Canning & Preserving Food

Kate Ellery

Kate Ellery

Well-known member
Im a keen gardener ,preserver and always enjoyed swapping hints / chatting about what we have ~ or about intend preserving

Sadly it seems I’ve lost my almost 20 year old peach tree as well as the plum .
Apricots are very light on this year ,however the apples are looking good at this stage ..planted a young dwarf pear last winter it has a couple of little pears on it

Looking forward to catching up with @John Brunner on here. to find out what he’s been preserving and of course anyone else who enjoys saving / preserving either home grown or purchased foods

I recently got 18 old size 14 Fowlers preserving jars ( rare find in a op shop ) they are only small but I’m sure I’ll use them for the likes of sliced fruit
Cost me $7.00 with lids and clips …they are old but still available in shops between $10 ~ $14 a jar …so,it was a good buy

Fowlers site $54 + $30 postage for 12 jars ..size 14

No.14 Bottle (Item 6314)
350ml capacity - takes Size 3 accessories.
Height:110mm Width:70mm
This product was deleted decades ago and due to popular demand has been re-manufactured. Ideal for bottling jams, jellies and chutneys.
 
It might be that your trees will pull out of it and come back again next year, @Kate Ellery . One year, it was so cold here for so long that we thought our fig tree was done for, and it didn’t look like it was going to come back. Other people had the same thing happen. It was later in the spring than usual, but it finally put out some new shoots and green leaves, and has been fine ever since. Hoping that your trees will come back for you next spring, too.
 
We are supposed to be in early summer now ….but it’s been very cool ..most days we are still wearing jumpers

I contacted the dept of Agriculture and they felt my trees are suffering from chemicals ,as did a garden centre .

Both trees are along that dividing fence line

I don’t use chemicals …

we suspect our next door neighbours tipped some sort of chemicals in a gravel area along our dividing fence …….where he’s got a few little of those star shaped plants growing not far away in raised garden beds

IMG_1581.jpeg
 
The peach

I figure they both still have a little green leaves left on them ….these hope they may come back 👍

They both grew well in spring …eventho it’s been very cool

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If you want to follow the advice that @yvonne gave, you can scratch the bark on the branches and see if you find green underneath. If the is green, there is hope. Like I said, I would wait to see what happens when summer comes into full bloom, or, better yet, let the trees go through what ever dormancy you have and see if the put out new leaves. It is a real shame to lose old trees, and you really can't replace them. You could ask your neighbor to pay for new trees though.
 
Don Alaska said:
If you want to follow the advice that @yvonne gave, you can scratch the bark on the branches and see if you find green underneath. If the is green, there is hope. Like I said, I would wait to see what happens when summer comes into full bloom, or, better yet, let the trees go through what ever dormancy you have and see if the put out new leaves. It is a real shame to lose old trees, and you really can't replace them. You could ask your neighbor to pay for new trees though.
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I bought a second bottle of seasol after hubs used the just under 1/2 bottle we had , he used 1/2 the bottle spraying them …..we’ve been away a week …be home tomorrow ..so it will be good to see if the peach has improved or dropped more of it leaves

The plum has some lower green leaves …only about 2 foot off the ground ….that had not fallen off when we left last Sunday ….
so here’s hoping ….and yes I’ll check what Yvonne suggested …I’ll prob get time to check in here ….tomorrow evening….
 
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Kate Ellery said:
I bought a second bottle of seasol after hubs used the just under 1/2 bottle we had , he used 1/2 the bottle spraying them …..we’ve been away a week …be home tomorrow ..so it will be good to see if the peach has improved or dropped more of it leaves

The plum has some lower green leaves …only about 2 foot off the ground ….that had not fallen off when we left last Sunday ….
so here’s hoping ….and yes I’ll check what Yvonne suggested …I’ll prob get time to check in here ….tomorrow evening….
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Plants work at a slow pace. Don't be impatient.
 
Now that I have ordered the stovetop pressure canner, I'm kind of regretting not buying the electric canner. I know there is a lot of controversy around them and they are not certified by the USDA (or whatever federal agency provides food safety guidelines.) I have been reading the pros/cons and it seems that the main issue is that the electric models may not provide a constant pressure level due to the power cycling on/off. (Food safety requires a certain temperature, a certain pressure, for a certain amount of time.).

Well. That made me wonder about people who have been canning on electric stoves for over 100 years. We all know that electric stove burners also cycle on/off to maintain the desired level of heat, so would that not mean the canner was also "cycling"? I know I'm putting too much thought into this, but those shiny electric canners are so tempting.
 
No idea, and I don't know why in the video Presto says not to use an outdoor burner. What is the difference between an indoor and outdoor burner if they are the same size? We have a monster outdoor burner that we used to use to cook dog food on, but we would never dream of using it to pressure can. It is just too hot, but one of our daughters has a glass-top electric stove that expressly says NOT to use a canner on the stove, so she cans on a fairly large propane camp stove on the deck outside her kitchen and it seems to work just fine. People have even canned on woodstoves. I, too, don't know what the issue with electric canners is, but if the pressure stays within limits, I cannot see a problem. If the pressure drops even a little below accepted values, however, as the video says, the timing must start over. Perhaps that happens with the electrics.
 
I watched a lady on YouTube for a long time , who used to be part of a huge religious group ????sect .?now involved in a church group ,
Anyway she preps and cans most of her foods ….outside on a huge gas burner

We use a gas burner in the shed as we can adjust it / far easier on the gas to control any temp drops after you’ve got it up the pressure
only issue we’ve had is with Weck jars don’t do to well for us ….they say they can be pressure canned but they blow the tops
@Beth Gallagher
 
This is what we use it’s cast iron ..it weighs a ton ..but a preserving pan , of jars with foods in them …..CAN .BE …way to heavy for an electric / glass cooktop …

This has 2 rows of burners …so if it getting up in temp ..we can turn one row off …same if it needs a boost ..turn the extra one on ….we mainly only use the middle burner of the 2 ….

IMG_1593.jpeg
 
Don Alaska said:
No idea, and I don't know why in the video Presto says not to use an outdoor burner. What is the difference between an indoor and outdoor burner if they are the same size? We have a monster outdoor burner that we used to use to cook dog food on, but we would never dream of using it to pressure can. It is just too hot, but one of our daughters has a glass-top electric stove that expressly says NOT to use a canner on the stove, so she cans on a fairly large propane camp stove on the deck outside her kitchen and it seems to work just fine. People have even canned on woodstoves. I, too, don't know what the issue with electric canners is, but if the pressure stays within limits, I cannot see a problem. If the pressure drops even a little below accepted values, however, as the video says, the timing must start over. Perhaps that happens with the electrics.
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I think the issue with outdoor burner is that there is a 14,000 (?) BTU heat limit on the newer canners. (I'm not sure on that number.) Apparently the older canners had a thicker base than the new ones. Also, the higher BTU flames can cause the canner to boil dry due to rapid boiling. As long as the outdoor burner is not a very high BTU flame it should work fine. And of course, Presto is going to take the most cautious approach to prevent people from hurting themselves.
 
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