Keeper of the Home » Preserving Food

Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Recipes and Tutorials to Keep You Busy Until Thanksgiving

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:00:32 +0000

Preserving season is in full swing! I've taken a brief break from it myself the past couple of weeks, after a busy bout of preserving in July. Now it's time to jump back in with both feet, as I get set to tackle pears, peaches, tomatoes, pickles, herbs, apples and probably more.

Wanting to provide you with a very extensive resource for all your real food, summer preserving, I scoured the web so that you don't have to. These recipes are made with whole foods, natural/wholesome sweeteners, and give you a wide variety of different ways to put up local and seasonal foods to feed your family throughout the rest of the year.

With that, I give you...

The Real Food Preserve-Till-You-Drop Resource Roundup:

Image by goodncrazy

Canning

Canning 101- The Basics

Canning 101

Canning Basics for Preserving Summer Produce

Tomato Canning Tutorial

Canning Pears

Homemade Salsa Tutorial

Sweet Cherries for Winter Days

In the Pits: Canning Stone Fruits

Garlic-Dill Pickles

Canning Peaches

How to Make Sweet Pickle Relish

Awesome Easy Tomato Soup

Canning Tomato Juice and Tomato Sauce

How to Make and Can Applesauce

Canning Peaches

Image by vieuxbandit

Dehydrating

Dehydrating Tomatoes

Drying and Grinding Herbs

Dehydrating Blueberries

Drying and Freezing Fruit

How to Dehydrate Vegetables

Homemade Fruit Leather

Image by epSos.de

Freezing

Freezing Raspberries and Strawberries

Blanching and Freezing Vegetables

Freezing Blueberries

Freezing Spinach

Freezing Garlic

Go Bananas Preserving (freezing bananas)

Freezing Broccoli

How to Freeze Sweet Corn

Preserving Produce by Freezing

Freezing Peaches

Putting Up (Freezing) Green Beans for the Winter

Putting Up Corn for the Winter

Image by llsimon53

Jams, Jellies, Syrups and Butters

How to Make Homemade Jam in 30 Minutes (With No Special Equipment)

"Raw" Berry Freezer Jam (Honey Sweetened)

Fruit Butter (Recipe- Rhubarb Pear Butter)

Freezer Jam (Recipe- Nectarine-Raspberry Freezer Jam)

How to Make Your Own Blueberry Syrup

Chunky Spiced Pear Jam

Raw Naturally Sweetened Berry Freezer Jam

Peach Pit Jelly

Rhubarb Rose Jam

Image by dnfisher

Lacto-Fermentation and Other Traditional Methods

Pickles- Dill and Bread & Butter

Lacto-Fermentation: An Easier, Healthier and More Sustainable Way to Preserve

Preserve the Bounty (blog carnival of traditional preservation methods- still happening!)- Week 2 (Fermentation), Week 3 (Vinegar Preservation)

Lacto-Fermented Dilly Carrot Sticks

Cultured Salsa

Dill Sun Pickles

Other References:

Heavenly Homemaker's Guide to Gardening and Preserving-- A wonderful, affordable ebook ($7.95) to get you started, full of helpful photo tutorials.

Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation-- I am LOVING this book this year!

Putting Food By -- An excellent, basic guide to canning safety, times, headroom, acidity, etc. I reference this multiple times every year for all the important details that I forget, like how long I need to process a quart of peaches, or a pint of diced tomatoes

Putting It Up With Honey: A Natural Foods Canning and Preserving Cookbook-- Perfect for those who prefer to use honey as a natural sweetener.

Do you have any more real food preserving recipes or tutorials for me to add? What do you usually preserve each summer?

Top image by thebittenword

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Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Tomato Canning Tutorial

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:00:24 +0000

I know that canning is a daunting process to many. It was for me, too, until my sweet friend Jen took one summer day about 5 years ago to teach how to do it myself.

Once you see how someone else does it, the whole process begins to be demystified. My goal in showing you this tutorial is to remove the "I can't do this" element of canning, and show you just how simple and do-able the process really is!

