Tomato Jam and Green Beans

 

Canning

 

Lately I have been spending a lot of time canning.

 The snap beans made almost 4 full quarts.

 

Last weekend I picked a little more than 6 pounds of blueberries at our local u-pick place.

 Which I turned into some jam.

I was given a bunch of rhubarb and tried a rhubarb conserve.  It is more like a marmalade and not that great.  But I guess now I know.

Everything Strawberry

A week ago we went strawberry picking and I have spent some time this week preserving and using the ruby  jewels.

 

Strawberry & Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Freezing berries for smoothies

Strawberry ice cream and strawberry rhubarb crisp

Plenty of fresh strawberries on cereal or for snacks.

This is the last of the berries.  And to think I wasn't sure I could use them all up.  Now I am wishing I had a few more.

Green Tomatoes

I recently was the recipient of a large donation of green tomatoes.  I had been telling my Dad that our tomatoes had seriously slowed down and that we weren't going to have enough green tomatoes to make anything with.  So he took pity on me or just wanted them off his hands. 

I used over 12 cups to make green tomato chutney, which surprisingly cooked down to only 4 pints.

I also still had plenty of dill in the garden so I thought I would try dilled green tomatoes.

Canned

I spent time over two days working on canning the bulk of our two boxes of peaches.  We ended up with 25 quarts, which is double what I did last year.  All in all I am happy with the results.

 This year I did a little experimenting with the different batches to try to eliminate fruit float.  Last year I canned peaches using the raw pack method with an extra light syrup since we don't want the extra sugar.  But no matter how much fruit I put in the jars they still floated which isn't harmful but doesn't look as pretty.

 

This year I tried the hot pack method and raw pack with heavier syrups.  In all the methods the fruit floated.  I definitely didn't like the hot pack method because the fruit became too soft and in the cans are mushed together.  The pieces in the raw pack cans hold their shape much better.  The hot pack method also had the hassle of the extra step of heating/cooking the peaches first.  All in all since none of the methods reduced fruit float I am sticking with the easier raw pack with extra light syrup in the future.

Cherry Jam

I was able to get my hands on some tart cherries even though much of the crop was ruined by frost this year.  I love cherry jam made with tart cherries and so used all the cherries to make jam.  Unfortunately I had 3 half pint jars of jam crack and break in the canner during processing.  One broke in the first batch and two in the second.  I am not sure what happened.  I properly inspected, washed and preheated all the jars before processing.  But it made me sick because of how much I love this jam and how sparse cherries are this year to have three jars ruined.

First Canning Of The Season

This week I made my first batch of jam for the season.  I made a blueberry lime jam and I am never going to make plain blueberry jam ever again.  The slight hint of lime completely changes the flavor and brightens the blueberries.

I did lower the amount of sugar so I cooked it just a bit longer to help it set since I had trouble last year with jam setting based on the lower sugar content.  However this recipe had added pectin so the jam is a little thick.  But it is still spreadable and I don't mind.  We just won't be gifting this batch.

The plan was to go pick more blueberries for fresh eating and jam but I just got an email from the berry patch.  Due to severe bird issues all of their berries are picked out for the season which is just crazy.  There is normally six good weeks of picking.  O well, I guess its super thick jam for this year.

Update
Since posting I have been asked for the recipe so here it is if you would like to try it.  I got it from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving.

4 1/2 cups blueberries
1 package powdered pectin
5 cups sugar (I only used 4)
1 T. grated lime peel
1/3 cup lime juice

Crush blueberries one layer at a time. Combine crushed blueberries and powdered pectin in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Stir in grated lime peel and lime juice. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yields about 6 half-pints.

Winter Stores

All Summer long I was cooking, canning and storing food while it was fresh.  In a way you could call me a hoarder of fresh food.  While the garden is still producing and we can buy things locally I don't want to break into the stash.  But Andy has had his eye on those peaches for weeks now.  I have kept him away telling him I needed to take a picture so I can show off my hard work.  

I have to say every time I walk past the shelves I feel proud.  Some might find this silly.  I know there are some of you out there with much much more than me.  But I know that this food all came from my garden, a family member or a local vendor and was grown the right way.  Come Winter time we will pop open cans and have food that tastes better than most grocery store cans.  I am excited knowing that even though nothing is growing outside we will still be eating well.

