Pressure Canning Workshop

A few weekends ago I attended at Pressure Canning Workshop at my favourite organic farm, Everdale. I found out that I am totally screwed in the canning department. While I had fun and could see myself attempting some concoctions at home to compliment my water-bath canning and freezing preservation techniques, I am not sure I can participate.

Meet my nemisis:


A glass top range that came with the house. I never had any particular liking to glass top but would take it if it was here. This is not good. Not if I want to pressure can. I learned that glass tops are not sturdy enough to handle the weight of the canner and filled jars. Pooh!

I could purchase a hot plate, but I am afriad even that would damage my glass top or counter tops. The instructor suggested I use a concret garden stone to place the hot plate on but again I am worried about my countertops.

Had I known I would have saved our oven/range from the old house (instead of selling it) and stored it in the garage for use when I am pressure canning. Hindsight is always 20/20. So this project must go on the back burner (ha!) until I can figure out an alternative.

In the meantime I have this lovely soup as a reminder of my class. It looks almost too good to eat...almost.

Tomato Season

I came home from a 10 day vacation expecting my garden to be toast. I had canned 8 jars of tomatoes before we left so I figured I would be lucky to be able to do a few more once I got back. The plants looked a little worse for ware, all limp and brown with only a few tomatoes left on the vines but once I started rooting though and picking good (as in non-squishy, non-rotting) tomatoes I filled basket after basket. All the baskets were full and I had only gone through half of the garden.



So the last 5 days have been a flurry of blanching and canning. I processed 10 more jars of tomatoes and then I made 13 jars of salsa.I also picked another wicker basket full but I ran out of canning jars. I think I probably have enough for 15 or more jars.



This is very exciting. I have never had such a prosperous garden. Some things went wrong this year but a fair number of things went right. I still lost a fair amount when we went away and those tomatoes are waiting to be worked right into the soil for next year. I still need to harvest my carrots and parsnips. I am also happy to report 6 smallish pumpkins have turned orange.

Can It!

This post is long overdue but hey, better late than never. In July I attended a canning workshop at my most favourite organic farm, Everdale. I have taken a bee keeping course there, a soap making course and now I can add canning to my list. I have been canning at home for a few years now but wanted to take the course to pick up a few pointers I might not have already known. This water bath canning course is a pre-requisite for the Pressure Canning workshop they are offering in November so it's a win-win.







During the day we canned Garlic Scapes. I have never tried these before, hadn't even heard of them before and I must admit I am a little scared to try them. They look lovely in the jar though. The process of these is similar to pickles, with raw food going in the jars and then adding a brine.



We also made rhubarb strawberry jam which tasted de-lish during our end of session taste testing, so I can not wait to open the jar I was allowed to take home.







The workshop was exactly what I needed to jump start my canning season and get me back into my canning. I am gearing up to do some tomatoes before we leave on our vacation in a week. I am headed to the States for a writers retreat which we have tacked on a family vacation. I am fairly busy right now with writing critiques and working on my novel. I hadn't accomplished as much canning as I would have liked and I have sadly neglected my garden beds. There is always next year.

Garden of Eatin'

I am amazed at how much food my garden has provided me this summer. I spent a number of hours in the spring building raised beds, hauling soil and planting but after that, harvesting is the easy part.



This is a basket I brought to my sister with homegrown potatoes, onions, and carrots. I included some jars of homegrown, home canned pickles and jams.

Last week I harvested my onions. The tops fell over signalling their finished state. I let them dry on my deck at first but then brought them inside because of threatening rain.













The tomatoes are almost ready and the melons too. Corn is nice and tall but I think I planted them too close together so next year I will spread them out more.



Pumpkins

cantaloupe

The potatoes have finished as well. I waited for them to flower but they never did. The green tops just fell over so I dug them up. They are very tasty and ever so easy! I am definitely planting more next year.





I also found a fully grown apple tree in my backyard. This was a delight to find. We planted three trees in the front (and two pear trees) but currently we only have two apples on one of the trees. They will take a while to produce. This one in the backyard is bending under the weight of the apples. The apples are small and I think the tree needs to be pruned but it's still a young tree, no more than 7 years so I should be able to bring it back to life.



All in all, my new garden at my new house is doing excellent!

Hectic Summer Daze

Summer brings a big to do list. Everything from prep and plant the gardens. Weed. Can. Freeze. Take Kids to Park. Go to Beach. Take Kids to Soccer Practice. Plan Camping Trip. Go to the Drive In... summer has it share of hectic days and lazy days, sometimes a day can be both lazy AND hectic.

As a family we do more in summer. Living in the northern hemisphere means we are not guaranteed a whole lot of summer. There's a radio commercial on all the time that states we have 95 days of summer, and 270 days of winter! That's not entirely true, however after a seemingly long March filled with blizzards and freezing rain we often wonder if spring will ever arrive.


Canada is usually perceived as being this northern tundra way up there. I have heard of southern tourists arriving in the Toronto airport with skis...in JULY!! This maybe an exaggeration but I was once in the United States in August when someone from New York state said to me, "Well, you have snow in your country right now..." Ummm, what?! No...it's August, my dear. You live about 300 miles from me and you can't figure out how our shared climate works. The Canadian border is not some magic line that separates the barren hinterland from the balmy south.

However winters can feel extremely long. I do not do much driving or traveling or much of anything away from the home in winter. Not because I can't but simply because I don't want to. Winter is my calm time. My time in the home where I am warm and toasty.

