Perpetual Canning Thread!

[merigayle]

Cause I need help canning this year

I made peach raspberry jam tonight! I processed 3 jars and one was 2/3 full, that is in the fridge and am so excited to taste it.

Anyone know about canning peaches without sugar?

[all-smiles]

Hmm I've never canned peaches without any sugar at all; I would have some concerns about them getting mushy as the sugar also helps with the fruit firmness. Are you open to using a small bit of honey in the water to make a very light syrup?

[merigayle]

Hmm I've never canned peaches without any sugar at all; I would have some concerns about them getting mushy as the sugar also helps with the fruit firmness. Are you open to using a small bit of honey in the water to make a very light syrup?

I'd be open to low sugar, but have seen some no sugar recipes online. BUt then when i look at the effort to get the peaches prepped, I am not sure i have that time or patience I may just make more jam, it was divine.

[caribougrrl]

my mom used to use a low-sugar recipe, but her peaches were generally discoloured and mushy after a couple of months... and they didn't make it a whole year; long before the next peach season we would be dumping out moldy ones

[onawhim]

You could pickle them 

[merigayle]

Thanks CG- gonna skip the peaches.

Pickling, eh? 

[caribougrrl]

man, I wish peaches grew here because I cannot afford them in abundance when they are shipped in

I will however be pickling red currants and blackberries if we ever get enough warm weather for fruit to ripen... pickled fruit is awesome.

[merigayle]

man, I wish peaches grew here because I cannot afford them in abundance when they are shipped in

I will however be pickling red currants and blackberries if we ever get enough warm weather for fruit to ripen... pickled fruit is awesome.

tell me more about pickled blackberries. We have a whole orchard of them growing wild on our property.

[merigayle]

So I made refrigerator pickles, not canned, and after 3 weeks, I went to try them today and they were FERMENTED, like the can bubbled up like a shaken soda when i opened it  what did i do wrong?

[caribougrrl]

tell me more about pickled blackberries. We have a whole orchard of them growing wild on our property.

I roughly followed this recipe (did the same for currants and blackberries): http://pickle-girl.blogspot.ca/2009/07/lightly-pickled-red-currants.html but changed some of the seasonings


...no help to you, but they were fabulous with cheese and with smoked fish

[merigayle]

Each of my jams is better than the last  I made triple berry today with blackberries and wine berries from our backyard and frozen wild blueberries. YUM!

[merigayle]

Talk to me about canning tomato sauce or tomatoes. Seems you need some acid in there? Most recipes put lemon juice in the sauce but I cannot imagine.

[RioG]

i tend to freeze all things tomato.  except salsa, we do make that and can it.

[merigayle]

i tend to freeze all things tomato.  except salsa, we do make that and can it.

We always make raw salsa. Do you cook it then process the cans?

[RioG]

yeah, pretty sure it's cooked.  it's dhs recipe.

i freeze tomatoes because they're too valuable to me to risk something going wrong with the canning.

[picote]

yeah, pretty sure it's cooked.  it's dhs recipe.

i freeze tomatoes because they're too valuable to me to risk something going wrong with the canning.

I tend to freeze as well. As I understand it, you have to be really careful to follow the recipes exactly with tomatoes and be sure you're using approved recipes, etc... I made a bunch of canned salsa the first year, but realized after doing it that I'd screwed one small thing up and have been too afraid to use it. For sauces, etc... I'd rather freeze and be able to play around with ingredients.

[merigayle]

I have a small freezer  but if I can cook down a few jars of sauce then maybe it is worth it. I read on one site you can take the pH of the sauce to see if it is acidic enough from just the tomatoes, but that is too much work

[merigayle]

Looks like low acid foods can be pressure canned safely. Do I want to open that can of worms of pressure canning? I guess boiling water bath does not get hot enough but the pressure cooker does, to kill the botulism spores.