or Craigslist or other local advertising method. Put a "wanted" ad in these types of services and see what kind of response you get. In our little area there is a half hour program every morning on the radio where you can call in to sell, barter, and trade items and that could be a resource as well if you're looking for something in particular. Posting flyers at your post office or other community message board works as well.
3. Work, church, other social contacts. When they've asked for announcements at church, I've gotten up and said I needed pint canning jars or whatever and have usually gotten a response from somebody with too many jars or someone willing to trade something for jars. The good part of this system is it is often free. You could use this for learning something--"does anybody know how to knit? I'd really like to learn." You can offer to trade services or other goods for whatever you're looking for, or you can offer to pay them as well.
4. Word of mouth. This kind of goes along with number 3, but includes just talking with whoever. You know, "what have you been up to?" "Well, I've been canning a bunch of stuff from the garden this week." Then if those people ever come across a stash of cherry trees that need picked or empty jars or whatever they don't have a need for, they know who cans that would appreciate any excess.
5. Relatives. I got my pressure canner and some jars from my Grandma when she quit canning in her old age and I've already got dibs on my mom's noodle maker ;) Most people do get to the point in their lives where they won't be using that rifle as much or growing and canning a ginormous garden. Let them know what you're up to and when they don't need their gear, you might get some of it. :)
6. Ask for it. We used to have a better paying job than we do now and bought ourselves some fantastic prep gear for our birthdays and Christmas. Santa might bring you something you need or you could get it for your birthday or Mother's day or whatever. If it's a big ticket item, maybe your family could all give you gift certificates to the store that sells the thing you want, or cash donations is good also. I've seriously considered the collection deal for Christmas so I could afford the gift I really wanted, but didn't think of it until it was too late. But it's a good idea anyway.
What has worked for you?
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Scored Some FREE Canning Jars
Guess it pays to give your UPS guy jam for Christmas so he knows you can. Or maybe he delivered while I was in the garden or canning something, I don't know, but I'm glad he knew who to call when there was a stash of canning jars that needed taken.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Fabulous Homemade Canned Salsa
I was going to write something fantabulous about Christmas or winter or something, but to be honest, my brain's about done, so I'm pulling out the Salsa post I've been wanting to write. It's kind of Christmasy because some people I love are getting some of my salsa as gifts this year. There you go. A Christmas post after all. :)
To make salsa, you need a good recipe. If you don't have one, don't worry, I'll share mine. Salsa is a staple around here, at least for my husband and son who like spicy stuff. The ingredients are easy to grow in your garden, and if you don't grow them in your garden, they're pretty easy to find at the market.
Here's the magical salsa recipe:
For every 1 quart tomatoes add:
1 onion
1 Bell pepper (or equivalent other mild pepper)
1 jalepeno pepper (or equivalent other hot pepper)
1-2 cloves garlic (optional)
Boil until thick, skimming juice, then add:
1/4 c. vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 TB sugar
Just before canning add:
1/8 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp ground cumin
dash cayenne pepper (optional)
Cilantro (1-2 bunches/10 quarts tomatoes)
Process 10 minutes in your boiling water canner.
Now, for the step by step. First you need some tomatoes. Growing your own is vastly superior to buying them at the store for cost and quality, but do what you can. The good thing about this recipe is that it can be made with a few tomatoes or a lot of tomatoes. However many tomatoes you have, that determines how much of the other ingredients you'll need.
If your tomatoes are romas, wash them and cut the stem end off. You don't need to peel them because their peels don't separate when they are cooked. If they are another variety, follow the first few steps in the canning tomatoes post (up to getting the tomatoes peeled).
Wow, missing a few pictures here. Anyway, after your tomatoes are prepped, pop them in your food processor and chop them to the desired consistency. Measure as you pour it out of the food processor and into the pot. The pot needs to be one that doesn't burn stuff again. I like my pressure canner pot. It's huge, so I can do a big ol' batch of salsa plus it has never burned anything I've cooked in it.
Next add the peppers. One bell pepper and one jalepeno pepper for each quart of chopped tomatoes. I usually have about 12 quarts of tomatoes, so I add 12 bell peppers. Core them and get all the seeds out.
Then pop them in your food processor (yours is probably nicer than mine--I got mine from my mom when she got a new one--I'm pretty sure it's 50 years old, but she says it's probably only 30).
And proceed to chop them to bits:
Add the pepper chunks to your pot of chopped tomatoes.
Now, if you like your salsa hot, go ahead and chop and add the whole amount of hot peppers. If you don't, add about half that much and work up from there after it's cooked for a bit and you can taste the hotness. I'm just shortening your learning curve here. Peppers from the store are not nearly as spicy as peppers from my garden. One year I didn't grow jalepenos, so I bought some from the grocery store. I used 1 1/2 peppers per quart of tomatoes and it was perfect hotness for me. The next year I grew my own jalepenos. I put in 1 1/2 jalepenos per quart of tomatoes just like the year before and when I went to taste it before canning it, it was so hot my throat tried to swell shut. I about cried. I didn't know what to do with that giant pot of salsa I'd been working on all day. I just wanted to throw it away and go cry myself to sleep (must've been one of those days, but I vividly remember how I felt when it was so much too hot). Anyway, sweet husband came home before I got so crazy as to throw it all out and he tried it and declared that it was perfect, so I canned it all up and he ate it. Thankfully I got another round of tomatoes and I did a mild salsa batch with it that year. So since then, I've stuck to the "half the hot peppers rule" and I'll add more at the end if it's not hot enough. It's worked out pretty well.
