My Canning Cellar

Thank you for visiting my canning cellar!

10 lbs green tomatoes chopped 

I got 9 pints of salsa.

For the sauce I used the same equipment I used earlier, only this time I did not chop the tomatoes first.  Recipe linked below

As an FYI, the salsa and the sauce drained out a lot of tiny pieces of tomatoes so be sure to have a really good strainer in the sink or you may have a mess in your drain. 

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html

https://laurelleaffarm.com/item-pages/farm/stainless-milk-strainer.htm

Pizza Sauce, Update on Evelyn's Jam

What I used for equipment was my presto precise digital canner, my electronic postal scale,  a dutch oven stovetop pot, a jar lifter, a canning funnel, a measure cup, a de-bubbler, a strainer, a wooden spoon, a dish towel, a vinegar soaked lint free cloth, small serrated knife. 

What I used for ingredients: 

10 pounds tomatoes

3 tablespoons oil, and I had some store bought fancy oil that I used, fancy meaning it was an Italian flavored one that I bought it at Big Lots on the after Christmas clearance sale in January

4 chopped onions

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning

3 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

4 tablespoons tomato paste

lemon juice

I filled the dutch oven pot almost half full of hot water and brought it to a simmer, then turned off the heat and put one layer of washed tomatoes in it, just long enough for the skins to start slipping off easily. Before I put them in the water I had scored each of them on one end with an x using the sharp knife. I used the jar lifter to take them out of the water, it only took about 30 seconds in the hot water. I put the oil into the emptied dutch oven pot and cooked the onions and garlic until the onions were translucent, added the spices, and then added the skinned and cored tomatoes. I had weighed the tomatoes before putting them into the hot water using my postage scale. I used my immersion blender to smush it all down. I let this cook down about an hour, stirring occasionally with the wooden spoon, then added the tomato paste. I then ladled the mixture into the hot canning jars, using the measure cup and funnel, de-bubbled them, and for this I used my actual canning de-bubbler but I’ve also been known to use other thin items that are not metal…the metal could be mean to the jar and cause a break if one is too rugged with the de-bubbling… I added 3/4 teaspoon bottled lemon juice to each jar, not for flavor but to ensure the correct acidity level for safe water bath processing. Then I wiped each rim with the vinegar soaked cloth to be sure they were clean of any sauce, then put on the lids and finger tightened the rings. I water bathed these for 25 minutes. I had found several different pint times so I took the longest, and even though I did quarter pints I still used the pint time which is what’s recommended. When the canning cycle was complete, I removed the canner cover and let the jars sit in the canner for about five minutes, just enough to let them simmer down a little so they didn’t spit at me. I used the jar lifter to remove them and set them on a dish towel. I ended up with 7 quarter pints, plus enough left over to put on two pieces of toast and a couple of crackers.

https://nchfp.uga.edu

Blueberry Jam!

My friend Nancy generously picked and gifted us 4 pounds of blueberries. Evelyn plans on entering jam at the fair again this year, last year she won a blue ribbon for her raspberry jam. I measured the blueberries out into two bags of 6 cups each and froze them until she and I were able to do some canning. I had looked at the recipe I was going to follow to know how many to put in each bag. 

What I used for equipment was the Presto digital canner, a strainer, a dutch oven pot, a old fashioned handheld potato masher the kind with the square holes, a wooden spoon, a 4 cup measure cup, a half cup measure cup, canning funnel, pot holders, a lint free dish cloth,  dish towel, jar lifter.

What I used for ingredients were blueberries, sugar, a box of powdered pectin and a pat of butter.

The morning we canned, I let the two bags of berries thaw out separately in strainers to get rid the little bit of water from being frozen. I made two batches of jam, making each one separately as research tells me that doubling a jam or jelly recipe can often lead to canning failure. I personally have never tried that so can’t say by experience.

I used the directions that came with the Sure Jel brand pectin, so besides the pectin and blueberries, I used 4 cups of sugar and a pat of butter. The butter is to reduce the foam that forms on top of the bubbling jam, and normally I just skim it off and save to eat. Foam is good to eat, it just takes up room in a jar that is best served by the actual product plus for entering contests it looks better without it. The butter did its job, I had no foam to skim off of either batch.