How to Can Diced Tomatoes Using the Boiling-Water Bath Method

Canning day begins. I don't remember exactly, but I think I began with around 50-60 lbs of tomatoes (a mixture of my own garden toms, as well as some from the produce market). Notice the cleanliness of the kitchen and its surroundings. :)

Here's what you'll need:

Tomatoes. It takes about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs to fill a quart jar, so either figure out how many lbs you have and plan your jars accordingly, or decide how many jars you'd like to make, and buy that many lbs of tomatoes.
Mason jars
Canning dome lids. These are the flat lids that usually come in boxes of 12. Any brand will do, so long as you have the right size (wide mouth, regular, etc.). ALWAYS use new lids, never re-use old ones.
Screw bands for each jar.
Lemon juice
Sea salt
Canning funnel (not absolutely necessary, but it makes it easier)
Jar lifter (these ARE necessary, for safety reasons)
Cookie sheet
Kitchen towels and washcloths
Canning pot, as well as a smaller pot
Several mid-size bowls, a strainer, and a slotted spoon

Getting Started

The first thing to do once your space is all clean and ready to go is to prepare the pots that you will use. It takes a long time for a huge canning pot full of water to begin boiling, so you want to get on that right away.

The pot on the right is the one that I use for the actual canning. The small one on the left I use for peeling the tomatoes.

I fill my canning pot most of the way full to start off with, because the water level will go down as it boils away, and you can always take some out, but if you don't start with enough water, it takes a while to add more and get it back up to boiling.

Peeling the Tomatoes

Once I get the small pot of water boiling, it's time to begin. At the same time, I will prepare a sink full of cold water and add a tray of ice cubes to keep it cool.

I fill it up with just enough tomatoes so that they are all completely covered (or at least, very close). I use an oven timer and set it to 30 seconds as soon as they go in. Occasionally a tomato will need closer to 45 seconds, but they usually end up getting close to that by the time I hear the beep and take them out anyways.

Some people like to make an "x" slit in the skin of the tomato before boiling it, to make the skin come off easier. I don't bother and find that the skins still come off fine. It's your call.

As soon as I've pulled the tomatoes out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon, I put them into my strainer and put the whole thing straight into my sink of cold water.

This stops the cooking process and makes them cool enough so that you can now handle them, remove the skin and cut them up easily, without a cooked, mushy mess on your hands!

A tomato with it's peel just starting to come off. I often start it with a small slice of my paring knife, though sometimes the skin splits on its own and slicing it isn't necessary.

A tomato that has been peeled. Still nice and firm and intact, easy for dicing.

Preparing the Tomatoes

Here's my canning setup:

Large pot on the left, for collecting the diced tomatoes that are ready to go on the stove.
Bowl for the compost-- to hold peels, or any parts of the tomato that need to be discarded.
I think the third bowl (I took these pictures last summer!) also held peeled tomatoes, ready to be diced.
This bowl is definitely full of peeled, cooled-off tomatoes.

I grab from the bowl on the right, diced up the tomato on the cutting board, discard any peels or un-usable parts, then push the diced pieces into the large pot.

It's important to note here that you will be able to move the most quickly by grouping together like actions. By this I mean that you should peel a whole bunch of tomatoes at once, then diced a whole bunch at once. Then go back and boil/cool off more tomatoes, peel them all in a group, then diced them all in a group, etc.

Once you get into the rhythm of a particular action, it goes much more quickly if you focus on that one action and process the tomatoes in batches. I find that after a half hour or hour, I really get into the swing of it and begin to move smoothly from station to station in my kitchen, and then the work really begins to go more quickly. I also happen to find that once I get into my groove, it's quite a soothing, peaceful process... (Am I strange? Do others find this as well?)

...except when I have a 4 week old colicky newborn, fussing in a sling. Ryan caught one picture of me where you can obviously see that I'm saying "shhh, shhh". That was my canning mantra last summer, "Shhh, sweet baby. Go to sleep, Johanna. No more crying. Shhhh..." :)

I realize that I missed a photo, and that is of my huge vat of diced tomatoes simmering on the stove. Once I get the pot a good 3/4 of the way full, I stick it on the back burner, on low-med heat, and continue on with my peeling and dicing while I occasionally stir and let the tomatoes get good and hot.

