Green Living
AlbanyBride33
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Canning
in Green Living
Hi girls!
I'm so excited because I just scored an awwsome canning set with about 40 jars with lids at a nearby garage sale. I can't wait to start experimenting this summer. Any suggestions as to what I should try first as a newbie? I was thinking maybe jam? I'd also love to do pickles, sauerkraut, or tomato sauce too. Are some things easier than others?
TIA!
Re: Canning
Are you certain the lids are new? Both brands I use warn against re-using lids. I wouldn't use yard sale lids unless they were in a sealed package (maybe not even then). My canning books also give out some pretty serious warnings about that.
My favorite things to can are tomato products (sauces, ketchup). They don't have to be pressure canned, and since tomato products are hard to find outside of plastic bottles and BPA-lined cans, I prefer homemade versions.
Jellies/jams are easy enough, but you have to work quickly to get it in the jars before it gels completely. I'd probably do a first canning with something that isn't so time-sensitive so that you have a chance to get familiar with the process and the equipment.
I've done pickles once; they weren't that crisp. I followed all the tips in my canning book on how to make them crispier, but no luck. Next time I do them, I'm going to try using Pickle Crisp.
I learned almost everything I needed to know to get started in Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving. Lots of recipes. http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Complete-Book-Home-Preserving/dp/0778801314
Jams are easier than jellies. Saurkraut takes about 5 weeks to ferment. I am making some now. Pickles depend on the type you want to make. Some take weeks to make also. Tomato sauce is pretty easy. The easiest thing that I have ever canned is bar-le-duc which can be eaten straight out of the jar with fruit or crackers or can be made into a sauce for pork or ham. Also, you are going to want to use new lids with your jars otherwise they will not seal correctly.
Thanks for the tips! Some of the jars are brand new (sealed boxes) but some definitely need lid replacements. You can buy those separately right?
I second the Ball canning book (or bible, as we call it). You cannot re-use lids, so to be safe personally I would start with new lids. You can buy packages of just the lids pretty much anywhere, all the grocery stores in my area have them.
From your description you now have a water bath canner.
There are also pressure canners. You can only water-bath can high acid foods, like jams, tomatoes, and pickles. Please read your recipes closely, as they usually say at the end "process in a water bath (or pressure) canner." I would hate for you to have prepared everything just to see at the end that it's a pressure canner recipe.
It's our first year canning too, so far we have done strawberry jam and whole cherries in a light syrup. In a week or two will be peach jam, and peaches in light syrup. Then tomato sauce. The Ball canning book provides step-by-step instructions so you can't go wrong there. Tomato sauce requires a ginormous amount of tomatoes, I had no idea. 7 quarts (so the size of the pasta sauce you buy at the store) takes 45 pounds of tomatoes to make! I'm going to have to arrange special pickups from the Farmer's Market two or three times to make enough pasta sauce for us to eat all year.
I highly recommend getting fruit for your jam at the Farmer's Market, so you've already missed strawberries unfortunately. Canning requires unblemished, unsmooshed fruits, if you can subpar fruit it's more likely you'll end up with botulism. Fruit from the grocery store is shipped across the country, back when I bought strawberries from the store they were always 1/3 or more smooshed. Cherries are in season now, try some cherry jam! Or peach jam in a week or two.
Supergreen, thanks for the note about the pressure canning. Mine is definitely the water bath canner. I think I'll be running out to my local used bookstore today and seeing if I can find that Ball canning book.
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I had the same thought, but you cannot can pesto. The cheese and the oil will separate, it's a big mess. I freeze it too, as you know it freezes beautifully. I put pesto in plastic freezer bags that I flatten with a rolling pin, freeze them horizontally, and once they're frozen stack them vertically like books, they take up very little space that way. For meals, I thaw the bag in a bowl of warm water, and it's thawed by the time the pasta is done boiling.