Another thing about working with hot peppers is that the pepper oil gets on your skin. I did not know this when I first made salsa. I cut the jalepenos and cored them by hand without gloves. Yeah, dumb. Don't do it. My hands suffered chemical burns and I had to wear rubber gloves to take my contacts out that night so I wouldn't burn my eyes. Now I wear gloves and just cut the tops off the hot peppers and throw them in the chopper without coring them. I know they're hotter that way, but really, the less I have to contact them the better for me.
This year we didn't have jalepenos, but I had LOTS of these other hot peppers, so I used those instead. Turns out they are so hot that half the hot peppers was still too much. Ugh. Another pot of salsa for sweet husband this year.
When the peppers are in the pot, add the onions. Quarter them and put them in the food processor and chop them to bits. I figure about 1 medium onion per quart, so if I have giant onions or smallish onions, I adjust the number accordingly. If you're adding the garlic, toss them in with the onions so they'll chop up nicely. My food processor doesn't like chopping a few small things, it likes to have some volume to work with.
You might open the window when you're chopping the onions. Really. Put the chopped onions in the pot with the peppers and tomatoes. It should look something like this:
Yummy. Now let it boil down. Stir it occasionally so you know how thick it really is because the juice comes to the top and the chunks kind of sink, so you might get it boiled down too far if you're not stirring and checking the consistency. If you used romas, it won't need to boil as long because they don't have as much juice. Romas are really the way to go. I just didn't grow any this year.
When it's boiled down to salsa thickness (however runny or thick you like your salsa) add the vinegar, salt, and sugar. We tried a little something different this year and substituted lime juice for the vinegar. You CAN substitute lime or lemon juice for vinegar in a salsa recipe, but you cannot substitute vinegar for lime or lemon juice because the vinegar is less acidic and you need a certain level of acidity to make the salsa safe.
Then add the oregano, cilantro, cumin and cayenne pepper if you want it (I leave the cayenne out). My crazy little store didn't have cilantro on my salsa day, so I used dry cilantro. Not quite as good as dried herbs usually aren't, but it worked. Thanks to my mom for bringing me a whole bunch of cilantro that she grew and dried in her dehydrator so I have some for emergencies like this.
You can taste your salsa once everything is in it--take a spoonful out and put it on a little plate or bowl and let it cool down. If it's not hot enough, chop up a few more peppers. If it's too hot, send it to my husband, he'll eat it. Seriously, you could make more salsa without the hot peppers in it and mix the two together or something like that if you wanted to salvage your too hot salsa. I briefly considered that when I made that one crazy hot batch, but I didn't have any more tomatoes at the time, so I thought I'd cry instead. Crazy girl.
After it was all in the pot and I was happy with the flavor, I heated up the boiling water canner and a little pot with lids and filled the pint jars with salsa.
Wipe the rims, apply the lids, put the jars in the canner and process for 10 minutes. Voila. Salsa. Yummy delicious too-hot-for-me salsa. :) I tried bottling it in quarts once (process 20 minutes), but we didn't use it fast enough once it was opened, so we've stuck with pints.
Contrary to canning tomatoes, this is definitely cheaper than buying salsa and much better tasting than any store salsa I've found. When I don't make it too hot that is.
To make salsa, you need a good recipe. If you don't have one, don't worry, I'll share mine. Salsa is a staple around here, at least for my husband and son who like spicy stuff. The ingredients are easy to grow in your garden, and if you don't grow them in your garden, they're pretty easy to find at the market.
Here's the magical salsa recipe:
For every 1 quart tomatoes add:
1 onion
1 Bell pepper (or equivalent other mild pepper)
1 jalepeno pepper (or equivalent other hot pepper)
1-2 cloves garlic (optional)
Boil until thick, skimming juice, then add:
1/4 c. vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 TB sugar
Just before canning add:
1/8 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp ground cumin
dash cayenne pepper (optional)
Cilantro (1-2 bunches/10 quarts tomatoes)
Process 10 minutes in your boiling water canner.
Now, for the step by step. First you need some tomatoes. Growing your own is vastly superior to buying them at the store for cost and quality, but do what you can. The good thing about this recipe is that it can be made with a few tomatoes or a lot of tomatoes. However many tomatoes you have, that determines how much of the other ingredients you'll need.
If your tomatoes are romas, wash them and cut the stem end off. You don't need to peel them because their peels don't separate when they are cooked. If they are another variety, follow the first few steps in the canning tomatoes post (up to getting the tomatoes peeled).
Wow, missing a few pictures here. Anyway, after your tomatoes are prepped, pop them in your food processor and chop them to the desired consistency. Measure as you pour it out of the food processor and into the pot. The pot needs to be one that doesn't burn stuff again. I like my pressure canner pot. It's huge, so I can do a big ol' batch of salsa plus it has never burned anything I've cooked in it.
Next add the peppers. One bell pepper and one jalepeno pepper for each quart of chopped tomatoes. I usually have about 12 quarts of tomatoes, so I add 12 bell peppers. Core them and get all the seeds out.
Now, if you like your salsa hot, go ahead and chop and add the whole amount of hot peppers. If you don't, add about half that much and work up from there after it's cooked for a bit and you can taste the hotness. I'm just shortening your learning curve here. Peppers from the store are not nearly as spicy as peppers from my garden. One year I didn't grow jalepenos, so I bought some from the grocery store. I used 1 1/2 peppers per quart of tomatoes and it was perfect hotness for me. The next year I grew my own jalepenos. I put in 1 1/2 jalepenos per quart of tomatoes just like the year before and when I went to taste it before canning it, it was so hot my throat tried to swell shut. I about cried. I didn't know what to do with that giant pot of salsa I'd been working on all day. I just wanted to throw it away and go cry myself to sleep (must've been one of those days, but I vividly remember how I felt when it was so much too hot). Anyway, sweet husband came home before I got so crazy as to throw it all out and he tried it and declared that it was perfect, so I canned it all up and he ate it. Thankfully I got another round of tomatoes and I did a mild salsa batch with it that year. So since then, I've stuck to the "half the hot peppers rule" and I'll add more at the end if it's not hot enough. It's worked out pretty well.
