Click Here To Return to the Perfectly Legal Weekly Garden Thread National "Salsa" Edition September 2-8, 2023
18 posted on 08/27/2023 8:19:28 AM PDT
Posted on 09/09/2023 5:09:42 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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The obligatory link to the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and general preserving info too.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html
Nice thread! Very helpful advice and links!
I could not sleep last night so I decided to make the green tomato chutney - the yield is only 3 pints. I used jars that are square & wide so they fit in a stock pot & I canned them on the stove.
SO disappointed .... I followed the recipe exactly & it is way too ‘hot’ due to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. I had a fresh jar & the flakes are super hot, evidently. I can eat it , but could not gift it to anyone. I made an apple chutney years ago that was really good - may see if I can find another recipe to try.
The tomato relish will get canned today, if the weather holds out. Spicy ‘heat’ is an issue with this one, too. The recipe calls for 8 chopped jalapeños with 4 not seeded. The salsa I have made (same yield 6 pints) had jalapeños ... for the ‘hottest’ version, I only used 2 jalapeños unseeded. I want to gift this stuff and not all are into hot/spicy so I am wrestling with what to do.
By the time I chopped everything, cooked down the chutney mixture (45 minutes), did the canning & cleaned the kitchen, it was just after midnight - still not sleepy. Last time I saw the clock was after 2:00. If it hadn’t been sopping wet outside, I would have been tempted to put the porch light on, set up the pot stand/propane & keep going!
Click Here To Return to the Perfectly Legal Weekly Garden Thread National "Salsa" Edition September 2-8, 2023
Thank you! I also highly recommend the Ball Canning Book.
Canning can be and obsession, but it keeps us off the streets, LOL!
Thanks, Pete!
A thread with useful skills and timely subjects for these "interesting times"!
It’s a lot of work, which I don’t mind, as long as things turn out.
Raining already this morning .... grrrr.
Here’s the really wonderful news:
“After the frontal passage middle of this week, we will see beautiful, fall-like conditions for our Thursday through next weekend with lots of sunshine, lower humidity levels and cooler temperatures!”
Canning..... I put up a couple of quarts of Chili Sauce Friday using...for the most part...the measurements in the recipe at this link! (The taste substantially matches my grandmother's and mother's versions!)
https://www.canadianliving.com/food/appetizers-snacks/recipe/classic-chili-sauce
**Modifications....I substituted 1 can of Hunt stewed tomatoes for an equivalent volume of fresh tomatoes. I cooked it in a 6 qt crock pot and let it simmer for 4 hours. At 3 1/2 hours I poured off any liquid and cooked it down to reduce it by 1/2 and added 3/4 can of Hunt's tomato paste. Spices...I did not use any powdered spice or celery seed. I used cloves, coriander, ginger, bay, mustard seed, and pepper corn bundled in cheese cloth and added extra celery.
(Recollection....helping mother make chili sauce and both getting the heat from the chilies on our hands and accidentally touching our eyes. Ouch!)
Filing under: “As if we don’t have ENOUGH to worry about right now!”
Will this summer’s drought impact your pumpkins this fall?
CROSS PLAINS, WI — As it finally starts to cool down and feel more like fall in Wisconsin, many families will soon be carving jack-o-lanterns and putting out their decorations.
However, a key fall crop might look smaller than normal at some patches due to this summer’s drought.
At Enchanted Valley Acres, owner Chris Kirsch says there’s a huge amount of pumpkins that draw families in each year. People can pick pumpkins off the vine.
“I’m happy with what we have,” Kirsch said in reference to his crop this year. However, he said it took some extra efforts to water the seeds for the pumpkins early in the season when Wisconsin was going through a serious drought.
“Most of the time you can put seeds in the ground and Mother Nature does her part and takes care of them,” Kirsch said. “This year, not at all.”
When pumpkins don’t get enough water, that can impact their size and shape. That means in some places, this year’s crop might be smaller than normal.
If Kirsch didn’t make the effort to give extra water to his crop in the early months, his pumpkin patch could have looked spooky.
