OK so it has been forever since I have done an entry here. There have been a few changes since my last entry. My oldest daughter is back from Afghanistan and now we are planning her wedding. I have decided against completing my masters program, too much of a time requirement and not enough to justification to complete it. I have been busy with canning over the summer and so I am just going to start over. I will make note of lessons I learned this year in my adventures and try to go from here. It is early December and I am in the middle of applesauce and hope to do apple butter either tomorrow or the next day.
So here is what I have learned:
· Make sure everything is measured out BEFORE you start to cook a jam. Have the jars in the sink ready to go as well. Having everything within reach makes it doable. Also make sure you have time to do it all. Methods are funny… most jams recipes will tell you to “boil hard for one minute” which will work fine if you want a syrup. For instance this is what it said to do for Strawberry Jam… the reality was it needed to cook for an hour before it was ready to go into jars. And I found that most jams were similar.
· Dill relish… this one proved tricky. I think my error on this one was that I cooked it too long and was short a little on the vinegar. I thought I could make do… WRONG! When it first came out of the canner it looked dry, but the next day it had more moisture to it. I thought it would be OK after all. Oops is all I have to say about that. It LOOKS OK, but the flavor is wrong. I will try it again next summer.
· Spaghetti sauce… another tricky one. I varied a little from the recipe and it ended up being a flop. The first couple of jars I used worked out well. As they had a good flavor, and I am hoping that the next time I used the sauce was a fluke because it was just bland. I will try it again when I won’t be subjecting anyone else to it. I might open a jar and make pasta for lunch. I will post how it turns out. I hope it is OK because I put up 23 pints of the stuff.
· I joined a local CSA and this proved a lifesaver! I was able to go to the local farmers market and fill up my basket (the basket was about the size of a round laundry basket) with what ever I wanted every week. I will do this again because I used a lot of it fresh for my family, and I canned a lot of it as well. Making pickled beets, dilled beans, salsa, corn salsa and freezing corn to use this winter.
· I tried to make ketchup, this is NOT for the faint of heart. Again I will try to make this again, starting earlier in the day and give it the time it needs to thicken. It smelled really good and the taste was right, UNTIL I scorched it in the crock pot of all things. See what I get for trying to rush things.
· I REALLY need a pressure canner. REALLY. I found I was unable to do green beans, beets and a variety of other items I wanted to do. OK so I did beets, but not really happy with them as they have lemon juice in them to help with the acid levels and you taste the lemon, I don’t really want lemon flavored beets. Also to do broths I need the pressure canner. It is currently killing me that I am having to purchase broth from the store. I want to use MINE. It is on my wish list. We will see if Santa finds one or not.
· My food processor has proven to be a lifesaver again! The first time I made strawberry jam I chopped the strawberries by hand, the next time I just put them through the processor and man, this saved me some time! A friend gave me a canning cookbook when she loaned me her hot water bath to get started on my adventure. It is one of my favorites, it has a lot of low sugar jam recipes. The cookbook also has a recipe for a salsa that does not contain cilantro this find alone will help my marriage stay together as my husband has a strong dislike of cilantro. I did however use other recipes for salsa’s that contained cilantro, I just substituted it with parsley. Next year I will be smart enough to use the Italian parsley I had in my herb garden instead of the curled leaf. Like I said... it has been a learning experience. Tomorrow we start moving forward! Also we have added a new hobby into the mix... we are now brewing our own beer as well and yes I will be sharing that as well!
