Anyone else canning?

[Amber]

Is anyone else canning?

So far this summer I have canned strawberry jam, blackberry syrup, and tonight raspberry-blueberry jam. Tomorrow I will be making chocolate raspberry jam :yum

Once the tomatoes are ripe I will be canning tomato sauce (although I still need to find a recipe). And I am thinking of making some blueberry syrup and possibly raspberry syrup depending on how many I have left.

Then of course there is the freezing...

[swimming with sharks]

We did Blueberry jam, peach butter, peach jam, some tomatoes, and some pickles (wasn't thrilled with the taste of those). I'm going to can some sliced peaches as well. I'm thinking of going to get them today or tomorrow. :rockon Chocolate raspberry jam sounds delicious!! :yum

[The Tickle Momster]

Me! :raisehand I've done strawberry freezer jam (which didn't gel so it's yummy syrup), cherry jam, black forest cherry spread, cherry berry spread, orange plum jam and bread & butter pickles. I have about 7 pounds more pickling cucs to finish up.

We have a cherry tree that had a bumper crop this year, hence all the cherry jam. A friend let us pick her plums and I have plum pulp frozen, enough for 2 more batches of jam.

We also have about 10 pounds of blueberries frozen.

[Amber]

I made chocolate raspberry jam last night. I'm not totally sure how it turned out. When I was spooning it into jars I could see little flecks of chocolate...not sure if it is supposed to be that way or not.

Now I just need to make some bread so I can try it out :yum

[Serafine]

We canned 12 quarts of tomatoes (whole, raw packed) yesterday. I have also made about 4 quarts and 8 pints of pickles this year so far, and several half-pints of strawberry jam.

I am still hoping to make tomato paste, and to freeze our large supply of bell peppers, even though DH just informed me yesterday that he is realizing he doesn't like them...AFTER we planted about 30 plants. :doh

Ooh...and we froze several quarts of wild mulberries from our trees outside.

ETA: I don't make tomato sauce, b/c we don't ever buy tomato sauce. I always make our sauces from whole/dice tomatoes and paste.

[kklibrarian]

I've got watermelon rind for preserves in the freezer waiting to be done. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend. I really want to put up some pepper jelly. I'm waiting on the last of my peppers to come in the garden. :)

[Serafine]

mmmm...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pepper jelly. You just made me SO hungry right before bed. Shame on you.

[The Tickle Momster]

I just finished some lemon cucumber pickles.

Anyone know if it's a bad thing that I always seem to run out of liquid before all my jars are full? This time I just added some hot water. :bag I marked those jars so I'd know which ones they were.

DH would love if I did some watermelon rind pickles. Most watermelons don't have thick enough rind anymore.

[Serafine]

I have found that I run out of liquid, when I haven't packed the jars tightly enough. With my pickles, that was happening until DH showed me how to pack them tighter...thenI didn't run out anymore.

[Leen]

Yes!! I love canning. There's something really satisfying about opening up the cupboard and seeing row upon row of yummy things in pretty glass jars, things that you know where they came from and you know are not full of preservatives. :rockon

So far this summer I've done two batches of strawberry jam and one of apple butter. We're hoping to do pickles and pickled carrots in a couple of weeks, too, and I'd like to do raspberry jam as well but haven't found a good local source for a large quantity of berries.

Last summer we did tomatoes, apple sauce, apple butter, and pickles. We're pretty hooked now!

[3PeasInAPod]

so far I've only done Chutney. But this weekend I'm getting peaches, blackberries, blueberries, rasberries, and I think pickles too.
I'm going to try canning my peaches in unsweetened apple juice instead of a syrup.. and I'm going to use honey for my berry jams..I'm also tempted to try agave nectar in place of honey..but I don't know yet.
I just got the new Ball canning book & i was disappointed they didn't have more ideas without using sugar.

[Leen]

I just got the new Ball canning book & i was disappointed they didn't have more ideas without using sugar.

I know; I'm often disappointed at how much sugar is in jams. I have a low-sugar freezer jam recipe that I've been using for the strawberry jam. It still does take some sugar, pectin, and gelatin, though. It's better than the full-sugar version, I guess... :shrug

[The Tickle Momster]

I have found that I run out of liquid, when I haven't packed the jars tightly enough. With my pickles, that was happening until DH showed me how to pack them tighter...thenI didn't run out anymore.


