What are you canning/preserving today?

[Alix]

I've not canned anything as we've been eating the bounty as fast as I can process it! Sheesh! I have a ton of apple pies in the freezer, and I made a vat of applesauce that my daughters inhaled. Now I'm going to work on the tomatoes. I've got a LOT of green ones, but they're ripening quickly in the house. The ripe ones have made a few batches of sauce but they are eaten quickly. If I can jar some, I'd be a happy girl.

How does everyone do their tomatoes? I saw Bookbrat's method with the food mill. I tend to cut my tomatoes, sprinkle with some coarse salt and roast them in the oven for a bit. Depending on what they're for I might add in some garlic and onion to roast as well. Then I just buzz the whole lot in the food processor. No problem with skins.

 

[Dawgluver]

I like Ina Garten's recipe for roasted cherry toms with a bit of olive oil. Then I freeze them in ziplocks. They make great sauce!

I went ahead and picked the rest of the green cherry toms, we haven't had a hard freeze yet, but it's cold enough that they're not going to get any riper on the vines. The plan is to make green tomato hotdog relish. Found a few nice looking recipes that I'll mix and match, and either can or freeze it.

 

[Marian123]

Does anyone have a pressure cooker canner? I use water bath but trying to decide if the other may be better? Thoughts?


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[FrankZ]

We have a Fagor Futuro and have been happy with it. I do think it can be small at 10QT but that's how it is. We just make multiple runs if needed.

Not everything needs to be pressure canned.

 

[Marian123]

Thanks Frank, I do most of mine with water bath, but this year had tons of beans and everything I read said to use pressure canner, so I froze them. Not a huge fan of frozen veggies, thought if I could can them it would be better


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[FrankZ]

Thanks Frank, I do most of mine with water bath, but this year had tons of beans and everything I read said to use pressure canner, so I froze them. Not a huge fan of frozen veggies, thought if I could can them it would be better

Keep in mind the rated capacity for most canners seems to be regular mouth, not wide mouth, jars.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Just finished up making and putting up 7 pints my own recipe for marinara,
with a bit leftover for meat sauce tonight with homemade three cheese raviolis for Sunday Supper
I'm pooped

 

[Bookbrat]

Marian, vegetables and meats should be pressure canned. This is a good place to read about pressure canning vs waterbath. National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Can.

We've almost made it through the last of the tomatoes. Nine pints of roasted tomato garlic soup cooling in the pressure canner. A couple of quarts of plain tomato sauce simmering down to paste and then I'll dry it in tbsp 'plops'. And about a gallon of spaghetti sauce, some for dinner and the rest into food saver bags to freeze. Last week I did the same with chili fixings (minus the beans). Getting tired of tomatoes, but will be glad for the fast food this winter.

Halved and seasoned cherry tomatoes, kale, chard and sliced garlic in the dehydrator.

And a big pot of vegie scraps simmering down for stock.

 

[Marian123]

Thanks Bookbrat, I'll check that info out


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[CWS4322]

No canning here, but I have been dehydrating sumac this weekend to make ground sumac. I also took the leftover beef-mushroom gravy and dehydrated that. I put that through the spice grinder to make a powder as well. I am not big on using bouillion--I prefer to use homemade stock, but sometimes I don't have stock in the freezer, so thought I'd give this a try. It worked well. I used the "fruit leather" tray and dehydrated it at 135 for about 10 hours.

 

[CharlieD]

Seasoning, of a sort

10-12 bell peppers
10-12 hot peppers. I like Jalapeno or Habanero
2-3 parsnip (or better parsley) root
2-3 heads of garlic
2-3 table spoons salt

I prefer to use meat grinder, but food processor is also good to chop everything up. Mix well, salt works as preservative. Habaneros will make it really hot, be careful.

I use it to add to many of my soups, spaghetti, meats, sometimes serve as a stand alone, for those who like it hot.
This will less me close to the whole winter.

 

[Dawgluver]

I'm experimenting with dehydrating pumpkin puree into "jerky" for doggie treats. I'm hoping Beagle will find them an acceptable replacement for her CET Hex strips.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Processed the last of the garden produce this morning. Nothing left but a dozen habaneros and some cayenne peppers I had laid out to dry a few weeks ago.

The habaneros went into a batch of mango habanero hot sauce. The two bail-top jars will go in the fridge. The rest in the pantry for later. The cayenne peppers I ran through my spice mill. I haven't bought cayenne pepper in years.

Saying goodbye to the garden until next year.

 

[CWS4322]

I'm finishing up drying sumac in the dehydrator today and clearing the shellfish shells out of the freezer to make seafood/fish stock. I also made a batch of high-bush cranberry jelly. And did a load of laundry, all before noon. I need a nap.

 

[Dawgluver]

What's your process with sumac, CWS? I picked a small basket full a few weeks ago.

 

[CWS4322]

I pick clean, give them a vigorous shake (or two or three), strip the seeds off the stems, toss those in a single layer in the dehydrator using the fruit leather trays, set the dehydrator to 125-130, and let it go. Once they are dry (they have to crumble between my fingers without feeling sticky/damp), I grind them in the spice grinder. I then put the ground sumac in jars. I guess you could rinse them before taking the seeds off and spin them in the salad spinner--I never do.

 

[Dawgluver]

Thanks!

I'm hoping mine wasn't too dry when I picked it.

Right now I'm dehydrating another batch of pumpkin jerky, this time for people (thanks to Addie for the idea!). I mixed pumpkin pie spice, a bit of vanilla, and some brown sugar into puree I made and froze awhile back. Hopefully it's good. If not, Beagle gets more for her cookie jar. I don't think there's anything in it that's bad for dogs.

 

[Cheryl J]

Oh, that sounds good, Dawg!

Steve....what a beautiful pic of your mango habanero sauce - especially with the background of those lovely fall leaves. I would love to try some of that hot sauce. What a great idea to add mangos (my fave fruit) to balance out some of the heat.

 

[Dawgluver]

Thanks Cheryl!

 

[Steve Kroll]

Steve....what a beautiful pic of your mango habanero sauce - especially with the background of those lovely fall leaves. I would love to try some of that hot sauce. What a great idea to add mangos (my fave fruit) to balance out some of the heat.

Thanks, Cheryl. I'm forced to cook all of my hot sauces out on our deck, otherwise the smell of pungent chiles permeates the entire house. It can be quite overpowering. Thus the outdoor photo. Now that you mention it, the color of the sauce reminds me of autumn colors.

I make some variation of this sauce every year. Habaneros are some of my favorite chiles. Although they are very hot, they also have a nice fruity flavor that especially compliments pork, fish, and Caribbean cuisine. One of my favorite uses for this sauce is to mix it into pineapple baked beans.