Get Your Jars and Lids Ready

Meanwhile, turn the oven on low (maybe 200-250), get out a cookie sheet, and put your clean, empty jars on the sheet. I like to pop mine into the oven for about 5-10 minutes before I fill them up with tomatoes, so that they are nice and warm before going into the Boiling-Water Bath.

This helps to prevent them from cracking once they're in there, which is a frustrating waste, not to mention a mess. Heed my advice, ladies. Pre-warm your jars, even though you're cooking your tomatoes first. It's worth it.

While you're doing this, get out a small saucepan or pot, and bring a couple inches of water to a low boil. Take the canning lids that you are planning to use (the flat dome lids) and put as many as you need for your first batch of jars in the hot water. Leave them for 5 minutes, then you can either let them stay there or take them out and put them on a clean towel. Those little magnetic canning wands are handy for this job, but I make do without one.

Fill Up the Jars

Take your cookie sheet out of the oven when you're ready to fill the jars up. Using a canning funnel, fill each jar up until it is almost full.

Remember to leave headroom (this is the space at the top, between the rim of the jar and how high the tomatoes come up). A 1/2 inch of headroom should be sufficient.

To each of the jars add:

Lemon juice- 1 Tbsp for pints, 2 Tbsp for quarts
Sea salt- 1/2 tsp for prints, 1 tsp for quarts

Once everything is in the jars, give the rims a wipe with a clean, wet cloth. Now take your sterilized dome lids and place them on top of the jars. Then put on the screw caps (rings) tightly and seal those babies up.

The jars are ready to go into the boiling water bath!

Set them carefully in the wire holder, while it is perched up on the edges of the pot. This helps to keep you from getting burned by plopping them in and having water splash up, and also allows the jars to acclimatize to the water temperature more gradually.

Once full, slowly and carefully lower the jars completely into the pot, until they are fully submerged. You want to have a good couple of inches covering the tops of the lids, as this is what creates the pressure that will properly seal them and preserve the food. If there's not enough water, they probably won't seal properly.

Process the jars (keep them in the water) for:

Pint jars- 35 minutes
Quart jars- 45 minutes

Remove the Jars and Check the Seals

After this time, carefully lift the wire jar holder up out of the water, and rest it on the edge of the pot. Use canning tongs to grab each jar and lift it out of the water, then place it down onto the folded towels on the counter.

I put mine on top of double/triple towels on the counter. These jars are HOT! They can easily ruin a counter or leave heat marks on a nice table (not to mentioning burning a perfectly lovely person, such as yourself). Be careful with them.

Now listen for the "POP!". This is how you know they've sealed. You will likely hear it at some point within 30 minutes of pulling them out of the water.

You can also check after a while by gently pushing down. If the lid moves up and down or you can feel a bit of give in it, it's not sealed. You'll want to take the lids off, rewipe the jar rim to make sure it's clean and then put the lid back on tightly and re-process in the boiling water bath.

I leave mine sitting out overnight, to cool off completely. The next morning I double check all of the seals, and if they're good, I remove the rings. If I find some that aren't quite sealed, I decide whether to just use them quickly (if it's only a couple jars- I can make a freezer meal or some spaghetti sauce for the freezer).

If there are more than 3-4 jars not sealed, then I'll fill my big pot back up and boil them all over again. A pain, yes, but worth it. Always be on the safe side with your canning. Never take a chance. The risks are simply NOT worth it. Ever. This is your family's health and safety. No inconvenience or even loss of food is worth compromising safety for.

You're Done!

Sadly, I did all that work and forgot to take a picture of my 38 completed jars of tomatoes! They were beautiful, though, I tell ya. Tasty, too. And worth every bit of the effort, and mess.

