WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[lcertuche]

I read on facebook that you need to use low sugar pectin to get watermelon to gel. I know Certo and Ball instant pectin didn't work. I'm going to get the low sugar Sure Jell and try that. I still have a few watermelons. If they tasted good we could probably eat them fresh but no one likes these except my one son. I never tasted such horrible watermelon. I haven't got a good tasting one this summer. The watermelon jelly taste like watermelon candy to me.

 

[CrealCritter]

I like to cut my tomatoes in half, squeeze most the seeds out and blend. Heat up to a boil. After that I pack into jars. Even so there plenty of juice.

A very wise man once told me "it's never a good idea to question the ways of your wife."

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's a smart man right there!

 

[CrealCritter]

That's a smart man right there!

Yes indeed he was... I miss sitting & talking with him... But he's in a much better place now and lived a long and happy life... He was the wisest man I've ever known. Everyone needs a wise man or woman friend in their life. Older people are so full of wisdom and even more willing to share it. All you have to do is just listen and learn, take a true interest and be a friend.

I have a buddy up the road who is quite old and also very wise. He likes to wood work the same as I do. He came by when we first moved in wanting to buy a bunch of maple wood that I just so happened to have. But that little voice inside me said "don't charge him, give him what he wants" so I did just that and he has repaid me many times over not in money but in wisdom and food. He has grape vines and pear trees which he gladly shares with us. I.like to spend hours just sitting and talking with him and help him with things he needs done. He's so full of wisdom and I try and suck it up like a sponge and be someone who he can trust and depend on.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

He sounds like a very special person. And you are so right about elders - just gotta sit back and listen!

 

[Beekissed]

Tomatoes are like deer meat...tend to make their own juice when canned.

 

[Hinotori]

5 pints of deseeded raspberry jam. The Roma food mill we just got works so much better than any of the others Ive tried.

I need to do blueberries next. And go pick the oregon grapes and jam them.

 

[lcertuche]

I canned six quarts of pintos, six quarts of black beans and two quarts of grape juice yesterday. I love having jars of beans. So much easier than cooking them all day.

 

[Hinotori]

Last month I did 16 pints of strawberry jam. Mom gets 4 of those.

Last week I did 7 pints of deseeded raspberry jam.

Tonight I did 6.5 pints of deseeded boysenberry.

I have blueberries to do tomorrow.

Blackberries are almost ready here, and then I'll pick a bunch of concord grapes when I go see Mom this fall.

Hubby has really been into the jam since he came home in March and got a new job. If there is too much this year, I'll make less next year. My brothers or Mom will always take extra.

I am loving this Roma food mill. It made deseeding very fast. I ran the pulp through a twice and it got pretty much everything.

I picked up a steam canner last month. So far I'm pretty happy with it. The lighter weight is so worth it. We also have a lot of iron in the water and it leaves a residue when water bathing. Not an issue with the steam canner.

 

[lcertuche]

Are steam canners a replacement for boiling water bath canning? I think it would be easier than dealing with all that water.