WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[lcertuche]

Oh my goodness I've been busy canning. My church has once again blessed us with produce. I've canned 48 jars, quarts mostly of tomatoes, 28 quarts of potatoes, a few pints of potatoes, 10 quarts of French onion soup, a few pints of the same, 3 quarts of okra and 1 pint (I wished there was more), 10 half-pints of raspberry jam, 2 gallons of frozen raspberries, 10 half-gallon bags in the freezer of broccoli, and then I bought a bushel and 10 pounds of apples for apple pie filling and apple butter. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot but we are going to have plenty to eat this winter. I still have tomatoes and potatoes in the freezer when I ran out of jars so we'll eat them first. I'm baking most of the last of the potatoes tonight, along with bacon, broccoli and sour cream for supper tonight. 27 quarts of green beans, I knew I was forgetting something. We also have strawberries and blueberries in the refrigerator for fresh eating. I also froze mangos, dehydrated mangos, and made mango preserves. Oh and oranges which I dehydrated slices, dehydrated zest, and made a few jars of marmalade. God Almighty through our church has blessed us, our church family and the community mightily this summer. My garden didn't do well and then we had to move but I still made out like a bandit on produce. My friends, neighbors and family have all been blessed.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That is so awesome!

 

[Beekissed]

My garden didn't do well and then we had to move but I still made out like a bandit on produce. My friends, neighbors and family have all been blessed.

It's amazing how He provides for us, isn't it? Praise God for your bounty!!!

 

[NH Homesteader]

I'm not canning, but freezing. Making tomato sauce. Smells delicious. I've not had much luck making it in the past, so hopefully it'll work out this time. I'm kind of picky about my sauce...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope it works out just the way you want it to!

 

[Hinotori]

I freeze razor clams in 2 pound baggies after cleaning. After spending a few hours searching and digging, then another few cleaning 30 of the suckers I don't like seeing them for a week. We had a dig last weekend so I'm not in a clam mood.

I often wonder why only razor clams, horse clams, and geoducks seem to have the guts cleaned out. Probably size. Those three are big. I get about 2 pounds of cleaned meat from the 15 razor clam limit.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow - they are big! How hard is it to clean 'em?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Side note, sauce was great!

 

[Hinotori]

Get pot of water boiling. Get bowl of ice water ready. Drop clam in and have tongs ready to pull it out after a couple seconds when the clam hing pops open. Drop in ice water.

Shell and sand easily come off now and clam isn't cooked.

I use small sissors as I've found they work faster than a knife. Snip off very small tip of the neck. Snip up first one tube in neck, then the next one under it. Now I remove the neck and sides from the gut and foot. A few snips on the side of the foot and the stile squeezes out. Then a short cut on the back and along the top of the foot so it will lay flat. Then pull off gut and intestines.

After a final rinse it's done. All nice clean meat ready to chop for chowder or bread and fry.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

@Hinotori Sounds like intricate work, but worth it I'm sure! I've never eaten a razor clam... at least I don't think I have. But, there's not much seafood I don't like!

Glad your sauce worked out @NH Homesteader!