# What's in your canning/jarring pantry?



## IrishLass (Jan 6, 2018)

A recent post by gloopygloop in another part of the forum about it being her marmalade-making day perked my ears up and got me thinking of starting a canning thread. Does anybody else here can, or 'jar', as they call it in some other countries? 

In the past I've only ever canned jams, jellies and marmalades, but I've recently added sweet pickle relish to my repertoire (using my first ever homegrown cucumbers!!), and also chicken meat, and pasta sauce with meat thanks to the pressure canner my hubby bought for 10 years ago or so (an All-American 921)..... _but was way too afraid to use_ _until last month,_ can you believe it? I could just kick myself for having let my fear get the best of me for so long and prevent me from discovering what an absolute treasure I have in my possession! I feel like such a silly ninny over it because there's nothing to be scared of, what with all its built-in safety features, etc.. The thing just looks and sounds scary/beastly, is all. 

Earlier this week, we tried out a jar of my first ever canned pasta w/meat sauce that I pressure canned at the beginning of December (served it over cheese pierogies that we made for Christmas), and it was delicious! 

For Christmas, hubby bought me The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving and I'm very excited to try out several of the recipes, especially the Spicy Apple-Jalepeno Jelly (to serve with crackers and cream cheese), and the Orange-Banana Jam that includes vanilla and is sweetened with honey. There are so many interesting and yummy sounding recipes in this book compared to those in the Ball canning manual I keep on hand, and I'm so glad to see that the recipes in the book are for small batches, because I just don't have the space to store a gazillion jars of food! I need room for my soap, too, afterall!

The Pomona Pectin canning/recipe book and the Food In Jars Small-Batch Canning book will soon be on the way to me as well. 

I've also been trying out different brands of jars and lids (other than the usual Ball or Kerr brands offered in the US). I don't know if y'all have either used or heard of Weck jars, but I am in total love with them! They are made in Germany and cost more than Ball/Kerr, but they have an official division here in the US now where you can buy them for more reasonable prices than you can get them for on Amazon. I like them because the lids are made of glass instead of metal, and they work very well in my water bath canner and also my pressure canner. 

I love the Orchard Road jars as well. They feel so much more sturdier/heftier than the Ball/Kerr jars. 

I've also been trying out the reusable Tattler lids. It's been a bit of a hit or miss trial with them for me, but I think I have it figured out now (I've been practicing on them by canning just tap water). It's all in how tight you screw them down- I found there to be a bit of a narrow 'sweet spot' with them. To help me get the right tension down, I bought the Ball jar tightener tool to see if it would help, and it's been working out well for me so far.

This week I'll be making what I call my freezer orange 'jamalade'. It's basically orange jam with a very small amount of candied orange peel in it. Or I guess you could call it 'orange marmalade for wimps' (i.e., those who don't like a whole lot of peel). 

What's in your canning pantry?


IrishLass


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## cmzaha (Jan 6, 2018)

I spent 10 yrs or so using my All American Pressure canner to process fresh albacore, tuna and yellowtail. Sure miss those days... They are fantastic canners and I cannot believe you waited so long to use yours. I do not have much time for canning anymore but I have used mine to can lemon curd, salsa, spagetti sauce, and various sauces. Jams and jellies I just use my waterbath canner


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## Steve85569 (Jan 6, 2018)

Just a water bath canner for the jams, jellies and apple sauce for me.
My family hasn't pressure canned in almost 60 years. Long story. Some other time maybe...


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## Relle (Jan 6, 2018)

Many years ago I use to make pickled onions this time of year for my father. As he passed away a long time ago,  I haven't bothered. We don't call it canning or jarring here, it's usually called preserving, that covers most things - pickling, jams, etc

A few months ago I came upon an Aussie book at the library on pickling. I have since bought that book and a second one that was recently published dh gave to me for Christmas.

So far I've made zucchini pickles and a green tomato one. I don't know what they taste like yet as it's only been about 3 wks and I'll leave them a while longer yet. It's taking me a while to gather the spices I need as I keep remembering a different one I need every time I go shopping. 

This morning I went foraging for fennel flowers, I didn't find any near home, mind you, when I was out the other day I couldn't stop, because they were all on busy roads and there was nowhere to park.

I'm going to make some carrot jam, only because it's so easy and looks luscious and have many others I want to try. The hard part is finding enough jars without buying any. 

Irishlass, I too, have my first ever home grown cucumbers , but not enough yet to pickle. It's been so hot here that all the vegs are suffering, today is going to be 45 degrees.

Looking forward to hearing how your orange jam goes. Not sure what I'll make this week, depends on the weather, its too hot to do much.

So what do you class as jellies ?


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## jewels621 (Jan 6, 2018)

I have chicken, bone broth from our chickens and cows, apple and peach pie filling, jellies and jams, mandarin oranges, beans, salsa, ketchup, and tomato sauce.

I love all forms of food preservation. I use basic Ball and Kerr jars. I have a bunch of Weck jars but have never canned in them. 

I use Tattler lids that are modified with air locks on the top for fermenting - mostly sauerkraut (I'm known around here for my garlic dill sauerkraut), kimchi, and pickles....but I've been known to ferment other veggies as they become available. 

I also have just begun foraging......we have ramps, morels, wild ginger, and wild grapes where we live. One of my daughter-in-laws got me a Midwest Foraging book for Christmas so I can't wait for spring so I can look for other things that I haven't identified yet. There's such a lost art to raising and gathering our own food.

There's nothing that thrills me more than when everything on our dinner plates is out of our own yard!

