How'd Your Pickling/Canning Go?

[HunterDave]

Other than making a few more jars of tomato sauce once the tomatoes ripen a bit more, my Wife is done for this season. Different types of jams on the left, vegies in the middle and apple sauce on the right. One jar of pickled wieners left for me.

What all did everyone make this year?

[Blastoff]

no picture handy, did 36 jars of raspberry jam, 38 blueberry jam and 16 jars of carrots. Just doing some sauerkraut right now. ready in 21 days.

[Ticdoc]

We are not in your class. Great job!! My little garden is only 20X30 feet and I am 80, so we are not that protective. My wife just did 23 jars of pickled beets and lots of apple sauce. We have not pickled like you for many years, but love various jams and jellies, plus some sauces. Porcupines killed our Nanking Cherry bushes last year and they are not coming back. Loved that jelly. But we have Cherry, Blueberry, Raspberry and others so we are not suffering. Thanks for posting this.

[Fordman]

The wife was a a lot busier than me with her canning.
13 jars of strawberry jam
19 jars of strawberry/rhubarb
12 stewed rhubarb
99 quarts of dills
23 pickled carrots
66 pickled beets
36 bread & butter pickles
30 relish
52 mustard pickles
11 canned tomatoes
and 200 lbs. of sour cabbage leaves for sour cabbage rolls.
We are definitley going to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

[waldedw]

17 quarts of dills
15 quarts of apple sauce
20 quarts beet pickles
10 jars grape jam
3 buckets of fridge pickles ( cucumber, onions, cauliflower )
2 buckets fridge pickles ( beets and onions ) knock your socks off

The kids were all home for thanksgiving so we are short more than a couple jars plus 1 full bucket of fridge pickles but that's what they are for.................... sharing

[RandyBoBandy]

Absolutely IMPRESSIVE efforts !!

[CNP]

Wife takes credit....unknown quantities but there are many many jars on the racks.

Moose
Goose
Saskatoons
Dill pickles
Sweet pickles
Rhubarb

[dfrobert]

Originally Posted by CNP

Wife takes credit....unknown quantities but there are many many jars on the racks.

Moose
Goose
Saskatoons
Dill pickles
Sweet pickles
Rhubarb

Curious about saskatoons? You make jam or something else?

[Red Bullets]

Nice to see and read about all the preserves folks are putting up. Excellent effort. Kudos to the folks that garden for proper good food.

I'm sad too because I miss having a big garden and canning. We used to put up enough jars of pickles and preserves to last until the following fall. Canned fruits and jams too. I miss canned crabapples too. And like Fordman we used to grow 50 to 80 heads of cabbage just for sour leaves and 20 gallons of sauerkraut.


Hopefully I will at least get to pickle and can some fish this winter. It's a good time to pick high bush cranberries now so if I get out to pick it'd be nice to can some cranberry soup.

[teledogs]

That is some impressive work.
We didn't do a lot but I did a batch of Green Tomato Chow Chow that turned out just as I remember as a kid. Yum! Yum!

[MyAlberta]

10 doz jars goose, duck, crane. Never planted this year.

[roughneckin]

Did some jalapeños. Can’t post pics but they taste amazing.

[omega50]

1 pint of Crabapple Jelly

[buckbrush]

Did enough canning to require another shelf be built in the cold room. Sweet pickles, dill pickles, enough pickled beets to last 5 years, relish, chokecherry syrup, relish, pickles beans. Then for canned vegetables did carrots, peas, beans, parsnips. Even canned a bunch of potatoes since I had way to manny and we only get about 9 months storage before they start to sprout.

Still have about 100lbs of tomatoes in the freezer to make into sauce but that will be next months project. Also going to try canning onions since I am already getting sick of French onion soup.

This was my first year growing dry beans. I might try canning some of them just as a test. Kidney, soldier and Jacobs cattle.

[TikkaT3-7mm]

We did a mix this year from our garden. We are expanding next year to hopefully be self sustaining on root vegetables, tomato sauce, and pickles.

