WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[Dreaming of Chickens]

I had a big surprise this morning. I was out with the dogs and checked out my fig tree (which I've been ignoring because it's only been giving me one or two rip figs at a time). There were about 2 1/2 dozen ripe figs and probably another dozen that should be ready tomorrow. We also have a naval orange tree between our house and the neighbors and several of us share the oranges from that tree. The oranges have been ready for a few days now. Going to get either cheese cloth or muslin tonight and I'll be making fig jam and orange marmalade. I'm so excited!! This is only the 2nd time I'll be canning. I can't wait! I won't get a whole bunch of jars with this little harvest of figs, but it's enough to satisfy me.

 

[me&thegals]

This past week I canned pickled watermelon rinds and pickled pumpkin.

 

[k15n1]

11 pt chickpeas and 10 pt soup stock from beef short ribs.

I had 3# chickpeas and it made 11 pt, so that's about 1/4 # dry beans per pt. The beans cost about 1.30 $/# (is that a fair price?) but it works out to about 0.35 $/pt. Canned chickpeas are about 1.60 $/pt, so I may have actually saved money. Even with a couple of hours at minimum wage, it breaks even with the grocery store. If I'd had enough beans to load up the canner to capacity, it would have been more like 1.25 $/pt, with lids and labor.

I noticed a lot of shriveled up beans and halves when I was sorting. I didn't take them all out because I wasn't sure what was a problem. After soaking them overnight, I found that there were a bunch of them that were greenish or had dark spots at the pointy end. Does anyone know what's going on? Anyway, it took me an hour to dig through the beans and re-sort them. Probably lost 1 C of bad beans. I was looking forward to a quick canning session but ended up staying up really late---again.

 

[k15n1]

The prices on those oranges went down again, so I got another 18-lb bag. And some grapefruits. I've been peeling the membranes off the slices, which is pretty time consuming. From fruit to peeled slices, I figured 7 minutes/orange and about 5 min/grapefruit. Tonight I'm going to try using the peptic enzyme I used for clarifying my hard cider and apple wine.

 

[Dreaming of Chickens]

Made some marmalade last week and it came out too think. It's almost like candy. I guess I cooked it too long before processing it. I'll give it another try tonight or tomorrow. I still have plenty of oranges left. I also finally ordered a pressure canner, so I will be keeping my eyes open for chicken and ground meat on sale. Wanna can some chicken, chicken broth, chilli, meat sauce, maybe some meat balls. I can't wait!

 

[moolie]

Forgot about this thread, but canned up 8 pints of ground bison and 4 pints of chili last week. Did a bunch of navy and pinto beans and some split pea with bacon soup before that--it's so great to just pull a jar off the shelf to make quick dinners.

 

[Dreaming of Chickens]

Forgot about this thread, but canned up 8 pints of ground bison and 4 pints of chili last week. Did a bunch of navy and pinto beans and some split pea with bacon soup before that--it's so great to just pull a jar off the shelf to make quick dinners.

 

[ORChick]

I canned 6 pints of chicken stock yesterday. And opened up the last jar of pea soup, so I will need to make, and can, some more of that soon.

 

[ORChick]

Got a question for all you canners. I have some apples that I need to do something with. I also have a recipe for a nice savory applesauce, with onions, currents, and herbs. It is really nice alongside meat. I am wondering about the canning possibilities. I think the only thing that makes it different from regular applesauce (from a canning perspective) is the sauteed onions. What would your opinions be on this? Especially as to canning time. Thanks.

 

[moolie]

Got a question for all you canners. I have some apples that I need to do something with. I also have a recipe for a nice savory applesauce, with onions, currents, and herbs. It is really nice alongside meat. I am wondering about the canning possibilities. I think the only thing that makes it different from regular applesauce (from a canning perspective) is the sauteed onions. What would your opinions be on this? Especially as to canning time. Thanks.

How much onion compared to quantity of apples? If it's not too much, you may be able to increase acidity with lemon juice or citric acid.