Hi! I bought a big sleeve of canning lids from Lehman’s earlier this year. I don’t know if they still have them in quantity, but I’ve been pleased with their quality. I do a lot of canning for my market booth products. I haven’t had a failure with the Lehman’s lids yet. (And this is my second sleeve of them.)
Oh nice, that's good to know! I've heard mixed reviews of the big sleeves, but mostly on the ones people are getting from Amazon. Good to know the Lehmans ones are good! I'll pass that along when people ask me, I've had nothing but good luck with stuff from Lehmans but I haven't gotten lids from them yet.
Yes! I bought bulk lids from Lehman’s this past winter. I believe they are called Superb (from OH) I have used them this year, and out of the 100 + jars (probably closer to 200) I have done (pressure canning and water bath: meats, sauces, veggies, broths, jams, jellies) I had my first 2 failures on ketchup that I processed last night. I’m just going to turn those jars of homemade ketchup into BBQ sauce and process again.
I'm really looking forward to your future blog post on the Thai curries! My husband and I love dinner-in-a-jar from pressure canning and love curries. I saw a curry sauce in Angi Schneider's book that I'm definitely trying this year. I'm also looking at experimenting with making my own butter chicken sauce -- basically tomato sauce with Indian spices instead of Italian spices, which seems to be an acceptable substitution from what I can decipher -- so all I have to do is add coconut milk and butter and chicken when I'm putting dinner together.
Your butter chicken idea sounds amazing, and yes, you can just substitute just about any dry spice in place of another, so Indian themed in place of Italian sounds great! I'm going to give that a try too, and if you come up with a recipe you like, please do share.
My daughter really loves chicken Korma, and we're planning on doing something similar with that. Basically just chicken canned in a curry broth, and we'd add in coconut milk and cashews at serving. I haven't made that one for canning, yet, but that's on my list for this winter.
I made thimbleberry jam for the first time today. It has an interesting flavor and lots of tiny seeds but I will probably make it again. Have to wait and see if the kids and grandkids like it first. Since I had the canner out I pulled strawberries from the overstuffed freezer and made jam. Also made 14 pints of zucchini relish with my monster zucchinis. It's the beginning of canning season for me. Also did applesauce but sadly we don't have many apples this year. Too much rain when they were flowering. Always enjoy your posts, hope you find a house that suits you.
Great blog. We have so many things in the wild thst is ready to harvest as well. We live in zone 3 but have never seen those kind of wild strawberries. Although we do have wild one which are very very tiny. We are picking wild raspberries and Saskatoons right now and hopefully I. A week or so, wild huckleberries and blueberries. I’m excited for you guys moving to new property. Nice you will have a chance to taking cuttings.
A few years ago, out of desperation, I tried dehydrating cherry tomatoes. OMG...so sweet and good because they are so concentrated! I'm a wimp, so I still put them in the freezer in a gallon zip lock baggie, but had I not dehydrated them, they would have taken ten times the space without the flavor. I then just take a handful and throw them in a salad or pesto...whatever, but it is a great way to preserve them! Just slice them in half and they do the rest!
This week has been all about canning tomatoes on our homestead. My husband just tried a new technique for skinning and cooking tomatoes. He halved them and put them in the oven for an hour (cut-side down on sheet trays). Then the skins came off whole and a bunch of the excess water was conveniently released. It really helped with reduction cooking time. 🍅
That's a really spectacular idea! I've heard of the freezing technique to remove the skins, but I never have THAT MUCH freezer space. Popping them through the oven for peeling (and concentrating them down like that) is a great idea! Thank you!
A friend has two pears trees that always produce more than she can use, so we're going to pick up a few bags for pear sauce (as good as applesauce, if not better!) and possibly even pear cider. Yum! I love fall.
We have just finished harvesting our elderberries (6 gallons); I am still overstocked on the last couple of years of jelly, and was wondering if you had any advice on what to do with our berries, i.e. syrup, tincture, etc.?