Another thing about working with hot peppers is that the pepper oil gets on your skin. I did not know this when I first made salsa. I cut the jalepenos and cored them by hand without gloves. Yeah, dumb. Don't do it. My hands suffered chemical burns and I had to wear rubber gloves to take my contacts out that night so I wouldn't burn my eyes. Now I wear gloves and just cut the tops off the hot peppers and throw them in the chopper without coring them. I know they're hotter that way, but really, the less I have to contact them the better for me.
This year we didn't have jalepenos, but I had LOTS of these other hot peppers, so I used those instead. Turns out they are so hot that half the hot peppers was still too much. Ugh. Another pot of salsa for sweet husband this year.
When the peppers are in the pot, add the onions. Quarter them and put them in the food processor and chop them to bits. I figure about 1 medium onion per quart, so if I have giant onions or smallish onions, I adjust the number accordingly. If you're adding the garlic, toss them in with the onions so they'll chop up nicely. My food processor doesn't like chopping a few small things, it likes to have some volume to work with.
When it's boiled down to salsa thickness (however runny or thick you like your salsa) add the vinegar, salt, and sugar. We tried a little something different this year and substituted lime juice for the vinegar. You CAN substitute lime or lemon juice for vinegar in a salsa recipe, but you cannot substitute vinegar for lime or lemon juice because the vinegar is less acidic and you need a certain level of acidity to make the salsa safe.
After it was all in the pot and I was happy with the flavor, I heated up the boiling water canner and a little pot with lids and filled the pint jars with salsa.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Canning Tomatoes
Today we have another flashback to summer post. Canning tomatoes. I was going to do salsa, but the first steps of salsa are the same as canning tomatoes, so we really need to cover canning tomatoes first.
Canning tomatoes starts with getting some tomatoes. Really not cost effective to buy your tomatoes at a grocery store, maybe at a farmer's market. But it's for sure cost effective if you grow your own or get them from a friend that planted 100 tomato plants and has "a few" extra tomatoes (really, that's where I got most of mine this year). Wash the little guys off.
If you grow your own or get free tomatoes, there will probably be some with imperfections like bruises, scrapes, black spots. That's okay. We'll just cut those off and use the rest of the tomato. By the way did you notice my nice stainless steel sink? It's not mine. I canned tomatoes at a friend's house. Canning really goes much quicker and is quite enjoyable if you do it with a friend. You'll see her nice stove and countertop also. Makes for good pictures. :)
Get a pot of water boiling. After your tomatoes are washed, put them in the boiling water a few at a time. I have a really cool wire basket thing that holds my tomatoes while they're in the pot then I can lift them all out at once--saves lots of time over fishing out individual tomatoes.
After they've boiled for a little bit (a minute or so I think) their skins will start to crack. Now they're done and they need to be taken out and put in a sink of cold water. See the cracks?
When they've been put in the cold water, it's time to core and peel them and cut off any bad parts you didn't already get rid of. If the bad part isn't too big, I just let it stay on the tomato until I get to the core/peel stage. Then I have a knife handy and just do all the cutting at once. It also helps the tomato stay together in the boiling water if you don't have chunks cut out of it.
Coring is pretty easy. Get a sharp knife and cut a cone shape out around the stem or where the stem used to be. That's it.
If the tomato is ripe, the skin will slip off easily. If it's not ripe, you'll have to help it out with your sharp knife a little bit. This one was nice and ripe.
Now we've got our tomatoes peeled, it's time to decide in what form you'd like to bottle them. I usually cut mine into little pieces. You can bottle them whole, sliced, chunked or pureed. We pureed these. Popped them in the blender after they were peeled and then poured the blended tomato into a pot. She doesn't like chunks.
Use a good thick pot for heating your tomatoes--I use my standby pressure canner pot because it doesn't burn anything. I've used a cheapo pot and burned the tomatoes to the bottom. Ick. I canned them anyway--that was 10 years ago and I just yesterday emptied the last 3 pints of burnt tomatoes so I could use the jars for something else. Really if you burn the tomatoes, you probably will not want to use them and they'll hang around your food storage room for 10 years like mine did. Your call. You could save yourself all that trouble by using a nice thick pot that doesn't burn stuff.
Heat up your lids. Really, it used to be that this wasn't so important--I used to put lids on jars cold all the time. But the lid manufacturers have gotten cheap and are not putting as good of gummy stuff on the lids and it really needs to be heated or it won't stick to the jar right away and your liquid will leak out while your stuff is canning. Just my theory, but it's backed by lots of my own kitchen evidence.
After your tomato pot is nice and hot (like boiling for a while) and you've skimmed off any extra juice you want to get rid of as well as foam (this pureed stuff foamed, I don't remember my chunked tomatoes foaming), it's ready to go in jars. Put 1 T lemon juice and 1 tsp salt in each quart jar, then pour the tomatoes in to fill it up. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings and put it in your water bath canner for 30 minutes.
When it's done canning, pull the jars out and let them cool off. This stuff is great for chili and soup base or whatever you use canned tomatoes for. Yummy yum yum.
NOTE FOR ROMA TOMATOES: If you have roma tomatoes, you can skip the whole boil and peel section. Their skins don't separate, so they can just be washed, cut the stem end off, and cut them as desired and put them in the pot to heat up. They also are a "thicker" or "meatier" tomato--not so juicy, so you won't have to skim much juice while it's boiling. Romas are awesome. Especially for salsa. But alas, romas weren't free this year, so I didn't can any. :)
P.S. Have you entered the giveaways for the herb seeds and the foodsaver yet?
