I don't know what has gotten into my mother and me, but we have been canning for 2 weeks now. So far, we have done pickles, jelly, and salsa. Next week is spaghetti sauce, but for now I thought I would share our endeavors from the past 2 weeks!
Pickles
We purchased our pickling cucumbers in bulk, this year we thought we would start small and got 1/2 bushel. It ended up making about 22 quart sized jars. It probably would have been more like 20 had I packed the first set correctly. We tried a variety of different additions into the jars, trying to see which ones we like for next year. The varieties are listed below:
dill (they all got dill)
garlic
Hungarian garlic (purchased from the farmers market, the man said it was stronger)
shallots
vidalia onions
And then about 3/4 of the way through we realized we forgot the alum, so one batch got alum added, which is supposed to keep the pickles crisp.
After packing the pickles into the sterilized jars, we added a combination of 8 cups white vinegar, 8 cups water, and 1/2 cup pickling salt, (boiled for 5 mins). Once each jar was fill, we wiped off each glass rim and sealed each jar in a hot canning bath for 10. I will let you know which combo we liked the best. They need to sit for 6-8 weeks. If you work with me, you will probably see me eating the crap out o pickles in a few weeks!
Jelly
So I got inspired from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) to make jelly from scratch. I wanted to do it with the least amount of ingredients I could, and try it without using pectin like she did. She didn't can hers though, and I didn't think about the fact that I am not her!! Not sure what I will do next time, but it did turn out good! I used 1/2 pint jars and only got about 10 jars from this. It was a ton of work for little reward!
8 quart containers of strawberries, hulled (large ones halved)
2 quarts blackberries, rinsed
8 cups sugar (divided into both batches)
Juice of 10 lemons (divided into both batches)
I made two different kinds, strawberry and then strawberry/blackberry. I had about 5 quarts of fruit in each batch, and halved the sugar. Mix the sugar with the fruit and set out for a few hours to overnight, allowing the sugar to dissolve in the fruit. This will bring out the flavors. Once this is complete, add lemon juice and bring to boil. You will need to skim the mixture and stir often, and I can't stress this enough, just cook the crap out of it! You will know when it is done when you take a cold plate, place a drop of jelly on it and let it cool, then run your finger through it. Really the easiest way to tell was that it cooked about 1/2 way down. If you use pectin or even gelatin, I heard it takes minutes rather than hours like mine did. I also watched Bobby Flay recently make jelly and he boiled it a lot higher than I did, which would have cut my time. Anywho, the result still tastes really good, and next year I will try something different. I also just hot packed these, which means I didn't water bath them, I just put them in hot jars, turned them upside down for a few seconds, then let them sit. The heat seals the jars without the water bath.
Salsa
This recipe made about 14 quart jars. I got this recipe from Jennifer Altwegg, tweaked a little bit. I HATE cilantro, but it could be added if you would like.
20 lbs tomatoes, skins removed (boil for a few seconds and put in cold water)
6 green peppers, diced
6 onions, diced
5-6 jalapeno peppers, diced
1 bulb of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
3 small cans of tomato paste
garlic salt (to taste)
I put the tomatoes and peppers in a food processor and pulsed until desired consistency. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat . We cooked it until some of the liquid cooked down, probably about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If you don't mind it runnier than less cooking time. We canned this in a hot bath for 15 mins. It is good! Tastes like Carlos O'Kelly's salsa!!! Yummy!!!!
