A Bit of Last-Minute Canning

 

We decided about a month ago that we weren't going to do any canning this fall. 

Nope, none. No time--especially not with trying to sell our house and pack. 

Just no.

Then we harvested 4 buckets of apples from our apple tree. 

Wormy apples, most of them, but good tasting despite that.

Then before frost hit, we harvested tomatoes galore--bins and bowls and strainers full. Also, 4 buckets of green tomatoes. Plus onions, peppers (sweet and hot), cucumbers.

I just couldn't stand to see all that produce go to waste!

I made some comments about giving it away, but deep down, I didn't want to! My kids had worked so hard on their gardens this year and we were blessed with this abundant harvest. 

I just had to do something with it.

So. We had already packed all of our empty bottles, and some of the canning equipment, like the Vittorio strainer for applesauce. 

Moms to the rescue! I knew my mom still had her Vittorio strainer, and bless her heart, she also had bottles that she just gave to me! 

I had stocked up on lids last year, which was a good thing, since they are very scarce this fall.

So last week we did our homeschool Monday through Wednesday, then we were off to Grandma's Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday was applesauce day! 

It was so fun to can with my mom! It was actually the first time I've been able to do that.

She has a pretty slick setup for canning in her new house, let me tell you.

25 quarts of applesauce, done!

Then Friday we went down to my mother-in-law's to take care of the rest.

She had offered to just do it for us, but we couldn't let her do that.

We came bearing all of our tomatoes, onions, and peppers, several spices, and various other assorted canning things we could round up.

I think we all underestimated the sheer amount of tomatoes we had to process.

She kept pulling bottles out of her garage--by the time all was said and done, we had used up every last bottle on her shelf, except for the extra small half-pint sizes.

We did 28 quarts of regular red salsa on Friday.

Saturday we did 14 quarts + 7 pints of green tomato pickles.

Since we can't even open those for 3 weeks, we won't know how we like them until after the move.

We finished up the day Saturday with 21 pints of salsa verde, also using the green tomatoes.

Phew!

In addition, I have a big batch of barbecue sauce that I need to finish up here at home tomorrow, and get it canned. It was way to vinegary for my taste, but we ran out of bottles, so I didn't finish working on it. We will have to pull a box of pint jars out of storage to put the BBQ sauce into!

It's ironic that we made so much salsa this year, since I haven't made it for several years.

I hadn't found a recipe I liked, so it seemed a waste of time.

I am happy to report we all tried the salsa--both varieties--and liked them.

That's a relief!

So after I can BBQ sauce tomorrow, then I'll really be done. For real, this time.

No, I mean it.

Second wave of packing up starts this week! 

We are a little more than 2 weeks out from moving truck.

Humble Pie, and Other Delicacies

So, remember how last week I swore up and down that I NEVER planted anything in July anymore, because “Ho, ho, aren’t I so smart now?” or something along those lines… Yeah, well, maybe it’s good for us every so often to make such definite statements—gives our guardian angels a great laugh. So, here I am this week—yup, it’s still July folks—planting my fool head off! How does this happen?! I’ll tell you.

A certain friendly neighbor of mine, who happens to love gardening and plants as well, offered to share a bunch of starts with me. Starts = baby plants! I can’t turn down free plants! It’s not in my DNA. Plus, she had some plants that I’ve been wanting—feverfew! lady’s mantle!—plus several more that I am happy to have. It was a short contest between conflicting core values: never plant in the heat of July vs. here, take some free plants! There was a clear winner. I filled up every pot I had brought along with me, and then some.

Okay, okay. I will give you a list of everything I brought home, because I can tell you are DYING to know. (HA! Yeah right. Just humor me, alright?) 

Lady’s mantle: the leaves are as beautiful as the flowers! (Not sure why these have different color veins.)

