I made a lot of mistakes this first time around, but overall, I’m pretty dang proud of myself.
Over four days I managed to can:
6 pints of strawberry lemonade concentrate
1 pint of limeade concentrate
2 pints of nectarineade concentrate
3 qts of dilled carrots
1 pint blueberry butter
2 1/2 pints blueberry syrup
2 1/2 pints nectarine chutney
12 pints nectarines
4 pints apple onion slaw
It hurts just to think about.
My first attempt was the strawberry lemonade concentrate, and it didn’t do too well. Only half of the jars sealed. But when I went back the next day and re-read all the instructions I immediately realized why. I just couldn’t help myself and watched over those cans like they were newborn babies, fussing with the lids, pushing in the center to check the seal, and in my enthusiasm I prevented it from doing its job.
So the next day when I took the jars out of the canner, I set them on the counter and forced myself to walk away. Sure enough, no more failures.
Most of what I canned was stuff we bought at the farmer’s market. There was a guy there selling nectarines for 50cents a pound. I asked to buy the box and he told me he’d give it to me for $20. I can only blame my newbie excitement on the fact that I totally took him up on it and didn’t do the math until we were in the car and I realized that there was not 40 pounds of nectarines in the trunk. Oh well, I would have paid more than that anywhere else anyway.
Since then I’ve discovered our community garden, currently busy growing tomatoes and corn, and my friend Amber has a line on an orchard that doesn’t harvest the fruit that will let us have whatever we can carry away. I think I’m going to be spending a whole lot more quality time with my canner this summer, and, fingers crossed, most of it might even be for free.
I’ve had some friends ask me why I would possibly take up canning in a day and age of 24 hr supermarkets, and there are a few good answers. One is that I really enjoy learning these traditional skills that create self-sufficiency. I just like to gain knowledge. Another is that this supports my efforts at local, seasonal eating without denying myself of nectarines 8 months out of the year. But the biggest reason is to enable my inconsistency. I love to cook, but I often have to be in the mood for it. By the end of the summer I’ll have enough marinara canned that I won’t have to make it again until next summer. I’ll have salsas and dressings and sauces that I love to eat, but am not always in the mood to make, just waiting for me to pop the lid. This is going to make it so much easier to eat at home on those nights when I just couldn’t be bothered. Plus, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of partial to big ridiculous projects.
I'd love to can food. Right now our limited pantry storage doesn't really make it feasible. Someday. To me the biggest benefit is that you can limit that high fructose corn syrup that is in Everything. BTW, love your new blog header.
I'd love to jhave the recipe for the limeade concentrate!! Please!!!!
Yay!! I am loving canning this year! Love the stuff you're canning – that apple slaw and the dilled carrots sound scrumptious. I was lucky enough to get a load of free lemons from a friend and taking some inspiration from you canned up 10 pints of strawberry lemonade concentrate. Thanks for the wonderful ideas!! You rock 🙂
I'm so jealous that you live where you can get all this good stuff!! When you do the marinara, please post your recipe? I canned tomatoes for the first time last year but this year I would like to try a sauce, which will be much more useful! Our tomato plants are going to oblige us with a first batch big enough to can next week some time…
you are so talented, and oh so funny. I love the wit that lines your posts. Can't get enough of your blog, so light and fun!
I really want to watch you do this. You will have to let me know the next time. Maybe I can get a babysitter and watch! Or we can do it at my house.
Okay, so I found your blog via the YW blog you do with Jeans…I would be really interested in your recipes for the "-ades" recipes! Nectarine-ade? Mmmm! And the limeade & strawberry lemonade! I never would have thought of those! A few things we've canned before that do well are salsa, sweet pickle relish, and a pepper-pickle relish. I think my husband found recipes for all of them on cooks.com. I think.
Oh my goodness, I've created a MONSTER!!
Do you have to use a pressure canner for some of those, or is it all regular water bath?
That's pretty darn amazing. I'm secretly envious! Ha! But in a good way. I'd love to learn how to put up my own food and have been dreaming of eating seasonally for a few years now and have never done it. I think you're right, it does make sense. Now you have homemade sauces and drink concentrate and, well, everything at your fingertips. Love seeing the 'fruit' of your labor. Yeah, corny, I know.
Jane – that was a major benefit to me too. I never eat canned fruit, but I think I'll totally eat home canned fruit.The Fruit-ade recipes are usually about equal parts juice and sugar. The exceptions are the citrus juices, which need a lot more. The Strawberry Lemonade recipe I used called for 6 cups blended strawberries, 6 C sugar, and 4 C lemon juice. This was skewed WAY too far to the strawberry for my taste.For the limeade I just did 4 C juice and 6 C sugar, although I think I'll add more sugar still next time. It's hard to judge if a sugar syrup is sweet enough, you know? Also, you have to be careful to not let it boil because the lime juice in particular can really taste cooked.Cynthia – it's all your fault! I bought a pressure canner at WalMart for $40, but so far everything has been in a water bath. Although I think I'll pressure can my dilled carrots next time because the amount of salt I had to use to make them safe makes them almost inedible.
I made the limeade concentrate according to your recipe. I didn't skim any of the foam from the top. My syrup/concentrate looked kind of cloudy after I canned it. Is that normal, or should I be worried?
Hi Bella, sorry to take so long to get back to you. I’d say the cloudiness is probably from the foam and isn’t anything to worry about. When you open it to use it, just pay attention to the smell and if there’s anything that doesn’t smell like limes, then you’ll know you got a contaminated batch. But I think it’s probably just the foam.