Calling all canners...

[AuntJamelle]

Do you can summer produce? Or just do canning in general?

I'm back into is this year since I have a kitchen again and I'm loving it! Have put up a nice little selection of things so far and looking forward to more!

I tried a Sparkling Pepper Jelly recipe that uses bell peppers, jalapenos, white wine vinegar and sugar. You can serve it over cream cheese as a crack dip, etc. Can't wait to sample! I'm hoping it will be a good option to have on hand for last minute appetizers during the holidays!

I'm also toying with giving away some of the jams I'm making as Christmas gifts too.

Do any of you have things you've made that go over well at Christmas time?

 

[teachermomof2]

We can summer produce, and I do a lot of freezing, too.

My bread and butter pickles go over well, as do sauerkraut stuffed Hungarian peppers. J makes the stuffed peppers.

 

[luludou]

Not much for canning even though I did buy the presto canner a few years back... I used it a few times but I feel it's a bit complicated. I mostly freeze

 

[DahliaDoll]

We like canned green beans and beets. I also like to can fresh tomatoes and some peaches and/or pears. Our stock is running low, so this year should be a canning year. I don't necessarily need to can every year, since it's just DH and I for the most part. I will take some canned goods sometimes as a hostess gift, but not usually Christmas gifts.

AuntJamelle ~ The jelly sounds wonderful! I'm sure it will be great with cream cheese and crackers.

 

[Lana]

We do dill pickles, beets, green beans, salsa, the apple pie filling, freezer strawberry jam. In past we have given some of all of these as gifts.

Garden to wet this year so not sure if we will get anything to can.

 

[missjane]

I make sweet pickles every year and jelly about every other year.

Lana, I would love to have the apple pie filling recipe, if you don't mind sharing.

 

[DebbiGall]

LOL I'm going to make some pickled eggs.
every one is desperate to get eggs and I can't get rid of all of mine.
I have 6 healthy hens who lay every day and I'm not crazy about eggs. I couldn't give them away last year now everyone wants them LOL

 

[snowlvr]

I don't can but I have many friends who do, and I LOVE getting things from them for Christmas! I do freeze things-fruit mostly-Gosh I admire anyone who cans, I have helped before, that is alot of work but so worth it...

 

[Lana]

I got this out of our local paper back in Fall of "86

My friend use to buy apples and make whole pies and freeze but I like this better than taking up all the room in freezer with pies. We try to do several quarts every couple years. People seem to like it when given has gifts. Some ask during the year if I have anymore.

Apple Pie In a Jar

4 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
10 cups water

Peel and slice apples to fill 7 quarts. Mix all ingredients except lemon juice and apples, put on medium heat and heat until bubbling. Add the lemon juice. Fill hot clean quart jars with sliced apples, pack tightly. Pour over the hot syrup. Put on lids. Process in hot water bath for 25 minutes or in pressure canner for 10 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.
You can use the same recipe for peaches, but omit the spices. And for cherry filling, omit spice, but add 1 teaspoon almond flavoring to syrup after removing from heat.

 

[DahliaDoll]

Lana ~ Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[Doodlebug]

I make cinnamon pickles that make a nice gift.

 

[Minta]

I can all kinds of jams and pie fillings start in June and go through Sept ..

June: Strawberry jam, Cherry berry Jam (sweet cheeries, blueberries and strawberries) and Cherry pie filling.

July/Aug: Peach jam, Blueberry jam and pie filling, concorde grape jam, sometimes black berry jam

Sept: Appluesauce, applebutter and apple pie filling.

For the ones I keep for our families use I can them in Med to large jars.

For Christmas gifts I can jams in smaller size jars. Same for the pie filling but I also thin out the pie filling a little so they can use the pie filling as toppings for pancakes, french toast and / or waffles.

This year I have roma tomatoes growing in our garden. I planing on making and canning sauce.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I'm hoping to get some Picked Carrots done this year.

 

[Cathymac2]

I need to know more about those cinnamon pickles. They sound interesting.

 

[missjane]

Debbie, my grandmother used to make cinnamon pickles, but after she died we could not find the recipe. I have looked everywhere I thought it could be. Could you please send the recipe to me? Thanks!

 

[missjane]

thanks for sharing, Lana!!

 

[AuntJamelle]

Well, I tried a new canning adventure this weekend - pie filling.

Went sour cherry picking on Friday and then canned a bunch of them Saturday morning. I used a new (to me) product called ClearJel.

Has anyone used this before? I made a rookie mistake and misread the recipe for headspace and ended up overfilling my batch of jars. Another mistake was not making a test jar first

Nope, instead I loaded up the canner with 7 quart jars only to have major siphoning when I took them out of the canner. Sigh.

I realized my mistake on headspace and corrected it with the final quart, and it worked better, there was only a tiny bit of siphoning when I took it out.

I love how they look in the jars with this product though - so pretty! And I used the last of the batch I cooked up to make a cherry cobbler for us and BOY was that good!

If anyone has any advice on pie filling or ClearJel - I'll take it!!!

 

[dreamto]

Has anyone here ever canned in an electric pressure cooker? I have a glass topped stove and was told it isnt too good to use it for canning, so I have been considering an elec pressure cooker. Any thoughts?

 

[Ahorsesoul]

Has anyone here ever canned in an electric pressure cooker? I have a glass topped stove and was told it isnt too good to use it for canning, so I have been considering an elec pressure cooker. Any thoughts?

I have used a pressure cooker on my glass topped stove. Didn't know it could be a problem.

Here is a site I found with some suggestions:
http://foodinjars.com/2014/08/canning-101-can-safely-can-glass-top-stove/

You can also call/email the stove company and the pressure cooker company to see what they say.

 

[dreamto]

Thank you, I have been searching for a good electric pressure cooker that is big enough to do some canning in. I will keep looking. Thanks for your input