“If we hadn’t done that, I don’t think the seeds would have germinated,” Kirsch said. “I can definitely see it impacting other crops as well.”
This season — some other pumpkin patches may not have the same luck.
However, Kirsch says the farms who put in the extra time will be the place to pick.
“Just because one patch of pumpkins didn’t do so good doesn’t mean the others didn’t thrive,” Kirsch said. “We’ll have pumpkins this year.”
Hubby had an idea and planted 2 varieties of green beans instead of our usual standard of just one. The idea was to plant some of each type 2 weeks apart. Good idea. But - he chose a variety of bean for one type that has heavy strings AND he planted both types mixed together. When picked, I can’t tell the difference just by looking, so I have to string the whole batch. Next season our plans will be revised! 2 carefully chosen varieties planted in their own zones in succession. Gardeners learn something every summer no matter how long they have been gardening.
It sounded good in theory, LOL! I grow ‘Saychelles’ green pole bean. Found it a few years back. If I’m lazy about picking, even the larger pods are stringless.
Win/Win in my book. :)
I will make note of that variety! Thanks,
Mrs. Augie and I will head down to Lucas Oil Speedway on Wednesday for three nights of dirt track sprint car racing. I've got a few things to do to make the toy hauler ready for the trip. That will keep me semi-occupied for most of today.
I spent four fun-filled hours on the Kubota Saturday. All the grass that needs to be mowed has been mowed. The newly-planted grass is peeking out of the dirt where I worked on the pond dam fence last week.
I picked another eight-ish gallons of sweet bell peppers yesterday morning. Washed em up, cored the nice ones to make stuffed peppers and sliced the rest for later use. Mrs. Augie made a three-pounds-of-beef batch of pepper stuffing and we used it all. We ate some for supper last night. It had been quite awhile since we made those and boy were they ever good. I thawed another four pounds of ground beef overnight for round two later today. Those will go into the smoker for a half-cook, then get bagged and frozen for winter use.
We've still got half a bushel of apples to work up, and two trees remain to be picked. I might or might not get to that before we take off to the racetrack. I'm going to pick some pole beans today and make a potful to take to the track.
Picking carrots yesterday I found a plump little black swallowtail caterpillar munching carrot tops. I snapped a pic and left him to his business.
Busy as always, Augie! Nice shot of the caterpillar; I forgot they like carrot tops. ;)
This is what "scattered showers" look like.
Maybe they meant "scattered everywhere between Lake Michigan and Baja California"?
My place is located roughly where I put the little red dot in the center of the picture.
My 2nd group of 5 jars of Brown Turkey Fig Jam (from our bush) is in the canner. The batch makes 10 half-pints, but I can only process 5 at a time .... the first 5 sealed almost as soon as they came out of the pot! One batch takes 5 lbs of figs. I have another pound cut into quarters & on a cookie tray to freeze - this will make one batch of Rosemary Wine Fig Jam. The bush is still loaded, even with sharing the figs with the birds/bees/butterflies, etc. No pectin needed for this recipe, just figs, sugar, a bit of water & 1/4 cup lemon juice. I used my stick blender to make a smoother jam - the recipe did not say to do this, but I like the result.
Next up is ‘Herbed Garden Marmalade’ featuring a pound and a half of ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs (I have them in my garden: basil, oregano), clove of garlic, a few slivers of lemon peel, some lemon juice, sugar & pectin. I’ve never made it before so it will be fun to try it ... sounds good to me.
I made a quick trip to the store for jars before I got bogged down in the canning process & found some ... the Ball’s Classic Pectin was not at the first store, but I found it the 2nd place I tried ... bought two to make sure I have enough for all the recipes.
I have found an orchard where I can pick my own near some relatives about 2 hours away, so we’ll make a day of it & then I will have apples for an Apple-Maple jam I found .... with the spices that are in the jam, it will make a good Christmas gift.
“Maybe they meant ‘scattered everywhere between Lake Michigan and Baja California’”?
How DO these people keep their jobs? They’re WRONG 50% of the time!
Would you want a Doctor/Surgeon with those stats? Yikes!
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