Author Topic: Stocking the Pantry (Read 4866 times)

bunnyruth · « **on:** August 12, 2009, 02:51:35 pm »

Good Morning folks,
We live in the northeast part of the US where our growing season is fairly short (we can have hard frosts until the full moon of May and they can return by October) so we work hard during what season we have and do our best to "put up" as much of our garden as we can for the winter. I was fortunate that although I grew up in the city, my mother taught me how to can food when I was a child and my husband also learned as a young boy ... and his father continues to do it at 92 years old. So, we do all of our canning together making it feel like half of the work.

This year we decided to try to set goals for both growing our own food and preserving as much as we can. The goals were to grow 100 pounds of food ourselves and to preserve (can, freeze or dehydrate) 750 pints of food. I am happy to say that we will definitely pass the homegrown food goal as we are already at 71 pounds and the heavier crops of onions, potatoes, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes have yet to come in. I am still a bit concerned about meeting the 750 pints of food for the year as we have only put up 187 pints of food so far. This includes not just what we grow but also what we are given, glean from the woods around our house and are given as gifts or in barter.

This weekend we put up 20 pints of our own green beans along with 9 half-pints of chicken meat and 5.5 quarts of chicken stock. It isn't our own raised or even organic chicken, but at this time of year chicken goes on sales for the lowest prices of the year (39 cents per pound) so we always stock up and freeze or can to help get us through the winter. We are prone to power outages in the winter due to ice storms so relying on the freezer is a risky bet.

After last winter's five days without power, I am more determined than ever to can up some things that can just be heated up on the wood stove as complete meals. I am always looking for new recipes that can be canned up, in particular soups. We make French Onion, chicken veg, cream of mushroom and cream of broccoli. Does anyone have any other recipes that can be canned up?

Ruth in NH

Troubled Waters · « **Reply #1 on:** August 14, 2009, 12:53:44 pm »

Hey. sounds like you are really doing great with this. I want to bottle some of our excess but am more than a little daunted. I think its the whole water baths, pressure baths and stuff. i thought (niavely) that you could just sort of do in the same way as jam with clip top jars but that did't work.

Is it as daunting as it seems? I want to bottle stewed apples and plums and such and plums and peaches in syrup. All sort of goes over my head. so i need the kilner type jars with the metel cap and screw down rings.

I can see I might be pestering you further!

bunnyruth · « **Reply #2 on:** August 14, 2009, 05:03:02 pm »

Hi,
You have actually named a few of the best things to beginning bottling foods. For apples, plums and peaches you do not need to worry about pressure canning, they have enough natural acid. As I am in the US I do not know the name Kilner, but from your description it sounds like the right style jar. It has a two piece metal lid, a flat lid and a screw on ring, right?

If you have the right jars, it really isn't daunting at all, especially if you begin with fruits or something pickled. All you would need to do is prepare your fruit as you normally would do, wash and then heat the jars in boiling water, scoop the fruit into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch head room, clean off the edge of the jar and put on the lids. Then just submerge the jars in a pot of boiling water, making sure the water is at least 1/2 inch above the top of the jars. Bring the water back up to the boil and leave them in for 20 minutes. Lift them out and let them cool. As the jars are cooling you will hear the lids "plink" as they seal. Then your fruit will be safe to store on the shelf for two years. I think that the only difficult thing is dealling with boiling water, you want to be careful to not get burned. You can get a Jar lifter tool that helps you do this without burning yourself (you can just type "jar lifter" into your search engine to find one).

In an earlier post in this "Food Processing" forum I posted a couple internet links to sites that give very detailed instructions. If you can not find that post, I would be happy to resend them.

Please feel free to ask any questions you would like, I would be thrilled to be of help.
Ruth in New Hampshire

Troubled Waters · « **Reply #3 on:** August 17, 2009, 09:16:30 pm »

Hi Ruth, Thanks for the reply. That is tghe jar I was talking about. I don't have any of those but I do have the clip top jars with rubber seals. I saw a pic in a book the other day using these in a water bath. in your experience is this something you can do or is it best to go for the other type?

Thanks again, maybe one day I'll work up the courage to do it.

hfw

bunnyruth · « **Reply #4 on:** August 17, 2009, 10:50:02 pm »

Generally speaking, I would not recommend the clip top jars as the seal is less reliable, and you can not tell if you have a seal until you try to break the seal in opening it. With the two piece metal jars you can tell that it did not seal and save it by putting it in the refrigerator so no waste.

I have used our equivalent of the jars you mentioned in the past (Ball jars with glass lids and rubber rings) but I tend to be a bit leery of using them. The problem is that you can not tell you have botulism contamination until you eat it. It does not smell or look any different. I think that for safety's sake I would recommend just waiting until you can get something that you know is safe.

Ruth in New Hampshire

Troubled Waters · « **Reply #5 on:** August 20, 2009, 08:32:32 am »

Many thanks, will try and find some and have a go. Can u bottle stewed fruit int he same way? ooo, the excitement...can't wait to have a go.

bunnyruth · « **Reply #6 on:** August 20, 2009, 11:58:42 am »

Yes,
Fruit is really the easiest thing to bottle as it is naturally high in acid. Different fruits will take different amounts of time, but 20 minutes should be fine for just about anything. If there is something in particular you would like me to look up I am happy to do so for you or you can also check these websites for more detailed instructions.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html
http://foodsafety.psu.edu/canningguide.html

Ruth in New Hampshire

northfifeduckling · « **Reply #7 on:** August 24, 2009, 11:06:51 pm »

Never tried bottling myself yet, although my gran was a real expert. I always end up freezing, sugar preserving and pickling instead.... Must give it a go!