WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[me&thegals]

Grape jam and diced tomatoes, 20 half pints and 12 quarts.

 

[moolie]

29 pints of crab apple sauce so far, still have a third of the crab apples left to process... and we'll be heading back over the neighbor's yard again later today with our small ladder to get more of the higher crab apples.

 

[Mickey328]

Have you ever made juice from the crabs, Moolie? The first year I canned, it was with crabs...did all kinds of stuff and still had more. So I just cut 'em in half and threw 'em in a pot with some water and cooked 'em. Then I strained them and kept the juice...it was really great and DS loved it!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I did 7 pints of pork last night.

 

[moolie]

Have you ever made juice from the crabs, Moolie? The first year I canned, it was with crabs...did all kinds of stuff and still had more. So I just cut 'em in half and threw 'em in a pot with some water and cooked 'em. Then I strained them and kept the juice...it was really great and DS loved it!

Thinking about it for the next load--thinking about either making jelly or just canning the juice (or maybe both), and then make the leftover pulp into apple butter for Christmas gifts. We'll see how much energy I have

I never peel crab apples, just wash/quarter/into the pot to cook down, run through food mill for apple sauce--so my apple sauce is a lovely shade of pink!

Also, this was my first go with my new Tattler lids--I got some money for my recent birthday and decided to splurge I love all my reusable Gem glass lids and have got so used to using them for my Gem jars that I wanted something similar for my regular mouth and wide mouth jars, so I bought the "sampler set" of 3 dozen of each.

 

[Mickey328]

I never peel crabs either. The first ones I ever had were so tiny that if you were to peel and core them, you'd be there weeks, and end up with a tsp of pulp from each one, LOL. I use the crabs for pickled apples, jelly and juice. I also used all that pulp for butter and it was very tasty! I make apple sauce from larger apples, because we prefer it chunky rather than pulpy.

I saw the re-usable lids too, but hesitated...I end up giving a lot of our canned goods away, and so many of the jars/lids don't come back that I didn't want to invest, LOL. I reckon I could just make sure the re-usable ones stay here and only give away the ones with "regular" lids. Since I moved to the States, I've found it's difficult to find Gem lids...none of the stores carry them, certainly. Finding permanent ones for those jars would make a lot of sense.

 

[moolie]

I never peel crabs either. The first ones I ever had were so tiny that if you were to peel and core them, you'd be there weeks, and end up with a tsp of pulp from each one, LOL. I use the crabs for pickled apples, jelly and juice. I also used all that pulp for butter and it was very tasty! I make apple sauce from larger apples, because we prefer it chunky rather than pulpy.

I saw the re-usable lids too, but hesitated...I end up giving a lot of our canned goods away, and so many of the jars/lids don't come back that I didn't want to invest, LOL. I reckon I could just make sure the re-usable ones stay here and only give away the ones with "regular" lids. Since I moved to the States, I've found it's difficult to find Gem lids...none of the stores carry them, certainly. Finding permanent ones for those jars would make a lot of sense.

We had a lovely crab apple tree at our old house, the fruit were almost "real" apple size, and we ate as many of them fresh as possible because they were so tasty. Once it got to be time that they wouldn't keep on the tree any longer we would pick them all and make lots of pink applesauce, some jelly and apple butter for gifts. The tree we are currently harvesting from (our neighbors) has smaller fruit than we used to have, but still very nice for fresh eating so we are eating the larger ones as we go through the bins--we've put them into the fridge for as long as they will last.

Totally hear you on the reusable lids dilemma--I held off for over two years after first learning about them because of the "gift" issue as well as some photos I had seen online of broken/cracked edges when people weren't too careful opening them. But I caved and we'll see how it goes. I will still use the metal lids for gifts, but I think this is going to save me tons of money in the long run because I can year-round and I'm really looking to these for my convenience foods (soups, stews, chili etc.) that we use on a weekly basis.

Are you originally from Canada? I love my Gem jars, and especially the glass lids that most of them came with--so common at garage sales/thrift stores/online on kijiji etc. I get my rubber sealing rings for my Gem glass lids, and my Gem metal lids for my Gem jars, at Canadian Tire. If you ever need any metal Gem lids/rings, just let me know--I'd be happy to pick some up for you and mail them--I'm sure they wouldn't cost much to mail since they are small/relatively light (Or maybe the Canuck Tire website takes online orders?)

 

[Mickey328]

Well, I was born in the States, but grew up in Northwestern Ontario and then lived in Winnipeg for about 20 years. So...I sort of consider myself a Canuck I love the Gem jars I have, simply because the glass is so much thicker and stronger! I don't have any of the glass lids, but did end up somehow with a box of the rubber rings. I've been dragging them around with me for about 15 yrs now, so the rubber's likely shot I always just used the Bernardin lids...mostly because that brand carried the right size. I always had good luck with them, but now I only use them when I don't have anything else left...I've only got about 3 dozen lids left that will fit, so I'm stingy with 'em, LOL. It's on my list for next time I visit the Great White North (son still lives in Winnipeg)...gonna pick up scads of 'em!

Lots of the crabapples I get, most in fact, are the tiny ones...only a couple cm's in diameter...with them, I just whack 'em in half to open them and into the pot they go. Mostly they're hard as rocks and so tart they're pretty much inedible fresh...but they make awesome jelly and with a little "fiddling" the juice is great too! It comes out a pretty pink and when he was younger, my son would go through a quart of it in just a day or two.

 

[sweetproserpina]

I think lehman's carries the rubber rings, which you can order online

I have a whole slew of old crown jars with the glass lids- can I use those for canning with new rubber rings? I don't see how they are much different than the weck jars that are all the rage in europe now (and are so pretty)...
I know in N.America the only 'approved' system is the metal lid two part system (and now, with tattler lids too), but in Europe it's the complete opposite as they recommend the rubber gasket with glass lid...

Moolie, do you can with your old gem jars and glass lids? Have you ever had any problems?

 

[moolie]

...
Moolie, do you can with your old gem jars and glass lids? Have you ever had any problems?

Yup, regularly--I've done tomato sauce, salsa, chutney, antipasto, apple sauce, fruit cocktail, pears, and peaches:

No problems whatsoever, very few seal failures and I absolutely love the reusable factor. I've reused some of the rubber seals a few times now as well, just flip them over so the slight "groove" from the jar mouth is facing the glass lid the next time around. Using them over the past year or so is what made me want to pick up the Tattlers for my other jar sizes