Canning Season.

[imp]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

Worth, unless your hydraulic fluid is food grade from a reputable supplier I'd be careful. You are correct that hydraulic fluids generally do not contain detergents and dispersants like motor oils, but as a former lubricant chemist and formulator I know they generally do contain some combination of anti-oxidants, anti-wear, anti-rust, anti-corrosion, and anti-foam additives, some of which may be somewhat toxic. Also most are based on Group I mineral oil which is not sufficiently refined for human ingestion. Food grade white mineral oil without additives would be a better choice, such as that sold for constipation.

Tom

Thank you for the information, Tom. Potentially toxic things in contact with food surfaces that stays on the object = not good , for me. I'll make sure to use food grade on my butcher blocks and such.

[imp]

Cooking pork country ribs again, going to turn them into pork and sweet potato soup for canning up and maybe some with the Hatch green chilis that are already roasted and frozen for pork green chili soup. Trying to duplicate or come close to the Jason's Deli soup they served for awhile, it was good.

Either would be good when the cold weather sets in, with some corn bread.

Chicken thighs are on sale this week at $0.89 a pound, so that may happen later this week or over the weekend. Some for green chili chicken stew and some for chicken soup and plain, not sure yet.

[taboule]

Keep at it imp, pretty soon, you'll have a full pantry. For the chicken legs, do you bone them or jar them whole?

Last canning batch I did I ran out of quart size jars. The local big blue box had none, canning supplies are dwindling everywhere and not getting replenished. I kept looking and managed to acquire 3 cases, one with wide mouths. I'll start looking for sales on various meats like others do, only non-veggies I've canned to date was some bacon. I broke it up in little pieces and lightly fried it before putting chunks and fat it in the jars. Now keep an open jar in the fridge, easy to scoop up a dollop for frying eggs or to add that extra flavor when re-frying beans.

[imp]

Originally Posted by taboule

Keep at it imp, pretty soon, you'll have a full pantry. For the chicken legs, do you bone them or jar them whole?

Last canning batch I did I ran out of quart size jars. The local big blue box had none, canning supplies are dwindling everywhere and not getting replenished. I kept looking and managed to acquire 3 cases, one with wide mouths. I'll start looking for sales on various meats like others do, only non-veggies I've canned to date was some bacon. I broke it up in little pieces and lightly fried it before putting chunks and fat it in the jars. Now keep an open jar in the fridge, easy to scoop up a dollop for frying eggs or to add that extra flavor when re-frying beans.

I think for at least some of the chicken thighs, I will can up bone in as it should make a better stock inside of the jar, more gelatin maybe. Deboning the thighs is not hard though, and I could just chunk the bones into a stockpot, too.

Walmart online has plenty of jars of all sizes for canning and I think, if your order is $35.00 or more, the shipping to your house is free. I use a lot of pint jars since it's just me now and some 1/2 pints, too. I did get about dozen quarts when Aldi's had them on sale, and pint and 1/2 through Walmart online; the half pint jars are running slightly under $6.00 there and I can't recall off the top of my head for the others. Or you can get them delivered for you to pick up at your local Walmart, too.

I'm enjoying canning, plus the idea of "meals" in a jar for those times I forget to take something out of the little freezer or for any reason.

Next I want to start trying some water bath canning, mango season is on and I am thinking a mango pineapple preserve would be yummy. Or a mango pear combination.

Maybe canning is an addiction!

[Worth1]

If you pressure can chicken bones you can literally eat them.
I dont but you can just like canned fish bones.
This believe it or not was one of the reasons for pressure cooking many years ago.
One model I think was called the bone crusher.
I dont eat bones because I think many heavy metals settle in bones.
Not for sure but I think I'm right.
Worth

[clkeiper]

ahh, finally jam and jelly making time. 72 jars so far of raspberry, strawberry, quince, elderberry, spiced concord and cherry-cranberry jelly. a few more cases to make.. Summer just doesn't allow me to work on it then, everything goes in the freezer or gets juiced in my steamer pan. markets are over the garden is almost done very few customers stopping... quiet time to can.

[coronabarb]

Whew, that's a lot of jam/jelly!

[imp]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

ahh, finally jam and jelly making time. 72 jars so far of raspberry, strawberry, quince, elderberry, spiced concord and cherry-cranberry jelly. a few more cases to make.. Summer just doesn't allow me to work on it then, everything goes in the freezer or gets juiced in my steamer pan. markets are over the garden is almost done very few customers stopping... quiet time to can.

That is a lot of jellies and jams, you should be proud of that work!! I envy your productivity. I have been curious about the steamers I see, the ones that drain off the juices? Does it do more than juice fruits? I love things that can do more than one task.

What does Quince taste like? Never had one.

And cranberry- cherry sounds good, too.

I am still cooking off that pork slowly, and should have trimmed it even more than I did. Spooning off fat is not a fun thing, LOL, but wow, that pork was fatty! I bought it from Cashsaver markets and think I won't be back there, at least for meat. The quality is just not there, United Marketplace is much better, heck, Walmart had better meats.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by imp

That is a lot of jellies and jams, you should be proud of that work!! I envy your productivity. I have been curious about the steamers I see, the ones that drain off the juices? Does it do more than juice fruits? I love things that can do more than one task.

What does Quince taste like? Never had one.

And cranberry- cherry sounds good, too.