Canning tomatoes starts with getting some tomatoes. Really not cost effective to buy your tomatoes at a grocery store, maybe at a farmer's market. But it's for sure cost effective if you grow your own or get them from a friend that planted 100 tomato plants and has "a few" extra tomatoes (really, that's where I got most of mine this year). Wash the little guys off.
Get a pot of water boiling. After your tomatoes are washed, put them in the boiling water a few at a time. I have a really cool wire basket thing that holds my tomatoes while they're in the pot then I can lift them all out at once--saves lots of time over fishing out individual tomatoes.
When they've been put in the cold water, it's time to core and peel them and cut off any bad parts you didn't already get rid of. If the bad part isn't too big, I just let it stay on the tomato until I get to the core/peel stage. Then I have a knife handy and just do all the cutting at once. It also helps the tomato stay together in the boiling water if you don't have chunks cut out of it.
Coring is pretty easy. Get a sharp knife and cut a cone shape out around the stem or where the stem used to be. That's it.
Heat up your lids. Really, it used to be that this wasn't so important--I used to put lids on jars cold all the time. But the lid manufacturers have gotten cheap and are not putting as good of gummy stuff on the lids and it really needs to be heated or it won't stick to the jar right away and your liquid will leak out while your stuff is canning. Just my theory, but it's backed by lots of my own kitchen evidence.
After your tomato pot is nice and hot (like boiling for a while) and you've skimmed off any extra juice you want to get rid of as well as foam (this pureed stuff foamed, I don't remember my chunked tomatoes foaming), it's ready to go in jars. Put 1 T lemon juice and 1 tsp salt in each quart jar, then pour the tomatoes in to fill it up. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings and put it in your water bath canner for 30 minutes.
When it's done canning, pull the jars out and let them cool off. This stuff is great for chili and soup base or whatever you use canned tomatoes for. Yummy yum yum.
NOTE FOR ROMA TOMATOES: If you have roma tomatoes, you can skip the whole boil and peel section. Their skins don't separate, so they can just be washed, cut the stem end off, and cut them as desired and put them in the pot to heat up. They also are a "thicker" or "meatier" tomato--not so juicy, so you won't have to skim much juice while it's boiling. Romas are awesome. Especially for salsa. But alas, romas weren't free this year, so I didn't can any. :)
P.S. Have you entered the giveaways for the herb seeds and the foodsaver yet?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Canning Peaches
Well, I don't know about you, but canning season was crazy around here. Consequently, I did a lot of canning/freezing/drying and mostly remembered to take pictures, but had no time to post any of it! So this fall and winter, you just never know when a random canning post is going to appear.
Today we'll be canning peaches. Yummy. The first thing you need to do is get some peaches. There are lots of different varieties of peaches, but they come in two types: cling and freestone. If you've got a choice, you want a freestone variety. They are much easier to work with. The cling peaches are called that because the flesh "clings" to the pit, and so has to be freed by a pitting spoon or some such measure requiring a great deal more labor than just starting out with a freestone peach. A freestone peach has a pit or "stone" that comes "free" from the flesh (separates) easily. So if you're looking to plant a peach tree on your property, I'd look for a freestone variety.
After you've got some peaches, get them washed up and pretty. Now we'll skin them.
Skinning a peach is really quite easy. Get some water boiling in a pot. Dip the peaches in the boiling water for a while. The book says 30-60 seconds, but I've left them longer with no ill effects. You can tell when they're ready to come out because the color of the skin changes--the red will dull a bit--you'll see what I'm talking about when you do it.
Then take them out of the boiling water and put them immediately in cold water. I have a really cool metal basket thing (you can see the handles in the above picture) that allows me to put a basket of peaches in the water and then pull them all out and transport them to the sink. Slick. Much better than fishing one peach at a time out of the pot of boiling water, but that works too.
Now the skins should slip off the peaches easily. These are kind of mini peaches, but hey, they were free, so I'm not complaining.
If your skins do not slip off, you might have cling peaches, or your peaches may not be ripe enough. The skin of underripe peaches does not come off easily and causes a great deal of frustration! If you have underripe peaches, just wait a couple of days for them to ripen up a bit before canning and save yourself the trouble of peeling them with a knife.
After they are peeled, use the dent along the side of the peach as a guide to cut the peach in half and remove the pit.
Now you can leave them halved or cut them in slices, whichever you prefer. I like slices, but halves are faster, so I have some of both in the storage.
Put the cut peaches in a bowl containing 2 quarts of water and 2 TB FruitFresh or EverFresh or some similar product to prevent browning.
Meanwhile, get your boiling water canner, pot of lids, and syrup heating up. Syrup is a ratio thing. 1 sugar to 4 water is a light syrup, 1 sugar to 2 water is heavy. I like 1 sugar to 3 water. Use whatever you want to measure the sugar and water as long as you pour it in the pot according to the ratio.
I have a friend that skips the syrup and just puts 1/4 cup sugar in each quart jar after she's filled it with peaches and then pours boiling water over the top of it all to fill the jar. She claims it's less messy than using syrup. Might have to try that next year.
Now, put the peaches in your jars and pour the hot syrup over them to the bottom of the neck. Free the air bubbles. There's a tool for bubble freeing, but I just use a butter knife and poke it in about 4 times around the edge of the peaches and do a little squeeze/wiggle with it to get the air out.
Wipe the rims of the jars clean, screw on your hot lids and rings and process the jars in the canner. 25 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts. Pull your jars out when they're done and put them on a rack to cool. My rack is my way thrifty oven rack upside down, one side supported by an upside down plate.