Summer is my running time. In addition to my gardening and preserving, I make it a point to do many, many day trips with the kids. We are in the park at least once a week, the beach as well. Sometimes both in the same day. I usually spend a lot more time in my car visiting farmer's markets and farm stands, collecting fruit and veggies to put by for the winter. My son's sport is soccer and this year he is on a traveling team. We may not do much in the way of "book work" for homeschooling but there are still homeschool friends to meet up with, play dates to go on and of course the slue of birthday parties and barbecues.



Summer is a wonderful time of year. I enjoy it's hectic days. After a seemingly long winter at home summer is a welcome change of pace. By October I am ready for a reprieve. I like to slow things down. The kids hunker down at the books. I get working on Christmas plans and complete the final touches on the pantry. In the fall I may even find myself in a more creative mood than any other time of year. Each season has it's own pace and style.

Some days in summer I'd like to call "Uncle!". Those are the days when I am pulled in multiple directions and wondering why in the heck do I do this to myself? Why do I need to can 24 jars of tomatoes? Then I remember, I actually don't need to can 24 jars of tomatoes but I want to. Being busy in summer does not mean I am not living simply. My priorities are still in tact. Simplicity does not mean in activity. It means concentrating your time, energy and resources to the things that truly matter to you. Those things will change throughout the year but it doesn't need to change your priorities. It's just the way of the seasons. I will have my rest soon enough.

Strawberry-Kiwi Juice Concentrate

Homemade juice is both cost effective and better for your overall health.

I can control how much sugar gets used in the juice. I can control whether or not the juice is organic. And I can support the local economy by going straight to the farmer. Plus, it's just one more step to self-sufficiency.

From a pure cost perspective, it's a pretty good deal. Let me give you a break down. Each basket of strawberries costs me approximately $8. One basket made about 18 jars (125 ml) of juice concentrate. That works out to 44 cents a jar. Once prepared (diluted) each jar creates slightly less juice than 1L. 44 cents is a great deal for healthy and often organic treat.

I am not a big fan of juice from a nutritional standpoint. Let's face it, we are much better off eating the actual fruit then resorting to a fruit extract laden with sugar. Fruit has more fiber in the actual pulp than in the juice. Water is a much better beverage by a long shot. But, local strawberries in January are hard to come by, sometimes you want a little treat and hey, why not give it a try? So I did.


This recipe can be used for any type of juice actually. I just happened to try strawberries first because they are ready the soonest in the season.


I made two recipes, and finished with 22 jars of homemade juice concentrate. It was so easy I see myself trying my hand at some blueberry concoctions once they are ripe. We tried the recipe below using Strawberries and Kiwi. I also tried this recipe for Strawberry Lemonade at Homemade Serenity and it tastes so good.

Straight-Up Any Old Fruit Juice Concentrate

Select your fruit or combination of fruits. Wash, peel, hull, whatever just get them ready.

Place in a sauce pan with just enough water to separate the fruit, so it can somewhat bob. Do not add too much water though.

Start a slow boil. Once boiling remove from heat. Mash with potato masher and return to heat until slowly boiled again.

Line colander with several layers of cheesecloth. Place a large bowl beneath to catch juice.

Pour liquid into colander. And let the liquid seep out of the cheesecloth. Once most liquid has run through, twist cheese cloth and gently squeeze out any last bit in the pulp. Compost pulp.

Add sugar to the juice while it is still warm. You choose as much or as little sugar as you want. You can always add more sugar later when you dilute it so it is best to underestimate than over estimate.

Now your juice is ready to can in a waterbath canner (10 minutes), or to freeze in mason jars.



I like to can my juice so it doesn't take up room in my freezer. Canning also uses less overall energy compared to frozen food that needs near constant cold to stay fresh. If canning, please be sure to add 1 tsp of lemon juice to the bottom of your jar before placing juice in. This raises the acidity level to can it properly and safely.

See that's not so hard!

When Good Tomatoes Turn Bad

We are still making our way through our stash of canned edibles from the garden. Much of my canning this year was done with vegetables I purchased from local farmers. My small garden had let me down again, or was it I who let it down. In any case, som valuable lessons were learned this year so not all as lost.

I made vegetarian chili yesterday. It's a very easy recipe that involves two 500 ml cans of tomatoes, my 100 mile tomatoes. Since I make my chili in the crock pot I assemble all the ingredients and just throw it in as I chop or open cans. That's when I noticed one of my cans of tomatoes did not look right. There was not enough liquid surrounding the diced tomatoes and the colour was slightly off. The tomatoes were still red, but just a tad more brown then the jar beside it.

Tomatoes were an experiment this year. I had never canned them before, so I needed to be on the safe side. I brought out another jar of tomatoes and used them, leaving the "off" one on the counter. Today I decided it would be better to dispose of it before I inadvertantly used it on something.

Well, there was no use in worryying about me using it. As soon as I opened the lid I could smell how bad they had turned. The actual tomatoes looked okay, just the slight colour difference. I am sure now that even if I had not noticed the colour I would not have missed to odour. I suppor nature is good at letting us know when something is not safe to eat.

This experience has reinforced a few things for me as far as canning goes. You can do everything by the book and still suffer a bad jar. Tomatoes are tricky so pay careful attention to times, head space and acid content. Always look carefully at your jars even after ensuring the lid is sealed. Any off colours or major air pockets can indicate a good jar gone bad.

I am not sure what happened to make that single jar go bad. I have had over 12 jars of perfectly scrumptious tomatoes in former chili batches and so this single one was an anomoly. Even still careful attention to detail is certainly not lost when it coms to canning.