You Grow Girl™

Posted: 09-10-09 21:16

Ginger- all of those sound delicious! Thanks for sharing.

Ancient Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 1380 Location: Toronto

Ciao Ginger-

I'd love the recipe for your Cranberry Syrup if it's a bona fide canning recipe. I'm looking out at the garden and I've got a lot of herbs and berries out there that I'd like to use up before we get a hard frost and syrup would fit the bill for some of the sweeter ones. I'd use your recipe for the berries, but that still leaves me without an herb syrup recipe. Sounds like I need to do some research this weekend.

Posted: 10-10-09 18:45

Hi Juliana,
I didn't use a real canning syrup recipe. Sorry. My syrup is what was left over from soaking the cranberries in sugar water (before drying them). It's lovely and should keep well because of the high sugar and acid content (cranberries are very acidic).
Happy canning!

Posted: 14-10-09 10:33

Winding down on the preserving finally. Here a few pics of the recent adventures.

Oven dried tomatoes- end of Sept

The romas went into olive oil and straight to the fridge. The cherries I leave dried in jars

I picked a ton of Bosc pears with Not Far From the Tree

And turned them into this

Pears in light syrup. elderberry syrup and cardamom syrup.

Not shown- the two full trays of sugar dried pear slices that my boyfriend proceeded to eat entirely before I even put them away...

Some of them also went in this delicious pie with apples I picked and and rhubarb frozen from the spring.

I also made a pumpkin pie from scratch using the pumpkins form the garden

We ate both of them for Thankgiving dinner!

And today I picked the last of the tomatillas, destined for salsa verde.

There's still a few tomatoes to ripen and the onions to dig but I'm pretty much done for the year!

Joined: 28 Sep 2009 Posts: 9 Location: WI

That pear pie is absolutely gorgeous.

Ancient Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 1380 Location: Toronto

Ciao all-

Yes, campers, I'm still canning. I'm approaching the end of the tunnel with fresh ingredients now. Today, I've made 14 250ml jars of Cranapple Butter with the remaining Crispin apples we used for applesauce and 12 125ml plus 2 250ml jars of Habanero Gold Jelly using Duane's habanero peppers. I still plan on making some Pear Ginger Jam or Preserves and some Blood Orange Marmalade, but I think that's just about it for fresh seasonal ingredient canning for the year. If I make Pomegranate Jelly, I'm not going to kill myself trying to get enough juice from fresh pomegranates. Been there, done that, and it's a LOT of work. I'll cheat and use POM juice.

Here's what I've put up recently:

Pumpkin-Maple Butter

Pickled Pepperoncini and Pickled Sweet Pickle Peppers

White Tomato Ketchup

Full O Beans Soup

Rhubarb Jelly

Posted: 31-10-09 15:00

your pics are amazing!
especially love the Pickled Sweet Pickle Peppers !!
Would you be able to post the cranapple butter recipe?
Sounds very interesting and i think i might just have all the ingredients on hand.

Ancient Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 1380 Location: Toronto

Ciao all-

I had a very productive weekend of canning: 5 500ml jars of miscellaneous medium-hot chile peppers pressure-canned in water, 12 125ml plus 2 250ml jars of Habanero Gold Jelly, and 14 250ml jars of quince preserves. I've still got ripening tomatoes to be milled or dehydrated and the last of the flower and herb seeds to harvest, but I'm definitely winding down now.

That being said, there are a couple of recipes that I can post now. I'll start first with the Black Forest Preserves that a few people were interested in earlier in the canning season.

Black Forest Preserves

Makes 6 to 7 250ml jars

6 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder, the best you can find
3 cups firmly packed, coarsely chopped pitted sweet cherries
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 pouches (each 3 oz/85ml) liquid pectin
4 tbsp amaretto liqueur or 1/2 tsp almond extract

Wash 8 250ml jars, rings, and lids. I always get 1 more than the recipe says I'll need, just to be sure. Heat water bath canner. Add jars using a jar lifter and set timer for 5 minutes. Add lids and set timer for an additional 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder. Stir well and set aside.