Enjoy! Especially lovely to look at on the shelf and delicious over vanilla ice cream . . . :)
Today we'll be canning peaches. Yummy. The first thing you need to do is get some peaches. There are lots of different varieties of peaches, but they come in two types: cling and freestone. If you've got a choice, you want a freestone variety. They are much easier to work with. The cling peaches are called that because the flesh "clings" to the pit, and so has to be freed by a pitting spoon or some such measure requiring a great deal more labor than just starting out with a freestone peach. A freestone peach has a pit or "stone" that comes "free" from the flesh (separates) easily. So if you're looking to plant a peach tree on your property, I'd look for a freestone variety.
After you've got some peaches, get them washed up and pretty. Now we'll skin them.
Skinning a peach is really quite easy. Get some water boiling in a pot. Dip the peaches in the boiling water for a while. The book says 30-60 seconds, but I've left them longer with no ill effects. You can tell when they're ready to come out because the color of the skin changes--the red will dull a bit--you'll see what I'm talking about when you do it.
Then take them out of the boiling water and put them immediately in cold water. I have a really cool metal basket thing (you can see the handles in the above picture) that allows me to put a basket of peaches in the water and then pull them all out and transport them to the sink. Slick. Much better than fishing one peach at a time out of the pot of boiling water, but that works too.
Now the skins should slip off the peaches easily. These are kind of mini peaches, but hey, they were free, so I'm not complaining.
If your skins do not slip off, you might have cling peaches, or your peaches may not be ripe enough. The skin of underripe peaches does not come off easily and causes a great deal of frustration! If you have underripe peaches, just wait a couple of days for them to ripen up a bit before canning and save yourself the trouble of peeling them with a knife.After they are peeled, use the dent along the side of the peach as a guide to cut the peach in half and remove the pit.
Now you can leave them halved or cut them in slices, whichever you prefer. I like slices, but halves are faster, so I have some of both in the storage.Put the cut peaches in a bowl containing 2 quarts of water and 2 TB FruitFresh or EverFresh or some similar product to prevent browning.
Meanwhile, get your boiling water canner, pot of lids, and syrup heating up. Syrup is a ratio thing. 1 sugar to 4 water is a light syrup, 1 sugar to 2 water is heavy. I like 1 sugar to 3 water. Use whatever you want to measure the sugar and water as long as you pour it in the pot according to the ratio.
I have a friend that skips the syrup and just puts 1/4 cup sugar in each quart jar after she's filled it with peaches and then pours boiling water over the top of it all to fill the jar. She claims it's less messy than using syrup. Might have to try that next year.Now, put the peaches in your jars and pour the hot syrup over them to the bottom of the neck. Free the air bubbles. There's a tool for bubble freeing, but I just use a butter knife and poke it in about 4 times around the edge of the peaches and do a little squeeze/wiggle with it to get the air out.
Wipe the rims of the jars clean, screw on your hot lids and rings and process the jars in the canner. 25 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts. Pull your jars out when they're done and put them on a rack to cool. My rack is my way thrifty oven rack upside down, one side supported by an upside down plate.
Enjoy! Especially lovely to look at on the shelf and delicious over vanilla ice cream . . . :)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Hot Peppers Part 2: The Saga Continues . . .
Our poor chickens need a house. They had a house that we borrowed from a neighbor, but it was really too small and had no nest boxes and no good access to the interior except through the chicken door which is a bit small and nasty for adults, and although not too small, it's just plain ol' nasty for the kiddos. (really, this post is about peppers, hang in there.) So Saturday sweet husband had the day off and we decided to work on the new chicken mansion. We've already put a couple of good afternoons into the project and had the cement footings poured, the floor built and the walls framed. Now, the way the coop is set up, we had to remove the little dysfunctional house from the inside of the coop before we could erect the chicken mansion on the west wall of the coop or we'd need a crane to lift the old house out after the mansion was built, so Saturday morning we took the little chicken house out of the coop and set about working on the new chicken mansion.
As we were working and "hanging out" with the chickens all day, I was doing a horrible amount of coughing and sneezing, as were the kids and even sweet husband. He thought it was chicken dust, but something was seriously burning my throat out there! Everybody that came near the coop that day started coughing or sneezing.
Then it dawned on me--we had fed the chickens the hot pepper scraps--tops, seeds, and plants--just a couple of days before! So here's my theory: chickens eat nasty hotness, then it comes out the other end and they scratch it around on the ground of their coop and voila! CONTAMINATED CHICKEN COOP DIRT!
We ended up hosing the whole coop down so we could finish working that afternoon. Seriously folks, I won't be planting those particular varieties of hot peppers again! Sweet husband tried some (I told him I thought they should sit and "pickle" for a few months or something, but he really wanted some peppers on his sandwich) and they are SO HOT he about can't eat them. Now he's thinking of all the family and friends who need a bottle of pickled hot peppers for Christmas this year.
On a side note, the chicken mansion only got about half put together Saturday, so the chickens are now homeless, living in a box (the original chick box on it's side) and laying eggs in a pet porter until we get another day off to finish their new house. I'm seriously considering bribing some of sweet husband's friends to come help finish the coop as neither of us are much experienced at wood construction. Maybe they'd like some hot pickled peppers . . .
As we were working and "hanging out" with the chickens all day, I was doing a horrible amount of coughing and sneezing, as were the kids and even sweet husband. He thought it was chicken dust, but something was seriously burning my throat out there! Everybody that came near the coop that day started coughing or sneezing.
Then it dawned on me--we had fed the chickens the hot pepper scraps--tops, seeds, and plants--just a couple of days before! So here's my theory: chickens eat nasty hotness, then it comes out the other end and they scratch it around on the ground of their coop and voila! CONTAMINATED CHICKEN COOP DIRT!