This week I finally filled up the shelves with all of the green tomato goodies and decided it was time to document the beauties.

 

No sooner had I snapped the picture Andy was popping open a can of peaches and ate the entire quart in a sitting or should I say standing.  I'm now thinking next year I need to can double the amount of peaches at the rate he is going to consume them.

Green Tomatoes

I found myself the recipient of this bushel of partially ripe but mostly green tomatoes.

 

I washed them and all laid out they took up most of my counter.  I did find a couple of baby zucchinis in there also.  As any good cook/gardener I didn't want any of it to go to waste.  Four tomatoes were ripening up nicely and were unbruised so they are currently on my windowsill continuing to ripen.  The other ripening tomatoes that were bruised or pierced along with all the green tomatoes were put into a pot and canned into different delectables.

 

I spent three nights cooking and canning these goodies.  On the farthest left we have a green tomato jam, in the middle a green tomato chutney and on the right a mixture of partially ripened and green tomato jam.  I used a recipe for regular tomato jam from Food In Jars but then substituted in green tomatoes.  But of course we managed to fry one up and eat it before canning the rest.

One Can

All those tomatoes from the past week's harvest were starting to turn mushy after about two days because of all the cracks.  I had a few good tomatoes still from the week prior so I cut off all the spoiled parts, quartered them and threw them in a stock pot to simmer.  After some time I ran them through my mother in law's food mill which I borrowed to make puree and sauces this Fall.  I then returned the contents back to the pot and reduced it for awhile.  About two hours later, after spent time, energy, electricity for cooking and canning and a pile of tomatoes I ended up with this one can of tomato sauce/puree.  It was well worth saving the tomatoes from going bad but sometimes in canning I am surprised with how much or little I end up with.

Continuing to Can

I have been continuing to do plenty of canning.  Thankfully with the beans producing again I have put more away.  I wish I could say the tomatoes are mine but they aren't.  They are from the farmers market and I prefer the idea of buying now from the farmers, preserving it, and then getting to continue to use local ingredients stored at the peak of their ripeness even in the middle of winter over buying canned store items.

Putting Up

Lately I have been doing all sorts of storage methods of the incoming produce  You will definitely be seeing more of it here.  Some of my recent undertakings have been my first ever attempt at pickles, tomato basil herb simmer sauce, another eggplant lasagna, and freezing of corn and carrots.

 

Putting Away

I have been doing alot of cooking lately and not just food for us to consume now.  I have been assembling, cooking and preparing food to go in the freezer or can.  We are starting to not be able to keep up with the produce and I want to make sure it gets saved or used.  During the holidays or other busy times of the year its nice to pull something out of the freezer or pantry that is going to be easy to make.

 This week I froze an eggplant lasagna and zucchini soup.

I also used up the last of the fresh sour cherries and made a batch of jam.

Late Season Canning

With all of the tomatoes being pulled off the vine before a hard frost sets in I had way too many tomatoes than we could consume quickly.  I went ahead and stewed and canned them for use in chili and stews this Fall and Winter since I already have used up most of the other jars I canned mid Summer.

Pressure Canning

With all that produce we brought home I canned a bunch of it!  I got to use my new pressure canner that was handed down to me from my Dad.  It is a little beat up but I am a bit proud of that because it means it has done lots of successful canning!

Canning Expedition

As promised I made some of the blueberries we picked on our anniversary into jam and then canned it.  This was my first experience canning and I really enjoyed it!  I used the Ball Blue Book canning guide for my recipe and canning instructions.   It was quite simple as long as you follow all of the directions.  I was advised that they their recipes use a bit too much sugar so I cut out 1/3rd and I think I could have cut 1/2, it all depends on your taste preference.  The trickiest part was having the canning pot with simmering water ready to go while keeping the jars hot in another pot and making the jam in another.  All of the items almost didn't fit on my stove top. 

I did read the book a bit before starting and so once I got to actually canning I had a firm grasp of what I needed to do.  I highly suggest going out and getting the book it has great step by step instructions and some have illustrated instructions.  I am definitely looking forward to canning other produce this year and for years to come!

Jam in the works

Cans getting ready for jam and measuring the head space before attaching the lids to get a proper vacuum seal.

Ready for processing.

Final Product!