I've had both water bath and pressure canners for years and years. I'm bound and determined to pass on the knowledge of food preservation. I got all three of my daughter-in-laws pressure canner/cookers for Christmas this year. I had all boys, so I love finally having girls that are interested in this stuff.

I'm so excited for you, IrishLass! Keep us posted on what you're canning!

ETA: The wire bins with the burlap flap hold potatoes and onions from last summers garden.

ETA: I forgot to mention pickled beets! My husbands best friend, who grows all of the alfalfa hay for our cows, also grows rye. I trade him pickled beets for rye to grind into flour for bread. I average about 40 pints a year for him, and have a dedicated "beet bed" just for his beets! His whole family of adult children also love them, and when h S getting a low jar count he ke ps them in his safe so his kids won't steal them!


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## Kittish (Jan 6, 2018)

I've only ever done a tiny bit of canning, currently I'm really crunched for space, so don't have room for either the equipment or the products.

Several years back I made a batch of lemon marmalade that turned out mostly really well. A few of the jars didn't set up (and that puzzles me, it was all out of the same batch and in the same sort of jars and all the jars sealed well), so I had lemon marmalade that was just fantastic, and a few jars of essentially lemon syrup that worked really well over ice cream and cakes. 

Every now and then I'll make a tiny little batch of some fruit jam or syrup, usually no more than 2 or 3 jars and use my big stockpot for a water bath.


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## dibbles (Jan 6, 2018)

I used to can tomatoes, raspberry and strawberry jam, relish, salsa and 'hot vegetables' which were pickled carrots, celery, cauliflower and jalapenos. Then DH decided to use my water bath canner as a wax pot to dip the ducks and geese he hunted, which helps to remove the pin feathers. I never replaced it and only now freeze stewed tomatoes, make refrigerator pickles and freezer jam. We also freeze our garden buttercup squash. Can't say I miss it much, although I've been thinking about an instant pot so I could do a few jars of jam each summer. Maybe when the rice cooker gives out.


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## SaltedFig (Jan 6, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> I don't know if y'all have either used or heard  of Weck jars, but I am in total love with them! They are made in Germany  and cost more than Ball/Kerr, but they have an official division here  in the US now where you can buy them for more reasonable prices than you  can get them for on Amazon. I like them because the lids are made of  glass instead of metal, and they work very well in my water bath canner  and also my pressure canner.



The Weck jars are so beautiful to look at. We have them available in Australia, and if I ever buy any more jars, it'll be those.



Relle said:


> This morning I went foraging for fennel flowers, I  didn't find any near home, mind you, when I was out the other day I  couldn't stop, because they were all on busy roads and there was nowhere  to park:sad:


Relle,

I could post you a bunch of seeds, if you want (I reckon I could get at least half a cup of seeds to you in a letter post envelope ). They're heirloom Florence Fennel, organic for 7+ seed generations. If you want some of the green seeds, I can send you some of those too (they are soft and sweet and really nice to eat fresh).


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## BattleGnome (Jan 7, 2018)

I really want to learn how to can it I don’t have anything to preserve. I have dreams of a pretty garden but don’t have the time to even clear out the backyard. We have wild blueberries in the back, if I ever figure out their actual growing season I may play with water canning a small jar to learn the process (I’m always a week off, either too early or late)


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## CTAnton (Jan 7, 2018)

Tomato sauce and sauerkraut as well as orange marmalade that came out more like orange jam but nonetheless delicious.I used to can mown tomatoes but recently went in the fall and picked up a case of New Jersey tomatoes for like 10 dollars...all perfectly ripe and settled in for a day to make sauce.
This brings back memories of visiting family up in Newfoundland. I was treated like royalty and at one particularly elegant meal I was treated to canned moose and something they called tur. All I could think was that it was tern? Both presented to me as a regional delicacy. I've always considered myself an adventurous eater but if memory serves me correctly I definitely didn't go back for seconds....


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## mx5inpenn (Jan 7, 2018)

Several types of salsas, pickles, relishes, jalapenos, tomato and spaghetti sauce, hot pepper jelly, applesauce. I grew up doing peaches, pears and juices as well, but don't have the time!


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## Susie (Jan 7, 2018)

I am jealous of you all!  I have neither the time nor the space, but I grew up with a big garden, and most of that went into the freezer, but we put up pickles every year. and the wild dewberries, grapes, and whatever else fruit we found to harvest (peaches, pears, figs, mayhaw) or that we found on sale got turned into preserves or jellies.


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## shunt2011 (Jan 7, 2018)

Pickles, relish, jam, tomatoes, peppers and salsas (mostly green).  I also  freeze acorn squash, beans and corn.  I enjoy doing this as much as soap making.


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## dibbles (Jan 7, 2018)

My aunt and uncle had a cabin in the Lake Superior north shore area and she would make jam from wildflowers and berries. I remember tiny jars of violet jam, wild rose petal jam, rosehips jam, strawberry and blueberry. Those tiny wild berries are so full of flavor, but it takes a bunch to make even a small batch of anything! The wildflower jams were so pretty and delicate.


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## IrishLass (Jan 7, 2018)

cmzaha said:


> I spent 10 yrs or so using my All American Pressure canner to process fresh albacore, tuna and yellowtail. Sure miss those days... They are fantastic canners and I cannot believe you waited so long to use yours.


 
I can hardly believe I waited so long either! 

If it wasn't for all those Youtube pressure canning videos I had recently binge-watched, it would probably still be stashed away. Well, that, plus info I found on a canning forum about the rigorous safety testing that it's put through at the foundry. 



			
				Steve85569 said:
			
		

> My family hasn't pressure canned in almost 60 years. Long story. Some other time maybe...