After rinsing the blueberries, making sure there were no stems attached, Evelyn used the potato masher to smash the berries in the dutch oven pot. As it’s a jam, she wasn’t concerned about making them too liquidy so she left a nice amount of blueberry clumps. Then she added the pat of butter, and sprinkled the pectin in, mixing them thoroughly with the wooden spoon as it all came to a rolling boil. At this point, she added the 4 cups of sugar and kept stirring and mixing, letting it come back to a rolling boil, which is a boil that can not be stirred down. She let that boil for one minute, and we also put a thermometer in it to watch till it came up to 220 degrees Fahrenheit which is the temperature at which it is supposed to set.

She already had the 8 ounce jelly jars warmed up in the canner, so I took each one out and because the jam was so very hot, I handled the jar filling using the half cup measure cup to fill the jars also using the canning funnel. I wiped each rim off with a lint free washcloth that I continually rinsed in hot water, put the lids on and finger tightened the rings. One jelly jar was a drinking jar with a plastic cover, so I filled that one and set aside for her to take home to put in their fridge. When putting jelly or jam into the fridge right off, it doesn’t have to be processed.

The jam processed for 10 minutes on the water bath cycle, then after the first batch was done I removed the canner cover and let the jars sit for 5 minutes just to let the jars simmer down a bit, then removed them using the jar lifter, and set them on a dish towel. 

While Evelyn’s batch was processing, I had my batch cooking, so I was able to put the 2nd batch in fairly quickly after hers was done. 

Each batch gave us six 8 ounce jars.

https://nchfp.uga.edu

Kori sent me a recipe for sweet tea jelly and I decided to make it using chai tea. Because I didn’t have the required liquid pectin, only powdered pectin, I thought I could substitute the powder. However, because the first pectin I saw in my cupboard was an already opened jar of low and no sugar pectin, I decided to use that. Don’t be me. Don’t mess with the science! I had to process that batch two times to try to get it to gel, adding more pectin the 2nd time. I’ve decided it’s going to be used in baking as a kind of thickish yet runny syrup, and I did have some on toast and it has a great chai flavor.  I have no personal preference as to liquid or powdered, it’s just that I’ve never happened to buy or use the liquid.
 
I then made a batch of sweet chai tea jelly using a recipe that did call for powdered pectin, and  that link will be in the show description. This is how I did it, a slight substitution on the flavor of tea:

I used a dutch oven pot which was an awesome thrift store find of a vintage Wagner Ware,  a small pot for boiling water, a 2 cup measure cup, a tablespoon, a wooden spoon, a canning funnel, lint free cloth, jar lifter, dish towel. My tip especially for new canners is search your thrift stores first for equipment, especially in the fall when folks may be retiring from home canning. It can be costly setting up a new canning center. I broke down my costs in season 1, episode 8.

I used 4 chai tea teabags, 2 cups boiling hot water, 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice, one box regular powdered pectin, and 4 cups white sugar. 

I added the pectin to the steeped tea after removing the tea bags, and added the lemon juice as well all in a dutch oven pot. Brought that to a boil, then added the sugar, and brought that to a rolling boil and let it go for one minute. The lemon juice is not added for flavor, it’s added so that there’s acidity in the jelly which makes it able to be water bathed instead of pressure canned.  I have researched if I could pressure can jelly, and the answer has been yes and no, with the no being because of the pressure canning resulting in over cooking the jelly and also it would take longer to do. 
This jelly at a rolling boil was an amazing sight of light brown clouds, and didn’t really want to settle down so I could not see if any foam needed to be skimmed off, so I didn’t even bother trying. The foam is edible and I would have kept it in a dish for eating, but most folks take it out to leave room for the actual jelly, especially if the jar is going to be entered at a competition and you wouldn’t want the off-color foam ruining a nice look. 

