This year's weather has been tough! It was so cool for so long and then...BAM!...hot. Blueberries didn't fair very well--we missed out on those all together. Our favorite picking farm really struggled to have berries available to pick and those already picked were so expensive! But the peaches are beautiful and plentiful.
First half bushel gave me:
2 batches Peach Salsa
1 batch Peach-Pineapple Jam
peaches gobbled by the family :-)
I just picked up another half bushel today at the market. In a couple days I plan to can quarts of peaches in light syrup. Haven't done that in ages, but these are so good and much more reasonable than the past couple of years. The farmer tells me I should get about 12 quarts from my half bushel; we'll see how I do.
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Strawberry Jam Recipes
I usually count on the recipe sheet inside the little box of pectin when it comes to making our favorite jams. This year, however, they have a new little bottle of pectin that you buy instead of the boxes. No more little recipe sheet! I'm typing in my favorite recipes here so I'll be able to find them next year! (Both recipes are from Ball pectin.)
Strawberry Lemon Marmalade
4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 1-lb containers)
1/4 cup thinly sliced lemon peel (about 2 medium lemons) (We used the zester for smaller pieces)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
6 cups sugar
Hull and crush berries one layer at a time using a potato masher. Combine lemon peel and water to cover. Simmer 5 minutes. Drain and discard liquid. Add peel to prepared strawberries. Gradually stir in pectin. Add up to 1/2 tsp. margarine to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly. Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Fill jars, seal and water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 7 (8 oz) half pints
Triple Berry Jam
2 1/2 cups crushed strawberries (about 2 1-lb containers)
1 1/2 cups crushed raspberries (about 3 6-oz containers) (I pulled from the freezer)
1 cup crushed blueberries
7 cups sugar
Hull strawberries and stem blueberries. Crush berries one layer at a time using potato masher. Gradually stir in pectin. Add up to 1/2 tsp. margarine to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly. Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Fill jars, seal and water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 8 (8 oz) half pints
Strawberry Lemon Marmalade
4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 1-lb containers)
1/4 cup thinly sliced lemon peel (about 2 medium lemons) (We used the zester for smaller pieces)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
6 cups sugar
Hull and crush berries one layer at a time using a potato masher. Combine lemon peel and water to cover. Simmer 5 minutes. Drain and discard liquid. Add peel to prepared strawberries. Gradually stir in pectin. Add up to 1/2 tsp. margarine to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly. Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Fill jars, seal and water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 7 (8 oz) half pints
Triple Berry Jam
2 1/2 cups crushed strawberries (about 2 1-lb containers)
1 1/2 cups crushed raspberries (about 3 6-oz containers) (I pulled from the freezer)
1 cup crushed blueberries
7 cups sugar
Hull strawberries and stem blueberries. Crush berries one layer at a time using potato masher. Gradually stir in pectin. Add up to 1/2 tsp. margarine to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly. Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Fill jars, seal and water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 8 (8 oz) half pints
Strawberries
The strawberries came late and quickly this year, only lasting about 2 1/2 weeks. When I went looking for them this Saturday, there weren't any at the Farmer's Market. Ugh! DH and I headed north a bit to the orchards and got lucky. I got a flat of big, beautiful strawberries for $20.
Once home, PinkOne and I made several batches of jam and I froze a few containers. I tried something new this year for the frozen berries--sliced and a little bit of sugar. Once the juice started to flow a little bit, I packaged them up in the ZipLock little bowls (1 3/4 cup size) and popped them in the freezer. We'll see how we like them that way.
One flat of strawberries equals:
Once home, PinkOne and I made several batches of jam and I froze a few containers. I tried something new this year for the frozen berries--sliced and a little bit of sugar. Once the juice started to flow a little bit, I packaged them up in the ZipLock little bowls (1 3/4 cup size) and popped them in the freezer. We'll see how we like them that way.
One flat of strawberries equals:
- 5 bowls of frozen berries & sugar
- 1 batch (3 1/2 pints) Strawberry Lemon Marmalade (by PinkOne)
- 2 batches (8 1/2 pints) Triple Berry
Not bad for the weekend!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Eating Bon-Bons and Watching TV
That's what my DH says I'm going to be doing whenever I get some time home alone. RIGHT! Today my family headed for an airshow. While I enjoy the Blue Angels as much as the next Mom, I had things to do here.
My dear friend Dana brought a bucket of cucumbers to MNO (Mom's Nite Out) Thursday. I w
as so excited! So today I made Bread & Butter pickles with them. This family goes through a ton of these in a year. So I'll have to make another batch--or three. But that's okay, these are special Dana's-Own Homegrown Cucumber Pickles. THANKS, DANA!
as so excited! So today I made Bread & Butter pickles with them. This family goes through a ton of these in a year. So I'll have to make another batch--or three. But that's okay, these are special Dana's-Own Homegrown Cucumber Pickles. THANKS, DANA!That wasn't enough to keep me busy (my pickle recipe calls for the cukes and onions to sit for 3 hours before you process them), so I made a chocolate cake for the family reunion that is tomorrow afternoon. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman. Go check her out if you've never visited her before. (www.thepioneerwoman.com) She has some of the best recipes. (And her pictures are way better than mine.) But my The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. looks so yummy! I really wanted to test a piece, but it's not my family's family reunion. It's hubby's family. If it was my family, they'd totally understand the little corner missing. But that probably wouldn't fly so well with DH's family. I'm resisting.
I scored a quart of sour cherries at the Farmer's Market this mo
rning. So once the cake was in the oven, I pitted the cherries.
rning. So once the cake was in the oven, I pitted the cherries. Not quite enough there for jam--bummer--but definitely enough for Sour Cherry Upside-Down Cake. Yeah! I LOVE this stuff! This recipe is from the Yarn Harlot. (www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/) She has a sour cherry tree outside her home and posted a funny--of course--story about it along with the cherry upside-down cake recipe. I wasn't a huge cherry fan until I tried this recipe.
Now when I flipped the cake out of the pan, a little bit stuck to the bottom. Oh yeah, I definitely scraped the pan clean. Just as a test. It's as good as I remembered it to be. I'll save the rest for my weary family. They will get home eventually. Apparently the traffic leaving the airshow is horrendous. But I'm told they had a great day. So did I.
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