I had that same thought. Tried packing things tighter, still ran out. :s Could I pack tighter still? Feels like I'm squishing the veggies. :s :scratch

[gerberadaisy]

I've canned some tomatoes. A few of the jars didn't process correctly so I'm making sauce from them as we speak so that they're not wasted. Where do you guys get all these fruits/berries to make all this wonderful jam? Around here everything is so expensive and I'd never be able to convince hubby that I need to make that much preseves. Some things are coming in season but to buy enough to make preserves still seems kind of expensive.

[swimming with sharks]

I and my two child laborere picked many lbs of blueberries this summer for $2/lb. When I figure out how many jars of jam we'd go through (and we buy the good stuff) all winter, I KNOW the price is SO much cheaper. I also know what I put in it.

Right now I'm getting peaches for less than $2/lb. I'm drying, canning, jamming, and buttering them. The canning, my dh takes his lunch to work to save $$. I try to put some fruit in each day. A can of delmonte canned fruit (or even half) is REALLY expensive. Home canned peaches are NOT so expensive and there's no alumnium cans to worry about. :yes

I did another 4 pts of tomatoes. My CSA is in tomato overdrive right now (I love tomatos!) but I can't use all that I'm getting so I figure I'll save some for this winter!:heart

[3PeasInAPod]

are you getting your fruit from a local farm? Those are great prices!

[Amber]

We grow a lot of our own berries. Well, right now we are just starting our berry patch since we moved here last winter. The strawberries and blueberries we got from U-Pick farms this year, the blackberries were wild and the raspberries were from my MIL's berry patch...so I only had to pay for half my berries. Oh, and MIL gave me all her "left over" frozen berries from last year because she needed to make room for this year's crop. So I'm making stuff out of those too.

[gerberadaisy]

I and my two child laborere picked many lbs of blueberries this summer for $2/lb. When I figure out how many jars of jam we'd go through (and we buy the good stuff) all winter, I KNOW the price is SO much cheaper. I also know what I put in it.

Right now I'm getting peaches for less than $2/lb. I'm drying, canning, jamming, and buttering them. The canning, my dh takes his lunch to work to save $$. I try to put some fruit in each day. A can of delmonte canned fruit (or even half) is REALLY expensive. Home canned peaches are NOT so expensive and there's no alumnium cans to worry about. :yes

I did another 4 pts of tomatoes. My CSA is in tomato overdrive right now (I love tomatos!) but I can't use all that I'm getting so I figure I'll save some for this winter!:heart

what's a csa?

[swimming with sharks]

The blueberries came from a upick farm. The peaches come from the farmer's market, but the wholesale section, so I can buy 23 lbs for $18 :)

A CSA is community supported agriculture. So a farmer sells shares of the food they hope to grow for the coming seasons in the spring. You pay the money and then you get a 'cut' of the produce grown. I LOVE it.

[3PeasInAPod]

I just saw a truck off the side of the road yesterday selling peaches.. 23lbs for $13.95, I didn't have cash on me or I would've stopped..I'm going to go back & hope he's still there!

[Vipers_Princess]

Me. It's my first year but so far the reviews are good. I'm still trying to find a u-pick near me, as both of the ones I've known of for years are closed for good now :( So I'm having to get my berries from Walmart or Kroger depending on sale ads.

[cro]

Where do you guys get all these fruits/berries to make all this wonderful jam?
We have some great pick-your-own farms around here. Great prices, and a fun activity for the kids. This year we picked strawberries, blueberries ($1.50/lb), blackberries ($1.85/lb), and peaches ($.60/lb). We've already made strawberry jam and 2 batches of blackberry jam. The blueberries are usually eaten before we get home! :giggle This weekend we'll do peach jam and grape jelly. And if we can pick pears from my neighbor's tree, I'll try to make pear butter or something.

I calculated the costs today, and if I have to buy the jars and everything, the most it costs me to make jam is about $1.60/jar, which is definitely less than what I pay for store-brand preserves.