Feverfew (as mentioned) x 12

Lady’s mantle x 3

White irises x 3—big and beautiful; these things are at least 3 feet tall;

White perennial phlox x 10

Heuchera—one long, ungainly stalk that I split into 2 pieces

Purple salvia x 1

Wednesday I planted half of the feverfew, all 3 lady’s mantle, the salvia, one phlox start, and the heuchera. I have been under some pressure to get the rest done. You see, we are leaving on a trip tomorrow morning—Saturday. In this hot weather, I had my doubts that these starts would live through our absence, unless I could get them into the ground.

There they are. Yum!

Thursday was going to be Round 2 of planting. Best laid plans often go awry, and all of that, because instead we ended canning apricots. My awesome in-laws brought up several boxes of apricots and even stayed to help us can them. 36 jars of apricots and 18 jars of jam later, we got that taken care of. I’m happy that we did it—we love apricots! However, it didn’t leave much time for more planting. I got a little bit more planting in during the 45 minute window after I put kids to bed and before dark. I also acquired approximately 53 more mosquito bites during that same time frame.

Today, though. It had to happen! I got up and walked out the door to sprinkling rain! What?! In July? I was LOVING it! Perfect transplanting weather, for the win! It stayed cool and rained on and off all day. I was so happy!

This was my Planting Priority Plan (or PPP for short!):

1. Last 3 feverfew: these were in the smaller 6” pots and I didn’t think they would make it while we’re gone unless they’re in the ground. The only setback was that I wasn’t 100% sure where I wanted to put them. I ended up planting them in the back corner flowerbed, around the birdbath.
2. Phlox: these would have been #1, because they kept wilting on me, but the place I wanted to plant them was very dry (side task: replace the sprinkler head there!). So, I needed to put the water on that area. The rain helped me out there, but I did add a little extra water prior to planting just to soften up the under layers of dirt. Some of these also went into that back corner flowerbed— I think planted 3 different groups there—then I put one right in the middle of my front oval bed. Oh, and a few over by the honeysuckle bush.
3. Irises: of all my precious pass-along plants (PPP for short—again), these got the vote of “Most Likely to Survive While We’re Gone.” So they were my last priority for planting, and I actually didn’t get to them today. Not stressing about it.

As usual, it took a long time to get all these plants in the ground, because I was pulling out bindweed for 20-30 minutes first in every location. Sigh. An Abomination of Bindweed.

I’m very excited to add all these plants to my flowerbeds! The white will be especially useful in making arrangements, because it goes with all the other colors. Yes, they are all going into my flowerbeds at this point. I want to get set up with raised beds that are full of perennials just for cutting, but I have not made that happen just yet. I think when I take out that dead cherry tree out back, I want to put a raised bed in its place and fill it up with coneflowers and daisies of different varieties. #goals

That rain today was such a blessing! I was able to get all my outside chores done, then come in and put together flower arrangements for my 2 business subscribers, get packed, get my baby’s clothes packed, and still make it down to my niece’s rehearsal dinner down in Provo (1.5 hour drive.) Busy day!

My husband brought me home a new hose, sprinkler, and timer for the garden, so that it will get watered while we’re gone, bless him. I still need to figure out drip irrigation, but I haven’t taken the time to sit down and do it. Our sprinkler from last year—and our best hose—both sprung big leaks this summer, so that has been an issue.

We’re off! I’ll see you next week—maybe I’ll have some fabulous wildlife pictures to share. :)

Victorio strainer vs. Kitchenaid food mill (+ 8 quarts applesauce)

I almost forgot--I got 8 more quarts of applesauce canned this month, with the help of my in-laws.

This time I used a Victorio strainer, and I really liked it.

In the past I've just used the applesauce/food mill attachments on our KitchenAid Mixer.

3 things stood out to me using the Victorio strainer:

1. It was not as high off the counter. That meant I could scoop apples into it standing on the ground, vs. standing on a stool. My kids still would have had to be on a stool, but they wouldn't have had to reach so high. When you're dealing with hot cooked apples, shorter reaches are better.

I did have to put a casserole pan underneath to catch the applesauce rather than a bowl, since it was so near to the counter, but that worked out okay.

2. The hopper, where you put all the apples to be squished, and the actual strainer part were much bigger on the Victorio strainer. I could put half the saucepan of cooked apples in there at a time.

