Putting Up Preserves

[launderess]

Watching lots of vintage television as one does it seems "putting up my preserves" was big with housewives/households late as the 1960's. Do people still do this?

Growing up know many Italian families in area "canned" tomatoes from their own gardens. Now and then friends will give us chutney or other preserves they've done themselves.

Bought job lot of Mason jars at a thrift years ago for very little money. However only have used them to store laundry products. *LOL*

 

[neptunebob]

One of my sisters used to make grape jelly, it is an all day affair over a hot range.  You won't have time or energy for anything else that day.

 

[mattl]

I do a couple dozen quarts of tomatoes every fall.  Give some to relatives other I keep. Does not take that long, 2 -3 hours I'm done.  Processing add to that, but actual work time is not too bad for the results.

 

Can't beat home canned tomatoes...

 

[kate1]

I can things from my own garden. Around here it’s extremely common still and every fall you see women getting together and having marathon canning sessions. Canning supplies are also very common wedding gifts. I love having food that I’ve grown available to me throughout winter.

 

[combo52]

I sure do

Even this winter on February 15 the local grocery store had a surplus of Roma tomatoes and gave me over a bushel of them for $20 and I turned it into tomato sauce one evening only took a few hours with the pressure canner.

And don’t forget the famous canning parties that we’ve had at the WaireHouse Museum.

John

 

[combo52]

Home canning is so much easier today

With a dishwasher modern electric range central air conditioning it’s a breeze, and canning in February was really nice because all that heat felt so good,lol

John

 

[xraytech]

Still do plenty of canning here, I can whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, dill pickles, applesauce, string beans, peach jam, plum jam, black raspberry jelly, occasionally sour cherry jelly.
Also like to fry hot Hungarian peppers and onions in grease and can with tomato sauce.

Hoping to get into some slightly more time consuming stuff, like canned new potatoes and stew beef

 

[tomturbomatic]

When Sandy threatened us with power failures, I had a bunch of raw ground meat so I turned it into sloppy joes and pressure canned it. It worked out fine at 10 pounds of pressure and I did not have to worry about keeping it refrigerated, but fortunately, the power stayed on. YAY!

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Really admire people who do canning and preserve making (called jam on my side of the tracks). John's ( Combo52) photo of canned Roma tomatoes is suitable for framing...very nice!</span>

 

[oliger]

I'm known by the whole family for the best jellies and jams. I can a lot of vegetables in fall with the old bomb-exploding type of pressure cooker. Preserves are pretty much jam with whole pieces in it.

 

[foraloysius]

Here is how they do it in Italy.

 

[mattl]

Glad to see it's not a lost art.  I'm one of the few in my family that still cans.  I also dehydrate Roma tomatoes for "sun dried" tomatoes, if you ever buy them you know the cost.  I can buy a half bushel and dry them for the cost of one small package.  I have a dehydrator but use my oven.  It has a dehydrate function.  Been temped to make jerky but never have.

 

[lordkenmore]

I've never tried canning, although I have had some interest. But...I've never actually gotten around to it. Too lazy, perhaps. Plus I'd probably worry about doing something wrong--even if I slavishly followed the latest instructions--and killing myself with food poisoning.

I'd be more likely to try freezing.

 

[mattl]

The only change I"ve made to my canning process over the past few decades is to add Ascorbic Acid to the tomatoes.  Historically the tomatoes were more acidic, now not so much.  Still use open kettle, still use old jars for the most part.

 

[tolivac]

Remember canning tomatoes from long ago-from my Moms and Stepdads garden.Was sort of fun-yes AC helps here-did it during the summer!The canning pot took up two burners on the GE cooktop.Another burner for the blanching pot.That was my job-we had quite a production line.Those Kerr canning jars-you could get them at any grocer at that time.The box of jars had the lids,too.

 

[neptunebob]

I know that in the 1800's, people could not stand to can horseradish sauce.  A man named Henry J. Heinz took on the job of canning the vegetable and made a fortune.  Horseradish sauce, along with a lot of other foods are made by a leading Pittsburgh company, HJ Heinz. 

 

[frigilux]

While I don't have the space to store a lot of home-canned goods, the upright freezer that arrives next week means I'll be able to make freezer jam (blueberry; peach; strawberry; rhubarb) this summer!

I've always enjoyed canning tomato sauce and salsa, but rarely eat anyone else's home-canned goods unless I know they follow current food safety rules.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Hey Launderess,

As has been mentioned, you can also use the jars to freeze. When I make stock I "put it up" in pints and quarts. I do the same with chili. I've also made strawberry-rhubarb jam and rhubarb/orange/carrot marmalade and put it in 8 and 12oz jars. I used to make Concord grape jam, but the birds have been feasting on my grapes the last few years before I get a chance to get out there.

Just be sure to boil/sterilize the jars and lids, fill with the molten lava (jam), wipe the rim, put the lid and ring on hand tight and flip them upside down for 10-15 minutes. Invert to upright and when cool enough, freeze.

Good luck,
Chuck

 

[norgeway]

Grew up

Watching my Grandmother, I still can, Hopefully I can grow a good garden this year and have tomatoes , green beans, squash, and who knows what all else, I make pickles and jellies too., Apple butter is my favorite thing, I make it in the crock pot.

 

[ea56]

I’ve personally

never done any canning, but over 40 years ago I did make jam, both plum and blackberry.

