I have spent many of my days this summer canning yummy foods. I have made roughly 120 half pints of jam, strawberry-rhubarb, blueberry, raspberry, peach-jalapeño. I have been able to share it with my friends and family. I also have done other things like candied jalapeños, and just fruit now as it is coming ripe. I feel fortunate that I now have a connection to a couple who have a ranch here in Idaho and have lots of fruit trees and berries there. He and his wife have not been able to use their produce the past few years and have now offered it to me! So I have a good supply of fruit coming in for free!
Oh yes, I also did bell peppers and a zucchini relish, as well as something called escabeche, which is a very rustic Mexican relish. Those were all first time recipes for me and fortunately I liked them. Lots of zucchini on hand! Like always 😂. It’s certainly a prolific plant. I hope to get pumpkin done, as well as some other things.
I hope you are all well. I always look forward to hearing from you. Love, Kelly
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You have been very busy, Kelly, and very productive! That is a lot of canning! I used to make a lot of fruit jams and chutneys, as well as pickles. After longer than it should have taken, I noticed that all we were eating was the strawberry jam, raspberry if I had it, and a few fresh pack dill pickles! All those home-made good things will taste so good when winter comes. As my Dad used to say, you are a good hunter/gatherer! Do you make Apple butter or Pumpkin butter? That may be a Southern thing, but they sure are good! Dried apples for fried apple pies, or just to snack on..you may have inspired me to do a bit of canning myself, when apple season gets here in a month or so! Thanks for all the memories, Linda
Sounds like your loving and living life! Happy for you. It's been decades since I canned anything. I have jars stashed away. I think you may have inspired me. 😀
I was blessed to receive some jars that some friends had stashed away that they no longer wanted. Probably 10 dozen or so. Needless to say they had not seen the light of day for many years and had plenty of cobwebs and such in them! But it was wonderful to get them. People have been great about returning the jars after they finish the jam and peppers, etc. I’m happy to share my product and I always encourage them to return the jars so that I can refill them again and again! With new lids, of course!
That all sounds absolutely wonderful! I haven't canned in years, and my attempt at jelly last fall was a complete failure. I still haven't managed to get the pot clean. I may try again this year, but I need someone else to pick the cherries that are finally getting ripe.
The birds have eaten the cherries from my local source. And buying them is so expensive. I ended up freezing some, instead of canning them. I think I can mix them with some other fruit later this winter to create a yummy jam.
Wonderful Idea. I went through all of my yarn and if I get busy, I might be able to make something for 8 grand kids and their parents. Plus I've already started a Corner 2 Corner blanket for one of my closest friends.
I have a small Nectarine tree and it is Loaded! If I can keep birds off it during the day and night some night time critters away at night. Any suggestions of what to make with nectarines. I am I hoping to have a few to share soon I have two neighbors that each bring me a full grocery bag full of yellow navel oranges fresh off their trees. Time for me to reciprocate. I started the tree from a nectarine pit years ago. I like to do that, see what I can grow from various fruit pits. Avocado trees, I can get started, but they have to be a much bigger tree to produce, and I don't have anywhere plant something that big.
Nectarine jam is very, very easy to make. It just needs the fruit, sugar and lemon juice. You don’t need to peel nectarines like you do with peaches, so it goes much faster. I macerate the nectarines in the sugar overnight, but first you put the lemon juice over them to keep them from turning brown. It’s a great recipe for easy jam! You can google the recipe or I can always send it.
Sounds like a wonderful summer! 🎉 We are eating most of ours, not much to give away this year. The girls have enjoyed purple and blue veg that we can't get in stores!
I have rediscovered this after years of not canning. I really love doing it and don’t think of it as work. I enjoy doing it and having summer in a jar later on in the winter!
That is just great.. my husband gardens and we just give away what we can't use but right now we are in a bit of a drought.. we are not watering much at all.. I totally admire the canners in the world though
I have never been a cook. It's a wonder our kids didn't starve to death! If I have a recipe and 8 hours I can probably get something made but it's such a struggle. When food is done, it gets eaten in just a few minutes. So it just kills me that after struggling for a long time, it's eaten SO fast. Then there's clean up...
Wow! What a work ethic you have. I can't imagine canning that much food. In fact, I've never canned any food at all. My mom used to but I never have gotten in to doing it so I miss out on a lot of terrific food. I'm glad you're doing well enough to have the energy to attack with such a large project. I'm sure you'll get pumpkin canning accomplished the way you've done the rest of your garden. Good to catch up and hear from you. Take Care and have a terrific rest of the summer and growing season. Fancy59.
Oh, I live in an apartment, so I don’t have a garden. I buy from the farmers market here and thankfully I have kind friends who have given me produce from their gardens. Yes, I plan to do some nice recipes with the pumpkins as they ripen. I was given an old cookbook that has some great recipes. I have been trying those.
Hurrah for you! Ah, homemade jams! Aren't they the best?
I don't do nearly as much canning as I used to, but still keep my hand in. We moved from 20 acres to a postage stamp lot in town, so we only have 2 small raised beds. We tore out nearly all the ornamental plants in the back yard and put in berries. We figure if we are going to water something, it had better produce something!
I wish we could have stayed, but I just couldn't handle the workload anymore. We had ducks, chickens, and turkeys after giving up the goats and bees. But we had many fruit trees, wine and table grapes, tons of berries, and vegetable gardens. I was never bored! I was glad we did it all because it was my husband's dream.
wow this is fantastic ...free fruit and new recipes to go along with all of it ...you have found a gold mine and will help with your grocery bill and some great fruit that you can use all year long ...wow...take care and enjoy your new friends ....love and happiness...
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