WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[murphysranch]

Canned 7 quarts of roma tomatoes today. I sanitized and started to use a jar, and the lid and rings don't fit. Found two more that I had prepared. Eagle Mason jars. What the heck?

 

[TanksHill]

I have never hear of Eagle. Maybe it's an old brand?

I bought a bunch of jars this summer. There was two boxes of lids and flats that were tiny. About 1/4 inch smaller than standard. I have no idea what they fit.

I did 5 quarts of pears today. I should have enough for 5 or 6 more. I just need to get up and peel them.

g

 

[Lady Henevere]

A local pick-your-own farm had Roma tomatoes for 25 cents a pound, so DD, her friend, and I drove out and got two 5-gallon buckets' worth. 60 pounds of tomatoes! Other people there were buying them by the wheelbarrow full -- hundreds of pounds at a time. It was amazing to see.

So today DD and I canned a dozen pints of crushed tomatoes -- the first tomatoes I have ever done. They seem sorta liquidy, so I'm hoping I did them right! We've only gone through about half of them (not including what we've given away and eaten fresh), so we'll do more tomorrow.

As an aside, in my house the kitchen is upstairs and the backyard is downstairs. I had a bowl full of tomato "gunk" -- peels, guts, seeds, pieces cut off -- and headed outside to give it to the chickens. I have never fallen going down my stairs -- until today, when I slipped off the bottom step and landed on the floor. Holy cow! Tomato gunk went everywhere, including six feet up the walls and all over me. It was shocking to see how far and wide that stuff can splatter. It's all cleaned up now, but what a time to slip!

 

[sparks]

Gee thanks everyone. I thought I was done but now I started another list so it will be a busy week. Thanks for all the great ideas....I think

 

[urban dreamer]

I made 6 pints of strawberry/fig jelly today with figs I picked from our back yard. It's awesome!

 

[Greybear23]

Well folks I tried my hand at making pear preserves and made 3 half pints, opened one and it was so hard I could hardly get a spoon in it, like crystallized honey or something!!! Is there any way I can fix this???? I was going to give them to my dad as he gave me the pears and said he loves pear preserves but I don't think I will unless I can fix it!!!
I have a couple of gallons of jalapeos that are red and green so I am going to make up some jalapeo jellies, will try some red this time to see how it works, will probably make more cranberry jalapeo jelly also.
I have a gallon of juice that I rendered from some red plums my sister gave me and need to make up some jellies with that!!! Any suggestions on varieties I can make here??? I really like plain plum jelly but was thinking on some other mixtures to experiment with!!
Also I have another question for the experienced people here!!! My mom has several half pints of different jellies she made last year and said she made too much and wants me to take the excess, my question is, can I take these jellies and re-jell them to mix some of the flavors or ad them to some of my jalapeo jellies for variety some way or will I just mess every thing up????
As usual, thanks so much for your gracious knowledge and wonderful help her, your humble and grateful friend in s JAM!!!! Lynn in Okla.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Pepper jelly, blackberry jelly & chicken broth.

 

[sufficientforme]

Well folks I tried my hand at making pear preserves and made 3 half pints, opened one and it was so hard I could hardly get a spoon in it, like crystallized honey or something!!! Is there any way I can fix this???? I was going to give them to my dad as he gave me the pears and said he loves pear preserves but I don't think I will unless I can fix it!!!
I have a couple of gallons of jalapeos that are red and green so I am going to make up some jalapeo jellies, will try some red this time to see how it works, will probably make more cranberry jalapeo jelly also.
I have a gallon of juice that I rendered from some red plums my sister gave me and need to make up some jellies with that!!! Any suggestions on varieties I can make here??? I really like plain plum jelly but was thinking on some other mixtures to experiment with!!
Also I have another question for the experienced people here!!! My mom has several half pints of different jellies she made last year and said she made too much and wants me to take the excess, my question is, can I take these jellies and re-jell them to mix some of the flavors or ad them to some of my jalapeo jellies for variety some way or will I just mess every thing up????
As usual, thanks so much for your gracious knowledge and wonderful help her, your humble and grateful friend in s JAM!!!! Lynn in Okla.

What was your recipe for the pears? Maybe we can help you figure out what went wrong. We need more info.
I just made Old Fashioned Southern Pears (supposedly, lol I am not southern) and they are fantastic preserves but not a thick preserve to me they are more like in heavy syrup. Perfect for ice cream. I just picked some red bartletts and am going to add spices to the recipe and boil them down longer to see if I can improve on the goodness!

I added cinnamon to my plum jam and it was an excellent and tasty addition for something different with your plums also.

Personally I would not re-can what is done, I would either dump the jars, use the jellies or give them away to grateful people

JMO, Have fun!

 

[Farmfresh]

Usually when a jelly or jam gets "hard" it is referred to as being tough. It comes from over cooking or at too high a heat. Just like making candy the sugar in the jelly heats through the soft ball stage to the hard ball stage and crystallizes. The same process is used when making hard candies. As for fixing it ... that I do not know.

I would not re-batch the other preserves either. Just eat 'em as they were first made up or pass them on.

 

[Woodland Woman]

Pears all week!