What's in your canning/jarring pantry?

[SoapSap]

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.

 

[Seawolfe]

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:

 

[dixiedragon]

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

 

[IrishLass]

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

 

[amd]

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:

 

[gloopygloop]

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.

 

[Seawolfe]

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.

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!

 

[gloopygloop]

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.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

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:

 

[gloopygloop]

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.

 

[amd]

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

 

[Seawolfe]

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?

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.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

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.

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.)

 

[IrishLass]

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

 

[Saranac]

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.

 

[Ema]

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.

 

[Relle]

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.

 

[gloopygloop]

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.

 

[IrishLass]

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

 

[SoapSap]

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.