Canning and preserving...

[FountainPenGirl]

Just canned some green beans and broccolli tonight. They're done but I'm just waiting for the pressure in the canner to go down.

 

[Pina Bridgette]

"The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day."

Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber is a really terrific book. I make blackberry jam every year and there is just nothing like opening those little jars of summertime in the bleakness of winter.

When I can get the right oranges, I make seville marmalade but my results have been very hit or miss thus far. The first year it was a revelation but the next year, I forgot which recipe I used and have been trying to replicate those first result ever since!

I have also made small refrigerator batches of dill pickles and pickled jalapenos. They don't seem to mush. Maybe it is the heat process?

 

[Mav]

I have also made small refrigerator batches of dill pickles and pickled jalapenos. They don't seem to mush. Maybe it is the heat process?

I do refrigerator batches regularly with no mushiness problem. I'm thinking, maybe, that I should use cold vinegar to fill the jars, then pressure process. I've been using boiling vinegar.

 

[Rats Riley]

My missus has pickles and tomatoes and everything else going right now. I can't wait til we get use of the kitchen back....if that ever happens!!

gotta love her!

 

[BoPeep]

Rats - you'll love her even more when you're eating homegrown spaghetti and apple pie in the dead of winter!! lol

 

[FountainPenGirl]

Hi, all just stopped in to see what was going on. I just tried something I hadn't done before. I canned 3 quarts of homemade Chili. I've frozen it befdore but to avoid getting the freezer too full I decided to can it. Besides I just wanted to try it. I just took them out of the pressure canner a little bit ago and the last jar has just sealed.

 

[Mav]

Hi, all just stopped in to see what was going on. I just tried something I hadn't done before. I canned 3 quarts of homemade Chili. I've frozen it befdore but to avoid getting the freezer too full I decided to can it. Besides I just wanted to try it. I just took them out of the pressure canner a little bit ago and the last jar has just sealed.

You realize, of course, that you have just potentially caused a degeneration of this thread into chili recipes. Since I have the best, I will be totally unaffected by this potential travesty.
If the 'tenders think they have their hands full fighting political discussion, just wait until they're forced to deal with the "bean/ no bean" controversy. Wars have been fought and lives lost over just this.
Or so I've heard.

 

[BoPeep]

Mmmm, chili's my favorite in winter with a big chunk of corn bread. I'm sure it'll be fine canned. I did a batch of green tomato preserves last week ... just for the novelty of it. A bit sweet for my taste, but excellent on sourdough bread. Besides I've already canned 16 qts of tomatoes and 12 pints of salsa, and I'm so sick of looking at tomatoes! I thought I'd pick 'em green and sloooow those plants down a bit.

 

[BoPeep]

Absolutely BEANS!!

 

[Mav]

Absolutely BEANS!!

Absolutely not.

And, just so you know, that comment on being "sick of looking at tomatoes" has all the Californians here hating you.
Oh, we're sick of looking at 'em. Hanging there, green, laughing at us. Daring us to fry them, before they turn red. If they ever do.
And, "hate" is a strong word. Let's say, "mildly annoyed by."

But, as an olive branch, and concerning corn bread, I just saw a great segment on Food Network about this roasted chile/ onion/ cream/ cheese glop to be dumped on cornbread that sounds fantastic. It'd be great alongside chili. With no beans.

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

Absolutely BEANS!!

3 kinds and big chunks of pork. Yumm.....

 

[Honey Bee]

And, just so you know, that comment on being "sick of looking at tomatoes" has all the Californians here hating you.
Oh, we're sick of looking at 'em. Hanging there, green, laughing at us. Daring us to fry them, before they turn red. If they ever do.
And, "hate" is a strong word. Let's say, "mildly annoyed by

The deer even got tired of waiting for them to ripen and just ate them green

We made Polska Kielbasas' last week....so good, so good, so good!!

 

[PrairieSunrise]

So has anyone here used lactic acid food preservation techniques? I was just enjoying some of my lactic acid preserved dill pickles and thought I'd ask.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

Hi, just looking in. Last night I put up another 7 pints of tomato soup for my husband's lunches. I don't like tomatos but he does so I put up some for him. I do use the tomato soup juice as base for my spaquetti sauce. It works out good.

Lactic acid preservation I don't believe I ever heard of it.

 

[Mav]

So has anyone here used lactic acid food preservation techniques? I was just enjoying some of my lactic acid preserved dill pickles and thought I'd ask.

Gah. Thanks for making my life more complicated than it already is. Some instruction on this, perhaps?

 

[Puzzicato]

So has anyone here used lactic acid food preservation techniques? I was just enjoying some of my lactic acid preserved dill pickles and thought I'd ask.

No - I keep thinking about trying to make sauerkraut but I have never got around to it.

 

[PrairieSunrise]

Gah. Thanks for making my life more complicated than it already is. Some instruction on this, perhaps?

Well, I can't find much info on-line, but it's gone over quite extensively in Nourishing Traditions.

Basically, it's how all pickled foods used to be kept. Think, sauerkraut, pickles, relishes, salsas, soured dairy products like yogurt and kefir and such.

Lactic acid is present in most foods already, so really, the most basic method is to prepare your foods, add enough salt to kill any bacteria for a few days, and let it ferment for a few days before transferring to cold storage.
However, whey has LOTS of lactic acid so if you have access to whey, you can add some and cut back on the salt, thus speeding up the process and lessening the salty flavor.

The resulting product is refreshing and fizzy without the sharp bitterness that vinegar gives pickled products. Plus, it introduces all kinds of good bacteria into your body.

 

[PrairieSunrise]

No - I keep thinking about trying to make sauerkraut but I have never got around to it.

I'm going to try sauerkraut this fall!

 

[BoPeep]

Hanging there, green, laughing at us.

Hot days and cool nights, Mav. Aren't you Californians in that perpetually perfect 75/55 daytime/nighttime temperature flux?

And I've been know to glop my cornbread on occasion.

PrairieSunrise - Though I've never done kraut myself, Mom always did with great success. Watch the salt as it's really easy to over do it. Then for a quick one-dish supper, mix it with raisins, apples, potatoes and pork (sorry, Land-O-LakesGal, not in chili) and bake.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

In my canning books, I think it's the Kerr one, they give a recipe for making sauer kraut in the jars. Actually you just let it ferment in the jars and scim off the scum everyday. You add moisture when needed. You can season to your taste. Just leave them somewhere the smell won't bother you. After a week or so, I'd have to look it up, you just can it like normal. I used the pressure canner. I tried this last year and it worked great. Sure enough it tasted like sauer kraut. I didn't use much seasoning and mine turned out quite mild. You just have to do your own research on that.