Anyone Do Any Home Canning?

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Marie Mallery, Jul 16, 2021.

  1. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    I had bad luck with beans for the first time since starting gardening, this year. And peaches here are not grown here much. But I have things to can. I am sorry I have a garden every year around now. :eek: Kitchen is a mess from now on.
    May I send you some cucumbers?
     
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I used to have a garden in my suburban 1/3 acre lot. The house was built in the 1940s so the trees were well-established. I gave the thing up when the trees blocked out the sun to the point nothing would grow.

    I only had good luck with the basics: tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers. Things that had a high water content (melons, cukes) looked ripe on the outside, but when I would try to pick them, they would disintegrate in my hand because they were thin-skinned and hollow. I gave up on those early on. I've never grown beans.

    My mother canned every once in a while, but we never had a garden. She would can tomatoes, and make mustard pickle (cauliflower in a mustard sauce.)

    Oh...sure. I'll take some cukes. I love me a cucumber, onion and tomato salad.
     
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  3. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    That sounds great Mary .It feels so good to reap what you sow.
     
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  4. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    It does make you ready for fall, though! We look forward to the harvest, but welcome autumn when things slow down for winter.
     
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  5. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    We grow thru much of winter down here but summer is just too hot to grow much of anything.Our season is real early spring ,late fall and early winter to mid winter.
     
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    We moved to Alaska from south Georgia, so I know what it is like to garden in a warmer climate. Our growing season is nearing its end, and we can expect a frost in 2 weeks or so. My wife was mentioning turning the heat on in our little greenhouse if the nights get too cold. Highs now are around 60 F., but we sometimes have a frost followed by two or three weeks of wonderful "Indian Summer" weather before the snow starts. We will heat the big greenhouse with the woodstove if we get the occasional freak cold spell and expect things to warm later, but heating it for long periods of cold weather is just too much work for two old people.
     
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  7. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Ok then you know how it is here ,I hear that Alaska is very beautiful certain times of the year.
     
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  8. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I don't know where you are located, but Alaska is beautiful all year, not just at certain times. One of my favorite times is March when snow is deep and the days are long and the temperatures are "moderate".
     
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  9. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    I'm sure it is but I like warm weather but we use to like to visit the mountains now and then espeically when it snowed and ice crystals on all the tress,winter wonderland,but not so much now.
    We are from the south and now live in Flroida. We don't aclimate like we use to.
     
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  10. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    We did our first canning of the season today: 7 pints of sweet hot dill pickles and 7 pints of mustard greens with bacon and ham hocks. Things are just beginning, but it is good to finally get things harvested. We did make some nectarine jam earlier, but that doesn't count as we purchased the nectarines.
     
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  11. Krystal Shay

    Krystal Shay Very Well-Known Member
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    I use to can everything from A-Z. I also made lots of freezer corn. My pantry was always full of can goods. I think homemade can goods not only are very delicious, but look beautiful on the shelves. I don't do much canning anymore.
     
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  12. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    I agree! I haven't canned in years. I am lucky we have several canneries around the area that process locally grown produce (some organic), so it is about as good as home canning. Cans aren't as attractive for display. that is for sure. I keep my canned goods in a dark dry pantry, so it doesn't make too much difference. I think some produce tastes better canned in jars. I admire all of you of advanced years that still grow produce and can it. The process from seed to jar is a lot of work.
     
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    Last edited: Jun 30, 2022
  13. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Years ago we used to preserve fruit in alcohol--brandy or vodka---and display it on the kitchen counter. It was very pleasing to the eye as well as the palate. It was also the way early jams and preserves were made before sugar became readily available. I learned to make "plum wine" in Japan, where they took the thinnings from the plum trees and layered them in a crock or jar with sugar between the layers. Alcohol was then poured over the fruit and ages for 6 weeks or more. The sweetened alcohol was then poured off and diluted to the desired strength. It was a good way to use the fruit that would otherwise be discarded or fed to pigs.
     
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  14. Kate Ellery

    Kate Ellery Supreme Member
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    Some books I have on preserving have way to much gobbledygook in them ( I was given them) I wouldn’t have payed $40 for them.

    I can post a recipe for pickled veg mix / cucumbers or zucchini’s / carrot / capsicum/ onion mix that will keep in-the cupboard forever…I love it on a biscuit with cheese ….but hubby not so much so I don’t bother making it ,
    I don’t make it my friend makes it and gives it to me ..
    @Yvonne Smith
    Most books stress cleanliness when dealing with food for preserving or drying …but I’m sure all of us that are interested in preserving food are far cleaner in our preparation than the factory’s who do mass production .

    The area I lived in prior to meeting hubby in 1986 was / is a huge soft fruit growing area
    and it had a huge cannery and juice factory that processed the fruit , I worked seasonally in the cannery so what you see being canned turns your stomach , cans are known to explode toppling the heaps of cans stacked on pallets.
    The processing plants have closed long ago ..now we eat ( not us ) canned fruit from who knows where …not Australia
     
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    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    When you get time, I'd like to see a long-term pickle recipe for cukes and onions, Kate. I'm in no rush but should come by some in another couple of weeks (July 16, to be exact.) If nothing else, I can dehydrate them. But I really like cukes and onions together in a vinegar, and I don't can.
     
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