Thinking out loud

Apples provide such memories for me - beautiful fall days building forts while my mom made apple pies to freeze, my grandmother's fantastic apple butter (why did no one get her recipe before she passed) and family trips to the apple orchard.  Woodman, the girls and I go to the apple orchard every year - this is a tradition we began a few years ago when Woodman and I were dating - the orchard is only about 10 miles from our home - but this year we just didn't make it.  It has been one heck of a year!  So with some apples from my former in-laws, Woodman decided to make "Spiced Apple Rings".  I was skeptical, I don't like cinnamon candy or gum, and vinegar and apples do not belong together but I was willing to give it a try.  These were VERY good.  I am surprised but I really like them.  Woodman is not completely happy with the color, he expected much brighter red but I think they are fine.  Pics to come soon. Spiced Apple Rings 12 pounds firm t...

Can jam October was Peppers. It just so happened that I grew peppers this year. Some beautiful California Goldens, some Bulgarian Carrot Peppers, and some Scotch Bonnets.... all of which were pretty wimpy after the initial batch of peppers, which was back in July. But then, about three weeks ago, all three plants turned white with blooms, the Carrot Pepper, which had fallen victim to a tomato caterpillar, had sprouted new leaves and blossoms. The Californian Golden, which seemed to be on a swivel at ground level finally took root and was holding itself up! And the Scotch Bonnets were bushing up and out quite well and actually had new peppers already growing. None of those peppers are in this recipe. I have several green peppers out there in my pots, but all three of these pepper varieties turn orange when ripe, and not one is even close. They are in containers and I watch the weather, so I'll get those suckers. Anyway, DD and I were at the Farmer's Market, one of the las...

So, first I had to figure out how the hell I was going to get a some fruit to smoke pot. Ok, we tried three different recipes this time. We managed to score 25 pounds of peaches for 20 bucks, which we thought was pretty good; until DD found 50 pounds for 20 bucks. We also scored a bushel of tomatoes at the same time. And the cukes were finishing up, so it was pickle time again, as well as starting another batch of sauerkraut. After 8 quarts of spaghetti sauce, using a safer recipe, 8 pints of salsa, 4 pints of pickle relish, several random jars of pickles, and a 2 gallon jar of kraut it was time to look at the peaches. We did canned peaches in light syrup (6 pints), canned peaches in extra light syrup (6 Pints), canned pickled peaches (6 Pints), and peach butter (4 pints), and peach jam 12 jelly jars and 3 pint jars worth. Oh, and we ate some peaches too. Pickled Peaches 2 pounds of sugar 2 cups of white vinegar 2 T whole cloves 2 sticks of cinanananamon 4 quarts peaches...

While I do not have a glut of tomatoes, I am overfilled with peppers so what to do?  My family would never forgive me if I did not can lots of salsa!  They LOVE it.  My 17 year old even has her best friend bringing me tomatoes so I can "can" her some for when she is over there.  Seriously, this is some fantastic salsa and since there is concern over my Dried Tomatoes in Oil, I thought I would post this as well.  I have only canned two batches so far but I know this weekend the expectation is for much more! Sassy Salsa 10 cups tomatoes peeled and chopped 3/4 cup green pepper, chopped 3/4 cup banana pepper, chopped 3/4 cup onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic minced 1 tablespoon salt Mix all items in a heavy pot and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until desired thickness (about 1/2 to 1 hour).  Pour into hot, sterilized jars, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice per jar, seal.  Hot water bath can 10 minutes .Apparently this is not safe either f...

Tomatoes are a beautiful thing.  Are they veggies?  Are they fruit?  No matter they are delicious and can be used everywhere - in salad, sauce, salsa or simply sliced with fresh mozz cheese, basil and a little balsamic vinegar.  So again, we are faced with a choice, what to can for the can jam?  After much thought I settled on Dried Tomatoes in Oil, From Sensational Preserves (Hilaire Walden) 4 1/2 pounds fleshy, ripe tomatoes sea salt virgin olive oil Preheat the oven to the lowest setting.  Line the bottom of the oven with foil to protect it from drips from the tomatoes. Halve the tomatoes lengthwise and scoop out the seeds using a teaspoon.  As each tomato half is ready, place it, cut side down, on a wire rack, spacing them slightly apart. Sprinkle salt very lightly on each tomato half, then place them, cut side down, on a wire rack, spacing them slightly apart. Put the racks in the oven and prop the door very slightly ajar with a skew...