I know, that's a problem for me too, and I held off on trying them for exactly that reason. The thing is, regular canning lids are lined with something plasticized to keep the acidity in the contents from eating the lid. When I learned that, I decided I'd give the reusable ones a try because either way there's plastic. Store bought tinned cans are also lined, so plastic everywhere! What I'd love to do is switch to the wec jars with glass lids, and maybe I'll have a budget to do that someday....but they're like $8 a jar right now.
Did not know or realize, very good point, Thank you. Will reconsider using. High temp for water bath limited to 212F and 10/15 # pressure move boiling point to 240/250F, so at that temp maybe no change in plastic composition.
Aug 27, 2022·edited Aug 27, 2022Liked by Ashley Adamant
Do you grow your own figs outdoors? I started a few from cuttings, and this spring, planted five bushes outside. I'm curious to see if they survive the winter in Middlebury. Also, with the freeze-dryer, people say that you need to poke holes in things that are sealed by skin, like blueberries or currants, etc. Did you find this necessary? Are all viburnum berries edible? I put a thousand down on a freeze-dryer, and it pumps me up when you write about the ease of operation. It looks like you vacuum sealed the produce in jars--is that right or was that for the pretty picture? Did you use oxygen eaters, or just vacuum seal and will the reusable lids work for that? Thanks!
We're in a older region, and ours have died every year sadly. I mostly did the figs because my mom has so many (in California) and I remember them growing up, I know what a pain it is to preserve them when you have buckets of them.
As to poking holes, it wasn't necessary for blueberries, they just popped and all dried fine. I did lingonberries and husk cherries, and they didn't dry at all. A few of each popped and dreid, but most of them stayed whole and didn't dry. Some fruits do need to be cut or have holes poked in them. I would guess grapes are in that category, but I haven't done those yet since our grapes are about 2 weeks away from ripening.
The ones in jars in the picture are not sealed in any way, and no oxygen absorbers....my kids ate everything right after the pictures so I didn't pack them for long term storage. As soon as I can get ahead of my kids eating habits I'm going to start packing them properly...but that may not be anytime soon.
Sorry for asking in this section, but I would really like to try freeze-drying for myself (and family) but don't know where to get the machine around here. Does anyone have any ideas where I can get a freeze dryer in (or around) Sault Ste Marie, Canada.
I would be most appreciative for any information.
Thanks for the fantastic site and blog, plus all the information.
Hi Ashley, I am new to jelly making. I have a few bushels of Aroni Berries and now about 40 plus pints of Aroni Berry Syrup as opposed to jelly! I keep trying different ways. I bring it to 218 for my area. Do they have any pectin? I've added twice as much lemon juice which tastes great and lots of sugar! This last batch I put in a bunch of lemon seeds will see if this works. The only pectin I have is Pomonas and I made a batch with that, it was so bad I had to throw it out. I have a chestnut Crab Tree with some apples growing but not totally ripe now, I could try some of that boiled in ? QESTION: can I put 1 batch on hold while I make another batch of 3 to 4 pints and then put them all together in the water bath canner? KC
Aronia has almost no pectin and wont gel on its own without added pectin. Since it already has sugar in it now and it's a syrup, the only way to save it is to use liquid pectin as that's the only one you can add the pectin after the sugar is already in there.
As to making a batch of jam and then not processing it after you make another batch, that's not a good idea. If the jars cool too much they can thermal shock and explode when they go in the canner.
I’m so excited to see your pressure canned meals! We tried a tomato stew yesterday, baking it with veggie soup broth, dried rice and lightly cooked ground beef in the oven then added 1tsp sugar before serving and it was amazing! Maybe rice would have to be left out until warming and serving, but something like that or using a squash instead of tomato is what I was thinking about!
Nice. You'd have to leave out the rice until serving, as you say, and the squash would have to be chunks of squash (rather than puree) but if I'm understanding right it may well work. We did a butternut squash and white bean soup from Angi Schneider's pressure canning book and it was amazing. The squash stayed in nice firm cubes, which surprised me. Her recipe has you puree it after it comes out the jar, but we ate it as it was and it was perfect.
