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Garden Gate:  Home Canning  |
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gafarmwoman
True Blue Farmgirl
244 Posts
Pam
Georgia
USA
244 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 09:35:28 AM
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I use to can a lot of fruits and vegetables when my sons were growing up. Since I am home on the farm again and food prices have sky rocketed, I am thinking of using my pressure canner again. Do any of you still preserve your fruits and vegetables by canning?
You can never have enough friends.
Please come and sit a spell with me at Life on a Southern Farm
http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com |
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one_dog_per_acre
True Blue Farmgirl
1572 Posts
Trish
Sandpoint
ID
USA
1572 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 10:29:52 AM
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When I was a kid, my dad had a fruit and vegetable business, and we canned hundreds of quarts every year. Last month I bought jars and lids so I can try it by myself for the first time. I can't wait! I was thinking that since I am so anxious, I might try a raspberry-champagne jelly that uses juice, so I don't have to wait for things to come into season. I think that jelly would be good in between cake layers
Farmgirl Sister #91
Make cupcakes not war! |
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Canadian farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
482 Posts
Lori
Ontario
Canada
482 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 10:59:42 AM
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I borrow my MIL's water bath canner to do up pickles. Works great! I make jams and relish, too, but they cook so long and everything's sterilized, I don't use the canner for those and they're fine.
Lori |
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gafarmwoman
True Blue Farmgirl
244 Posts
Pam
Georgia
USA
244 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 11:17:35 AM
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My favorite to can was the vegetable soup mixture. I helped my Mother make it when I was a child and the soup became my husband and 2 sons favorite especially in the winter. There was a actual recipe for it somewhere,but it has tomatoes,corn,peas, butterbeans,onion,okra,sweet pepper,and potatoes in it with a little apple vinegar. I even tried hominy one year. I found a recipe that used baking soda instead of the lye. It was good but a lot of work on it. Oh and green beans, the home can ones just taste better to me than frozen ones. I am anxious to try it all again.
You can never have enough friends.
Please come and sit a spell with me at Life on a Southern Farm
http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 11:50:31 AM
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I do alot of canning every year..meat too. We had veggie soup last night that I had canned..my favorite thing to can at the end of the harvest when there isn't really enough of any one thing to can up but lots of bits of things. I noticed when I was in the cellar over the weekend that I really am low on jams..need to get on that!!
I love canning!!
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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rain4nights
Farmgirl in Training
17 Posts
Bess
Cleveland
OH
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 12:07:55 PM
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I just did my first canning (jams) this past summer, and I'm hooked!
I had an unexpected opportunity to pick a bunch of concords from a friend's farm, and then was determined make jam and jar it no matter what!
I managed to find or fake most of the required pieces of equipment, but I didn't have a jar lifter... so I had to siphon off the hot water bath with a piece of tubing when they were done! 
It worked out great though (cinnamon-grape), and I got a canning kit for christmas, so now I have all the "proper" equipment.
Here's a question though: My mom used to have a pressure cooker, does anyone know if it can be used for pressure canning too? |
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LauraH
True Blue Farmgirl
305 Posts
Laura
North Creek
New York
USA
305 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 12:18:49 PM
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Yes, I can every summer & love it, mainly a water bath canner. Pickles, Jams, Jellies, Tomato Sauces & Salsas, Applesauces. It is great in the middle of winter to have those homey jars in my pantry
I love it
Laura |
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gafarmwoman
True Blue Farmgirl
244 Posts
Pam
Georgia
USA
244 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 2:08:53 PM
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Bess, you really need the pressure canner to be safe. It has the rack for the jars to sit on. You have to be careful when using pressure canners and watch the qauge for the correct pressure level and not let the pressure build up too high.
You can never have enough friends.
Please come and sit a spell with me at Life on a Southern Farm
http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com |
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windypines
True Blue Farmgirl
4505 Posts
Michele
Bruce
Wisconsin
USA
4505 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 4:50:24 PM
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| I can lots of things too. I love having the shelves and freezers full in preperation for winter. Michele |
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Leezard
True Blue Farmgirl
950 Posts
Elizabeth
Novi
MI
USA
950 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 5:24:34 PM
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I love canning! It's so nice to be able to control the amount of sugar or salt that's added to fruits or vegetables and such. Also, to know where your produce came from :) I use a water bath canner as well.
http://ruby--slippers.blogspot.com/
www.leezard.etsy.com |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 7:54:36 PM
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I love canning. Especially when I can get the fruits and/or veggies for free! Be sure to check the seal on your pressure canner if it's been a long time since you used it. I use my stemer canner the most, but like doing meats in the pressure canner when I can get them at a good price.