 
I'm almost afraid to ask, but curiosity has gotten the better of me. What happened? 



			
				Relle said:
			
		

> I'm going to make some carrot jam, only because it's so easy and looks luscious and have many others I want to try.


 
I have a carrot jam on my list to try, too- the Ball recipe for carrot cake jam. It sounds very yummy!



			
				Relle said:
			
		

> Irishlass, I too, have my first ever home grown cucumbers :smile:, but not enough yet to pickle. It's been so hot here that all the vegs are suffering, today is going to be 45 degrees.


 
Ugh! I know what that's like! We had horribly hot temps this past summer (June thru September), and even though it's supposed to be winter around my parts now, it's still fairly on the warm side- between 23C -29C (about 73F to 83F). Usually, it hovers somewhere between around 13C to 20C (about 55F to 68F) by now. The aeroponic garden tower I have set up in the back yard is loving it, though. I'm still harvesting ripe tomatoes and strawberries off of it, as well as all kinds of herbs and greens, etc.... Plus my 2 orange trees are ready to throw their oranges at me if I don't pick them anytime soon. lol 

I'm excited for you growing your first cucumbers! My own cucumber vine is spent now, but it sure produced a lot of cucumbers for us before it conked out. I'm going to yank it out of the tower and start up a new one. 



			
				Relle said:
			
		

> So what do you class as jellies ?


 
Over here in the US, jelly pretty much starts out the same way as a jam, only it is strained of all solids before canning so that it turns out clear.




			
				jewels621 said:
			
		

> I have chicken, bone broth from our chickens and cows, apple and peach pie filling, jellies and jams, mandarin oranges, beans, salsa, ketchup, and tomato sauce.
> 
> I love all forms of food preservation. I use basic Ball and Kerr jars. I have a bunch of Weck jars but have never canned in them.


 
You're living my dream life! lol I love the pic you posted! Oh how I wish I even had that much space to store my canned goods! To give you an idea of how much free space I have left in my house, I've been storing my canned goods in my dishwasher (it hardly ever gets used anyway since I prefer washing my dishes by hand). 



			
				dibbles said:
			
		

> Then DH decided to use my water bath canner as a wax pot to dip the ducks and geese he hunted, which helps to remove the pin feathers. I never replaced it and only now freeze stewed tomatoes, make refrigerator pickles and freezer jam.


 
Arghhh! Don't you just hate that? With my DH, it was my enamel roasting pan. Apparently, it makes for the perfect drip pan when changing out the cars oil. I told him to go ahead and keep that one with his tools and then went out and bought a replacement, which he is strictly forbidden to touch! lol




			
				SaltedFig said:
			
		

> The Weck jars are so beautiful to look at. We have them available in Australia, and if I ever buy any more jars, it'll be those.


 
I love them so much. They are both pretty _and_ practical. They are a bit more pricey, but are well made. 




			
				BattleGnome said:
			
		

> I really want to learn how to can it I don’t have anything to preserve.


 
I wouldn't let the absence of a garden stop you. I would wait for a good sale on produce at your local market and then do some small-batch canning of things you normally like to buy in jars at the store. The first thing I ever actually canned was grape jelly.....made with bottled Welch's Grape Juice from the store. It turned out great! I would have loved to have canned it from scratch with actual Concord grapes, but those are as rare as hens teeth in my neck of the woods. I've only ever seen them at my local grocery store once, about 15 years ago.


IrishLass


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## dixiedragon (Jan 7, 2018)

Carrot jam? Tell me more.


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## slk (Jan 7, 2018)

Jams and various pickles and green salsa are on my shelf now. My favorite jam now is my blueberry maple made with local blue berries and maple sugar made from our own maple syrup. Got a pressure canner this year and have stock and various dried beans. The garbanzos make the best hummus. The beans turn out a little softer than store bought canned, but turn into super creamy hummus.


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## Ema (Jan 7, 2018)

I’ve only started canning in the past year. My two favorites so far is a barbecue sauce that is out of this world and a raspberry ale jam that is soooo good. My kids like apple pie jam the best


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## gloopygloop (Jan 8, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> A recent post by gloopygloop in another part of the forum about it being her marmalade-making day
> 
> IrishLass



Fab idea, I made 16 jars of marmalade that day, I love making preserves, do you have mincemeat in the US at Christmas time or is it only a UK thing, I always make my own, if you dont know it it is dried fruits mixed with spices, brandy citrus zest Apple, sugar and bound with either suet or as I prefer butter, we then make small pies called mince pies! worth the calories!

Oh and by the way ahem, ahem I am a chap not a gal!!!!! so her marmalade day was his marmalade day!......just saying!!! LOL!!!!!!!!


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## Kittish (Jan 8, 2018)

Ema said:


> I’ve only started canning in the past year. My two favorites so far is a barbecue sauce that is out of this world and a raspberry ale jam that is soooo good. My kids like apple pie jam the best



Willing to share your barbecue sauce recipe?


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## SoapSap (Jan 8, 2018)

I love to can. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see all those jars of food lined up in the pantry. I do a lot of jams and jellies but give most of them away. My hot pepper jelly is a great one to give at Christmas in my family. 

I do tomato relish with all the green tomatoes at the end of the season. It is so good. I like to do pie filling. It is so much better than commercial canned fillings and comes in handy for off-season pies. I did a lot of beets this year but not sure why as we do not really eat them much. I think the farmer's market price just could not be resisted. Mainly when I pressure can it is to preserve chicken broth, or to do green beans if I have a surplus. I would like to pressure can some soups in the future. 