Oh yes... last step. Clean your kitchen. Sigh a few times, and maybe grumble under your breath about why you're doing this. Look at the clock at realize it's 10:57pm and you should be in bed. Then get yourself a small bowl of ice cream, and sit and admire your hard work. :)

Have you tried your hand at canning tomatoes?

Technical information is taken from Putting Food By, a very thorough resource for those who do canning of any kind. It has information on headroom, additives like salt or sugar, boiling time, altitude adjustments, overall safety and more. I still reference it multiple times each summer!

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Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Freezing Raspberries and Strawberries

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:00:46 +0000

Though I've already shared how I go about freezing blueberries, my method for freezing raspberries and strawberries is somewhat different, because they can tend to be juicier fruits that stick together in the bag once frozen.

It's no fun to be banging a bag of frozen, stuck-together berries on the counter in frustration each morning (been there, done that). I've learned to do freeze my raspberries in a way that isn't too tedious, but keeps them frustration-free for easy use!

I wash my raspberries off using my double sink and two strainers, just as I showed in my blueberry tutorial.

Here's where the difference begins... once the raspberries have drained in the sink for a moment or two, I begin to spread them out on parchment-paper covered cookies sheets and various sized baking trays.

I use whatever trays and containers I have available, because I want to be able to freeze as many as possible at one time. The parchment paper (or you could use wax paper as well) isn't 100% necessary, but it really does help to make it easier to get the berries off of the trays.

Green tip: Remember to use as little paper as you can get away with, and keep reusing it over and over again until you can't use it anymore!

I try to keep them only one layer of raspberries deep. Sometimes a few end up on top of the others which is fine, but if I start double layering the whole thing, I begin to run into clumping difficulties.

Once these trays are full of washed berries, I take them all to my deep freeze. I basically cram them into every nook and cranny (putting some on top of each other, depending on the type of tray/container they're in, if they won't squish each other).

I leave them in my freezer for about 1-3 hours, just until they are starting to freeze but are not fully frozen and can still be easily taken off of the paper/trays and the individual raspberries can easily separate from one another.

At this point, I break everything up and dump it into my large Ziploc freezer bags. Each bag will take about 4 lbs or so, on average.

Then I put my full bags down in the deep freeze and I usually just forget about them and consider them done. If I happen to go down to the freeze later that day, I will take them out and give them a light "drop" on the floor to ensure that the berries stay separate. Even if I don't remember to do that, usually a quick drop on the counter when I start using that bag will break them apart enough because of the pre-freezing.

Yes, it's slightly more work, but this means that we can easily grab as many or as few berries as we need at any given time. For smoothie addicts like us, this just makes life a whole lot sweeter and easier!

What method do you use for freezing your raspberries and strawberries?

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Go Bananas Preserving!

Sherrie Cook — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:00:28 +0000

Written by Sherrie Cook, Contributing Writer

Imagine with me for a moment: a crisp night, crackling fire, blankets, loved ones all around enjoying hot beverages and warm, fresh out of the oven, banana bread. Are you drooling yet? I was too until I looked at the thermometer and remembered it was over 100°F outside! I know it's Summer right now and many places are sweltering and hot fires are the last thing you would want in your den, but...isn't that one reason why we preserve all summer long? The garden's bounty is amazing right now and we know that come Fall and Winter we will thank ourselves for the time we've spent harvesting and canning while the produce is fresh.

Bananas are no different. Even though most of us can't grow them ourselves, it still makes sense to store them for use all year long. For example, I make banana-chip muffins for my family year round. They are a favorite breakfast treat here and since I make them with freshly milled Ezekiel 4:9 flour, I feel even better about what I'm serving my family. (I've included the recipe at the bottom.) When I first began making these delicious muffins, I always had to wait for my bananas to get really ripe squishy and brown and speckled on the outside. This waiting process was agonizing to my children - and you know what they say about a watched pot - "Mama, are they brown enough yet?"