I'm so jealous of all the fruit you have been able to harvest this year. Normally we are so overwhelmed that I can't find enough people to give it away to but this year - Nothing! The little we had the darn little striped rats (aka chipmunks) have been plundering. I miss my outdoor kitty, she used to keep the varmints in check.
My favorite tomato recipe I discovered last year when I ended up with so many seconds from the farm. It is the Bloody Mary recipe from Diane Devereaux's pressure canning cookbook. It's basically a spicy vegetable juice but so good! I don't drink bloody marys but fell in love so much that I made sure to make double the amount for this winter and will be much stingier about sharing.
Our outdoor kitty would really do a number on the striped rats, until a fisher cat did a number on him. I miss that guy, and I definitely hear you there.
I'll try that recipe from Diane Devereaux's book. I don't drink bloody mary's myself, but it does sound good as you say, just as a spicy vegetable juice mix.
We do, in fact. When we first moved here we had fewer birds, but plenty of mosquitos and deer flies. Now our bird population has exploded, and there's almost no mosquitos or biting insects of any kind. Planting this much fruit really does have amazing ecosystem benefits, at least for people (not mosquitos =).
Hi! I bought a big sleeve of canning lids from Lehman’s earlier this year. I don’t know if they still have them in quantity, but I’ve been pleased with their quality. I do a lot of canning for my market booth products. I haven’t had a failure with the Lehman’s lids yet. (And this is my second sleeve of them.)
Oh nice, that's good to know! I've heard mixed reviews of the big sleeves, but mostly on the ones people are getting from Amazon. Good to know the Lehmans ones are good! I'll pass that along when people ask me, I've had nothing but good luck with stuff from Lehmans but I haven't gotten lids from them yet.
Yes! I bought bulk lids from Lehman’s this past winter. I believe they are called Superb (from OH) I have used them this year, and out of the 100 + jars (probably closer to 200) I have done (pressure canning and water bath: meats, sauces, veggies, broths, jams, jellies) I had my first 2 failures on ketchup that I processed last night. I’m just going to turn those jars of homemade ketchup into BBQ sauce and process again.
I'm really looking forward to your future blog post on the Thai curries! My husband and I love dinner-in-a-jar from pressure canning and love curries. I saw a curry sauce in Angi Schneider's book that I'm definitely trying this year. I'm also looking at experimenting with making my own butter chicken sauce -- basically tomato sauce with Indian spices instead of Italian spices, which seems to be an acceptable substitution from what I can decipher -- so all I have to do is add coconut milk and butter and chicken when I'm putting dinner together.
Your butter chicken idea sounds amazing, and yes, you can just substitute just about any dry spice in place of another, so Indian themed in place of Italian sounds great! I'm going to give that a try too, and if you come up with a recipe you like, please do share.
My daughter really loves chicken Korma, and we're planning on doing something similar with that. Basically just chicken canned in a curry broth, and we'd add in coconut milk and cashews at serving. I haven't made that one for canning, yet, but that's on my list for this winter.
I'll definitely share if I come up with a good one! And korma is my husband's favourite, so I'm looking forward to that future blog post too!
Wonderful! As soon as I've dialed in a recipe, that korma will be a blog post, hopefully sometime this winter.
I am absolutely amazed by your knowledge. On just about everything from foraging to literature. What a blessing you are. Thank you Ashley.
Thank you so much Bob!
I made thimbleberry jam for the first time today. It has an interesting flavor and lots of tiny seeds but I will probably make it again. Have to wait and see if the kids and grandkids like it first. Since I had the canner out I pulled strawberries from the overstuffed freezer and made jam. Also made 14 pints of zucchini relish with my monster zucchinis. It's the beginning of canning season for me. Also did applesauce but sadly we don't have many apples this year. Too much rain when they were flowering. Always enjoy your posts, hope you find a house that suits you.
