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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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So happy with canning results
We've just starting eating the fruit we canned this year, and OMG it is so.good. These peaches taste like August. I didn't know a month had a taste, but it does!
How did your canned goods turn out? What do you wish you had done differently? We should have dried wayyyyy more tomatoes, they're going way faster than I thought. It seemed like we had plenty. Apparently not.
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Re: So happy with canning results
Something that tastes like August sounds sooo good right now (we were snowed in all weekend)!
I wish I had gotten into canning earlier in the season. I already have my month by month list for next year.
I should have made more strawberry margarita jam and strawberry jam sweetened with honey. I have one jar of the strawberry margarita jam left and I'm waiting for the perfect time to open it so I can savor every last drop. DH loved the Oktoberfest mustard that I made with his home brewed beer.
I had to throw away pickles and two batches of jam. The pickles were all wrinkly and soft and the jam was like eating a spoon full of extra sugary sugar. I will never make jam with regular pectin again. Yuck.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Strawberry Margarita jam and Oktoberfest mustard recipes are in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.
For the strawberry sweetened with honey, I followed the directions that come with Pamona's pectin. It's this awesome pectin that doesn't require sugar so you can use honey, agave, maple syrup and other sweeteners. The recipes in the box are more like guidelines so you can mix and match the fruit to the sweetener.Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
I've been really happy with most of what I've done (veggie soup, chili, jams, jellies, mustards, pickles, sauces, etc.), but I'm disappointed with my tomato results.
My ketchup is very good, but my tomato sauce and pizza sauce are watery and gross. I don't know what I'm doing wrong other than not cooking it long enough; but I followed the directions and got the correct volume at the end. I'd probably have to use 2 to 3 times as many tomatoes to get the same volume of something I'd call edible, and then I don't know if the proportions of acid would be OK. I really hate the taste of raw tomatoes, but love all cooked tomatoes (sauce, puree, soup, ketchup, chutney), and my sauce tastes more like a raw tomato than a commercial sauce. I'm currently mixing it with commercial stuff just so that I can eat it. Waste of time, space and money!
This was my first year canning. I think I'm going to get a pressure canner for canning next year. My spaghetti sauces are not very good. I had to throw a couple out. I don't know if it was due to a bad seal or what but a couple had mold in them. I'm seriously scared to eat the others.
The jellies and jams I made are okay. My dad wants to buy a couple to give to people as gifts, but I'm scared they aren't sweet enough for most people's taste. The apricot and plum jellies are tart.
I would love to try drying tomatoes next year! I had some that were from the farmer's market, but never thought of doing it myself. It'd be much easier than canning!
Congrats!
As I'm in FL, I'm still in full-on canning mode (although it got down to 19F last night - a record low).
Made enchilada/taco sauce yesterday - so good!. Need to make more pickles and relish, but the Kirbys haven't been good here recently. Still have strawberry jam from last March. Roasted a whole lot of red peppers a few weeks ago. Made ketchup last week. Need to can tomoatoes, but with the freeze that may not happen for a few months.
A tip: I use the boiling H2O from canning to make quart jars of iced tea (black and green).
Need to buy more jars (again)...
We had the same problem. It's our first year canning, so I'm not sure if we did something wrong. We also followed the directions and got the correct volume at the end, we cooked it for a long time before canning it and it's watery. After we made spaghetti with the first watery batch, we started making more of a veggie sauce out of it. We cut up an onion, saute that until soft, add 2 cloves chopped garlic, then the tomato sauce and a whole lot of oregano and thyme. We simmer that for ~30 mins, and it's finally the right consistency for spaghetti. Takes a little more work yes, but it tastes great and there's no junk in it like commercial sauce.
SO EASY. Cut roma tomatoes in half. 'Juliet' tomatoes from the farmer's market work great. Put in food dehydrator. Dry until leathery (8-10 hours in our dehydrator). Viola! Dried tomatoes. Awesome in pasta, on pizza, in salads, or pesto (haven't tried the last one).
Duplicate.
I perfer to used roasted tomatoes for suaces. They have a much better flavor, and I do not end up with watery suaces. This is the recipe that I use for tomato suace and is amazing. I leave it a little chunky, but you can puree it if you want it smoother.
Agree with others that my tomato sauces come out watery. I end up adding a small can of tomato paste. That seems to thicken it up enough for us.
I think I'm gonna buy a bell book this year before I start caning. Maybe do some jams too this year.