IrishLass, thanks for the info on canning jars. I will have to do some research on those. I bought some Tatter lids this summer but have not tested them yet. The instructions sound as though this will take some real experimenting. We know jars look so nice but because they are a,so so expensive these are just not practical for me to use for canning. However I am going to look into your source. I may like to get them for canning special things and for gifts that I give away. 

In general, I guess I just like to preserve food. I also have been dehydrating food for a lot of years. Among my favorite is making raisins. They are a real treat.


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## Seawolfe (Jan 8, 2018)

I have ball/kerr jars of:  drunken fig jam, 3 types of marmalade, 4 types of salsas, all the tomato products, chickpeas, beans, chicken soup, pickled beets, pickled beans and two heats of roasted hatch chiles   I've also fermented lots of pickles - those go straight into the fridge (and are long gone lol). Now Im experimenting with fermented hot sauces. and have WAY too many bottles of hot sauces running about. When the earthquake comes I will be ready :mrgreen:


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## dixiedragon (Jan 8, 2018)

I love pickled green beans. They are great by themselves, but also amazing chopped up small in egg salad or chicken salad.


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## IrishLass (Jan 8, 2018)

slk said:


> My favorite jam now is my blueberry maple made with local blue berries and maple sugar made from our own maple syrup.


 
That would be so awesome to have your own maple syrup. My maternal grandmother grew up in New Hampshire on a farm where they had their own maple trees and a sugar shack where they made their own maple syrup. She moved away to Massachusetts when she was 16 and never went back, but she had such wonderful memories of it and would always regale us with stories of what it was like growing up there, and expressed to us a burning desire to see it just one more time before she died.

About 8 years before she died my hubby and I were able to do just that for her. We took her on a 4-day road trip to find it in the autumn of 1988 (the most beautiful drive we ever took- the trees were all in their colorful blaze of glory) and it was amazing to us to see how much time had stood still in the 62 years she had been away. We were able to find it based purely on her memory alone of landmarks and homes & farms that she remembered being there back in the 1920's. Sure, many of the houses/farms had been re-painted or re-shingled, and new buildings were present here or there downtown, but not much had changed at all, especially in the rural parts where the farm was located. It was like being transported back in time for her and she was so happy to see it again. The farmhouse had been repainted and an addition had been added to it, but the (re-shingled) sugar shack was still there exactly where she said it was. We were so happy to be able to do that for her and it always brings a smile to my face whenever I think about how happy it made her. 



			
				Ema said:
			
		

> and a raspberry ale jam that is soooo good.


 
I'm curious- there is a berry-ale jam recipe in the Ball book that I have, and I was wondering how much of the ale flavor comes through? I ask because I kinda want to try making it, but I'm not a huge lover of the taste of beer. 




			
				gloopygloop said:
			
		

> do you have mincemeat in the US at Christmas time or is it only a UK thing,


 
My dearly departed great-Aunt Lillian on my Irish side if the family used to make a homemade mincemeat pie for every Christmas and Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, she passed on without leaving her recipe and we've not ever had another mincemeat pie since she's been gone, but I was present with her when she was making it once, and besides all the things you mentioned that you put in yours, my Aunt Lil also put finely chopped/shredded beef (from a leftover roast beef) in hers. I remember being very impressed that one was never able to guess that there was any beef in there. 



			
				gloopygoop said:
			
		

> Oh and by the way ahem, ahem I am a chap not a gal!!!!! so her marmalade day was his marmalade day!......just saying!!! LOL!!!!!!!!


 
Eeek! Duly noted! My sincerest apologies, sir!






			
				SoapSap said:
			
		

> I like to do pie filling. It is so much better than commercial canned fillings and comes in handy for off-season pies.


 
That's another thing on my list to do!


IrishLass


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## amd (Jan 8, 2018)

Ema said:


> I’ve only started canning in the past year. My two favorites so far is a barbecue sauce that is out of this world and a raspberry ale jam that is soooo good. My kids like apple pie jam the best



Raspberry Ale jam??!! Please tell me more! Our new house has a HUGE raspberry patch that takes up half the yard. I don't do my own canning, I give that to my sister who has a huge kitchen and the attention span to do it in. When I've had my own garden, I have given my produce to her or my "aunt" (neighbor in my old town who loves canning season) with all my previous empty jars and they bring back lovely canned goods to me. I call it a win-win, as I tend to be the guinea pig for their new recipes.

Right now I have sweet red pickles, strawberry syrup, strawberry elderflower jam, strawberry rhubarb jam, beet jelly, rhubarb vanilla jelly, pickled rhubarb, pickled green beans, pickled garlic, sauerkraut, tomato jelly, salsa, spaghetti sauce, and pizza sauce. I did get an instant pot as a wedding gift, so I may try canning some jars of spaghetti sauce with some of our frozen tomatoes.

Y'all made me hungry. :mrgreen:


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## gloopygloop (Jan 9, 2018)

Does anyone make cordials, this was a Christmas present for some friends not this year though, it is such a nice refreshing summer drink along with elderflower cordial. I do have a. Have made wine but not recently as it is a lot of cleaning and sterilising work, plus the filtering and so on, you really need a drink at the end of all of that, easier to buy a bottle Hic!

Always make chutneys, jams, marmalades and intend to make preserved lemons this year. Have not done pressure canning as it is very difficult to get the equipment here in the UK as not enough people do I suppose which is a shame. I do have one of those steam juicers which is good but have not used it that much, should do more really. Next up Lemon & Ginger marmalade.


