Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lessons in Food Preservation!!!


So as the garden is reaping Warren's rewards...I am trying to preserve most of it as fast as I can! I have decided i do not have enough room in my freezer to freeze the garden, so I am trying my hand at canning. I already ruined my whole crop of peas :( (what I did not eat out in the yard!)

Lesson 1. Do not heat up the cannier on HIGH it will burn the peas!

Lesson 2. When making homemade strawberry jam make sure the pot is big enough, or you get a big STICKY mess!

Lesson 3. Do not try to wash,cut, and can 3 large bags of string beans after 9:00 at night....it take way to long!!! I think the next batch I will sit outside with the beans and a bowl and snap the ends off while the kids are playing, then can them at night!

Lesson 4. When making blueberry jam, a recipe that dose not call for PECTIN takes a LONG time to get to the gelling point....like 40 mins

I am sure there will be more to come!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, you are doing awesome! I'm so proud of you! I'm still scared to go to this next step, but realize I have to bite the bullet!!!! I love the lessons learned! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Kiwi, it took me along time to get up the confidence to start canning. I really did not have a choice...Warren kept bring in food! Once you try it a few times and memorize the instruction book that comes with the canner!! It really is not hard and becomes part of life!
    Come on give it a try...you always have me and Heather for support!

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  3. I wanted to share that since you're into homesteading to check out Backwoods Home Magazine & Backhome Magazine. They're AWESOME!!! We have a lifetime subscription to Backwoods Home. Backhome does only 2 years at a time. Anyways, buy the anthologies to get 'caught up'. Jackie Clay is the goddess of Canning, Gardening & veg/fruit. She has a really informative book about canning & other ways to preserve. I bought it last year when it came out & found it REALLY helpful. Tons of how to with pics, recipes & tidbits. Definitly good to have. I grew up being a part of canning & such, but seriously, knowing I could explode the canner was SCARY on my own! But Jackie was like a calm presence over my shoulder as I canned along.

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