It was quickly clear to me that we needed some of these monkey treats on hand! I'm a quick study - especially when impatient children are involved - and I learned to buy more bananas than what my family would eat in a week's time. As we consumed one bunch, the second bunch would turn a lovely brown and I could freeze them to start to build my stash. I was pleased with my new plan until the first time I went to the freezer to get bananas for our muffins. I was torn between peeling the bananas immediately and freezing my fingers or letting them thaw first and then making a huge peeling mess with mushy bananas. My decision? Peel the bananas first, then freeze them!

Freezing Bananas

Some people call this method "flash freezing", while others are concerned that the term sends the wrong message and really refers to chemicals, etc. (Do a Google search, you'll see what a heated topic it really is, whew!) So, I've affectionately named the act of peeling bananas and putting them on a cookie sheet to freeze them and then transferring them to a more suitable storage container for long-term storage in the freezer - "cookie sheet freezing". (I know, real original, right? But it gives you a good visual.)

The bananas shown above have been peeled and laid separately on the cookie sheet. They are ready to go into the freezer. (I assure you the cookie sheet is clean. Interesting things happen to your bakeware when you're teaching four little ones to cook!) Sometimes I will lay a piece of wax paper over the cookie sheet before laying the bananas on it. This makes for a really easy transfer into the final storage container, but often times I feel a bit wasteful just throwing the paper away so I will skip that step.

Freezing times will vary depending on how much fruit you're freezing at once, but I usually set a timer in 20 minute increments so I won't forget about my bananas and ruin them. Once they are frozen, you can move them into your favorite freezer storage containers and label them appropriately.

What to do with the peels

You may know that roses love, love, love banana peels! They make a great fertilizer for rose bushes. Since it's Summer and I have rose bushes in need of some love, I make a puree' out of my banana peels. I simply put the peels - minus the hard stem at the top - into my blender and add some water. (Three banana peels need about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water.)

I run the blender until I have liquid peels and then take the results out to my garden for my roses. (After pouring the puree' at the base of the roses, it is usually best to water it in to avoid attracting bugs.)

Banana-Chip Muffins

Ingredients

2 1/2 Cups flour 1/2 Cup honey

1 tsp salt 1/4 Cup ground flax seed

1 tsp baking soda 1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp baking powder 1 Cup buttermilk

1 tsp cinnamon 1 egg

1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp vanilla

1/2 Cup safflower oil 2 - 3 mashed bananas

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan.
Measure & toss dry ingredients in large bowl.
Whisk together egg, remaining liquids & bananas in a medium bowl.
Pour liquids into dry ingredients & mix just until well blended.
Use an ice cream scoop to put batter into muffin cups.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Yields 18 to 24 muffins.

Do you freeze your ripe bananas? What method do you use (and what yummy things do you make with them)?

Sherrie is a wife, mother, peer counselor, speaker and author. She enjoys helping fellow moms in their quest for a simple, God-centered home for their natural living families. She notes her (hopefully) helpful hints at The Proverbial Woman.

Top photo courtesy of jannamo.

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What to Do With All Those Summer Berries!

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:00:25 +0000

That is my challenge right now, and perhaps it's yours, too!

Yesterday we went to a berry u-pick farm, where we picked about 20 lbs of raspberries and bought another 10 lb flat. On our way out of the farm, we noticed a sign at the farm across the street, "$1 Jam Strawberries".

I've never been one to turn down a good deal. You better believe I drove straight up that driveway to find out what these jam strawberries were all about. A day or two old and just a teensy bit mushed up, they were a great price and just perfect for making jam or freezing for smoothies. I bought 30 lbs.

Then the fun began...

Have you ever tried to process 60 lbs of very ripe, red berries with a 5 year old, 3 year old and 11 mth old clamoring for your attention? Not to mention a hungry husband in need of help with a project, and 13 and 9 year old homestay students who suddenly decided that this was the day to ask you to do ALL their laundry? I laugh now, because I'm almost done. Almost. :)

So far I have:

Washed and frozen about 12-14 (I've lost track) large Ziploc bags of both raspberries and strawberries. My method is similar to my blueberry freezing method, except that I pre-freeze on baking trays first. A photo tutorial is in the works and coming soon!
Made 12 jars of Raw Strawberry Freezer Jam (I made a hybrid of these two very similar recipes from Passionate Homemaking and The Nourishing Gourmet). Very simple and tasty!
Served pancakes with strawberry sauce for breakfast and used the leftover sauce to come up with delicious Creamy Strawberry and Coconut honey-sweetened popsicles to make my dairy-free boy happy-- yes, recipe is coming!