But my paternal Grandma canned EVERYTHING! My grandparents owned a vacant city lot next to their home in Richmond, Calif. Grandpa grew a vegetable garden that took up the entire lot. He grew corn, green beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, beets, strawberries, blackberries, you name it, he grew it. Grandma ran a dry cleaners in El Cerrito and after working all day taking in dry cleaning and laundry and doing alterations, in the Summer, after dinner she got out both of her huge Presto National canners and set to canning. What Grandpa didn’t grow, like peaches and pears, Grandma picked at truck farms by the bushel basket and she canned them too.

They had a basement where the rows and rows of Mason jars, filled with the fruits of Grandma’s labor were stored. She also canned Mince Meat that she used Venison in, my Mom just raved about ther Mince Meat, and she made crocks full of Sauerkraut too. We had Grandma’s canned vegetables, fruits and jams at every meal when we went to visit. Her canned green beans were out of this world.

This was the way many of our grandparents generation managed to make ends meet during the Depression and how they coped with rationing during WWII.

My maternal Grandma stopped canning just as soon as Grandpa bought her an upright Admiral freezer. She froze strawberries and peaches that were way better than any that you can buy in the store.

Eddie

 

[mixguy]

Canning

I started do home canning to maintain some of the traditions my grandmothers used to make and my mom is also not doing all that she used to as well. When I go to some of the festivals and see the prices of preserves being sold, I told myself it is time for me to begin doing some of this myself. I started out making things using the recipes packed the Sure-Jell powdered pectin. Fig jam and blackberry jelly were family favorites I tried first and was successful. Followed by fig preserves and kumquat marmalade. All of these are great on homemade bread or biscuits. The marmalade also makes a great glaze on roasted chicken or pork loin. Fig glazed roast pork or ham is delicious too. This past year I made the family Chow Chow recipe and my mother and sister said I "nailed it!" Tasting just like they remembered. The relish (Chow-Chow) recipe is not highly peppered like man recipes I have seen, this one is sweet and contains the acid of apple cider vinegar and prepared mustard also, pickling spice is also simmered in a sachet in the mix. Most of what I made is given away to family as gifts as most of this is in 8 oz. jars However the Chow-Chow recipe yields so much that I canned pints and a couple of quarts of the stuff too. Will bring one to the next family gathering we will have.

 

[ea56]

If you haven’t tried it, Plum jam makes a delicious glaze for Baked Ham. I use about a 1/3 of a cup of Plum jam and mix in about a tablespoon of brown sugar and a 1/2 tsp of dry mustard. I spead this mixture on the ham during the last 30 mins or so of the baking time.

Eddie

 

[brisnat81]

I grew up with 1 acre of vegetables, so every summer was full of bottling and freezing.

We would generally bottle high acid foods, like Tomato's (With Added acid), and fruits in a sugar syrup. This was all done using Fowlers Vaccola bottles, lids and seals in a water bath.

Beetroot, cucumbers got pickled in vinegar, and sealed with wax in jars, the same with Tomato Sauce (Ketchup). I hated that stuff as a kid, it was vinegary and peppery, it was always a huge treat to have bought ketchup.

Beans, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Peas all got blanched and frozen.

By the age of 10 I took over all the bottling (Canning) and got paid 5c per jar that I completed. Mum did the preserves and frozen vegetables because they needed cooking/blanching and handling boiling water. With the Bottling, they went in cold and came out cold, so the risk was minimal. With the tomato's, mum would blanch them and then I'd end up with a tub of them bobbing in cold water to peel.

When my grandmother went into a home, I inherited the Fowlers Vaccola Water bath unit that we'd always used. I need to start collecting the bottles, even just to do a batch, but the effort now without the big garden, hardly seems worth it.

 

[circlew]

I used to make raspberry jelly nearly every Summer, and occasionally pickles, but I've not done so for several years. I hope to do so again in the future.

My mom would can tomatoes, green beans, strawberry jelly, and freeze corn many years. We didn't have a big garden, but a couple of her friends did, so they would let her pick what she wanted as they had plenty.

My sister lives on a farm, and therefore has a very large (approx. 30' x 80') garden. She grows just about any kind of vegetable - lettuce, corn, beets, etc. and cans most of them. Most of the people in her area have gardens, and also can and freeze.

No offense to Launderess, but her original post illustrates how out of touch many city people are as to what goes on in rural areas of this country.

 

[mattl]

Growing up my mother used to make strawberry rhubarb jam, been many decades since I had any.  She always used to put paraffin on top to seal it.  I ave all her recipes but can't say I have came across that one.  Once in a while I'm tempted to make some, but always seem to be busy in mid June when the berries hit.

 

[launderess]

Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam

Is probably one of the top fruit preserve combinations out there; has been so for decades....

You can find recipes online or in many cookbooks. There are two main versions; those made with pectin, and those without. Some mix in other berries like blackberries or raspberries. When going with a non-pectin recipe something else (another fruit or something) will need to be added to compensate for fact rhubarb doesn't contain any.

 

[frigilux]

Not sure why, but even though my second favorite pie is strawberry-rhubarb (blueberry takes the checkered flag) I prefer keeping them separate as preserves.

This thread has me all jazzed for making jam this summer!

 

[oliger]

"This thread has me all jazzed for making jam this summer! "

I've been jazzed up for making jam since September. I don't like winter at all, but if there was no winter, Summer wouldn't seem as great.

 

[jeff_adelphi]

Last falls tomato canning

Whole tomatoes, Soup, and Sauce

 

[oliger]

How many tomato plants did you have?