August 30th, 2010
Note to the Readers: I have found the “Ball” version of the Plastic jars at Hannaford (near the check out area), K Mart(on line) and Fresh Preserving (on line) and there are more,but this is supposed to be a short note!
I had 15 lbs of ripe peaches. Some of them I took the skins off and rolled in sugar with Fruit Fresh in it and then I put them on freezer trays. I will pack them later today in the Bernardin plastic jars. The best of the peaches (those without bruising or dents) I used the hot water bath to loosen the skins,then into cold water to stop the cooking process. I took the skins off and put them into lemon juice and water to keep them from browning. Everything was fine till then!
I was following the ball recipe for Peach jam using liquid pectin. I followed the directions exactly (sometimes I don’t).It never really gelled before or after canning.So I made it into our famous peach sauce, which is what I do with failed jam of any type. To use it you zap it in the blender till smooth and you can add it to real whipped cream and freeze or pour over dessert.
It was getting late at that point and I took the remaining peaches and crushed them, added sugar and lemon juice mixed it and put it in the quart freezer containers.
But now that I think about it I decided to look up the reasons that the jam might not have set up.
One is the ratio of sugar to fruit is wrong and my husband just told me the cup measures I have been using are metric…….so that may be one reason why it isn’t setting up.
I read the USDA information and they say the recipes are based on 1/2 pints and pints( I used 12oz jars),so that may also be another factor as to why I have peach sauce and not peach jam.
The other recommendation I saw was to let it set 24 hours before worrying about it and if it isn’t set to reprocess.
But I think I will just get more peaches and try again!
Tags: canning.locally grown, USDA
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August 29th, 2010
I used a book called “Preserve It” by DK Publishing and it had awesome information on all aspects of preserving food. It had great pictures and gave me the idea for the pan freezing the green beans.
I ended up with 5 quart bags of individually frozen green beans , 6- 12oz jars and 4-pint jars of very zesty salsa! Now I only have to process the 15 lbs of peaches to put in the freezer!
On your mark ,get set, CAN,FREEZE or die!
Good Luck from our sunny farm in NH!
Tags: canning.locally grown
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August 29th, 2010
I just finished blanching and pan freezing 3 lbs of green beans from our garden. I need to make some zesty salsa from the 6 lbs of ripe tomatoes and the very hot peppers that I got at the Saturday Farmers Market (we have a tent there selling beef,chicken,pork,eggs and my Nephew’s Unta Fair Trade Locally roasted coffee). I also have 15 lbs of peaches in the basement fridge that are waiting to be skinned , halved, pitted, sugared and pan frozen, but I can’t do that till the green beans are packed away!
I was making round labels for the Tomato preserves this morning and just printed them , they look Great! I love my glabel program!
So Much to do and so little time and on Monday I am back to work at my off farm job… Time to get the canner started for the salsa and water for blanching the tomatoes!
Tags: canning.locally grown, farmers markets, UNTA locally roasted coffee
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August 25th, 2010
For me what they have in common is that they are surprisingly sweet and leave you wanting more!
I love my mother-in-law and I love making tomato preserves. I made tomato preserves(the 2006 ball complete book of home preserving) 2 years ago as I only had 2 lbs of small green,red and yellow tomatoes and needed a recipe to can them. I wasn’t sure what the preserves would taste like, but boy was I pleased when I tasted the first small jar. My husband was appalled when I gave some of it away (to my parent’s). Last year the season for tomatoes was so long due to all the rain, I was still canning in October! If you make tomato preserves it is a two day process. You get the preserves together and cook till the tomatoes are translucent,then it needs to sit for 12-18 hours in a cool place before it can be reheated and canned.
Try it ! The time you spend on it is worth it! Also if you are new to canning there are a number of sites you can go to buy canning equipment
Happy canning!
Tags: canning.locally grown
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August 24th, 2010
Mattressmaker called at 10:30am and told me they were 30 minutes away. I was still cleaning up the bedroom(war zone) and still had more to go. But I suspect that the owner and his helper have seen it all!
Once the new mattress was in place I went shopping to get sheets that would fit a 14+ inch mattress. With the furniture moving we did, we realized the room was bigger than we remembered. So over the next few days we will be rearranging the room and adding a wing chair from the living room to give us a sitting area. I think because we only sleep in our bedroom, we don’t keep it as clean as we are sleeping when we are in there.
Time to feed the dogs!
Tags: cleaning, new mattress
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