The last batch of raspberries are in the process of being frozen right now... phew! Summer preserving can be a tremendous amount of work, but I try to keep it in perspective. It's really such a short season of hard work, with dividends that keep on paying back for the rest of the year in cost-effective, nutritious and delicious foods always ready when I need them.

I'll take a break for a few days this weekend so that I can gear up to get started on blueberries next week! And maybe more raspberries... and cherries...and the garlic needs to be picked, and then the green beans will be ready. My prayer this summer is "Thank you, God, for your bountiful provision. And please... give me patience and energy and a really good sense of humor!"

What kinds of preserving have you been up to so far this summer? What else do you have planned?

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Homemade Beef Tallow: A Simple and Convenient Way to Store It

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:39:06 +0000

Last year, I was delighted to learn how to render my own beef tallow from all the bones/fatty pieces that came with our side of grass-fed beef.

Just the other week, I picked up a new side of beef and was more eager than ever to whip up some nourishing bone broth, and in particular, to have some beef tallow again for cooking. We have just fallen in love with using this old-fashioned, wholesome fat for making homemade french fries, deep-fried zucchini sticks, and most recently, butternut squash fries. Mmmm!

I wanted to store the tallow in the freezer, the best place for long-term storage as it will eventually go bad in the fridge. I also wanted it to be very accessible and convenient to use in various recipes, in varying amounts.

Here's what I did:

1. Took all the tallow off the top of my vat of cooled-off beef broth (I let the entire, huge pot sit in my fridge overnight).

2. Put the cooled, hardened tallow into a pot to gently melt it down to liquid, without it getting hot (just slightly warm). I could have strained it at this point to have a clear fat, without any traces of broth in it, but I'm not that picky, so I left it as-is.

3. Poured it into my muffin tin and ice cube tray in even amounts (this is why I didn't want it too warm- because I was using a plastic tray), and immediately put them both into the freezer.

4. A few hours later, I took a butter knife, gently slipped it between the tallow "muffin" and the tray, and pop! Out it came, just like that. The ice cube tray tallow took a teensy bit more coaxing to come out, but not too much more (I just twisted the tray, then repeatedly banged it on the counter).

5. I knew that the muffin shaped tallow pieces were larger than I would usually need, so I cut each of them in half.

6. Tossed all of the tallow pieces into a large ziploc bag, to be stored in my fridge freezer for easy access!

I've used a little bit since I did this earlier in the week, and I love how easy it is to just grab a chunk and keep cooking! I have also found that although the pieces are firm, they can still be easily cut with a sharp knife, if I need an even smaller piece.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday and Real Food Wednesday.

Do you use beef tallow or any other rendered animal fats in your cooking? How do you store them, and what are your favorite ways to use them?

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Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Canning Pears

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:00:05 +0000

Ripe (very, very ripe) pears waiting to be peeled and cut. I bought a 25 lb box of Bartlett pears several weeks ago and was surprised to come home from a couple days away to discover just how ripe my pears were (since they had still been green the week before)!

I sprang into action by peeling and cutting, then putting the slices into a bowl of cool water with lemon juice added in to help keep them from browning too much. Peeling and cutting over-ripe pears can be a bit challenging. As I went on, I discovered that it was easiest to peel them whole (holding them very gently), and then core and slice them after. This seemed to prevent them from bruising or smooshing (a very technical term, indeed) as I did it.

After sanitizing the jars in my dishwasher, I heat them up on a cookie tray in the oven. I usually turn the oven to around 200 F and let them stay there for a good 10 minutes (or until I suddenly remember them!). The point of this is to further sanitize and to have the jars warm enough so that they don't crack when being put into the hot water in the canner.