"erries" I LOVE 'em!  Any kind any way!  The sweetness with the sometimes tartness just tickles my taste buds.  So why did I wait so long to post?  Decisions!!!  They are so hard to make when you have so many recipes you want to try! So I settled on a variation of a jam.  Ok, it really was a jam but I got too impatient and it really makes a yummy syrup for ice cream, pound cake, yogurt and if you don't mind it a little runny even on biscuits so I didn't bother to re-boil it! The original recipe was from the Ball Blue Book.  I do have other canning books but seem to come back to this stand by a lot.  Here is the original recipe: Strawberry Jam 2 quarts strawberries, crushed 6 cups sugar Combine berries and sugar in a large sauce pot.  Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Cook rapidly until thick, about 40 minutes.  As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.  Poor hot into ho...

Finally, a can jam I can jam on!  Rhubarb, I LOVE rhubarb and everything I have ever tried it in or on.  This was a chance to get my creativity going.  I scoured books, magazines and web sites.  So many choices and all sound great.  I wanted something out of the ordinary - trust me, I will be canning many other items with rhubarb so it isn't like I will be missing out on old standbys like my cheater rhubarb jam (more on that later).  So I am looking around and I find something I have never heard of - RHUBARB BUTTER - now I have made apple butter, sweet potato butter, pear butter, spiced peach butter even pumpkin butter but I have never heard of rhubarb butter - this was just the thing for me. So I assemble all my equipment and get started.  The recipe follows but this was a quick easy recipe.  There is one catch - it looks like green slime but I'm telling you this stuff ROCKS!  I love it and can't wait to eat more.  It will never make...

Ok, I'm posting this, which means DD didn't like what she canned.  When we first read that it was herbs there was some confusion and consternation concerning this confounding canning conundrum (OK, I was reaching a little on the alliteration). We thought of a couple things that we make for recipes, an apple thyme jam was suggested many times and we almost went that direction. But, there was a substance that I have always craved from my childhood that DD decided to attempt to replicate. I have no idea if this is what I had as a kid, but it rocks..... Dilly Beans! Pretty cool stuff. You go and buy some beans, then you open up your Ball Blue Book 2008 to page 54 and do what it tells you. 2 lbs Green Beans 1/4 cup canning salt 21/2 cups vinegar 21/2 cups water 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 4 cloves garlic 4 heads dill Trim ends off green beans. Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil. Pack beans lengthwise into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch...

Woodman indicated he would be doing his own can jam this month but I don't see that happening!  Best laid plans and all that.  That said, I have completed my mission for the month.  I wasn't sure what to do with onions, which is the only allium I felt like canning.  A few months ago I did Tigress' Onion Tickled Pink which I highly recommend.  These are the greatest condiment ever.  But alas, they are not really a canning item.  Just a make and eat - keep in the fridge kind of thing so would not qualify for the a Can Jam entry since there is no water bath canning.  Of course you might be able to can them I will have to check into that. I wanted something sweet anyway so I searched and searched for recipes.  The Ball Blue Book's Red Onion Marmalade with 4 cups of sugar looked like it would do the trick.  So I started the process, wanting to get it in early so Tigress could get her part done before her busy work schedule.  It was the...