We did thimbleberry jam this week too, it's a great year for them here, never seen such big crops!
Great blog. We have so many things in the wild thst is ready to harvest as well. We live in zone 3 but have never seen those kind of wild strawberries. Although we do have wild one which are very very tiny. We are picking wild raspberries and Saskatoons right now and hopefully I. A week or so, wild huckleberries and blueberries. I’m excited for you guys moving to new property. Nice you will have a chance to taking cuttings.
Oh man, just getting Saskatoons is rough. That's a lot later than here, and I complain about our late seasons =)
A few years ago, out of desperation, I tried dehydrating cherry tomatoes. OMG...so sweet and good because they are so concentrated! I'm a wimp, so I still put them in the freezer in a gallon zip lock baggie, but had I not dehydrated them, they would have taken ten times the space without the flavor. I then just take a handful and throw them in a salad or pesto...whatever, but it is a great way to preserve them! Just slice them in half and they do the rest!
I have somehow yet to try dehydrating them! I'll add that to my list for this year =) Thank you!
This week has been all about canning tomatoes on our homestead. My husband just tried a new technique for skinning and cooking tomatoes. He halved them and put them in the oven for an hour (cut-side down on sheet trays). Then the skins came off whole and a bunch of the excess water was conveniently released. It really helped with reduction cooking time. 🍅
That's a really spectacular idea! I've heard of the freezing technique to remove the skins, but I never have THAT MUCH freezer space. Popping them through the oven for peeling (and concentrating them down like that) is a great idea! Thank you!
A friend has two pears trees that always produce more than she can use, so we're going to pick up a few bags for pear sauce (as good as applesauce, if not better!) and possibly even pear cider. Yum! I love fall.
YUM!
We have just finished harvesting our elderberries (6 gallons); I am still overstocked on the last couple of years of jelly, and was wondering if you had any advice on what to do with our berries, i.e. syrup, tincture, etc.?
With that many, I'd go for elderberry wine! It's delicious, and I'd recommend making it with honey instead of sugar. Recipe here: https://practicalselfreliance.com/elderberry-wine/
I too am all in for reuse and repurpose stuff, and very cost effective reusing 6-8 times, but plastic and high heat near food I eat is an obstacle.
I know, that's a problem for me too, and I held off on trying them for exactly that reason. The thing is, regular canning lids are lined with something plasticized to keep the acidity in the contents from eating the lid. When I learned that, I decided I'd give the reusable ones a try because either way there's plastic. Store bought tinned cans are also lined, so plastic everywhere! What I'd love to do is switch to the wec jars with glass lids, and maybe I'll have a budget to do that someday....but they're like $8 a jar right now.
Did not know or realize, very good point, Thank you. Will reconsider using. High temp for water bath limited to 212F and 10/15 # pressure move boiling point to 240/250F, so at that temp maybe no change in plastic composition.
Do you grow your own figs outdoors? I started a few from cuttings, and this spring, planted five bushes outside. I'm curious to see if they survive the winter in Middlebury. Also, with the freeze-dryer, people say that you need to poke holes in things that are sealed by skin, like blueberries or currants, etc. Did you find this necessary? Are all viburnum berries edible? I put a thousand down on a freeze-dryer, and it pumps me up when you write about the ease of operation. It looks like you vacuum sealed the produce in jars--is that right or was that for the pretty picture? Did you use oxygen eaters, or just vacuum seal and will the reusable lids work for that? Thanks!
There are a number of zone 5 figs, and Charlie Nardozi has done several gardening shows about how he grows them in the warmer parts of Vermont. I think he's even by middlebury? Anyhow, here's one of his articles on the topic, they do need special protection and considerations, but apparently it works: https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/all-things-gardening/2022-02-27/fancy-up-your-fruit-growing-this-summer-and-plant-fig-trees-in-containers
We're in a older region, and ours have died every year sadly. I mostly did the figs because my mom has so many (in California) and I remember them growing up, I know what a pain it is to preserve them when you have buckets of them.
