What are you canning today? Part 8

[Annarchy]

Exactly, MM. Bro is getting 6 jars. DH thinks it might be good, addin a small amount to green enchilada sauce, as a flavor aid.  
 

I still have 4 pints of tomatillos, plus what is still producing in the garden.   I need to find an authentic green enchilada sauce to can.  Hatch & Old El Paso brands are the store bought canned he likes.  He likes the green chili salsa that Jalapeños serves, but I haven’t been able to find their recipe.  Sigh, I tried. 

[Annarchy]

9 half pints of plum jam.

 

[Jeepers]

It looks so good. Beautiful color too. 

[Littlesister]

Love plum jam.  That looks really good.  

I need to get back into canning. Haven't had time with taking care of Dh.  Got to get things in freezer canned. Hoping after home health comes in I can start getting it started again.  

[Homesteader]

I have to make room in the freezer for new strawberry harvest, so canned up some strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb jam. We'll have a taste this morning from the leftover pint. Mama always loves anything homemade.    DH will eat anything. 

 

I finally got around to picking the chicken carcass and making broth. We ended up with 10 pints of strong broth. It's great for soups, stews, and making gravy so mama can swallow dry meats. I'm finding she like gravy on almost everything.    Except for her pies, then it's ice cream or whipped topping.   

[The WE2's]

I'm staring at 3 bags of apples that need to turn into spiced apples.  This electric stove doesn't hold the temp very well so it's difficult to regulate pressure canning.  Water bathing not so much so.  But son brought them to me and I need to get them taken care of.  Neither of us care much for apple sauce so I usually just do the spiced apple thing as a dessert.

[Jeepers]

Spiced apples are yummy. I like chunky applesauce. One thing I've done is to make apple pie filling and can it in half pint jars and call it applesauce desert. I've done the same thing with cherry pie filling. One half pint jar is about two servings  Crustless pie. 

 

 

[The WE2's]

Didn't get to the apples today, too much work at the homestead, but I did make a broccoli salad and used some apples in it.  Love that stuff even if raw broccoli isn't good for low thyroid people.  Add some raisins, some sunflower kernels, some bacon bits and a honey mustard dressing and I'm eating myself into lovely salad!

[Homesteader]

I canned up two bags of apples last week into applesauce. Mama can handle applesauce when I don't have gravy for her 'dry' foods. DH loves applesauce inside of flour, sugar, and spices (cakes).   

[Annarchy]

Is it considered ‘canning’, filling gallon & half gallon glass jars with dry goods?  If so, we finished filling, 5 gallons & 8 half gallon jars, not including 50+ half gallons and 4 gallons previously filled. If not, just ignore me. 

[Jeepers]

Crimony Annie, what are you 'canning' up there? 

 

Also, where does one get gallon jars? Just asking for a friend.  

[Annarchy]

1 hour ago, Jeepers said:

Crimony Annie, what are you 'canning' up there? 

 

Also, where does one get gallon jars? Just asking for a friend.  

DH got the gallon jars through Amazon, from Arkansas Glass.

 

Ummmm, various beans, rice, noodles, cereals, sugars, flours, spices, etc.....  The jars keep the contents from getting stale.  It’s so annoying to open a box of something, just to smell “that staleness”, or see little bugs cruising around. 

[The WE2's]

Got the apples put up and away.  They're at the homestead's pantry now.  I'm finding I really like the "button top" lids for water bath canning.  J,ust finger tight like regular lids and rings and so much easier...in my opinion.  I've still got a lot of things in our freezer that need to be jarred up but it will hopefully wait until we get moved and the gas stove is hooked up.  I have my Camp Chef propane stove but would have to use it outside to do any canning. We have a refrigerator here full of food plus a small chest freezer on the back enclosed porch, a refrigerator and apt. frig at the homestead, an upright freezer and two small freezers there also.  Lots of work ahead of me!  I'm not going to start seeds this year other than what I can't buy as seedlings.  We have plenty of row cover as well as floating row cover to protect what we plant.  I'm not going to let them nasty japanese beetles and worms have my stuff this year!  I'll also cover my Elderberry plant this year with the floating row cover so I can get some Elderberries off my plant.  The new transplants aren't mature enough to produce this year. but when they are we'll have a pretty good supply of Elderberries.  The Asparagus I'm just letting go to seed again this year.  I want hubby to use the weed burner and get rid of all the Dock and stuff (I'll replant the other medicinals someplace else, and designate that area for the Asparagus.  I have one Comfrey plant left there to divide, and giving one half to a friend.  Oh...by the way...note to self...just because a Comfrey plant's leaves are all dead and dried...they still sting!  The "big" plant that I had transplanted last year was needed some of the top off for new growth...so I grabbed a garden fork and went at it.  Wasn't long before my hand was in real pain!  Washed and washed, applied Aloe and it did eventually did get better...but WOW!