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## Seawolfe (Jan 9, 2018)

Ohh gloopy - I would love a recipe for cordials! They aren't very common here in the US as in the UK and I really miss them. That one there looks really lovely.



gloopygloop said:


> Does anyone make cordials, this was a Christmas present for some friends not this year though, it is such a nice refreshing summer drink along with elderflower cordial. I do have a. Have made wine but not recently as it is a lot of cleaning and sterilising work, plus the filtering and so on, you really need a drink at the end of all of that, easier to buy a bottle Hic!


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## gloopygloop (Jan 9, 2018)

Seawolfe said:


> Ohh gloopy - I would love a recipe for cordials! They aren't very common here in the US as in the UK and I really miss them. That one there looks really lovely.



Here you are seawolf, give it a go, I love cordials too, they are great with still or sparkling water on ice but also to add to prosseco, champers etc. plus Gin, & poured over ice cream or on plain Greek yoghurt very versatile.

Lavender & Hibiscus Cordial

2 Litres or water
1kilo 500g instead?
2 Table spoons Lavender Buds
1 Table Spoon Hibiscus flowers ground
2 or 3 Lemons
25g Citric Acid

If too sweet for you try less sugar next time but I found this was fine.

Make a sugar syrup and add the citric acid, infuse the Lavender Buds, Hibiscus and Lemons cut in half, infuse while the syrup is hot. Leave for 24 to 48 hours and then strain through muslin. Add ½ Campden tablet and bottle into sterilised bottles.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 9, 2018)

I do "a bit" of canning ....  okay ... a do a Lot of canning.  We raise the vast majority of our food ourselves (all our meat except fish), 90% of our vegetables and all our fruit except citrus.  And I can everything that we don't eat fresh.  At least 50% of the meat is canned. I use to freeze most of the meat until a power surge from a lightening strike took out two of our large freezers in the out building and it wasn't discovered for over a week. Thankfully one was a chest freezer and we were able to save the meat in that one.  

I also grow most of my herbs & spices and dehydrate & grind those into powder.  Life is good on the homestead! 

I use my pressure canners most of the time, waterbathing only fruits, juices, sauerkraut & pickles.  I have two All American 921 and an All American 915 so I'm able to have two canners going at a time when I need them.

This is one day of canning last August.  Pickles & green beans in the morning while I was prepping the fresh chicken for canning making chicken stock from chicken feet in the electric pressure cooker.

eta:  I see others use or are thinking of using Tattler lids.  I've used them for over a decade.  I LOVE THEM!  They  have saved me so much money.  Some I have used more than 30 times without failure.  If anyone has any questions about them, please ask!







My open pantry in my kitchen:






and my storage pantry:


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## gloopygloop (Jan 9, 2018)

Wow that is truly amazing, you are clearly the star of stars for preserving, do you do all of that single handed over a few days? when I make marmalade or preserves I spread the work over two or three days, but my humble few jars are an embarrassment to your incredible store which is wonderful, Santas grotto eat your heart out!!! its better than Aladdin's cave.


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## amd (Jan 9, 2018)

Do you sell out of your pantry? I see a price sign above the shelves.


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## Seawolfe (Jan 9, 2018)

Mullers Lane Farm  - that is SO pretty <3

Gloopy - is that 1 kilo 500 g instead for the sugar? 

And Campden tablets like these? https://www.mainbrew.com/fermenting_hard_cider-ExtraPages.html  Ive only ever used those for brewing cider. What do they do in the cordial?



gloopygloop said:


> Lavender & Hibiscus Cordial
> 
> 2 Litres or water
> 1kilo 500g instead?
> ...


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 9, 2018)

gloopygloop said:


> Wow that is truly amazing, you are clearly the star of stars for preserving, do you do all of that single handed over a few days? when I make marmalade or preserves I spread the work over two or three days, but my humble few jars are an embarrassment to your incredible store which is wonderful, Santas grotto eat your heart out!!! its better than Aladdin's cave.



Thank you!  I do most of the canning by myself. A couple times a year I have someone that wants to learn how to can but that usually slows me down because we're talking.

The first picture was accomplished in a single day. The beans & cucumbers were picked pre-dawn and in the canners as the first of the chickens were being brought into the house by my husband who was dispatching them.  He & I have a pretty good system after all these years. I usually have the chickens cleaned, skinned, cut up and in the jars by the time the he brings in the next batch of chickens he has dispatched.  The feet are skinned as I go and when the electric pressure cooker is full, it is turned on to make stock.

Being able to fill each of the AA 920 canners with either 16 wide mouth or 19 regular mouth pints really makes processing them quick in a single day.



amd said:


> Do you sell out of your pantry? I see a price sign above the shelves.



No, I don't.  The sign is left over from the days when we had our Jersey milk cow and sold raw milk.  So many folks would comment my kitchen pantry looked like a country store we just added a few items to the sign.  (notice they are crossed out so folks would know they are not for sale.)


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## IrishLass (Jan 9, 2018)

Wow, Cyndi- I am in jaw-dropping awe! That's truly an amazing pantry!!! My little dishwasher stash of canned goods pales in comparison, no doubt about it, but here are my very humble beginnings so far:






In the very back from left to right: two Sweet Pickle Relishes, Pasta Sauce, two Chicken Breast & Thigh meats.
The row in front of that: Sweet Pickle Relish, two Cranberry Sauces, and Chicken Breast/Thigh meat
In the front: Sweet Pickle Relish, Boiled Cider Syrup, and three Cranberry Sauces.

Not pictured is a batch of freezer jam that I made yesterday of what I call my orange jamalade. It was too awkward/bulky to fit in my picture (I seal my freezer jams up in those heat sealable FoodSaver bags).

Cyndi- do you have any of the newer version of Tattler lids, i.e., the ones labeled as being 'EZ Seal'? If so, do you have a special technique you use with them? I ask because those are the type I have.


