WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[moolie]

9 more pints of pink applesauce yesterday from the remaining crab apples from our first picking. We'll pick some more this weekend and maybe do some juice/jelly and apple butter

Never really had black raspberry jam so I don't know the difference, but we grow our own raspberries and they are super delish! We also glean and u-pick local Saskatoon berries which are very like blueberries--more purple in colour and slightly different taste, but in muffins/jam/pancakes etc. they definitely fit the bill!

 

[Emerald]

Finally got the stewed tomatoes done yesterday.. 7 quarts-15 pints-18 half pints.
And before anyone asks.. my family has gotten smaller and so except for a few big family dinners it is sometimes just me or me and hubby.. so the small half pints get used up quicker.
I would have done more but I didn't grow that much this year and had to buy.. I may go pick another couple half bushels if I feel up to it.

 

[Mickey328]

We had a big ole Saskatoon bush at the camp...very tasty, but I confess...I do prefer blueberries They were great for grabbing a handful to munch on when walking by, though.

Yesterday was apple day here. Did 9 pints of pink, cinnamon sauce and 6 of regular colored brown sugar/vanilla. Also did up 2 batches of apple butter...cooked and ready to can when I get off work today. Still need to scrounge more apples for more sauce and some juice.

Emerald, it makes perfect sense to me to can in usable amounts. No point in having something in a quart if you're only going to use half of it. If you need more, you can always open 2 jars!

 

[me&thegals]

I bought a 30-lb watermelon from a neighboring farmer's market vendor last week. I have the rinds cut, peeled and soaking in saltwater at home, to be canned tonight. I've made 2 batches in the past, one good, one excellent! I hope this turns out

 

[Mickey328]

Mmmmm...I love watermelon rind pickles! My aunt made really good ones, but she didn't actually use watermelon rind, LOL. She used the big, almost overgrown cukes...peeled and seeded, and then cut the flesh into strips

 

[me&thegals]

Oh, that sounds good! The great ones from last year were a bit dense and chewy, a perfect texture. I can picture the cukes being like that

 

[Mickey328]

It's easier, too. I thought for years they were actually watermelon...didn't really know any different till I made a batch from watermelon rind...and they weren't quite the same...not as good in fact, LOL Now I just eat the melon and let the chickens have the rind!

 

[Hinotori]

Two gallons of concord grape juice done today. I have enough grapes to get through I should get another three and a half to four gallons out of it. Just getting them juiced and jarred works for now. I'm going to be making some into jelly later. Grape is hubby's favorite.

 

[Mickey328]

Awesome. We can never get concords here, so I had to resort to planting one, LOL. No fruit yet, but I'm hoping for next year. I make jam rather than jelly though...it's a fave of my hubby too

 

[Hinotori]

My great aunt has a vineyard with about 15 grape types and my mom has two different grapes planted at her house as well. Since it's warmer on the trellis at moms and sheltered, the grapes do better there in bad years. Spring lasted through June this year so grapes weren't as good. Got about 60 pounds from mom. One year we brought back 300+ lbs from my great aunts. Some white and purple concords, muscats, a pink table grape and some purple wine grapes. Hubby loved those wine grapes for just eating. Those ripen earlier than the other grapes so I should get a few starts and see if we can get fruit here.

Mom made grape jam many times growing up, but I don't care for the skins in it and we had an issue with the tartaric acid forming crystals in it. Probably had to do with the grape variety, but the skins do have more of it in them. I prefer to juice the grapes and let them set a few months for the crystals to settle out, then I make jelly. Concords and Muscats have seeds as well. Got to get those out. Those suck in raisins, too.

Mom made raisins out of the seeded grapes many times. One year she went overboard on the raisin making. I mean WAY overboard. I think we had a few hundred pounds of raisins when she was done. She didn't make any for years after that. She found a sealed container of them in the back of one of the closets a few years ago. Nothing like 20 year old raisins. They all looked and smelled fine, and I got brave and tasted some and they still were better than store bought.

I have a dehydrator myself now, and if we get a good year of grapes again, I'll make up some raisins. Last year was a dud because of the cool weather. Even off mom's big vine we only got maybe 20 pounds. Mom keeps the vines to shade the south side of the house in summer. Helps them a lot on cooling by keeping the sun out. Normally they would eat some of the grapes, but most of them would get cut off and taken up to the cabin to feed to the deer. So I get calls saying "the grapes are ripe, come get them", now.