It's canning season, again, and I've been canning like mad! I'm finding it is a lot more difficult to accomplish my canning this year with an infant under foot. Last year, while I was pregnant with Grant, canning was my way of nesting. I didn't want to prepare his room, or wash and fold little boys clothing, or even make him a blanket. All I wanted to do was can food.
This year, I am finding all of the interruptions to be quite annoying. I'm not saying my child is annoying (not in the least), but it's hard to be in the middle of a process and have to start and stop a lot. It makes the task a lot longer. But, even with the interruptions of two children, the work is always worth it in the end.
My list, so far:
10 pints salsa (Thanks, Miriam, for helping. I still have a bottle to give to you)
9 pints chicken
7 pints plum jam
6 pints juice ( 2 plum, 4 pear/plum)
2 pints plum-apple butter
5 half-pints plum jelly
2 pints plum jelly
7 quarts pears
2 quarts pear juice
16 quarts tomatoes
8 pints beef
12 quarts grape juice
6 comments:
I too have found a love for canning, and even without children under foot to hinder the process, I find it a daunting task. It seems that every time I have days off from work, I am canning or freezing some bounty. Today I find myself with 18 lbs of peaches to process....wish me luck. I can't say that I don't love it, because I do. The thought of having homegrown/locally grown produce year round to enjoy is delightful. Bird has come to greatly appreciate my domestic phase! Your pears are beautiful by the way.
Way to go! Isn't it such a happy feeling to look at your pantry shelves and know that you did all that? I'm still waiting for enough of my tomatoes to ripen to do a batch. I've had about 6 itty bitty ones so far. :(
How do you like the canned meat? I have never tried that before.
Awesome Julie!
How do you get the pears to stay white? I've tried 2 years in a row and mine are always pink!
Charity-
I love, love, love canned meat. It is sooooooooooo good. If you have a pressure canner (or access to one) you should try it. All you have to do is put your meat in raw in the bottles, and process it for 90 minutes (I think). You don't add any liquid, but you can add salt if you want. The canner cooks the meat and it is so delicious and tender. It is a lot cheaper to cook chicken this way than to buy a can of chicken chunks. I have also canned top sirloin steak and chuck roast. The roast was a little fattier than the steaks, but the meat was a lot more tender. I love the broth that comes out of the meat--it makes a fantastic sauce or gravy.
I can make dinner in 10 minutes (as long as it takes to boil pasta or cook rice) and I love it.
Pot pies, steak in cream sauce over rice, tacos, philly sandwiches....really the list is so long.
I just bought a lot of meat at the Smith's case lot sale because chicken was $1.39/lb, and the roast was $1.89 (I think)/lb. When it is on a good sale like that, I always buy some for the freezer (vacuum seal) and then I can some. I'm always canning through the winter to store meat for our family. I think the little pint jars are the perfect size.
Erin-
This time, I put salt in the water to keep them from turning brown/pink. After peeling, cutting and coring, I set them in the water until I have enough to add to the liquid for a quart or two. Once I have enough, I rinse and drain them, then add them to the syrup. You can also buy that expensive ascorbic acid to keep them from changing color, but I had the salt on hand, so that's what I did.
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