33 pints of Beet Pickles
10 pints Zucchini Relish (First time with this and it is awesome)
Equivalent of 1 pint of fermented pepper mash/hot sauce...first time making this and it turned out great.
We decided to blanche, vacuum pack and freeze our carrots this year instead of pickling. It works better for meals.
200 lbs of potatoes in the garage.
Red, White and Yellow Onions hanging dried in the garage.
10 quarts of Beet Borscht

The season in NW Sask wasn’t optimum for tomatoes and cucumbers this year, the hot weather didn’t really show up. People that did well on cucumbers re-planted.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by buckbrush

Did enough canning to require another shelf be built in the cold room. Sweet pickles, dill pickles, enough pickled beets to last 5 years, relish, chokecherry syrup, relish, pickles beans. Then for canned vegetables did carrots, peas, beans, parsnips. Even canned a bunch of potatoes since I had way to manny and we only get about 9 months storage before they start to sprout.

Still have about 100lbs of tomatoes in the freezer to make into sauce but that will be next months project. Also going to try canning onions since I am already getting sick of French onion soup.

This was my first year growing dry beans. I might try canning some of them just as a test. Kidney, soldier and Jacobs cattle.

I've read that there is a risk of botulism when it comes to canning beets and tomatoes. We don't do anything special with our beets to prevent that but they are gone by Spring anyway. This was our first year making tomato sauce and I read that you have to add citric acid or lemon juice to it or you risk getting botulism. Is there anything else to worry about?

[CNP]

Originally Posted by dfrobert

Curious about saskatoons? You make jam or something else?

I knew it wasn't jam but I had to ask lol. Saskatoons in syrup is what she does.

[bat119]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I've read that there is a risk of botulism when it comes to canning beets and tomatoes. We don't do anything special with our beets to prevent that but they are gone by Spring anyway. This was our first year making tomato sauce and I read that you have to add citric acid or lemon juice to it or you risk getting botulism. Is there anything else to worry about?

Use only tomatoes that are in good condition always add lemon juice in the directions.

read more here

[buckbrush]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I've read that there is a risk of botulism when it comes to canning beets and tomatoes. We don't do anything special with our beets to prevent that but they are gone by Spring anyway. This was our first year making tomato sauce and I read that you have to add citric acid or lemon juice to it or you risk getting botulism. Is there anything else to worry about?

Sticking to an approved recipe is the safest way to go. I know if using a water bath canner For tomatoes that some recipes call for lemon juice or something to make it more acidic. I only waterbath can pickles for the most part. Everything else I pressure can. The Ball or Bernardin books are great to have. They also discuss what you can change in a recipe safely.

[pitw]

Wife is doing up the last of the crop today. She is making tomato paste for use in spaghetti sauce and such. I'm sure glad I paid attention to my father who said to be sure and build a cold room big enough for two years worth of stuff cause you'll need it. Eating your own work sure does taste better than anything from the store and the chickens get fat on the part of the crop they get which is an added benefit. Another great part of growing for ourselves is having 4 generations learning together and from each other.

[buckbrush]

One other thing I didn’t mention. Watch out for internet canning recipes. I have read a few that went completely against the rules for safe canning, yet had hundreds of reviews.

[Jim Blake]

Excellent thread!! Prompted me to do an item inventory of our bomb shelter.

We have, Huckleberry jam, Wild Blueberry jam, Strawberry jam, Choke Cherry jelly, Raspberry jelly, Sour Cherry Cordial, Huckleberry Cordial, Red and White wine, Port, Honey, Cowboy Candy, (candied Jalapeno), Beef Stock, Chicken Stock, Moose and Elk Stock.

Zuccini relish, Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Hot, Medium and Mild Salsa, Gherkins, Beet pickles, Dill pickles, Green Beans, Bread and Butter Pickles, Wild Blueberry Syrup, Sour Cherry Syrup, Yellow raspberry Jelly, Red Raspberry Jam, Sour Cherry pie filling, Peach pie filling, and Saskatoon pie filling.

Canned elk and moose meat.

All the above home processed.

Sorry for the sideways pics, not sure what happened there.

