New to canning:

[DebFred]

Oh My Lord!! I love this site!! An amazing amount of information. Gonna take me a while to soak it all in.

Sorry I have been absent, but my laptop was in the shop. The desk top is a pain to me. Too new, plus the Hubby uses it and I am afraid I will mess it up. I know, silly, but took me forever to get used to one.

The Ball Book I have is called Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Then it says 400 delicious and creative recipes for today. I don't think it is THE Ball Book of Canning. Is there any way one of you can post a picture of the one I should get? I would so appreciate it.

Now I know why Mamaw and Mom froze the corn. They left it on the cob and blanched it and then froze it. My neighbor freezes theirs, but insists it has to be off the cob. It is great corn, but I remember how good the frozen on the cob tasted too, especially in winter.

I love green beans. Love them, love them, love them. So will probably try to can some. Maybe start easier like some of you have suggested.

You all have NO idea how much better this makes me feel. I appreciate it a lot. No one around here cans that I know of. Across the road, they do tomato juice and salsa. May watch them. Their pickles were limp and nasty...(Don't tell them I said that!)

May try the county extension office as well.

Deb of DebFred

 

[baymule]

Home made cream corn is to die for! Canned from the store isn't fit for the compost pile!

To make cream corn, cut the corn kernels off in several passes. Cut the tops off, then make another cut, then another. Finally, scrape the cob to get ALL the corn goodness and the corn milk. Put creamed corn in large flat pan and blanch in the oven. Set oven at 350 degrees and put the corn in for 10-15 minutes, stirring in between. Let cool, then bag it up and freeze.

My favorite way to cook it; fry bacon in an iron skillet, take the bacon out and put the cream corn in, grease and all. (unless you have a LOT of grease, then pour it off ) Crumble the bacon over the corn and put the skillet in oven and bake at 350 until the edges of the corn turns brown.

 

[Jared77]

http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Complete-Book-Home-Preserving/dp/0778801314

Or this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1686R4WWRESG4S8SP569

How's that?

 

[DebFred]

YAY!! Jared, The first one is the one I have. Is that one good enough? I've been looking at it. Has recipes for veggies and fruit. Just seems like a lot more fruit. Not that I have anything against fruit, but Fred of DebFred is diabetic.

I am amazed that you can put more than one food in a jar. Like for the green beans, potatoes, and ham. Never would have thought of that. Was just looking in my book, and you can make the whole veggie soup in one jar.

I am looking forward to canning the whole tomatoes that are kinda squishy, with out the skins. I make a lot of chili and stews and spaghetti, and I KNOW that will be great in them.

What do you use canned potatoes for? In what form? I love potatoes. My favorite food. Well, one of them.

Deb

 

[so lucky]

Home made cream corn is to die for! Canned from the store isn't fit for the compost pile!

To make cream corn, cut the corn kernels off in several passes. Cut the tops off, then make another cut, then another. Finally, scrape the cob to get ALL the corn goodness and the corn milk. Put creamed corn in large flat pan and blanch in the oven. Set oven at 350 degrees and put the corn in for 10-15 minutes, stirring in between. Let cool, then bag it up and freeze.

My favorite way to cook it; fry bacon in an iron skillet, take the bacon out and put the cream corn in, grease and all. (unless you have a LOT of grease, then pour it off ) Crumble the bacon over the corn and put the skillet in oven and bake at 350 until the edges of the corn turns brown.

Oh! That's the way my mom used to fix it. I could eat a whole skillet full!

 

[MontyJ]

YAY!! Jared, The first one is the one I have. Is that one good enough? I've been looking at it. Has recipes for veggies and fruit. Just seems like a lot more fruit. Not that I have anything against fruit, but Fred of DebFred is diabetic.

I am amazed that you can put more than one food in a jar. Like for the green beans, potatoes, and ham. Never would have thought of that. Was just looking in my book, and you can make the whole veggie soup in one jar.

I am looking forward to canning the whole tomatoes that are kinda squishy, with out the skins. I make a lot of chili and stews and spaghetti, and I KNOW that will be great in them.

What do you use canned potatoes for? In what form? I love potatoes. My favorite food. Well, one of them.

Deb

My DW always makes me dig up small new potatoes and can them whole (after peeling of course). She likes to open the jar, slice 'em, then fry them to go with breakfast. They are really good!

 

[peteyfoozer]

The Ball Book I have is called Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Then it says 400 delicious and creative recipes for today. I don't think it is THE Ball Book of Canning.

Deb of DebFred

I love that book and recommend it all the time. It has some great recipes and covers all the info you need on both waterbath and pressure canning. Read all the way through it and it's doubtful you will have many questions afterwards

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have that one too, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, but it's not the Ball Blue Book. I'm not sure what the differences in the two books are.

The Complete book does have sections for basic vegetable canning amd basic fruit canning and gives good directions on the canning process. I have a couple of other canning books I occasionally use for things not in this book but the Complete book will do nicely.

 

[Jared77]

Once you have the How To part covered be it waterbathing or pressure canning then its really all about the recipes. It took a little bit to "sheeting" for some of the jams we've made but that's cooking not the actual canning part.

As far as recipes go http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-...358779981&sr=8-1&keywords=Small+batch+canning is another book I'm a HUGE fan of. Its a great book for gift ideas, or if your looking to have a variety of things, or sample something to see if you like it. We've taken some of the recipes we've found in there and doubled them because we like them so much or are such a big hit.

Its got something like 300+ recipes in it too from including but not limited to jams, jellies, low-sugar spreads, conserves, butters, curds, pickles, relishes, chutneys, salsas, mustards, marinades flavored oils, dessert sauces, syrups and liqueurs. I can't remember if it was my MIL or my wife that got it for me for my birthday but I love it. It also has lots of suggestions and tips for variations on many of the recipes too. Its hands down my favorite recipe book for canning that I've found yet.

 

[ducks4you]

Acidic fruits and vegetables like tomatoes are the easiest to can successfully. Also, marmelades are easier than jams and jellies bc the jelling can get fussy. I just made orange marmelade that I started yesterday--it has to sit 12-18 hours before finishing. I used Texas sweet lemons in it, and it's just terrific.

You fill the jars, super hand tighten the lids, then put them upside down on the warm stove to seal. REALLY easy.
Last weekend DD and I disposed of most of the 5 dozen eggs from my birds by making refridgerator pickled eggs. You use eggs, beets, beet juice, sugar, and onions. Ladle it hot into the jars, let cool, then refridgerate. The problem is waiting for 3 days to eat them!

ANYTHING pickled is also easy bc the vinegar helps to preserve them. I STILL haven't learned to use my pressure canner, BUT I even successfully canned pumpkin bc I used it pretty quickly. One jar went bad, and reminded me that it's not a good food to water bath can.
I use my jars to store cans of stuff from canned goods in the refridgerator that I didn't need the whole contents. Stuff like canned spaghetti sauce.
MAKE SURE THAT YOU LABEL THE PRODUCT AND THE DATE!!!! I use a Sharpie on the lids for this. I also keep a roll of masking tape to use for labelling, in case I need to write more stuff. It comes off very easily and is much cheaper than the peel off labels that are said to remove quickly, OR the other ones that are a Bitxx to get off of your jars.