We ended up hosing the whole coop down so we could finish working that afternoon. Seriously folks, I won't be planting those particular varieties of hot peppers again! Sweet husband tried some (I told him I thought they should sit and "pickle" for a few months or something, but he really wanted some peppers on his sandwich) and they are SO HOT he about can't eat them. Now he's thinking of all the family and friends who need a bottle of pickled hot peppers for Christmas this year.
On a side note, the chicken mansion only got about half put together Saturday, so the chickens are now homeless, living in a box (the original chick box on it's side) and laying eggs in a pet porter until we get another day off to finish their new house. I'm seriously considering bribing some of sweet husband's friends to come help finish the coop as neither of us are much experienced at wood construction. Maybe they'd like some hot pickled peppers . . .
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Pickled Hot Peppers and my Attempt at Plumbing
Pickled Hot Peppers. Sorry, it doesn't even sound appetizing to me, but sweet husband likes them on his sandwiches and we had an abundance of hot peppers in the garden this year, so as I'm contemplating what I'm going to do with them, he suggests slicing them and canning them for sandwiches. Sure. Sounds easy enough I suppose. Well, after getting it done, I wouldn't really recommend it, but you're welcome to learn from my experience and try anyway. So here's how it went.
First, a friend and I picked all the hot peppers from the garden (it was going to freeze, so they had to get out of the garden anyway) and I washed them. Aren't they lovely? Peppers are much better to look at than to eat.
These are Bulgarian Carrot Peppers and Georgia Flame Peppers. They look pretty much the same as each other--green when immature and dark orange when fully ripe, about 3 inches long and hotter than all get out. I was going to bottle them separately and see which was better, but didn't manage to keep the two varieties separated during the chopping process, so they're all mixed up in the bottles now.
Next I got a pot and mixed up the pickling mixture:
5 cups vinegar
1 cup water
4 tsp canning or pickling salt
2 TBSP sugar
2 cloves garlic smashed
Heat it to boiling and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the garlic and discard. I ended up using 4 times this recipe by the time I was done. Also got the boiling water canner warming up and a little pot to heat lids in.
Have you ever been in a kitchen with boiling vinegar? Definitely cleans out the sinuses.
So while the vinegar solution was heating up, I put on my rubber gloves, chopped the tops off the peppers and cored them with a potato peeler (bottom right in the picture). You don't have to core them if you don't want to, but sweet husband doesn't like the cores on his sandwiches, only the peppers, so ours got cored. He actually did this bowlful of peppers while I took the kids to their soccer games. Kind of like a bouquet of peppers.
Now, here's where I quit taking pictures as things got a little interesting. Once the peppers were cored, we needed to slice them up, so I first tried using my salad shooter. It sliced a few and then quit working. Meanwhile I am having intermittent coughing attacks from the peppers being chopped. I do not like peppers. They do not like me. I decided this should be an outside job in the future.
My little gal came in to tell me something and had her hand on the counter while she was talking, then after she left the room her eye started hurting--I determined it was pepper juice from the countertop, so she got the burning eye wash on screaming child treatment and felt much better. After that, the kids were banned from the kitchen, and I was sure everything I touched or the peppers were even close to was contaminated with burning pepper juice. Hence, no pictures. I didn't want to take the gloves off or contaminate my camera by using it with the pepper gloves on.
I still needed to chop the peppers, so I got out my dangerous food processor that the lid doesn't latch down and sliced a few in there, but it kept getting peppers caught between the slicing blade and the lid and then it wouldn't slice anymore, but just spun around with peppers caught in it. About this time, sweet husband offered to put the kids to bed so I could get these peppers finished before tomorrow morning.
Then I remembered I had the slicer attachment for my Kitchenaid, so I got that out. I've never used it before. Turns out the blades are not very sharp on it--in fact not at all sharp, so it just kind of peeled the pepper meat off the skins, turning it into mush and left the skins spinning around between the blade and the pusher. So after exhausting all my automatic pepper slicing options, I was left with the good old fashioned knife and cutting board. This went along fairly well until I cut a hole in one finger of my glove and pepper juice got on my finger and burned it. I donned a new glove and went about slicing like a crazy chef lady until I was almost finished and as I cut, pepper juice squirted up right in my eye! I peeled off one glove and ran to the bathroom and did an eye flush in the sink for I don't know how long. Amazingly, when I was done, my contact was still in. Weird. I went back to the kitchen and decided the few peppers that were still in the bowl could just go to the chickens. I was done with peppers.
I put the sliced peppers in the jars and poured the hot vinegar solution over them leaving about 1/2 inch headspace. Wiped the rims and put on the hot lids and put the jars in the canner. After 10 minutes in the boiling water canner, the peppers came out looking all pretty and harmless. I put them on the rack to cool and after repeating the process for a second batch of jars, went about cleaning up the kitchen.
While I was cleaning up, my garbage disposal quit working and with little pepper bits floating around in my sink from washing all the chopping equipment, the sink quit draining. Now I have a sink about a third full of water with pepper bits in it and can't get it to drain, and somewhere in my brain I remember in another house when the disposal quit working there was a little tool you could use to unjam it. So I look under the sink and miraculously there is a little allen wrench looking tool between my grocery sack collection and the pile of rags and random cleaners I never use. I find a place the tool might fit on the disposal, stick the tool in and pull on it. Just as I think I'm loosening something up, the whole disposal comes off the bottom of the sink with a bang and a scream (that was me) and all the water with pepper bits in it is all over under the sink and on the kitchen floor. I was amazed at how fast I threw towels at the mess considering how late it was and how tired I was. Nobody woke up. I reattached the disposal and cleaned up some more. I took a picture to preserve the moment. ;) Then continued cleaning and sanitizing the entire kitchen so it was safe to walk into and make breakfast in the next morning.
