Canning Discussion: was Fresh Dill

[streaker69]

A coffee filter will also work in a pinch.
Put spices in, fold, and staple shut.

I thought about that, except I wouldn't use staples. Not knowing what they're made of, that could be bad, especially if they have zinc or something on them.

Best to use kitchen twine to tie the filter up.

[forceinPA]

I gots the DILL, you dillhead. hit me up.

[streaker69]

I gots the DILL, you dillhead. hit me up.

Thanks, but I just finished the entire batch.

28lbs produced 26 quarts of pickles.

[streaker69]

I just finished canning a bushel of tomatoes into 23 quarts of juice. I have one of the big KitchenAid stand mixers and I ordered the juicer attachment this year to try and process things a little faster as before I was using a hand cranked mill.

The juicer if anyone else is interested in getting one is really cool except for one minor design flaw. The waste comes out the center of the mill and is supposed to fall into a bowl you'd have sitting there. Problem is, if you're processing a lot of stuff, you need a big bowl to catch the juice, and a smaller bowl to catch the waste. With the design of it, you cannot get a waste bowl there with out waste falling into your juice.

A quick trip to Lowes on the way home tonight and I picked up 1' of 5/8 clear tubing. Cut it in half and stuck it on to the end of the mill, worked perfectly although it slowed down the process slightly as I had to use the plunger more to push the tomatoes into the grinding screw.

The juicer itself definitely sped up the time over a hand mill and I got a lot more juice out of the tomatoes that I would have.

If anyone is interested in processing tomatoes, it's pretty easy.

Core the tomatoes and put them in a big stock pot, and I mean a big one. Put about a quart of water in the pan, and place the pan on a trivet over the burner. Turn on medium heat and allow them to simmer until they're all cooked down and nice and soft.

Run them through the mill to juice them, catching the juice in another large stock pot. Once completed put the pot back on the stove on top of a trivet and heat the juice up to a slow boil. Clean all your jars and heat up the lids. Inside each jar put in 1 teaspoon of canning salt and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Fill each jar with the boiling juice, clean each rim, affix the two piece lid and set aside to seal.

I use this tomato juice as a base for making tomato sauce for various things. Tomorrow I'll be processing another bushel of tomatoes into paste to use as a base for canning Barbeque sauce.

[trex88]

I've only recently started to try out canning things, it seems like you do quite a bit of it! Just out of curiosity what all do you can? I got into it because I had a jar of hot banana peppers stuffed with sauerkraut that was absolutely amazing and I had to try to recreate it.

[streaker69]

I've only recently started to try out canning things, it seems like you do quite a bit of it! Just out of curiosity what all do you can? I got into it because I had a jar of hot banana peppers stuffed with sauerkraut that was absolutely amazing and I had to try to recreate it.

So far I've done tomato juice and green beans three years in a row. I've done ketchup two years and a sweet Chili Sauce and Sweet Onion relish one year. I've done pickles two years, but last year's pickles didn't really turn out right, I think it was the store bought seasoning that I used. This year I followed an older recipe and I think these are gonna be better.

If I can find a good source of pears and peaches I'm gonna do them too, but so far it's been tough finding them in quantities cheap enough to make it worth to can.

This year I'm gonna do barbecue sauce, which I've never done before, but I'm gonna follow my grandmother's recipe with a slight modification to it.

It's fun to do it, but it is a lot of work, it takes a certain amount of dedication to do it.

[trex88]

So far I've done tomato juice and green beans three years in a row. I've done ketchup two years and a sweet Chili Sauce and Sweet Onion relish one year. I've done pickles two years, but last year's pickles didn't really turn out right, I think it was the store bought seasoning that I used. This year I followed an older recipe and I think these are gonna be better.

If I can find a good source of pears and peaches I'm gonna do them too, but so far it's been tough finding them in quantities cheap enough to make it worth to can.

This year I'm gonna do barbecue sauce, which I've never done before, but I'm gonna follow my grandmother's recipe with a slight modification to it.

It's fun to do it, but it is a lot of work, it takes a certain amount of dedication to do it.

Wow, sounds like a good variety. Sweet onion relish sounds delicious right now. I agree it is a good bit of work from the little that I've done so far. I've been starting to get into growing a small garden the past few years, my outlook is why pay someone if I can grow what I need cheaper. That's the main reason I've been wanting to get into canning more and more, to save what I don't eat right away. I never really thought about barbecue sauces. I need a less expensive hobby to take up my time anyway, the Jeeps are just too expensive anymore and there's extremely limited places to go these days.

[streaker69]

Wow, sounds like a good variety. Sweet onion relish sounds delicious right now. I agree it is a good bit of work from the little that I've done so far. I've been starting to get into growing a small garden the past few years, my outlook is why pay someone if I can grow what I need cheaper. That's the main reason I've been wanting to get into canning more and more, to save what I don't eat right away. I never really thought about barbecue sauces. I need a less expensive hobby to take up my time anyway, the Jeeps are just too expensive anymore and there's extremely limited places to go these days.

The reason why I'm doing barbecue sauce is that I started reading through the ingredients of the store bought ones and all the big name brands the #1 or #2 is High Fructose Corn Syrup. You can get organic ones that don't have that crap, but they're expensive for small amounts.

I can probably can about a dozen pints of sauce for less than I can buy the same amount of organic at the grocery store. Considering 1/2 bushel of tomatoes is $8. Again, a lot of work to make it, but at least I know exactly what's going into the sauce, and it'll be made to exactly what I like.

[acosenza2]

Streaker, are there any books on canning and/or recipes on canning that you recommend. I have been talking to my wife lately about canning and she likes the idea so I figured I would give it a shot. The problem is that I have never done it before, although I know the basic principle of it, and have no recipes for things like ketchup and barbecue sauce (my wife and I don't like the high fructose stuff either and will spring for the organic stuff when we can but if I can make it I would rather do that).

Thanks for any advice.

[God's Country]

Go to wal-mart and pick up a copy of the ball blue book. That and a little net research is all you really need other than rolling up your sleeves and just doing it. It’s pretty straight forward.