Canning Suggestions

[Land of Lincoln]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, ya'll are wonderful.
When I look to purchase all of my supplies, I'd like to get American Made if I can. (no pun intended, but works)

@Britesea - Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind when purchasing. I have a gas stove that has the 4 burers & there's a 5th burner in the middle of them all that is longer which might work for a larger pot, I use that burner for my cast iron griddle and it works really well.

 

[lcertuche]

I did have one of those strainers and wooden pestle gadgets and used it but alas it was lost when all my other canning equipment was lost. Now I just boil the fruit in a little water, mash with a potato masher and pour through a wire strainer. The seeds are saved for the chickens. I pretty much do apple peels the same just simmer a little longer to soften. For tomatoes I have always peeled (or not) and then cut in half and squeezed most the seed and water out. I then whirl in a food processor. If you set it in the refrigerator over night then most the watery liquid will float to the top and can be poured or siphoned off. Heat, pour in sterilized jars, wipe rim of jar, and top with a lid that has been in almost boiling water. Process according to USDA recommendations. I believe it is now advised to use lemon juice to use boiling water bath method.

 

[Hinotori]

Yes, use acid with modern tomatoes. Some come up pretty low acid.

My SIL made some sauce one year and didn't follow directions (or a recipe I think). For some reason she thought adding 2 tablespoons vinegar to the waterbath would do the trick. My brother refused to eat it, which is good. Whatever she did, those jars sat on the counter for several weeks and slowly began oozing.

I really wish I knew what all she did wrong for them to fail that quick even. My brother said it was her first time canning. The thing that gets me is he told her that our Mom would happily show her how to waterbath and make jams. Mom prefers to freeze tomatoes, but even looked up a couple sauce canning recipes for her.

I guess the lesson there is follow a tested recipe if you haven't done it before. SIL decided it took to long to process stuff. Both my brothers beg jams and syrups off Mom and me. We use then more for smoothies and yogurt than sandwiches.

 

[waretrop]

No wait. I am confused. I put lemon in my tomatoes in the jar to make sure they are acid enough as some newer tomatoes are lower acid. I also use vinegar or alum in my water of the canner, not in the jars to keep the metal nice and clean.....

It sounds like someone got mixed up here. Is it me???

 

[Hinotori]

It's not you. She thought acid in the water would raise the acid in the food in the jars. I'm still not sure what all she was thinking. She has refused to talk about it anymore.

I use vinegar to take the limescale off as well. It also works in my little sauce pan I use to hard cook 6 eggs at a time. Calcium builds up fast in it when I use it every day.

 

[Hinotori]

All those jars she insisted she had to have from my grandparents. I only got the dregs because Mom stepped in. Well actually, it's more that no one on that side of the family knew how to operate a bail jar so I got all of those. They were going to trash them. Mom didn't know how either but figured I would. A couple bucks for new rubbers and I had me more dry goods jars. I don't can in the old jars because I don't want to break them.

 

[waretrop]

So you know, It would take longer to ooze than 3 or 4 weeks, I would think if the jars were really sealed. Do you think she didn't even actually water bath them.

My old neighbor was taught by someone to put hot food in hot jars and invert them or something and they would seal y themselves. They pinged and all. I saw it. She put them in the basement on the shelves and about a month later she called me to find out what was wrong. They were oozing. In the end she had to through all her canning out for that year.

I told her all along what I did as I learned from the Moline Illinois extension office. I love them.....They didn't teach me the way she did it....That's not canning...I don't think..

 

[Hinotori]

Yeah, I'm curious what all my SIL did. It was my brother telling us about how she did it when Mom would go over for babysitting. So Mom noticed the oozing jars. I actually can't even be certain that she didn't add some meat to them.

Filling with hot food and just putting the lid and ring on is called open kettle canning. Great Grandma, Grandma, and even Mom used to do that for jams and hot grape juice, which are the only things I think it was ever recommended for. The manual with my steam juicer recommends it for juice. Mom started waterbathing jams after she found out I rarely ever have a seal fail that way. It's 5 minutes extra. Well worth it to not lose any of that work.

 

[waretrop]

Yes my grandma inverted grape juice and maybe apple sauce to seal them. They showed me and I did that for a year. As I learned I water bathed them after that. I have gone by most rules until this last year, Now I bend them a little.

 

[Beekissed]

The rules changed over the years and those who learned from the old ways will likely discount the new "rules"...and even made up new rules as they went along over the years. Like me. I can like we always have because it turns out a good product and has stood the test of time...one of those new rules is adding acid to tomatoes. Tomatoes are about as acid a vegetable that one has the occasion to can, so I can't imagine adding even MORE acid. Thousands upon thousands of tomatoes canned without additional acid would seem to prove that fact, so there will be no lemon juice adding in this house.

Last year my brother ate the last jar of canned tomatoes Mom put up in '07 and they tasted as fresh as the day they were put up.