Sweet husband figured out how to unjam the disposal--I had the right tool, I just used it in the wrong place.
I hope the peppers are good. I'm sure not trying them. I'll say again, I don't like peppers, but they sure are pretty to look at.
Now, if you choose to try this, here's a few warnings:
WEAR RUBBER GLOVES, safety glasses, respirator, heck, maybe a whole chem suit while you're working with hot peppers--serious chemical burns can result if your hands are not protected. We actually wore latex gloves--they are not the same thing as rubber gloves--the pepper oil can get through the latex gloves somehow. Strange but true. Keep the gloves on while you clean up--I didn't do this and ended up burning my hands and arms AFTER the sink ordeal.
Even if you think you don't have pepper contamination on you, don't go touching your eyes or sensitive areas! You'll probably end up burning yourself.
DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN HELP when you're slicing peppers. Don't even let them in the room!
Just buy sandwich peppers, it's easier.
And leave the plumbing to the plumbers.
(Hot Peppers Part 2 Here)
First, a friend and I picked all the hot peppers from the garden (it was going to freeze, so they had to get out of the garden anyway) and I washed them. Aren't they lovely? Peppers are much better to look at than to eat.
These are Bulgarian Carrot Peppers and Georgia Flame Peppers. They look pretty much the same as each other--green when immature and dark orange when fully ripe, about 3 inches long and hotter than all get out. I was going to bottle them separately and see which was better, but didn't manage to keep the two varieties separated during the chopping process, so they're all mixed up in the bottles now.Next I got a pot and mixed up the pickling mixture:
5 cups vinegar
1 cup water
4 tsp canning or pickling salt
2 TBSP sugar
2 cloves garlic smashed
Heat it to boiling and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the garlic and discard. I ended up using 4 times this recipe by the time I was done. Also got the boiling water canner warming up and a little pot to heat lids in.
Have you ever been in a kitchen with boiling vinegar? Definitely cleans out the sinuses.
So while the vinegar solution was heating up, I put on my rubber gloves, chopped the tops off the peppers and cored them with a potato peeler (bottom right in the picture). You don't have to core them if you don't want to, but sweet husband doesn't like the cores on his sandwiches, only the peppers, so ours got cored. He actually did this bowlful of peppers while I took the kids to their soccer games. Kind of like a bouquet of peppers.
Now, here's where I quit taking pictures as things got a little interesting. Once the peppers were cored, we needed to slice them up, so I first tried using my salad shooter. It sliced a few and then quit working. Meanwhile I am having intermittent coughing attacks from the peppers being chopped. I do not like peppers. They do not like me. I decided this should be an outside job in the future.My little gal came in to tell me something and had her hand on the counter while she was talking, then after she left the room her eye started hurting--I determined it was pepper juice from the countertop, so she got the burning eye wash on screaming child treatment and felt much better. After that, the kids were banned from the kitchen, and I was sure everything I touched or the peppers were even close to was contaminated with burning pepper juice. Hence, no pictures. I didn't want to take the gloves off or contaminate my camera by using it with the pepper gloves on.
I still needed to chop the peppers, so I got out my dangerous food processor that the lid doesn't latch down and sliced a few in there, but it kept getting peppers caught between the slicing blade and the lid and then it wouldn't slice anymore, but just spun around with peppers caught in it. About this time, sweet husband offered to put the kids to bed so I could get these peppers finished before tomorrow morning.
Then I remembered I had the slicer attachment for my Kitchenaid, so I got that out. I've never used it before. Turns out the blades are not very sharp on it--in fact not at all sharp, so it just kind of peeled the pepper meat off the skins, turning it into mush and left the skins spinning around between the blade and the pusher. So after exhausting all my automatic pepper slicing options, I was left with the good old fashioned knife and cutting board. This went along fairly well until I cut a hole in one finger of my glove and pepper juice got on my finger and burned it. I donned a new glove and went about slicing like a crazy chef lady until I was almost finished and as I cut, pepper juice squirted up right in my eye! I peeled off one glove and ran to the bathroom and did an eye flush in the sink for I don't know how long. Amazingly, when I was done, my contact was still in. Weird. I went back to the kitchen and decided the few peppers that were still in the bowl could just go to the chickens. I was done with peppers.
I put the sliced peppers in the jars and poured the hot vinegar solution over them leaving about 1/2 inch headspace. Wiped the rims and put on the hot lids and put the jars in the canner. After 10 minutes in the boiling water canner, the peppers came out looking all pretty and harmless. I put them on the rack to cool and after repeating the process for a second batch of jars, went about cleaning up the kitchen.
While I was cleaning up, my garbage disposal quit working and with little pepper bits floating around in my sink from washing all the chopping equipment, the sink quit draining. Now I have a sink about a third full of water with pepper bits in it and can't get it to drain, and somewhere in my brain I remember in another house when the disposal quit working there was a little tool you could use to unjam it. So I look under the sink and miraculously there is a little allen wrench looking tool between my grocery sack collection and the pile of rags and random cleaners I never use. I find a place the tool might fit on the disposal, stick the tool in and pull on it. Just as I think I'm loosening something up, the whole disposal comes off the bottom of the sink with a bang and a scream (that was me) and all the water with pepper bits in it is all over under the sink and on the kitchen floor. I was amazed at how fast I threw towels at the mess considering how late it was and how tired I was. Nobody woke up. I reattached the disposal and cleaned up some more. I took a picture to preserve the moment. ;) Then continued cleaning and sanitizing the entire kitchen so it was safe to walk into and make breakfast in the next morning.