[buckbrush]

Do you guys leave the rings on your jars when storing? I’ve seen people who take them right off. We always left ours tight and never had any issues. I have started spinning mine off one turn and leaving them like that for storage.

[MyAlberta]

Originally Posted by buckbrush

Do you guys leave the rings on your jars when storing? I’ve seen people who take them right off. We always left ours tight and never had any issues. I have started spinning mine off one turn and leaving them like that for storage.

I leave them on, just for the storage.

[horsepower]

I always take the rings off after canning and wipe down the ring and jars to get rid of any oils and foods that may have purged out of the jars. This prevents the oils from going rancid and keeps the sugars from making it hard to get the rings off in the future. Rings go back on only a few turns for storage.

Just finishing off 36 pints of apple sauce. Gotta love free roadside apple trees.

Still have to put up tomatoes, salsa, deer stew, ground burger, canned chicken and chicken soup, and whatever other soup I can think of. Carrot, onion, and split pea and ham are always a favourite. Still want to find a good recipe for Borscht soup to can.

This is 150lb of yellow string beans.

[horsepower]

I obtained a large amount of sausage. What to do with it? Make soup! I combined several different recipes, tested different batches, and this was the winner with guest judges (friends and family). Make a mixture of pints and quarts. Quarts serve 2 people, while pints are perfect for one.

Recipe is per quart jar:

1 sausage coined (lightly brown sausage in pan first, then chop up)
1/4C onion
1/4C carrots
1/4C celery
1/3C great white northern beans / navy beans

1/2C diced tomato
1/2C tomato sauce
1t minced garlic

1t italian seasoning
1/2t chicken stock
1/2t coarse salt

Put above ingredients into each 1Quart jar. Add boiling water leaving 1" headspace. Use non metallic utensil to get rid of air (there will be air) and add additional water to maintain 1" headspace.

Pressure can Quarts 90 minutes (pints 75 min) at 12psi for Calgary altitude.

After cooling remove rings and wipe "boil over" material from jars, replace rings as per individual preference.

Notes:
omit beans, add cooked pasta when reheating soup for different soup.
a hot sausage will yield a spicier soup, a mild sausage a milder soup.
no italian seasoning? use 1/4t oregano, 1/8t rosemary, 1/4t basil, 1/8t thyme

Tired of elbow noodles? try orzo.

[Iron Brew]

In the past I've done tomatoes (pressure canned), loved them. My first canning experience. I put the rings on too tight. I had to buy new rings. Apparently tin snips aren't easy on the rings... And yes, that was the last resort, not the first...

I've since done bottled moose (loved it) and just did my first dills pickles this year. Came out good and crunchy, excellent flavour, buuuut... apparently I got the salt amount wrong. They are salty (getting less so as they age) but boy, even salty they are good...

[horsepower]

Originally Posted by Iron Brew

In the past I've done tomatoes (pressure canned), loved them. My first canning experience. I put the rings on too tight. I had to buy new rings. Apparently tin snips aren't easy on the rings... And yes, that was the last resort, not the first...

I've since done bottled moose (loved it) and just did my first dills pickles this year. Came out good and crunchy, excellent flavour, buuuut... apparently I got the salt amount wrong. They are salty (getting less so as they age) but boy, even salty they are good...

Canned meat is fantastic. So is canned burger. A quick and easy way to add meat to a meal. I always put a bit of onion in each jar as this help to moderate the odour of pure meat.

When I made my first batch of dills I used pickling salt instead of coarse salt. It was later I figured out that 1C of fine grain salt is more than 1C of coarse salt. Very salty! I gave them away to friend that liked to drink as they tasted better after many beers.

[southernman]

Tried making onion chutney, and green tomato chutney this fall, onion taste's great, but next time I will chop/grind the onion smaller, the tomato chutney isn't as good, as I subutured whole cloves, for powder and its a bit strong,
Who else is having troubles finding canning jars, nothing I can find anywhere, i tried to order a few dozen and was told six months.
I grew up on an orchard, bottled fruit, golden queen peaches, black Doris plums, red barlet pears, pickled onions, tomato/onion soup, being house hold staples.