I had my jelly jars already hot from the warming cycle on the canner, so I filled them using the canning funnel and a half cup measure cup, wiped each rim with a hot water soaked lint free cloth, put on the lids and finger tightened the rings. These were processed for ten minutes on the water bath cycle. Because they were being processed for ten minutes, there was no need to pre-sterilize the jars, this is information found on many trusted sites, including the national center for home food preservation. After they were done processing, I removed the canner cover and let them sit for 5 minutes, just to let pressure come down a bit more, then I used the jar lifter to remove them from the canner and placed them on a dish towel. Hot jelly goes into hot jars into hot water, and then onto a dish towel to avoid shocking the jars on a not hot surface. I ended up with two 8 ounce jars and  4  four ounce jars.

 https://nchfp.uga.edu
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/2019_ProcessingJJ.pdf
https://www.thespruceeats.com/sweet-tea-jelly-1327869

Plum Jam and Spicy Plum Sauce.

I went by the recipe found in the Sure-jell brand of low or no sugar pectin.  The difference in the makeup is the classic pectin requires a higher amount of sugar in order to set as the low/no sugar pectin will set without any added sugar due to the addition of dextrose in the product. So the pectins can’t be interchanged.

What I used for equipment for the jam was a food processor, cutting board, measure cups, wooden spoon, paring knife, canning funnel, jar lifter, dish towel, dutch oven pot, a strainer, small pot. I also wore my canning apron, because canning and I together are messy. The small pot is because even though companies no longer say to boil the lids prior to using, I do wash and rinse new ones, and I set them in a pot of hot water. 

The ingredients: 3 1/2 pounds of plums, 4.5 cups of white sugar, a 1/2 teaspoon of butter and one 1.75 ounce box of low or no sugar dry pectin. I washed the plums, then I cut them around the pit. I didn’t do any fancy cuts, I just did the fastest and easiest way for me. I cooked the plums down slightly in 1/2 cup of water, then I put them in the food processor to chop up finely. It was pretty juicy so I put them in a strainer over a clean pot as I went along. The recipe called for 6 1/2 cups of cooked plums so I measured them out. I added 1/4 cup of the measured out sugar to the one package of pectin, stirred it together then added to the plums in the dutch oven pot. I have my late mom’s pot in which she cooked everything, so it makes me happy to use it. I brought that to a rolling boil, keeping it stirred to avoid sticking to the pot.  I added the rest of the sugar, brought back to a rolling boil, let it go for one minute. After removing from heat, I skimmed off the foam, which the added butter was supposed to reduce. I always save the foam to eat. 

I had the jars already heated as I always do any hot food into hot jars into hot water to avoid shocking the jars. I used the funnel and a measure cup to fill each jar to 1/4 inch head space, wiped down the rims with a lint free cloth that I kept rinsing off with hot water, finger tightened the lids, and put into the canner. For my elevation above sea level, I water bathed each batch for 15 minutes. 

 I derived my spicy plum sauce from this website: An Oregon Cottage

The ingredients I used were, but you can find the original on the link provided, which the author indicates she adapted from a Ball canning recipe. 

•7 cups chopped plums and juice

1 cup diced onions  

• 1½ cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons dry ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2  teaspoons minced garlic 
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar with cranberry and honey, just because that’s the kind I had on hand

I let all the ingredients simmer until very hot. I was able to fill 4 pint jars which had been heated up, and I did these the same way of using the funnel, used the debubbler, wiped the rims, finger tightened the rings, and I water bathed them for 20 minutes.

https://nchfp.uga.edu/

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sure-Jell-Premium-Fruit-Pectin-for-Less-or-No-Sugar-Needed-Recipes-Value-Pack-2-ct-Pack-1-75-oz-Boxes/172215590?athbdg=L1100

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sure-Jell-Original-Premium-Fruit-Pectin-1-75-oz-Box/10292609

https://anoregoncottage.com/spicy-canned-plum-sauce/

Canning last year's tomatoes! Here's how!

I forgot to weigh the tomatoes that I froze last year, but I figure there were about 25ish pounds.  To freeze, I simply rinsed them with water, cut off any blemishes, and froze in plastic bags. 

