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We've canned lots of meats and veggies but never made jelly and we want to do that soon.
What's Everybody Canning?
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We've canned lots of meats and veggies but never made jelly and we want to do that soon.
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Don't feel bad Patch, I'm from the Peach State of Georgia and can't find many good one there either. Now living in Florida and tried to grow them here is a joke. We go to visit family i n Ga. and stop on the way to buy peaches. Terribly expensive and still not the same peach of old.
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I hope I remember that. Where i came from back east there were roadside produce stands, you pick orchards, and fresh open air markets in the country all spring and summer. I miss seeing things like that here.
And thanks for the heads up on that!
We have a few “ road side” markets around here, but they just seem to be disappearing. Or, they are building inside markets. You just have to watch for signs. Charlie, Texas always advertises their peaches. We’ve been pretty hard hit by sought the last few years or had late frost which equals poor fruit crops.
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We have them here too but many of them go down south and buy the produce then come back up here and sell them . And lots of it is from South America. Farmers here are mostly in it for the money crops like soy beans and corn for fuel. Or horse and cattle hay.
Sorry folks for turning a nice thread into negative stuff. I deleted some of the bad stuff.
Sorry folks for turning a nice thread into negative stuff. I deleted some of the bad stuff.
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Basically whatchyall are sayin is that if you find a good deal on fresh produce, you buy a lot of it and can, freeze, dehydrate, bake and eat as much as you can handle?
I really canned too much this year for us to eat it all. We are going to give the low carb a whirl. I’m miserable from wt gain and my hubby is not minding his diabetes well. We have to do something pretty quick.
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Maybe not what I meant. Preservation of food for the future.
I wasn't saying anyone is eating too much, that's not for me to judge. From what I know, if your diet is mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, you'll loose weight not gain. So many of you can meat and soup, that's awesome.
I hope you can find a comfortable weight and that your husband gets things under control. My husband is now diabetic also.
I wasn't saying anyone is eating too much, that's not for me to judge. From what I know, if your diet is mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, you'll loose weight not gain. So many of you can meat and soup, that's awesome.
I hope you can find a comfortable weight and that your husband gets things under control. My husband is now diabetic also.
I didn’t take it that way at all Patch! I really did can more than we needed. Produce just kept coming in and kept putting it up. My kids all know they can come get whatever they want. So, no worries!
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Merry Christmas just for you, 
Me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They're still a few orchards around but you have to know where they are to get any good ones.
When I was a kid, seemed like everyone grew them, now everyone goes to the grocery store and buys those rock hard things that have no flavor at all.
We have five trees now and I just dug the holes to plant five more.
Nothing better than sitting in a chair under a peach tree with a glass of ice tea, picking a big juicy Parker County peach off the tree and letting the juice run down chin as you eat your fill.
Yea, I'm a peach nut! lol
We make quite a bit of jelly but I'm not very good at it yet.
In my book, jelly is more of an art than a science but unfortunately im not much of an artist...... lol
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Actually, California peaches were the best I think we've ever had this past summer. I would still rather eat local peaches.
Our best peaches came from Colorado this year. Oklahoma crops bit the dust due to a late frost.
I really prefer jams, preserves or, fruit butters. All are an art that takes a few (or ) more batches to get the hang of it. I’m learning how to make it without the added pectin because it takes a lot less sugar.
For you potato canning folk, do you rinse the starch off of your canned potatoes before you use them?
I pretty much always rinse them after draining, whether making mashed or french fries, etc...
Thank you Snappy! This is the first time I’ve ever canned any kind of potatoes. I love my canned sweet potatoes! I had a bag of yellow potato’s and canned them last night for potato salad which we enjoy on occasion. How do you can yours? I found a you tube for raw pack and they look really good! I added 5 min to the pressure cooker time just for safety sake.
I just use the Ball Blue Book. I do cut some into steak fries instead of chunks and I do peel them unless they are thin skinned. If so, I just scrub them and cut. Have fun with them. I have thought about adding spices, like garlic powder and onion powder, for making home fries but haven't tried that yet.
If you follow the Ball Book directions for your elevation and jar size there's no need for extra time.
I rinse them after cutting and before canning but not after.
I use the Ball book, but I really didn’t want to cook them. I found several videos for canning them raw. I think they’re going to hold up better for potato salad and maybe even frying them. I noticed in the BBB that canning times for hot pack vs raw are usually no different.
If you want to make low sugar fruit spreads that are a bit more calorie friendly and require no pectin, I came up with a pretty easy way to do it.
You can prepare your fruit/sugar mix to your desired taste and add fine ground psyllium powder until it thickens up.
It will be a guess as to how msuch powder to use but if you add a little at a time you can get it to the desired consistency.
The "spread" can be water bathed to make it shelf stable if you get the ph low enough, I've never tried to pressure can it.
I never hot pack When I'm pressure canning. I raw pack everything. I don't see a reason to cook the food before I can it which cooks the food at the same time. Just seems redundant.
You don't start timing until the canner is up to pressure. Hot packing might get you there a bit faster than raw pack but it still has to be at the proper pressure for the correct amount of time.
I've never used psyllium, I use Clear Jel.
Thx, I think pre cooking is redundant, also, plus it destroys the nutritional value more. I do start timing when the pressure is up.
I’m not canning greens yet. I precook like you, but I freeze them. I do thoroughly cook poke salad though, with 2-3 rinses. I’m not quite ready to exit this life just yet!
I have no idea what Clear Jel is, ive heard of it but that's all.
What is it, what does it do and how do you use it?