IrishLass


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## Saranac (Jan 9, 2018)

This has been a great thread to read!  So many great stories and pictures; it's nice to know that this skill won't be lost any time soon.  My grandmother canned everything:  pears, peaches, pickles, tomatoes, and yes, even REAL mincemeat--with beef and suet!  My mom still cans a lot.

Myself, I do a little canning. I pressure cook soups in the fall and jams and jellies when fruit is in season.  We don't eat a lot of jam/jelly so it's usually just every couple of years.


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## Ema (Jan 9, 2018)

Kittish said:


> Willing to share your barbecue sauce recipe?





I certainly will - I’ll try to post it later 

Irish lass - that’s the same recipe I made. The ale flavor definitely comes through but to me it is more the scent than the taste. I love it and think it makes  the best PBJ!


The BBQ sauce recipe I use most is from this same cookbook - the ball canning and preserving book.


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## Relle (Jan 10, 2018)

A lot of these type of recipes seem to have sugar added. I'm not eating anything with refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, at the moment to help with inflammation (it's slowly working, not so much pain), so looking for supplements to adding sugar.


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## gloopygloop (Jan 10, 2018)

Seawolfe said:


> Mullers Lane Farm  - that is SO pretty <3
> 
> Gloopy - is that 1 kilo 500 g instead for the sugar?
> 
> And Campden tablets like these? https://www.mainbrew.com/fermenting_hard_cider-ExtraPages.html  Ive only ever used those for brewing cider. What do they do in the cordial?



Sorry for the "instead " I originally had made notes on amount of sugar which was 2 Kilos and I put it down but forgot to scrub out the instead word as its now redundant so yes for 1 kilo 500g for fine. Campden tablets are just used as a preservative, its an optional.


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## IrishLass (Jan 10, 2018)

Relle- if you are referring to the types of recipes that call for pectin such as jams or jellies, there are pectins on the market, such as Pomona Pectin for example, that allow you to make the jam or jelly with the sweetener of your choice such as honey or agave nectar or stevia, or concentrated fruit juice, or even no added sweetener at all if you don't desire any. 

Unlike the type of pectins that contain sugar in the form of dextrose in the ingredients and that rely on adding lots of sugar to the recipe to help set the gel, Pomona's contains absolutely no sugar in the ingredients and doesn't rely on sugar at all to help set the gel, but instead just a few teaspoons of liquefied calcium powder (provided in every package). 

The calcium acts as a catalyst with the pectin much in the same way that adding a little clove EO to soap batter reacts with the lye and helps it to go into heavy trace.

The freezer orange jamalade I talked about making yesterday was made using the Pomona Pectin. I used white sugar in it, but I only used half the amount of sugar normally called for and it set up great in a matter of just a few minutes. I'm going to try using honey instead of white sugar in my next batch of jamalade with the Pomona. 


IrishLass


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## SoapSap (Jan 10, 2018)

Irish Lass, I did not know about Pomona Pectin. Is it widely available or should I look for it on the internet. I would sure like to cut down on sugar in my jam recipes.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 10, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> here are my very humble beginnings so far:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Your stash is beautiful!  I've been wondering about the Wreck (sp?) lids.  I love the glass tops on them




> Cyndi- do you have any of the newer version of Tattler lids, i.e., the ones labeled as being 'EZ Seal'? If so, do you have a special technique you use with them? I ask because those are the type I have.



Yes, I have both the old and new EZ Seal.

Since the flats are thicker than normal metal lids, leave an additional 1/4" headspace than what the canning directions call for. Initial tightening of rings ... only until jar spins ... 

Here's how I do it ... (best that I can describe) Put gasket on flat, place gasket & flat on jar, place ring on top.  Put left index finger on top of flat lid & screw ring on just until ring 'catches' on threads, then release left index finger and then using just right index finger continue 'pulling' ring around until jar spins.

After pulling the jars out of the canner, let them sit for 5 minutes.  Cover with a towel, using something to protect your hands, tighten the rings _just _finger tight.



SoapSap said:


> Irish Lass, I did not know about Pomona Pectin. Is it widely available or should I look for it on the internet. I would sure like to cut down on sugar in my jam recipes.



I love Pomona Pectin.  You can order directly from them (or find it on Amazon)


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## Relle (Jan 10, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> Relle- if you are referring to the types of recipes that call for pectin such as jams or jellies, there are pectins on the market, such as Pomona Pectin for example, that allow you to make the jam or jelly with the sweetener of your choice such as honey or agave nectar or stevia, or concentrated fruit juice, or even no added sweetener at all if you don't desire any.
> IrishLass



Thanks for the info, I clicked on the link that Mullers gave and 225grms is $56 AUD plus postage ($11.95) Total - $67.95. At that price they can keep it. I'll see if I might be able to find something similar made here.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 11, 2018)

Relle said:


> Thanks for the info, I clicked on the link that Mullers gave and 225grms is $56 AUD plus postage ($11.95) Total - $67.95. At that price they can keep it. I'll see if I might be able to find something similar made here.



Holy crow!  That's almost twice what we pay here in the States. :cry:


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## Relle (Jan 11, 2018)

It's a US based product, so with the Aussie dollar running around 78cents to the US dollar that gets added on, plus postage, then obviously profit.
I've since found some here that I can go and purchase at a local store, very reasonably - $9 for 133grms, it pays to shop around.


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## slk (Jan 11, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> That would be so awesome to have your own maple syrup. My maternal grandmother grew up in New Hampshire on a farm where they had their own maple trees and a sugar shack where they made their own maple syrup. She moved away to Massachusetts when she was 16 and never went back, but she had such wonderful memories of it and would always regale us with stories of what it was like growing up there, and expressed to us a burning desire to see it just one more time before she died.