I am still cooking off that pork slowly, and should have trimmed it even more than I did. Spooning off fat is not a fun thing, LOL, but wow, that pork was fatty! I bought it from Cashsaver markets and think I won't be back there, at least for meat. The quality is just not there, United Marketplace is much better, heck, Walmart had better meats.

Imp, yes the juicer steamer pan has many uses but the juice is the primary function I need. so easy to make the juice and then just can it until I have time to actually make the jelly. I bought the mehu liisa? (not sure of the spelling) brand and it has a really nice book of instructions and recipes with it. not sure what the other brands have for instructions.

the quince juice I made two years ago... My brother brought me the quinces to make jelly for him to use as gifts maybe... I have no idea but my life kind of imploded with my FIL and MIL's health issues and I have just not had time to make it for him. it has a very unique flavor. it is very tart as a fruit. not even edible in my book. lemons are sweeter. they have the texture of a very hard dry apple. andvery sour. with a bit of sugar and lemon juice it makes a fruity tart jelly.

the elderberry I also made a couple years ago. just drop the peck basket of stems and all into the top portion of the pan and put on the lid and let it steam the juice into the next pan. (It holds a peck basket for volume to give you an idea of its size)

the cherry juice I bought as a concentrate for just mixing up and drinking for a health drink... I quit that after about the first week and still had almost 16 oz left to use up. not enough for a batch of jelly but I also had cranberry concentrate so I mixed them both and winged a batch. if I do say so myself... I really thought it was yummy. same for the concord jelly... I had a bottle of concentrate I found on a clearance rack but I didn't like the color of it after I opened it. it was not as purple as I wanted it to be so I just added 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to change it up and make the flavor match the color.. I do farmers markets and I haven't made jam or jelly in two years. I just haven't had time or if I had time I was out of oopmf. I will make a batch of my own grape juice into a batch of jelly. the color is ever so much better.

[imp]

Its okay, I know the steamer you mean as it's the one I have been drooling over! I tell myself that I can't even really think of one until the kitchen is more cleared/redone and I get rid of the excess things in the butler's pantry. Like several 1940's to 1950's Mixmaster mixers and a bunch of FireKing I shall never probably use. It's going to be a bigger sorting job and one I don't want to do, but must.

Both the quince and the cherry cranberry sound good for savory dishes, such as pork, to cut the fatty richness of them.

Oddly, I don't buy grape jelly from the store as I don't like it, but like homemade grape jellies! The taste is more of the fruit to me. I have a fondness for buttered toast and jam.

Edit:

FINALLY got the sweet potatoes in the huge crockpot with the pork, now to cook it down a bit and check the seasonings again. Right now, have a 7 quart pot full, and will cook it down a bit, then use chicken broth to make it thin enough to can safely. Bet I get more than 7 quarts out of it. But, it will be so good when it is icy or snowing and I just want to stay snuggled in the house.

[clkeiper]

Imp, I have never like grape jelly so I have never used my grapes to make it... now that you say that I will be more willing to spare a jar of my juice for a trial. I just think hooooow cheapppppp grape jelly is and figure no one will want to pay 4.00 for a 1/2 pint. on another note though, after we got home from church last night my men tried the quince the spiced grape and the cherry berry and liked them all.

my mehu liisa pan I bought 5 years or so ago. as I was waling in to Lehmans the clerk was remarking them another 10.00 since they had just gotten their new shipment in. if I hadn't called to see if they had them I would have had to pay 150.00 for it instead of 140.00. I see they are up to 190.00 but the victorio is a bit cheaper. I will have to check at the Amish store the next time I am that direction to check on the cost.if it is really economical I will let you know and be willing to ship it to you if you are interested. They carry the victorio not the mehu liisa.

[Worth1]

I like almost anything but grape jelly.
Chunky apricot preserves is my favorite of all.
One of my dad's cousins had an apricot orchard in Rising Star Texas.
I love apricots.
Worth

[taboule]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I like almost anything but grape jelly.
Chunky apricot preserves is my favorite of all.
.......
I love apricots.
Worth

Now we're talking.

Not apricots but close... About 20 years ago when I bought the previous house, I had a very nice peach tree in the backyard. Property was neglected, I bought it at auction. That peach tree produced the sweetest fruit. Late season we had so much that we couldn't eat, we harvested the whole thing and dear old Mom showed me how to make jam. It was a mean batch, jarred it and covered with wax and we were done -and none of it lasted as we consumed it within a few months.

Year after the tree started dying and I had no clue what was going on. Then discovered too late a nasty grub colony that devastated the entire garden. They ate the roots -nasty buggers.

[imp]

That is terrible, about the grubs. Hard to lose a really good peach, or any fruit, tree. I miss peaches that drip down your chin as you were eating them. They do grow peaches around here, but they are picked too green and stay hard and yucky.

Apricots are some of the best of the stone fruits when tree ripened. , nothing else like them.

Carolyn, that is a nice offer, let me know if they go on sale or cheaper. I look at Lehman's online now and then, too. Amazon has the steam juicers starting at $87.00 up a few hundred dollars.

[imp]

Got a bit of canning done, 7 quarts pork & sweet potato soup and 10 pints beef chuck roast in broth. The pork and sweet potato soup , it's hard to see the sweet potatoes in there, but they are! Both are brown, no exciting colors or presentation, just handy stuff to have. The pork got so tender, it wanted to shred as I was putting it in jars.

I think I m addicted to canning, LOL!!

Pork is the first picture, beef in pints.