Combine cherries and lemon juice in a large, deep stainless steel saucepan. Stir in reserved cocoa mixture. Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir in pectin. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for exactly 1 minute. Stir in amaretto or almond extract. Remove from heat and skim foam off the surface. (The foam is still good if you want to give it to "official family taste testers).

Ladle hot preserves into hot jars using a funnel and leave 1/4" head space. Remove air bubbles and wipe rim with a damp paper towel. Retrieve lid using tongs and center on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner after all have been filled, ensuring that they are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.

Remove jars to a cookie sheet lined with paper towels and allow to cool undisturbed for 24 hours. Check seals, label, and store in a cool, dark place in their box.

Ancient Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 1380 Location: Toronto

Ciao Audrey-

The Cranapple Butter recipe comes out of Bernardin's big book of canning. It's a nice change from the standard apple butter. I'm looking forward to baking some acorn squash filled with this.

Cranapple Butter

Makes 9 to 10 250ml jars or 4 to 5 500ml jars, depending on thickness of finished product

6 lbs apples, cored, peeled, and quartered
8 cups cranberry juice
4 cups sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

As you peel, core, and cut the apples, place them in a large bowl filled with cold water and 1/2 cup lemon juice to prevent oxidation. Drain apples and combine with cranberry juice in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft, about 15 minutes.

Mill apple mixture or process in a food processor in batches until it achieves a uniform texture. We have an electric tomato press that we use for this. It's quite messy, so you may want to do this outside if you have access to an outdoor electric outlet and a long extension cord.

In a clean large stainless steel saucepan, combine apple puree, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and holds its shape on a spoon. For me, this took about 1 1/2 hours so you may want to make this on a weekend when the electricity rates are lower.

While the butter is boiling down, bring your water bath canner to a boil and wash your jars, rings, and lids. Allow for boiling your jars for 10 minutes total and your lids for 5 minutes total. As the butter thickens, you'll be able to tell when you should put your jars in. You don't want to be boiling your jars and lids for a long period of time.

Once the butter has reached the desired consistency, ladle it into a hot jar using a funnel to 1/4" headspace. Remove air bubbles and re-adjust headspace if necessary, by adding more butter. Wipe the rim with a dampened paper towel. Retrieve lid using tongs and center on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner using a jar lifter once all jars have been filled, ensuring they are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.

Remove jars from canner using a jar lifter to a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Allow to cool undisturbed for 24 hours. Check seals, label, and store in a cool, dry place in their box.

Posted: 04-11-09 11:02

Thanx Julianna!
Sounds delicious!

Posted: 06-11-09 9:22

I'm incredibly busy with life-in-general at the moment, but am hoping to update my canning list after this weekend, when I'll be gathering together the basket of canned goods for my friend who is getting married tomorrow. I'll probably deliver his basket to him Monday, so I still have two days to finish off my canning. I'm making a plum sauce tonight, and maybe a pomegranate jelly or "Sundae in a Jar" on Sunday.

I'm still unsure about the type of pectin to use for the Mango Jam. My gut tells me, if it's asking for two pouches, that it's probably liquid (also, it calls for "CERTO", which is the liquid pectin in their product list - Sure-Jell is the powdered), but Alurien said she used powdered... Maybe I'll just go with my gut and make it with the liquid to see what happens. My understanding is that the pectin only helps with gelling, not preservation, so the worst thing that could happen is either it's too firm or too liquid... right?

Julianna, what recipe did you use for Pumpkin Maple Butter? That sounds devine. Also, can butternut squash be subsituted for pumpkin (I know that substitution is sometimes made in other recipes).

~ Mel ~

Posted: 06-11-09 16:15

Mel-
re:mango jam- I didn't catch that difference with the pectin. I think you're right that it should be liquid. My jam was tasty but little gritty, if I recall correctly. I thought I didn't let it boil long enough, but it may have been a pectin issue. I'm rather inexperienced, this being only my second canning season.

Julianna-
Thanks so much for taking the time to post the recipes. Much appreciated!

Posted: 06-11-09 16:22

Ok, thanks Alurien. I'll give it a try and let you know how it turns out.

And don't worry - even those of us who have done this for a few years (or more!) feel like beginners every time we try a new recipe!

~ Mel ~