[Annarchy]

5 pints of tomatillos for green chili enchilada sauce.    Ping...ping...Ping.     

[Annarchy]

10 pints of beets, 2 white, 8 red, plus, 2 red quarter pints & 1 white for MIL. 
 

 

 

Need to clean the rings after they cool. 

[Homesteader]

Dehydrating 10 lbs of shredded potatoes for this next winter. The gifted bag was at the end of the shelf life, so SIL helped me peel. DH shredded them and I blanched them for 5 minutes. Then DH laid them out onto the trays to dry. He'd never done anything like this before.  

[Littlesister]

Haven't canned anything today, but have some  potatoes I want to can. I canned some chicken a few days ago. 

Homesteader, glad your husband is taken part in helping you.  Enjoy every minute of it.  My Dh always helped me with both canning and dehydrating. We did almost everything together and that is what i miss the most. He was my hands as I have arthritis in my hands to a point it is hard for me to cut things up, so he always cut up everything and then we would get it canned and or dehydrated.  Hardest part for me to overcome, now that I am doing it all on my own. It has not been easy but I will get pasted it with time.  As soon as i get these projects out of the way next week, I am going to can more chicken, beef and make some more soups and stews from what is in freezer. I have the freezer down just a tad bit, but need to get it emptied. have a lot of store bought frozen veggies in there for the soups and stews.  Will be taken a couple of weeks of doing nothing but canning in a week or two.

[Jeepers]

I've never seen white or yellow beets in person. I'd like to can some white pickled beets.

 

Warning, dumb question ahead:

 

 

Do white beets stay white when they are canned? I don't know what I'm thinking. I probably am thinking about purple carrots changing color when they are canned.  I'm asking for a friend!  

 

[Annarchy]

10 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Do white beets stay white when they are canned? I don't know what I'm thinking. I probably am thinking about purple carrots changing color when they are canned.  I'm asking for a friend!  

They sort of stay white…

.

[Jeepers]

Thank you Annarchy for taking time to post a picture!  

 

I didn't know they had white ones. I only knew about the red and yellow ones. It will be nice to have red ones for plain beets and pale ones for the pickled beets. You can't tell the difference from plain or pickled red ones by looking at the jar. 

[Annarchy]

From the heirloom seeds, I have gotten purple, red, orange, pink & white.  They all taste the same. Makes for a wonderful colorful salad & other foods. 
 

Twilight suggested, I dye some whites, blue, for Memorial Day & the 4th of July. O my goodness!  Gonna try!  Lol.

[Jeepers]

What a great idea Twilight had!

 

I imagine they don't stain everything they touch too. Including clothes and counter tops.  

[Homesteader]

10 quarts of green beans earlier this week and approx 10 quarts of tomato juice today. I don't like heating up so much water on the stove for waterbathing so I just pressure cook them based on what the Ball book or county extensions recommend. I am hoping to do a few pints of dilly beans and basil pesto this weekend. Thankfully, I didn't plant much this year as mama was declining so quickly. Even what is ripening seems overwhelming. Thankfully, much of it was perennial and come back faithfully next year.

[Littlesister]

Not canning anything right now, but next week I am going to make a big pot of veg. beef soup to can for this winter. 

[Homesteader]

Canned 4 quarts of green beans last night. I can't seem to get into any kind of a rhythm since my mom's funeral this week. Just when I think I'll tackle something, I go take a nap instead.      Part of the problem may be the Lyme's disease, or just exhaustion from the past few years of caring for mama. Either way, I have lots of canning to do and DH needs to start cutting down some trees for firewood. We're about 3 months behind, but do have a year's worth of stacked and dried wood in the shed. Mama used to ask why we have so much wood. This year is the prime example.