I canned my pears in a light syrup. I used a scant 1 cup of sugar (a raw sugar like Rapdura or Sucanat is best) for every 1 litre (quart) of filtered water. I bring the water and sugar to a boil (stirring in the beginning to make sure the sugar dissolves completely). You could also use honey, and would only need about 1/2-3/4 of a cup to achieve the same sweetness of a light syrup.

After filling the clean, hot jars with pear slices, I filled them up with the hot syrup leaving a 1/2 inch of headroom.

Next, I wiped off the jar mouths with a clean cloth, and put sanitized jar lids on top, then screwed on the metal screw tops tightly. To sanitize your lids, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Once it has boiled, turn the water off and add the lids to the hot water (not while it's still at a rolling boil, as this can ruin the lid's sealing ability). Let them sit in the hot water for a couple of minutes before removing to put on top of the prepared jars.

In the boiling water bath, pears require:

Pints- 20 minutes

Quarts- 25 minutes

Make sure that you begin timing only once the water in the canner is at a rolling boil (it sometimes requires a few minutes with the lid back on after you have added all of the jars inside), and that there is at least 1 to 2 inches of water above the top of each jar to ensure sufficient pressure to seal the jar lids.

Once the timer has gone off, I carefully remove the hot jars using canning tongs and I set them on several folded kitchen towels on the counter (to protect the counter from the heat). Listen during the next 30 minutes for a "pop" sound, indicating that the jars have sealed. If you're unsure (and I often miss hearing them seal), go over afterwords and lightly tap on the center of the lid. If it doesn't move, then it's already sealed. If it moves up and down or you can feel it push down when you first tap it, then it wasn't sealed properly. You can re-process these jars in the boiling-water bath once more (do the full 20 or 25 minutes again), and it's a good idea to take the lid and screw top off and re-tighten them before doing so.

After the jars are completely cooled off, I remove the screw bands to use on other canning projects. This also gives me the chance to see whether there are any without a completed seal. I stick these jars in the fridge and we will use them up within a week or two. The rest I store in my pantry or some other cool, dark place, and they are thoroughly enjoyed throughout the rest of the year!

That's it! These pears are perfect for adding to a pancake or waffle breakfast, to add to yogurt, or to just put in a bowl and eat plain. My kids and husband adore them!

I also dehydrated some pear slices this year, as well as turning quite a few of them into fruit leather. They're such a versatile fruit!

What do you like to do with pears when they are ripe and in abundance? Any other questions on the canning process?

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Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Canning Pears

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:14:58 +0000

Ripe (very, very ripe) pears waiting to be peeled and cut. I bought a 25 lb box of Bosch pears several weeks ago and was surprised to come home from a couple days away to discover just how ripe my pears were (since they had still been green the week before)!

After filling the clean, hot jars with pear slices, I filled them up with the hot syrup leaving a 1/2 inch of headroom.

In the boiling water bath, pears require:

Pints- 20 minutes

Quarts- 25 minutes

That's it! These pears are perfect for adding to a pancake or waffle breakfast, to add to yogurt, or to just put in a bowl and eat plain. My kids and husband adore them!

I also dehydrated some pear slices this year, as well as turning quite a few of them into fruit leather. They're such a versatile fruit!

What do you like to do with pears when they are ripe and in abundance? Any other questions on the canning process?

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Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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When Life Hands You Soggy Pickles… Make Relish!

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Sadly, my sweet pickles didn't turn out this year. For some very unknown reason, rather than staying wonderfully crisp, then turned soggy. Very soggy.

Since the recipe I use is pretty tried-and-true (I've done it before many times without fail), I decided to call my mother-in-law to brainstorm ideas of what went wrong. The recipe originates from her, so I thought she might have some clues to help solve my soggy pickle mystery. Together we came up with various thoughts... the extra pickling cucumbers I was given from a friend were too large, or they were the wrong kind of cucumber, or maybe they had some kind of bacteria on them, or maybe my fridge temperature wasn't cold enough... we still don't know and it's bugging me a bit, so if you have any thoughts to add in, send them my way!