To use, what I did was pour each bag of tomatoes into a pot of hot tap water, just long enough for the water to allow easy slipping off of the skins. I saved the unblemished skins to put in my dehydrator, as I’ve read about many folks doing this and then blending them up into a powder to use as seasoning.

After the skins were removed, I put all the tomatoes in my electric roaster pan, adding just enough water to the bottom to make me feel they wouldn’t stick or burn. After they started to thaw, I drained that water, as the tomatoes were making their own juice. Once the tomatoes were all thawed and fairly smushed up, I removed all the stems and any other dark pieces. I drained the tomatoes into a large stock pot. Then I used my measure cup and funnel to fill pint jars with the tomato meat and then the juice separately in other jars. I don’t sterilize my clean jars as long as they are being pressure canned for at least ten minutes, and that ten minutes starts after the venting procedure and the count down. Venting is the releasing of steam as the canner gets up to pressure. After ten minutes of venting, I add the 15 pound jiggler, which is what I need for my elevation above sea level. Count down begins after the jiggler starts dancing consistently at least 3 or 4 times per minute. For me, I can reduce the propane flame below the canner at that point as long as the jiggler keeps moving. 

I added about one tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to each pint of tomatoes and juice as so much information is out there saying that modern tomatoes often don’t have the same acidity as years gone by. The acid is needed to help preserve the safety of the tomatoes once canned. I tried a spoon of the tomatoes with the added lemon juice and did not taste the lemon. Research also says that sugar can be added to eliminate any lemon flavor but I did not add any sugar.

After filling the jars, I debubbled them, wiped the rims with the wet lint free washcloth, put on the lids and finger tightened the rings.The canning time for me was 15 minutes pressure canning. I ended up with 9 pints of tomatoes, 4 pints of juice and one 12 ounce jar of juice. The juice was not as thick as store bought tomato juice but I figured I could use it either in any tomato base dish or even cook pasta in it. The next day I saw that two of my tomatoes did not seal. I opened them up, drained them again, and because that then made them less than two pints but more than one pint, I filled two 8 oz jelly jars and one 4 ounce jelly jar and re-processed them with new clean lids. This time they did seal. My rule of thumb which is from much research is I always let the jars sit after processing on a dish towel…the dish towel helps avoid shock from hot jars on a cooler surface…for 24 hours. Then I remove the rings and lift each jar up with one hand on the lid rim and one under the jar just in case it hadn’t sealed. I never store my jars with the rings on as they could conceal a false seal by keeping the lid on, and they also can rust while in my cellar. I store the rings in totes in the cellar. 

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html#gsc.tab=0

This is season 2, episode 19, Pepper Jelly. 

This recipe was done on the water bath cycle of my digital canner, and of course you can use your regular water bath canner. For equipment I also used a dutch oven pot, pot holders, a canning funnel, canning jar lifter, a sharp knife, a cutting board, measure cups and spoons, my small food processor, and a towel. I always put newly processed jars on a towel no matter what table I use, not only to catch the water but also to avoid shocking the jars on a colder surface. 

The recipe I used is from a website I happened upon online, and I will put the link in the show description, and this is a  Ball brand recipe.  I didn’t follow the recipe exactly because I didn’t have the amount of honey called for, but do check out the website to see the original recipe. 

The ingredients I used were 

8 medium green and red peppers

1/2 cup  jalapeño peppers, and I used store bought ones that came in a jar

1 1/4 cups apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons low or no sugar needed pectin, and I had Ball brand

2 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups honey

I cut the tops off of the peppers, de-seeded the peppers, and then chopped them as small as I could. After the first 4 peppers, I wondered why I wasn’t using the food processor, so I then did. I trimmed around the cap of the peppers, using every good piece of pepper I could see.

I also put the jalapeño peppers in the food processor and gave them a few spins with the blades.

I put the peppers all into a dutch oven pot with the vinegar and pectin, and brought it to a rolling boil. A rolling boil is one that can’t be stirred down. Then I added the sugar and the honey, brought that to a rolling boil, and let it boil while I stirred it continuously for 3 minutes. 

