Canning Season Will Begin!

[BakerAunt]

Wonky, Luvpyrpom, and I had a canning discussion earlier this year. I said at the time that once we started, we would need a canning thread. It is time.

I went to the Tuesday evening Farmers' Market because I heard there would be strawberries. I came home with three quart baskets of picked today, ripe, small, flavorful, beautiful strawberries. We had some with ice cream, and my husband said, "These are what strawberries should be."

I have now pulled out my canning gear. Strawberry jam is in my future....

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[chocomouse]

The only thing I can is a Hot Pepper Relish, and the peppers won't be ripe for that until late August or September. I freeze all my fruits and veggies, and then make fresh jams throughout the year as I need them. But I look forward to reading about all the canning everyone does, and maybe sharing of some recipes which I will then try.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday afternoon, I made four cups of strawberry jam, using my Bell jam maker and the Bell large electric canning pot (pot sits on a base and has a spigot for draining into the sink). I had about 1/3 Cup left over, so I refrigerated it, and I’m thinking it will go well with biscuits or scones tomorrow morning. As an experiment, I did my canning in the garage apartment kitchen. It worked well in that I was away from distraction. The downside was that due to some delays, I had dinner in the oven, so I had to do some running back and forth, and the meat got a bit overdone. These strawberries, maybe because they are so fresh, made absolutely magnificent jam (I licked a spatula), and my husband who walked in and sniffed said, "That smells amazing!"

The recipe I use is the lower sugar one from the booklet that came with the jam maker. I like the jam maker, although it only makes four cups or so at a time, because I do not have to stand over the stove and stir. Since we do not eat a massive amount of jam, small batches work for us.

I've not tried canning anything other than jam and blueberry pie filling. Perhaps the Farmers Market will inspire me. We do freeze a lot of blueberries.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[wonky]

When my husband and I moved to town, I gave all of my canning equipment away. Big mistake...I really missed it, but I have a ceramic top range, and was not going to risk damaging it. I have continued to make jam's, jellies, refrig pickles etc. Last year my sister and I bought a bushel of beautiful pears from the Amish, and got together to can them at her home. I had forgotten how good home canned fruit was. This year we want to do alot more pears, peaches, etc. When we put our new bathroom/laundry room addition on a couple of years ago, we kept the 220 electric in the basement, and the hot and cold water are still there. So, I am going to buy a used electric coil range to put down there, and I have a large kitchen table with about 6 leaves that I brought home from the home I grew up in after Dad passed away. When I told my sister what I planned to do with it, she said "good idea"...we are back in the canning business. Another big plus is that all all the mess will not be in my kitchen.

[Mike Nolan]

I would think seriously about getting a large capacity standalone induction burner, even if that means you have to go buy a new pot that works on the induction principle. (I have a 24 quart stock pot that I've used for canning a couple of times.) They heat much faster and they won't heat up the room as much, which is a big deal for canning.

And for canning you probably only need one heating element.

By large capacity, I mean both wattage and pan size. There are some 3500 watt induction burners that run on 220 and will handle a 13" diameter pot, not one that maxes out at 1800 watts and only handles a 10 1/2" pan.

[BakerAunt]

Here is what I use for canning jam and pint and quart jars of blueberry pie filling:

Product Review – Ball FreshTech Electric Water Bath Canner

I'm not sure what the current price is, but I'm pretty sure that I found a better deal--than what is stated here--for my husband so that he could give it to me for Christmas several years ago. I like being able to drain the water directly into the sink. I also find that it does not heat up the place as much as when I used a canning pot on the stove.

I've only used it for canning, not for cooking soups.

I agree with Wonky that having the canning activity outside the regular kitchen has great advantages. A lot of the farm houses around here actually have an additional kitchen area on an enclosed porch that gets used for canning and preserving. As we have a narrow kitchen, and that cannot change with the remodel, when I can outside in the apartment kitchen, I do not have to worry about foot traffic or about our dog. (And my husband will not start talking to me while I'm trying to deal with very hot ingredients.)

[BakerAunt]

Our black raspberries are starting to ripen--at least the ones on the north side of the terrace. The ones my husband planted on the south side have no fruit. He had planted them from some behind our shed, so he checked, and those also have no fruit. (If we had been here in June before this year, we would have known that.) There are some black raspberries in his woods, so I may brave the mosquitos, while wearing my bug resistant hoody and my face netting. I'd like to make at least four jars of jam.

[BakerAunt]

Today I was able to make and can four jars of Black Raspberry Jam. The raspberries came from our terrace and from my husband's larger woodlands. He picked a quart basket of them today, and those along with the ones from the terrace were enough for jam. He tells me that there are a lot more out there, so I may make a second batch.

[Mike Nolan]

Black raspberries only produce fruit on 2nd year canes, so you may get some from those plant next year. About one year out of five we don't get many black raspberries at all, I think it's mostly weather related.

I'v been told that unlike red raspberries, black raspberries don't train well, either.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--I asked my husband, and he said that the plants did flower, but for some reason those on the south side of the terrace did not get fertilized. It's odd because a stairway about 2 feet wide is all that divides the north and south.

[Mike Nolan]

We have 3 or 4 different patches of black raspberry in the yard, one of them looked like it never set fruit this year, either. I think it went from too cold to too hot too quickly.

[BakerAunt]

My husband thinks that our non-fruiting black raspberries show a genetic issue because they are a clone of the ones that grow behind our shed. Those also flowered but did not set fruit. We've noticed as well that, for some reason, there do not seem to be that many bees around.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

My husband came back from his woodlands with a heaping quart basket of black raspberries. I was able to add in enough from those on our terrace to make two one-pint jars of jam this afternoon. Usually I make four one-cup containers, but my husband really likes this jam, so he said to go ahead and make two large jars this time.

Although the chipmunks are now getting into the black raspberries on the terrace, there are still a lot of black raspberries in his woods. I'm wondering about making a "pie filling" with some and using it in sweet rolls. If it works, then I could can some pint jars of black raspberry pie filling to use later in the year. I'll look for some recipes.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I bought 15 pounds of canning tomatoes at the farmer's market on Sunday, they made around 3 quarts of tomato sauce. I tried boiling them for about 8 minutes before putting them through the food mill, that cooked them enough that the sauce didn't separate.

[BakerAunt]

I want to try making and canning blueberry pie filling. However, we've had rainy weather since Friday. Does anyone know if rainy weather might somehow be detrimental when making filling and canning? I've done a couple of google searches, and what I find there refers to some comments about jam not setting in rainy weather, although no one has pointed to any study of the issue. I'll make the pie filling with Clearjel. I'm wondering if the wet weather would affect how well the jars seal.

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