We are transplants from Southern CA and have been out here for about 6 years - fully embracing the New England life style. Wonderful that you were able to give her grandmother a trip back. It is beautiful here.



Relle said:


> A lot of these type of recipes seem to have sugar added. I'm not eating anything with refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, at the moment to help with inflammation (it's slowly working, not so much pain), so looking for supplements to adding sugar.



Don't know if you can do added juice, but there is a pectin called Pomona Pectin that has several recipes with apple juice or white grape juice -


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 21, 2018)

Finally got the last of the 2017 garden canned up.  I wash & core my tomatoes, then put in freezer bags into the deep freeze to wait until I have time after the holidays to process.  The skins slip right off when the tomatoes are thawed.

This batch is for my marinara sauce & tomato water/juice, which is scooped off the sauce by laying a paper towel on top of the hot sauce and gently pushing down with a ladle.  This saves hours  cooking the sauce down to the right consistency and gives me flavorful water to use for cooking rice or noodles, or in soups, etc.


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## SoapSap (Jan 21, 2018)

Great idea about freezing tomatoes for future canning. I will have to do that. In September or late summer I cannot keep up with the tomatoes and your idea would be a life saver.


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## IrishLass (Jan 21, 2018)

That's awesome, Cyndi! That's actually what I've recently been thinking about doing with my home-grown tomatoes- freezing them until sauce/canning day. 

Up until a month ago or so, being the newbie, small-time, urban gardener that I am  , I had no idea you could freeze tomatoes to make sauce later. I had been in a conundrum over this, you see, because I don't have a lot of tomato vines- only 3 different vines growing on my backyard, small-space, urban *aeroponic Tower Garden*. I had been desiring to make sauce with my own tomatoes, but didn't know how to go about it since my vines don't produce enough ripe tomatoes all at once at any given time for me to be able to gather as much as needed on whatever day for me to make a big batch of sauce to can. 

Anyway, as I was perusing the questions and comments over on Garden Web one day, I ran into a poster who was in the same predicament as me, and she was given the sage advice to just freeze however many ripened tomatoes she had on hand at any given time, and then when she had built up a big enough stash of them in the freezer, to then just go ahead and make her sauce. Sweet! So that's what I'm going to do. 

I live in the sunny, hot southwest and my vines are still producing tomatoes. I would say that about every 3 to five days or so I'm able to pick a good handful of ripened tomatoes off of them. If I can just keep myself from eating too many of them out of hand, maybe I'll have frozen enough to make sauce sooner rather than later. lol 


IrishLass


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## earlene (Jan 21, 2018)

My SIL even freezes lemons for later use.  I would never have thought of that myself.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 22, 2018)

I discovered this accidentally because I had no choice the year (2003) we tore off the 100 year old kitchen addition on our farm house to build a larger one.  The only time the contractor could schedule it was during the peak of tomato harvest.  I did a lot of canning over the open fire that year but I wasn't about to try to put up a few hundred pounds of tomatoes, so I stuck them in the freezer and hoped for the best.  I'll still put up a dozen or so jars of fresh tomatoes each year but the majority of my tomato bounty goes for sauces, marinara and salsas.  This method is perfect for that.

That vertical tower looks pretty cool! 

eta: just looked through your tower post .... How awesome is that!!!


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## IrishLass (Jan 22, 2018)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> That vertical tower looks pretty cool! What variety of tomatoes did you plant?


 

I can't tell you how much I love my tower! It's an ingenious gardening device for folks like myself who have no gardening space....or green thumb for that matter! lol 

As for the tomatoes- I planted Brandy Sweet Plum, Buckabee's New 50-day, and Gold Dust, all of which have taken to the tower quite well. The first two are organic, heirloom indeterminates, and the third is organic heirloom determinate. 

The only one out of the three I am _not_ pleased with is the Gold Dust. Don't get me wrong- it has been producing well for me and the flesh is pleasantly meaty/juicy, but they rate a big fat zero on the flavor scale. My son likens eating them to eating water.  

The other two plants, on the other hand, are most _gloriously_ flavorful and we've been eating them up like candy! Yum! No one cares at all to eat the Gold Dust tomatoes in like manner, though- or even at all, really- so in order to use them up so that they don't go to waste, we've taken to adding them to our smoothies so that we can at least benefit from the extra fiber and nutrition if nothing else. 

Once the Gold Dust plant is spent I'll be planting a different one in its place. I'm thinking of a San Marzano.

What kind of tomatoes are you growing?


IrishLass


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## Relle (Jan 22, 2018)

We're in the middle of summer here and the tomatoes are not doing well at all. I know it's not just me as I asked others at the gym and some have even pulled theirs out. Some days the weather temp has been 40 and 45 degrees, it's hard to keep the water up to them.

Not sure I'll even plant any this next summer, it's a wait and see.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 23, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> Once the Gold Dust plant is spent I'll be planting a different one in its place. I'm thinking of a San Marzano.
> 
> What kind of tomatoes are you growing?



My 'go to' tomato varieties in the garden are Pantano Romanesco, Howard German & Amish Paste. I always keep a couple yellow pear tomatoes in a pot on the back deck for my husband to snack on as he comes and goes.

I grew the San Marzano the first year I grew the Pantano Romanesco and the Pantano won out.  It's an odd duck ... a large, round paste tomato making it good for both sauces and sandwiches.