My jars had been setting in boiling water in the digital canner as I always put hot food into hot jars and into hot water, so I took each one out, filled them using the funnel to 1/4 inch headspace, wiped the rim off with a lint free cloth that was soaked in hot water, put the lid on and finger tightened the ring. After each jar was filled and back in the boiling water, I added enough hot water to cover the jars by about two inches. 

The processing time for my elevation above sea level was 15 minutes. Using the digital canner, I didn’t have to do anything other than advance to the canning cycle when prompted, let it do its thing, and after the cool down period I let them set in the canner without the cover for another five minutes before removing, which is just to allow for some settling of the food so nothing spits out at me when I lift them out. If I had used my regular stove top water bath canner, I would have started timing the 15 minutes after the water started a continual rolling boil.

I ended up with 6 and almost a full 7th half pint jars. Normally I would be sure to have the correct head space, but I figured that I would just put the almost full jar in the refrigerator for more immediate use after processing. 

The reason for needing the correct head space is that tested recipes are configured using a certain headspace, and if we have too little then the time allotted for processing may not be enough to rid the jar of the extra air, which can lead to food discoloration or a failed seal. 

https://nchfp.uga.edu
https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/blogs/usdas-complete-guide-home-canning
https://my100yearoldhome.com/pepper-jelly-and-jam-recipes
https://www.healthycanning.com/the-role-of-headspace-in-home-canning

Welcome to my canning cellar, where my goal is not to tell YOU how to can, but rather tell you how ‘I’ can. I am an advocate of following guidelines such as stated by the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and I’ll put the link in the show description, although I also explore other canning groups and websites to study and sometimes copy tried and tested recipes. Like me, please do your own research to be sure you are confident in the safety of your home canned items. 
 What I used for equipment was my digital pressure canner, a serrated knife, a cutting board, a dutch oven pot, a strainer with another pot to strain into, a canning funnel, a dish towel, and I used pint canning jars.

My husband and I rarely eat pork, so the several packages we had, had been in the freezer for a few months and I wanted to clear some things out of the freezer. I had 7 bone in pork chops of different sizes, and I let them thaw out in the refrigerator. Once thawed, I sliced the meat from the bones and trimmed off most of the fat. I cut the pork in strips about 1/2 inch wide. I think the best part about eating pork chops on the bone is being able to use my teeth to get all the meat off the bones, but using a knife on the raw chops didn’t have the same result, it was very hard to get right down to the bone and also in-between some sections. So I covered the bones that still had meat left on them with water, and let that come to a boil and then let it simmer for half an hour. I strained the broth and ended up with me two full pints, plus a half pint of broth to which I added the boiled meat that then easily pulled off from the bone. The broth came out light in color, and it should be a nice addition to another canning project, I’ll probably use it in baked beans.

I raw packed the meat slices I cut off from the bones into pint jars and I did not add any liquid because raw packed pork makes its own juice. 

The pork was cold, so to avoid shocking the jars, I packed the meat into cold jars, to one inch headspace, wiped the rims with a hot wet cloth, put on the lids, finger tightened the rings, and put into cold water in a pressure canner. I let the pressure canner heat up both the water and the filled jars without the canner lid on while my pork broth was still simmering as I was going to do all 6 pints in one batch, and just as I do cold food, cold jars, cold water, I had to do the hot food into hot jars into hot water. 

Normally plain broth does not need to be processed as long as meat does but I wanted to do just the one canner full. I ended up with 3 pints of meat, one pint of broth with the boiled meat, plus the two pints of pork broth all processed together for 75 minutes, and for my elevation I used the 15 pound weight. 
I  thought I had packed it fairly tightly but like some of the meat that I have canned, it shrunk.  I am still working on always finding that sweet spot of meat to headspace ratio after processing, which hasn’t easy when the jars are quite full before processing. 

I learned that the reason for specific headspace is that when processing times have been determined, it allows for that certain definitive headspace. Extra headspace is not accounted for in those processing times. If too much headspace is allowed, not only can the food discolor,  the jar may not seal properly because there will not be enough processing time to drive all the air out of the jar.