Sweet husband figured out how to unjam the disposal--I had the right tool, I just used it in the wrong place.I hope the peppers are good. I'm sure not trying them. I'll say again, I don't like peppers, but they sure are pretty to look at.
Now, if you choose to try this, here's a few warnings:
WEAR RUBBER GLOVES, safety glasses, respirator, heck, maybe a whole chem suit while you're working with hot peppers--serious chemical burns can result if your hands are not protected. We actually wore latex gloves--they are not the same thing as rubber gloves--the pepper oil can get through the latex gloves somehow. Strange but true. Keep the gloves on while you clean up--I didn't do this and ended up burning my hands and arms AFTER the sink ordeal.
Even if you think you don't have pepper contamination on you, don't go touching your eyes or sensitive areas! You'll probably end up burning yourself.
DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN HELP when you're slicing peppers. Don't even let them in the room!
Just buy sandwich peppers, it's easier.
And leave the plumbing to the plumbers.
(Hot Peppers Part 2 Here)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Canning/Bottling Cherries
I'll be leaving on Saturday for 9 days of mountain man style camping, so like a responsible blogger, I'm breaking up something that could be one long post and scheduling it to run in segments periodically throughout next week so you won't be bored silly while I'm gone. It should actually be more regular posting than I've been doing lately while I've been here!
A while back a friend and I picked a boatload of cherries. Okay, about 4 buckets full. They were sweet cherries like Bing (not sure the actual variety, but they were not pie cherries). This cherry source came on kind of unexpectedly, so I had to make some time to take care of all the cherries. Here's my advice when you've got a lot of food to preserve: invite a friend or two over to help you.
We ended up bottling, dehydrating, and freezing cherries until we were sick of seeing cherries, but we got those 4 buckets of cherries taken care of in a day (this would have taken a week of afternoons on my own--hooray for friends!).
If you get a bunch of cherries, bottling them is the easiest and quickest way to get them preserved. It requires no special equipment aside from some pots, canning supplies (jars, lids, etc.) and a water bath canner.
First, wash the cherries. I just stick them in the sink in some water and kind of swish them around a bit.
Heat up some light syrup in a big pot (3-4 C water to 1 C sugar or 4:1 ratio of whatever you want to measure with). Put some lids in a pot and put them on low heat. Put water in your canner and get it heating up. Now while everything is heating up, put cherries in jars. This is not technical, you just take them out of the wash water and put them in clean quart jars. You could do pints also if you want to--I just have kids, so we do fruit in quarts now.
When you've filled 7 quarts (or however many jars your canner holds), pour the hot syrup over the cherries. I put the jars on the stove when they've got the cherries in them so they'll kind of heat up before I put the hot syrup in. Wipe the rims, screw on your hot lids and put the jars in the canner. I had one jar break this round because the water in the canner was boiling when I put the jars in. These jars are not real hot, I had better success putting them in before the water boils and letting it all heat up together. Subsequent batches I shut the canner's burner off and let the water cool a bit while I got the next round of cherries in bottles.
Put the lid on the canner and let the water boil 25 minutes for either pints or quarts. So if you put the jars in before the water boils, don't start timing until the water is boiling. At the end of the canning time, take the jars out and let them cool. For some reason, these seemed to take a long time for the lids to pop down--had me worried a bit, but they finally did.
I loved bottled cherries as a kid, but this is not my favorite way to process cherries anymore. The great thing about it is that you are able to process quite a few cherries with minimal equipment. You do have to spit the pits out as you're eating them--that's half the fun of eating bottled cherries!
A while back a friend and I picked a boatload of cherries. Okay, about 4 buckets full. They were sweet cherries like Bing (not sure the actual variety, but they were not pie cherries). This cherry source came on kind of unexpectedly, so I had to make some time to take care of all the cherries. Here's my advice when you've got a lot of food to preserve: invite a friend or two over to help you.
We ended up bottling, dehydrating, and freezing cherries until we were sick of seeing cherries, but we got those 4 buckets of cherries taken care of in a day (this would have taken a week of afternoons on my own--hooray for friends!).
If you get a bunch of cherries, bottling them is the easiest and quickest way to get them preserved. It requires no special equipment aside from some pots, canning supplies (jars, lids, etc.) and a water bath canner.
First, wash the cherries. I just stick them in the sink in some water and kind of swish them around a bit.
Heat up some light syrup in a big pot (3-4 C water to 1 C sugar or 4:1 ratio of whatever you want to measure with). Put some lids in a pot and put them on low heat. Put water in your canner and get it heating up. Now while everything is heating up, put cherries in jars. This is not technical, you just take them out of the wash water and put them in clean quart jars. You could do pints also if you want to--I just have kids, so we do fruit in quarts now.
When you've filled 7 quarts (or however many jars your canner holds), pour the hot syrup over the cherries. I put the jars on the stove when they've got the cherries in them so they'll kind of heat up before I put the hot syrup in. Wipe the rims, screw on your hot lids and put the jars in the canner. I had one jar break this round because the water in the canner was boiling when I put the jars in. These jars are not real hot, I had better success putting them in before the water boils and letting it all heat up together. Subsequent batches I shut the canner's burner off and let the water cool a bit while I got the next round of cherries in bottles.
Put the lid on the canner and let the water boil 25 minutes for either pints or quarts. So if you put the jars in before the water boils, don't start timing until the water is boiling. At the end of the canning time, take the jars out and let them cool. For some reason, these seemed to take a long time for the lids to pop down--had me worried a bit, but they finally did.
I loved bottled cherries as a kid, but this is not my favorite way to process cherries anymore. The great thing about it is that you are able to process quite a few cherries with minimal equipment. You do have to spit the pits out as you're eating them--that's half the fun of eating bottled cherries!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