Sharon
Farmgirl Sister #74
Life is messy. Wear your apron! |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 8:07:21 PM
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Sharon..the apple pie filling you brought me when you were here to visit was WONDERFUL!!!!
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2008 : 9:16:04 PM
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I adore canning. It is great to have a "full pantry" feeling when I look at my shelf and see all the jars of food that I put up. So far I have only done tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce, but I felt they both went really well and fairly easy too!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
Please come visit Nora and I our our new blog:
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Feb 22 2008 : 06:22:03 AM
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I'm looking forward to trying it again this season, too. I used to make jam and jelly(many years ago) and I always enjoyed doing it. Last summer, I bought jars, lids, etc. whenever I found some - yard sales, auctions, even in a salvage grocery. I need to buy a pressure cooker, though. I'll have to research that. I don't use anything aluminum.
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
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Peanut
True Blue Farmgirl
603 Posts
Jennifer
Waverly
Virginia
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - Feb 22 2008 : 12:47:18 PM
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I haven't used a pressure cooker either. I've only done tomatoes, sweet pickles and apple butter though, so it's not really necessary.
I freeze everything else - sooo much easier!
My new blog! http://thecottonwife.wordpress.com/
"What is a farm but a mute gospel?"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Feb 27 2008 : 08:29:44 AM
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I was going to get a pressure canner this year for the veges and tomatoes. I can jams, pickles and I did water bath salsa (we didn't die), but I'd like to do more. Gfarm, that vege soup sounds wonderful...We're also going to make blackberry cordial this year, so I'm looking forward to a little "different" direction in preserving as well.
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Mar 03 2008 : 03:41:16 AM
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YEP! Learned for the first time last year after our elderly friend could no longer carr yon mentally.
I successfully caned our beans last summer and have enjoyed them very much throughout.
Was going to try corn, but the drought came too soon for our second wave.
It's easy, just time consuming when you want to get it all done in a day. |
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aimeeravae
True Blue Farmgirl
341 Posts
Aimee
Deer River
MN
USA
341 Posts |
Posted - Mar 03 2008 : 11:54:49 AM
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I love to can! I have been doing it for awhile now. I make all kinds of things. I do take the lids of my pressure canner and cooker to the extention office and they test them. Our's here in SD will fix them for you for free. My canner was my gramma's. The gauge is still in great working order and I have had to replace the gasket a few times. You see them around here on auctions for cheap.
I enlarged my garden to 36'x38' last fall. I can't wait to start planting.
Aimee |
Edited by - aimeeravae on Mar 03 2008 11:56:29 AM |
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NancyM
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Nancy
Fall City
WA
113 Posts |
Posted - Mar 04 2008 : 9:12:46 PM
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| Another canner here. I learned how to make jam two years ago, added pickles last year, and am planning to expand to even more this year. We're doubling the size of our veggie garden. I'm very excited! |
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lovelady
True Blue Farmgirl
533 Posts
Toni
Indiana
USA
533 Posts |
Posted - Mar 05 2008 : 03:32:13 AM
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I love to can, too! I grew up helping my mom, so when I moved out and got married I just assumed I would know what I was doing. Nope. I guess I really didn't pay too much attention to the actual canning procedures that she did, I just liked helping cut up the veggies. So I started out easy and canned applesauce, then the next summer I went overboard on tomatoes, green beans and pickles. Now I am pretty comfortable with it, so I am very excited about this canning season. We just moved into a new house that has the smooth glass cooktop stove, so I am going to have to find out if it is OK to can on. My husband wants to make me a canning station in our garage. He even came home last night with a catalog of mini hot water heaters to look through.
Oh, for our wedding, my colors were dark red and gold so my Mom and I made strawberry and peach jam to give out as favors. It was kinda cool. |
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Garden Gate: Home Canning |
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Home Canning