However, my mother-in-law did come up with one fantastic solution to my main problem-- I just hated the thought of wasting so much food! All that organic apple cider vinegar, raw honey, onions from my garden, not to mention the cucumbers.

So why not make relish?

I did just that. I used a slotted spoon to scoop out all of the pickles, along with a bit of the onions and of course, some of the pickle liquid. I put it all in my food processor and chopped it up in several batches. It looked like relish. It smelled like relish. But not being a relish fan myself, I still wasn't quite sure. I called my hubby in for a taste test... and he loved it! Best relish he's ever had! Phew!

Perfectly good food, saved from the trash can. That makes me really happy, and even happier to see my husband enjoying the relish on the hamburgers we ate the other night.

How have you made good use of food that would have otherwise been wasted? Any stories to share of how you transformed a kitchen disaster into a victory?

And, to help out a reader who left this comment:

Now, here
is a "pickle" for you: I made a large batch of the lacto-fermented
refrigerator pickles that you had posted a recipe for awhile ago. I
used 2T of salt, because I had no whey. They ended up being way too
salty. Even my husband who loves salty pickles had to admit that they
probably need to be tossed. They have since been in my refrigerator
because I do not want to throw them all. Any ideas on what to do with
these?

Any suggestions for Sheri?

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Play it Again: Canning Pumpkins

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Originally Published November 2008

(Update: I didn't grow any of my own pumpkins this year, but I still intend to purchase some nice organic ones from my favorite produce market in the beginning of October and go through this same process with them. I was really happy with the pumpkin puree that I made last year and can't wait to have more of it this year!

It should also be noted that although I originally called this post "canning" pumpkins, I didn't actually can them in the typical sense. It was my intention to make puree and pressure can it, so that I could store the jars in my pantry. What I discovered as I researched was that it is NOT safe to can pumpkin or winter squash puree, and that it can only be done when the squash is in chunks, and still only with a pressure canner, not a boiling-water bath. My new favorite option is to still make the puree, but rather than can it I put it in canning jars and store it in the freezer instead. It is still almost as convenient as having actual canned pumpkin, but far safer!)

Phew... I think I might be done canning for the year! (Unless, of course, I decide to take advantage of borrowing a pressure canner to do up some dry beans for convenience sake, and I think I might have heard my husband mention pears this morning... oh well :)

I started out with those pumpkins on the left:

One of the smaller pumpkins went bad before I got to it, so I was left with six, good sized pie pumpkins.

In the morning, I cut each one in half, seeded it, and baked the halves (cut side down) on cookie sheets, at 350 F for about an hour. I was shocked at how much water they released, for being a smaller variety of pumpkin! I left them for several hours to cool off, and started to work on them again just after lunch.

This was an idea I got from Kimi's brilliant post on cooking pumpkins for puree. I'm not sure I would have known to do this otherwise, but it made such a huge difference! I must have spent over an hour, pureeing batches of pumpkin in my food processor, and then draining the water out.

I found the best way to drain the puree was to keep flipping the pumpkin over and over (but being careful not to bang the strainer on the bowl, because then the puree leaks out). I also rolled the pumpkin around and around in the strainer, and as more of the liquid drained out, it would sort of clump together in a tighter ball. It took a lot of effort, but I really think that it was worth it, to have puree that is thick and perfect for making breads, muffins, etc.

My original intention was to can the pumpkin using my MIL's pressure canner. Unfortunately, I didn't read ahead and discovered too late (after the pumpkin was already cooked) that you can't use puree for canning, only cubes (for safety reasons). So, at the last minute, I decided to still use my jars, go ahead and make puree, and then freeze it instead.

I actually think this was far easier in the end. No messing around with the canner, and much more convenient than still having to puree cubes when I want to use a can of pumpkin.

So there you have it- the relatively painless route to delicious, spiced pumpkin bread and pies all winter long (or have you seen Kimi's latest muffins? Mmmm...)

What do you do with pumpkins? Does anyone else like to make and preserve their own puree from fresh pumpkins?

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