As to poking holes, it wasn't necessary for blueberries, they just popped and all dried fine. I did lingonberries and husk cherries, and they didn't dry at all. A few of each popped and dreid, but most of them stayed whole and didn't dry. Some fruits do need to be cut or have holes poked in them. I would guess grapes are in that category, but I haven't done those yet since our grapes are about 2 weeks away from ripening.
The ones in jars in the picture are not sealed in any way, and no oxygen absorbers....my kids ate everything right after the pictures so I didn't pack them for long term storage. As soon as I can get ahead of my kids eating habits I'm going to start packing them properly...but that may not be anytime soon.
Sorry for asking in this section, but I would really like to try freeze-drying for myself (and family) but don't know where to get the machine around here. Does anyone have any ideas where I can get a freeze dryer in (or around) Sault Ste Marie, Canada.
I would be most appreciative for any information.
Thanks for the fantastic site and blog, plus all the information.
I believe Harvest Right ships to Canada, and that's where we got ours.
Look at Havest Right….everyone who can afford them love them
Hi Ashley, I am new to jelly making. I have a few bushels of Aroni Berries and now about 40 plus pints of Aroni Berry Syrup as opposed to jelly! I keep trying different ways. I bring it to 218 for my area. Do they have any pectin? I've added twice as much lemon juice which tastes great and lots of sugar! This last batch I put in a bunch of lemon seeds will see if this works. The only pectin I have is Pomonas and I made a batch with that, it was so bad I had to throw it out. I have a chestnut Crab Tree with some apples growing but not totally ripe now, I could try some of that boiled in ? QESTION: can I put 1 batch on hold while I make another batch of 3 to 4 pints and then put them all together in the water bath canner? KC
Aronia has almost no pectin and wont gel on its own without added pectin. Since it already has sugar in it now and it's a syrup, the only way to save it is to use liquid pectin as that's the only one you can add the pectin after the sugar is already in there.
As to making a batch of jam and then not processing it after you make another batch, that's not a good idea. If the jars cool too much they can thermal shock and explode when they go in the canner.
I’m so excited to see your pressure canned meals! We tried a tomato stew yesterday, baking it with veggie soup broth, dried rice and lightly cooked ground beef in the oven then added 1tsp sugar before serving and it was amazing! Maybe rice would have to be left out until warming and serving, but something like that or using a squash instead of tomato is what I was thinking about!
Nice. You'd have to leave out the rice until serving, as you say, and the squash would have to be chunks of squash (rather than puree) but if I'm understanding right it may well work. We did a butternut squash and white bean soup from Angi Schneider's pressure canning book and it was amazing. The squash stayed in nice firm cubes, which surprised me. Her recipe has you puree it after it comes out the jar, but we ate it as it was and it was perfect.
I'm so jealous of all the fruit you have been able to harvest this year. Normally we are so overwhelmed that I can't find enough people to give it away to but this year - Nothing! The little we had the darn little striped rats (aka chipmunks) have been plundering. I miss my outdoor kitty, she used to keep the varmints in check.
My favorite tomato recipe I discovered last year when I ended up with so many seconds from the farm. It is the Bloody Mary recipe from Diane Devereaux's pressure canning cookbook. It's basically a spicy vegetable juice but so good! I don't drink bloody marys but fell in love so much that I made sure to make double the amount for this winter and will be much stingier about sharing.
Our outdoor kitty would really do a number on the striped rats, until a fisher cat did a number on him. I miss that guy, and I definitely hear you there.
I'll try that recipe from Diane Devereaux's book. I don't drink bloody mary's myself, but it does sound good as you say, just as a spicy vegetable juice mix.
Your verity of berries is incredible. I bet you have birds all about on the farm.
We do, in fact. When we first moved here we had fewer birds, but plenty of mosquitos and deer flies. Now our bird population has exploded, and there's almost no mosquitos or biting insects of any kind. Planting this much fruit really does have amazing ecosystem benefits, at least for people (not mosquitos =).