I am doing this post because something unfortunate has happened. DD made these carrots a week ago and they are supposed to sit for two weeks, so we tried them after one. Then tragedy struck, she doesn't like them. But, she doesn't like carrots anyway. So, I'm the one who gets to write this one up. The recipe is from The New Preserves, so we've hit two from the same book now. Sweet Pickled Carrots 1 pound carrots 1/4 cup water   3/4 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon canning salt 3/4 teaspoon mustard seed 3/4 teaspoon celery seed 6 whole cloves 1 stick cinnamon Combine water, vinegar salt and sugar in pan and bring to a boil . Boil  to a boil. In each sterilized jar add 1/4 t mustard seed, 1/4 t celery seed and 2 cloves.  Break the cinnamon stick in three pieces and put one in each jar. Divide the carrots between the jars. Add vinegar mixture leaving 1/2 inch head space, seal and process for 10 minutes. I love them, ...

t's carrot week and I will be posting on Wednesday so we can taste before I post so keep a look out!  I tried a recipe that needs to sit for two weeks, we are going to jump the gun by a week but that should at least give us an idea if it is good! Now to the task at hand - we had some cranberries I found on clearance.  Woodman LOVES cranberries so I started looking for something a little creative to do with them.  Another wait and see so I will have to post again in two months to let you know how it turned out but the jars were beautiful and we did have a little with some on some bread last night and it was pretty darn good - could use some time to mellow.  Here is the recipe: Cranberry Chutney 1 lb cranberries 1lb apples peeled, cored and cut into pieces 1oz ginger peeled and grated zest of one orange 1/2 cinnamon stick pinch of ground cloves 2 cups sugar 1 1/3 cups of cider or white wine vinegar (I used cider) Put everything into a saucepan on low unt...

Ok, my wife has stated several times that she needs to post, and there is a story she needs to post. I have decided to take the weight of this off of her shoulders and post here what happened. When we were making our marmalade for the can jam in January DD had also wanted to make wine jelly. We had a couple half bottles of red wine and she thought it would be cool to try to make this interesting sounding jelly. Boiling, and preparing and canning later she sets the jars to the side to set. The next day we are checking how the marmalade set and it's all a little loose, and the wine jelly is a thing syrup. We decide that we can reboil it all and get the set right. The next weekend is the next time we have time to mess with this. DD hands me the jars and tells me to pour them all out into one container. I fill that container pretty quick and she gives me another. Then she looks at me and wonders how I filled a two quart jug and a quart jar with 6 pints of jelly. There was a sne...

Carrots are February's can jam thingie!! At least it's not something else that will rot my teeth out. And I'm hoping for some spicy pickle with cauliflower thing. If DD doesn't do one like that I may be forced to do one myself. I'm really looking forward to about half a dozen jars filled with hot spicy vegatables.... must be too much marmalade in my system right now.

I have been so excited about the can jam that it has thrown me into a whirlwind of activity.  I have been canning up a storm lately!  While it may seem a boring choice I decided on a marmalade, I have only tried marmalade once or twice and really didn't like it.  Of course I was trying the little retangular packets you find in your local breakfast place so I reasoned, if I make my own, surely I will like it better.  Wow, the difference was amazing.  While I will always be a "berry" jam kind of gal, I can definitely say I like marmalade.  I wanted to try something different so Woodman suggested an Orange Lime Marmalade, I had tons of citrus so I tried the Orange Lime as well as a Citrus Marmalade which included Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Clementines - it was great!  Woodman liked the Orange Lime better so that is what we are posting. Orange Lime Marmalade 3 lbs oranges 3 Limes 6 cups water Peel the oranges and l...

It is another weekend and I have been very busy. Sometimes I think I need to go to work on Monday just to relax! Of course I really love this kind of work. This weekend I worked on my can jam entry. I have never done anything with citrus so this has been an adventure but I will save most of that for next week for my "official" entry. Right now I am going to talk about all the other things I have done and hopefully I can get Woodman to post some picture. I have sliced, peeled and chopped my way into a blissful coma this weekend. Yesterday I started with the marmalades. I tried two different types and am not sure which one we will use for the can jam. I had never made a marmalade so the sitting time gave me a long rest. So, did I rest? Really, you obviously don't know me yet. When I was done with the first boil and prep, I moved on to the Thai pears I talked about before - they were very yummy but I think I will use more lemon next time and maybe a little les...

Don't eat the marmalade before the sugar goes in.