Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

This year I want to try to stay on top of canning and food preserving. I primarily can, freeze, and use a dehydrator for summer produce.

Last week I canned six half-pints of rhubarb chutney. I tried a new recipe and it was so good that a few days ago I picked up a dozen samosas from a local Indian sweet shop so we would have something to eat the chutney with. I think it will also taste good with grilled meat or as a condiment on a charcuterie board with meats and cheeses. :yum

What have you been preserving?

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I only got to make one batch of lilac jelly before the blossoms were gone. It's my favorite jelly ever. StrWberry season is coming so I will probably make a lot of strawberry jam.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I've never tried lilac jelly. I'm curious now. I really like floral gem candies, so I would probably like lilac jelly. :yes

When cleaning out my freezer last week, I found two ice cream buckets of strawberries mixed with sugar ready to be made into jam. I made the jam today and have 7 pints cooling on my counter. I used the long boil method which is tedious but makes a delicious jam with more fruit than sugar.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

Can you tell me more about the long boil method? I've never heard of it. :think

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I am in the midst of mayhaw jelly making right now. Next will be blueberry jams and preserves. Probably will do some watermelon rind preserves soon. Late July/August will be figs. The last sweet jam of the season will be prickly pear jelly in late August or early September. I make preserves and can year round and sell the bounty at farmers market. I am trying my hand at creating drinking and culinary vinegars infused with herbs I grow to expand my product offerings at market. Making your own vinegar is not very hard. It just takes time and patience. :)

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I need to google mayhaw. I've had hawthorne bushes in my yard, but I only had tiny berries. It sounds like yours might be the size of crabapples. Interesting. :think

I tried to make herbed oils once, but the herbs started to rot. :sick Vinegar sounds like a better way to go!

---------- Post added at 07:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 AM ----------

It might be the method you already use. It's the method I grew up with my mom and grandma using. You cook the fruit with sugar and sometimes a bit of lemon juice, making sure to include some unripened fruit for pectin. After about 40 minutes of a low rolling boil you do a gel test before putting the jam into hot jars and sealing. To do the gel test I keep a plate in the freezer and put a small teaspoon on the "frozen" plate to see if the jam gels when cooled. This method uses less sugar than regular Certo/pectin added recipes, and is a slower paced process (there is good and bad in that ;)).

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

Thank you! I would love to be able to do it with less sugar. I use the Ball Blue book but hate that most of the recipes are more sugar than fruit and so, haven't done much jams in ages. Do you use a ratio of fruit to sugar?

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I use Bernardin books (I have two of them) for my recipes. If it is a certain fruit, I can tell you what my book suggests.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I don't have anything on hand at the moment, so no rush. I'm hoping for strawberries soon.

I'll have bosc pears and plums later this summer.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

Ok, so I've made peach butter, blueberry butter, strawberry butter and apple butter. What's really good is peach-bluebery-strawberry butter:)

Has anyone ever made watermelon butter? Seems like it would take a couple of them but it sounds good.:shrug3

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I think watermelon is a bit controversial because it's fairly low acid.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

Does your book have thimbleberry? The only thing I plan to can is thimbleberrry jam. If it doesn't, raspberry is probably the closest fruit.

Going to freeze lots of strawberries, blueberries, and huckleberries. Maybe make elderberry syrup.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

Well, I canned 31 pint jars of chicken on Thursday.

I needed freezer space so I long boiled some beef bones. Came away with 18 quarts of broth. Second batch is in the canner now.

I bought a flat of strawberries, but they turned into shortcake and 2 strawberry-rubarb pie. Planning to freeze one. Anyone have tips? I've never done it before.

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I always freeze pies assembled, but not cooked. If the pan is small enough, I put the pie in a ziplock bag, if it is bigger, I use a plastic shopping bag. With the shopping bag I put the pie down flat to the bottom of the bag, and then lightly twist the handles before tying so it is somewhat fitted. I use sticker labels to write the type of pie and date before freezing. I bake the pies from frozen, but not in a preheated oven because the temperature change would be too drastic.


Berry Jam

9 cups crushed berries (2250 ml)
6 cups granulated sugar (1500 ml)

Cook 20 minutes or until it passes the gel test.

yields 7x250 ml jars

Re: Summer Canning and Food Preserving 2017
 

I already baked it. :doh I think I will use the grocery bag idea though. :yes :tu