WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[flowerbug]

scored about 30-40 regular mouth jars yesterday. need to go through them and check for cracks and chips but other than that it will help to have them and am glad they didn't get thrown out.

also talking to someone else about some more boxes of canning jars they might have that will work out. we'll see - may be a month or two before i know for sure on this. no rush, we're not harvesting yet (7+ months from now...).

 

[Hinotori]

If anyone needs canning lids, check your local Dollar Tree. I just went in for some individual packed snacks & raw ACV with mother. So vinegar was $1.25, 16oz...way cheaper than big box stores....and walking out, noticed the reg size lids, on hanging strips, on groc aisle. $1.25 a 10 pack. Dollar general is $2.99 a 12 pack...some stores are $3.99.

I'm loaded from 2yr ago buys BUT -- excellent buy. They look good, perfect ring, plenty thickness of band. FYI.

That's a good price.

Apparently Im doing fine just cleaning the house. I keep finding more lids from years ago

 

[Finnie]

I've never made orange jelly! I do love marmalade tho!!

So I don’t like marmalade because of the bits of peel in it. A couple years ago I was trying to find an orange jam or jelly recipe that didn’t call for the peel, and all I could find out was that the peel was necessary for the pectin it contains.

Now, however, when I looked up canning mandarin oranges, I found several recipes for orange juice jelly. And grapefruit jellies and jams too. I’m going to try that next, because I have a huge bag of grapefruits that I’m having a hard time working my way through.

Tonight I did potatoes!

I kind of overestimated how many potatoes I needed. Ball blue book says 2-3 lbs per quart jar. Internet said 2 1/2, which fits in with that. So I bought two 5# bags on sale, plus I had a couple pounds already. Boy I had a ton of boiled potatoes left after my 5 jars were filled! So I mashed them and now I have about a year’s supply of mashed potatoes in my freezer. I’m going to have to find something else to do with my 5 quarts of canned potatoes.

 

[Mini Horses]

Ready for potato salads...drain well first. They're ready for fast fried potatoes. Dump into a pot of soup. There are some uses. Peeling time already done, most of the cook time. Remembering to use is hardest part . I canned because I had too many at once to store well.

I even canned qts of potato/carrot/onion mix. Leftover beef & gravy & a jar of the mix, quick beef stew. No waste.

Thaw the mashed, season with herbs, make into patties, flour and fry.

 

[Finnie]

Ready for potato salads..

I have a feeling these are going to be mush. The instructions that came with my canner said to cut them in half inch chunks. (?!) Way too much work and way too small!

Ball blue book said to just quarter any potatoes that were larger than 2”. Then boil 10 minutes before hot packing into jars. Well after 10 minutes they were fully cooked and easily mashable. I had to be careful not to press down on them while filling the jars.

Some people on line said to parboil smaller pieces 2 minutes and larger pieces 10 minutes. In future I’m going to have to find some shorter amount of time that leaves the larger pieces still firm.

 

[FarmerJamie]

I have a feeling these are going to be mush. The instructions that came with my canner said to cut them in half inch chunks. (?!) Way too much work and way too small!

Ball blue book said to just quarter any potatoes that were larger than 2”. Then boil 10 minutes before hot packing into jars. Well after 10 minutes they were fully cooked and easily mashable. I had to be careful not to press down on them while filling the jars.

Some people on line said to parboil smaller pieces 2 minutes and larger pieces 10 minutes. In future I’m going to have to find some shorter amount of time that leaves the larger pieces still firm.

I do the 2 minutes before putting in jars. Love the chunks pan fried until crispy

 

[Mini Horses]

• Type of potato has an impact. Russets will be overcooked, while most reds will hold up well and some whites.

 

[Finnie]

I’ve been doing some further research this morning. I saw where they said that about russets. I also saw where they talked about too much starch being a problem. And two sources said to use fresh boiling water to put in the jars and NOT the starchy cooking water. The Ball blue book said to ladle hot cooking liquid OR boiling water. Figuring there were vitamins in the cooking liquid, I chose that. Wrong choice I guess. I’m beginning to think that I should throw my Ball blue book away!

So my new question is, are these jars going to be safe? I’m considering opening them up, draining the liquid and freezing them now.

You can see the difference between the ones that stayed cubes and the ones that turned to mush.

 

[Mini Horses]

Were they same potatoes? Cooked, same, etc? One on right is just, heat, add butter and hope it is thickening. One on left looks more like mine. So long as temp & time in canner appropriate, they would be safe. How'd the others compare to these?

Age of potatoes & their storage affect the starch/sugar ratio in them. Yeah, another crapshoot. You just can't be sure how producer, storage & transport handle them.

 

[flowerbug]

I’ve been doing some further research this morning. I saw where they said that about russets. I also saw where they talked about too much starch being a problem. And two sources said to use fresh boiling water to put in the jars and NOT the starchy cooking water. The Ball blue book said to ladle hot cooking liquid OR boiling water. Figuring there were vitamins in the cooking liquid, I chose that. Wrong choice I guess. I’m beginning to think that I should throw my Ball blue book away!

So my new question is, are these jars going to be safe? I’m considering opening them up, draining the liquid and freezing them now.

if they were pressure canned the right amount of time they should be safe. IMO...