There was no water added to my raw pork, because there’s a lot of water in pork. A 4 ounce cut of pork will turn into 3 ounces once it’s cooked. A 3-ounce serving is about the size of a deck of cards.
 
https://nchfp.uga.edu
http://foodofhistory.com/2017/03/pork-chops/?doing_wp_cron=1653189194.3461968898773193359375

Welcome to my canning cellar.

My purpose is not to tell you HOW to can, but rather tell you how 'I' can. Please do your own research to find the canning processes that make you feel the most confident and safe.

This is the original recipe as given to me to make 4 pints.

2 pounds green beans, washed, ends trimmed

brine:
2.5 cups vinegar
2.5 cups water
1/4 cup salt

into each jar:
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dill seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (will be kicky, can be left out or reduced)

Bring brine to boil, let cool. Fill each pint jar with as many beans as possible. Top with brine. Use de-bubbler to remove air bubbles and displace beans, top with more brine if needed, to 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe rims, put on lids, rings, then into water bath and process for 10 minutes after the water comes to a constant rolling boil.

Let flavor develop for at least two weeks before eating.

I'm at just over 1000 feet above sea level so I always add 5 minutes to my pint processing.

National Center for Home Food Preservation
https://nchfp.uga.edu/

Welcome to my canning cellar! 

This is where I don’t want to tell you how to can but rather tell you how I can. Everyone has to do his or her own research and use the information that makes them feel the most comfortable and confident. I utilize the guidelines put out by the national center for home food preservation which I’ll link to in the show description. I do, however, research other tried and true canning ways and decide which seems safe to me and which don’t.

So, season 2, episode 16: mushrooms. We aren’t big mushroom eaters and historically whenever I bought a package, most would go bad before getting eaten. But when I recently saw them on clearance, I bought three one-pound packages of sliced white mushrooms. The store worker was just putting the clearance stickers on them so I knew they would be ok. 

So what I used for ingredients were simply those 3 pounds of sliced white mushrooms, and water. I don’t buy distilled water for any of my food canning projects, I just use the town water from the tap.

For equipment I used a large bowl, a large strainer, a dutch oven pot, a slotted spoon, a smaller pot for boiling water, 8 half-pint jars with lids and rings, a debubbler, and a jar remover.

I first soaked the mushrooms in cold water for ten minutes and that was to remove any extra dirt. Then I drained and rinsed them again, then drained and put into a dutch oven pot, covered with water, and brought that to a boil. It boiled for ten minutes. I also boiled some water to use in topping off the jars. 

The directions did not say to drain these after this step but I did anyway just to feel more confident about their cleanliness.

I packed 8 half-pint jars with mushrooms, filled the jars with the fresh hot water, used the debubbler around and in the middle of the mushrooms, and topped them off with more hot water to the one inch headspace. If you don’t have an official debubbler or can’t find yours like sometimes is like my dilemma, you could use a thin handle wooden spoon or a chopstick. I never use a knife or anything metal to avoid shocking the glass jars and maybe breaking one.

I then wiped the rims with hot water, put on the lids and finger tightened the rings. I pressure canned them for 45 minutes. 

I have rarely bought mushrooms as I said before because my husband usually won’t eat them. But something about smelling their rich aroma as they boiled for the ten minutes has made me want to explore using them more often. I know mushrooming is a huge secretive deal to some people. I once was introduced to an elderly woman for whom I was to be her companion/caretaker, and the first thing she told her niece who was introducing us, was ‘don’t tell her where I go mushrooming!’ 

Some interesting facts, at least to me, that I found online is that the mushroom capital of the world is said to be Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, as it produces the most fresh cultivated mushroom yearly. Some of the earliest commercial mushroom farms were in French caves during King Louis the 14th’s reign of 1638 to 1715.

There is a honey mushroom that covers 3.4 square miles of land in Eastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains, and it is said to be the largest living organism ever found. 

Thanks for visiting my canning cellar. Talk soon. Stay safe.
https://nchfp.uga.edu
https://www.healthycanning.com/canning-mushrooms#wprm-recipe-container-14948
 https://www.mushroomcouncil.org/all-about-mushrooms/history