Relle, do you mulch in your garden? It really helps me retain water in the soil (and keep weeds down).  I collect large cardboard boxes all year round. In the spring, I flatten out and lay down the boxes, keeping edges open for seed planting or cutting through the cardboard for inserting plants into the soil.  Then I put down a thick layer of straw (not hay, hay contains seeds) on top of the cardboard.  In the fall, after pulling plants & cages, we spread the spring barn clean out on top of the straw.  The next spring, we repeat.  I no longer even till my soil.  I only have to weed my garden a couple times a year.

Before I did this, I would bury a gallon milk jug with holes in the bottom and lower sides & the top cut off next to the tomato plants.   2-3 times a week, I would fill the gallon containers with water.

Just call me a lazy gardener!!  LOL


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## Relle (Jan 24, 2018)

Yes Cyndi, I mulch with straw, but the soil has become hydrophobic, so I've been using a wetting agent which is suppose to last but I'm having to keep watering with that through a watering can just to try to keep it damp. I think I'll just stick to herbs, they take care of themselves.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 25, 2018)

Relle, Have you tried incorporating polymer crystals down to the root zone in your soil?  I use these in my potted plants so I don't have to water so often.

My soil here on the homestead is predominately sand. After 16 years of intensive composting and "lasagna gardening", the soil in my gardens are rich and loamy. The first thing a gardener must grow is their soil.

I love my herbs! What types do you grow?


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## jewels621 (Jan 25, 2018)

IrishLass said:


> Once the Gold Dust plant is spent I'll be planting a different one in its place. I'm thinking of a San Marzano.
> 
> What kind of tomatoes are you growing?
> 
> ...



I did San Marzanos one year, and while the flavor was good, the production was very low. I've had the greatest luck with Burpee's Big Mama romas. Huge tomatoes, mostly meat, hardly any seeds, and phenomenal production.

Also, for my giant hanging plants on our front porch, before I put dirt in the bottom of the comtainer, I open up a newborn size diaper and place it in the bottom. Amazing how much water they hold, and also keeps control of the dripping water that stains my porch.


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## IrishLass (Jan 25, 2018)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> Yes, I have both the old and new EZ Seal.
> 
> Since the flats are thicker than normal metal lids, leave an additional 1/4" headspace than what the canning directions call for. Initial tightening of rings ... only until jar spins ...
> 
> ...


 
Cyndi- I just wanted to let you know that I tried your above method yesterday with a batch of blueberry marmalade (used the recipe on Pomona Pectin's website) and I had a 100% successful seal rate with the Tattlers! Yay!


IrishLass


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 26, 2018)

jewels621 said:


> Also, for my giant hanging plants on our front porch, before I put dirt in the bottom of the comtainer, I open up a newborn size diaper and place it in the bottom. Amazing how much water they hold, and also keeps control of the dripping water that stains my porch.



It's the polymer crystals in the diaper material. Love using polymer crystals in the soil of my potted plants on the front porch and deck



IrishLass said:


> Cyndi- I just wanted to let you know that I tried your above method yesterday with a batch of blueberry marmalade (used the recipe on Pomona Pectin's website) and I had a 100% successful seal rate with the Tattlers! Yay!
> IrishLass




YAY!!  The extra bit of head space helps as does the re-tightening.  

We planted blueberries 2 years ago. I'm hoping we get a good harvest this year or next!!

Be sure you always put a towel completely over your jar before tightening.  I was in a rush one night and didn't.  Late night canning of a 2 day marathon of putting up tomatoes.  Pulled the last of the marinara sauce out of the pressure canner, didn't wait the 5 minutes and only used hot pads to tighten.  One of the rings expanded as I was tightening and I had hot marinara all over my forearm resulting in 3rd degree burns.


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## earlene (Jan 26, 2018)

They use polymer crystals in diapers?   I had no idea!  I wonder if they use them in incontinence pads too, then?  Makes sense.

What does that do to the environment when all that stuff ends up in landfill, I wonder?  So I decided to look it up.  If they are the kind made of cassava (tapioca starch), then they are supposedly not an environmental issue.  But that doesn't seem to be what's used in diapers (and other urine catching products).  But the claim is that sodium polyacrylate is safe as long as you don't breath the particles or dump it into the sewers (can cause blockage). https://www.socochem.com/urine-absorption-crystal-material-used-in-diaperpet-pad.html   and   https://www.socochem.com/is-sodium-polyacrylate-safe.html

However, the longterm effects of these polymers (also called PAMS in the article linked here) is more a concern in my mind.  The people with long term exposure such as workers in the industry (production of the product) or workers where the product ends up for years to come (compost, landfill, etc.) as well as effects on microorganisms within those areas; the impact on those areas has yet to be determined.  It can take decades or longer to determine the long-term effects.  

Still, what does an old woman do when incontinence pads become a reality in one's life?  As a young mother, I chose cloth diapers and did not use disposables, an easy decision at the time.

So sorry.  I hope this doesn't derail the thread!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 27, 2018)

I don't know what they use now. When I was a mother in the 80s and had to use disposables on occasion while traveling (I was cloth diapering), I cut one open and there were little bitty beads mixed with the filler. It was years later when I got my first pound of polymer crystals that I recognized what they were.


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## Relle (Jan 27, 2018)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> Relle, Have you tried incorporating polymer crystals down to the root zone in your soil?  I use these in my potted plants so I don't have to water so often.
> I love my herbs! What types do you grow?



I must get some water crystals and do that as well. The herbs I have growing are - oregano, thyme, oriental parsley, normal mint, vietnamese mint, perpetual basil. I also have lemon balm which pops up everywhere, a lemon verbena bush and lemongrass. At least most of these all look after themselves.


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