Winter doldrums...Jelly and Jam making time at my house

I have always made jams and jellies when in season. Never tried freezing for later. Right now I am trying to eat down the frozen foods so as to make room for the pig that will go to slaughter in March.

@Ridgerunner those are some beautiful jars of jams and jellies! So colorful!
 
I'd have to go measure and I feel kind of lazy this morning. Doesn't matter, I'd fill up any size freezer. They are never big enough.

Thanks, Bay. I learned years ago that some people are more concerned with appearance than taste. I had someone tell me I could sell that Sweet Pepper Jam. I asked about the taste and they said they had not opened it but it was so pretty.

You may notice an absence, your dandelion jelly. Due to circumstances, travel and really wet weather, I just could not gather enough dandelions to make jelly, about two quarts of cleaned centers. That's usually not a problem, but for some strange reason they just did not grow here that much this past year. That's part of the reason I had to get a little creative in coming up with some of these jellies, so I had enough variety.
 
@Ridgerunner awesome looking jellies and jams, I've never made mint jelly, got a good recipe to share? The only mint I grow is spearmint, use a lot fresh but have never made jelly. On occasion I also make a nice rhubarb chutney, I begged the recipe from the owner of a little pub we used to go to on occasion, really nice with a plowman's lunch. I'm also looking for a good recipe for a hot pepper jelly, any out there?
Since our family flew the coop and now have children and grands of their own (we now have 6 great grands) I don't do that much freezing, just the freezer in the bottom of the fridge and small 5cu.ft in fit in the corner of DH's man Cave, well that is until I decided I needed another small freezer to store my bean seed in, it's in my she cave, yep, I have a she cave, I also have my own telly and remote control LOL.
As far as my bean collection goes I think I'm up around 230 varieties give or take a few, well there's worse things I could be addicted to :).
In the past I had a large chest freezer but I found I never seemed to get the stuff out of the bottom, in the smaller freezers I do but that's just me. Maybe another small one is in order to take the overflow but it would have to go in the cellar, we only have a small house and space is at a premium.
The days are gone where we used to buy beef by the side, freeze veggies from the garden etc. It's just hubby and me. I do make a lot of soups and freeze up in meal size containers, I also make and freeze spaghetti and curry sauces and also casseroles for days when I don't want to spend time in the kitchen, at 78 my speed is dead slow and I'd rather be out in the garden.
Annette
 
Thanks Annette for sharing this personal information about you. I never really "knew" you before. It seems like you still do a lot. I wonder if you are our oldest/youngest gardener here? ;)You inspire me. :)

Mary
 
Annette, I've never made it but if you use SUREJELL pectin in a box the insert has a recipe for hot pepper relish in the jam section. As I'm sure you know different pectins have different recipes. You can probably find recipes on their website specific for the pectin you use. I use a food processor to finely chop my peppers. I mean I puree it.

That same insert has a mint jelly recipe on it that I used. I did not want to use food coloring in it but the "infusion" was a dirty muddy yellow so I cratered. I decided to go with appearance rather than natural. I don't think many people would want a mint jelly that wasn't green. I don't know what kind of mint I have. A friend gave it to me and I put it in a corner I can control by mowing.

I usually make a plum/peach chutney but the brown rot took my plums away from me this year. I've come up with a way to cheat in making chutney, greatly reducing the cooking time. I peel core, and remove anything from the fruit I'm using for chutney and strain that through a wire mesh kitchen strainer. The strained stuff has most of the pulp removed and it goes through a jelly bag much faster. It's used for jelly. I use the pulp from the mesh strainer to make chutney. Most of the moisture is gone so you don't have to spend hours cooking it down to get rid of the moisture, constantly stirring to keep it from burning. It still cooks long enough for the flavors to infuse.

I wonder if you could make jelly with the rhubarb liquids? Maybe mix it with apple or strawberry. Maybe worth an internet search?
 
We usually try to make things in season so our freezers are not tied up but this year it's been a difficult. Making baby food on top of everything else I'm dealing with here has really put things behind. Plus not being able to make big assembly line type batches isn't helping things either. Now I'm forced to take a batch from start to finish before I start processing another batch.

The one hood thing is I'm making plenty of apple juice that I extract from the cores & peels for apple jelly which I just started doing this year. It's been a big hit here so I'm glad I tried it.

We Have a big upright freezer in the garage plus we have 2 regular fridges with small freezers on top that gives us sufficient room.
 
@ninnymary I refuse to get old, at least in the way I think, these old bones let me down at times but I always find ways to get around it. This summer DH and I will be married 60 years. I'm always trying something new and live my life as if it's never going end, just have to jump a few hurdles at times, well maybe not jump more like step over LOL. I might be old but I do think young :). I have been a gardener all my life, have had ducks, chickens and rabbits and of course a few dogs and cats, down to one kitty now.
I've read through quite a few posts on here, my heart goes out to those that are going through such difficult times, but I have never chimed in as I would feel like an interloper in this great family you all have created.
As to my screen name, I never touched a computer until a few years ago when a friend introduced me to a garden forum, so of course I lurked awhile on the fuchsia forum, that is after DH showed me how to turn the computer on :), at the time I had about 300 fuchsias give or take a few. Someone was asking for an I.D. and no-one could help, I knew but couldn't answer as I wasn't a member so I pestered DH to give me a tutorial on using a computer, (head hanging in shame) it took all evening and it was after midnight when the light bulb finally turned on, I thought aftermidnight as a screen name fitted me well :).

How's that for getting off topic, I seem to do that quite often, oh well you'll all just have to put up with me or send me packing LOL.
Annette
 
Another thing I do, what do they say, waste not want not, when making the Paradise Jelly. I have to make some of the juices separately, as the quince (from a friend) aren't ripe until the fall and my free apples come from my neighbor's tree that come ripe in the summer. Did I mention I'm pretty good at scrounging, have many years of practice under my belt.
The last couple of years I've cooked the apples up with bought frozen cranberries, fresh aren't available until the fall, put them through a jelly bag. the pulp in the jelly bag I put through a sieve to remove any skin or pips. Add sugar and cook this for a few minutes, cool and freeze in small containers to use with pork chops and roasts or to use in the curry sauce I make. The apple sauce might be pink but it still tastes pretty good.
Annette
 
Nyboy said:
What size freezers do you guys have?
Click to expand...
I thought I'd be smart and just pull a file cabinet open and look at the owner's manual but, noooo.

Finding online the model #'s associated with numerous sizes ... I went out to garage to look and then compared inches to cubic feet. Shoot. I guess they don't make the larger model now but it must be about 12 cu ft. The smaller appears to be a 7.2 cu ft.

The kitchen fridge freezer is just a standard type but the fridge in the carport is big but with the tiniest freezer I could find! I like that for fresh produce but, of course, it's empty through the winter.

Anywho! We have 2 chest type freezers, 12 cu ft and 7.2 cu ft.

;) Steve³
 
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