That was nice and made the job go much quicker.

These 8 quarts worth took maybe 2 1/2 hours all together, including cutting them in quarters, cooking them, squishing, and canning.

3. I didn't mind cranking by hand. 

With the mixer, you turn it on low and it churns away, so I wondered how it would compare having to do it by hand. It wasn't bad at all. Not hard; kind of relaxing, in a way.

I'm a little sad I did it while my kids were at school, actually, because I think they would have really enjoyed it.

* * * * *

They both were about the same to clean out at the end--kind of a pain.

The apple waste coming out the end of the strainer attachment did not look like poop, unlike the Kitchenaid waste. My kids would say that's a negative!

I like that I have a non-electric option for easily making applesauce.

I felt a real connection to my grandmother ancestors cranking away.

Going back to the good old days and the good old ways!

Also, I was intrigued by the other uses mentioned for it: making seedless jams and jellies, making purees and baby food, straining squash and pumpkin for smooth stringless pies, etc...

I want to explore these further!

I'm sure we'll still use the food mill attachment on the KitchenAid for some things, but I'm glad I have the option now of using the Victorio strainer.

* * * * *

Have you used both? Which do you prefer?

Applesauce, Tomato Sauce, & Carrots

I've gotten a few more things processed these past few weeks.

Started off with applesauce, though not much of it.

We had one box of Honey Crisp apples that were getting soft, so the kids and I got that done.

It yielded 4 quarts of a chunky yellow applesauce.

I usually mix the types of apples in applesauce, but this time I didn't.

It was pretty good on its own--all I did was add 1/2 C. real maple syrup to it--or maybe it was 3/4 C.

Anyway, a bit of maple syrup, and then into the jars. 

It was quite a bit of work for just those 4 jars!

I remembered why we generally do a whole bunch at a time--the work and cleanup aren't all that much different for a few jars vs. 30 or 40.

We'll enjoy them, anyway.

I think I counted 16 left from last year, so that puts us up to 20 jars.

Probably not enough to last us through the year, so I may be doing more later, if I can find some cheap fruit.

This week a generous neighbor brought over a box with a bunch of tomatoes and carrots in it.

So I made more of my Roasted Garden Tomato Sauce.

I ended up with 8 quart-sized freezer bags, each about half full.

We got the carrots processed, as well.

Sliced them up in the food processor (that's the most fun part--it took about 3 minutes to do all of these), blanched them for 2 minutes, cooled them in ice water, then put them in the bags to freeze.

I find it so satisfying to do this type of work.

As my 9-year-old has said--"This is FUN work!" (Love that boy!)

Are you getting anything put away for the winter? 

Do tell!

Peaches & Nectarines

Peaches are probably my favorite home-canned fruit.

Applesauce comes pretty close, but most of the time, if I had to choose it would be peaches.

My in-laws live next to a fruit stand that has great prices on seconds (good fruit with some flaws.)

They not only brought up fruit for us, they stuck around to help can it!

This is the easiest canning I have ever done!

The first canning day was peaches and nectarines--about 2/3 box of each.

Peaches are scalded and peeled first, nectarines just put in with skins on.

Here's the crew!

My youngest was such a great helper both days!

Since he's in afternoon kindergarten, he was around for the projects.

They washed peaches, peeled them, cut them up, and filled jars.

I did the sugar syrup, sealing the jars, and the hot-water bath.

17 jars: 9 peaches, 8 nectarines

(One jar of nectarines broke in the canner. I hate it when that happens!)

Day 2: 4 boxes of peaches

Same helpers, this time twice the fruit.

We got 50 jars done! 

Let me just tell you--it is amazing canning with so much help!

This much fruit would have taken me all day by myself.

As it was, we were done by lunch time.

I could hardly believe it!

I am thrilled to have so many jars of peaches in my pantry.

This should see us through until next fall!

Applesauce!

Friends, we made (and canned) some applesauce!

Contrary to what this picture would have you believe, it was not a solo effort.

Every blessed one of us spent a good part of the day working on it.

Washing apples (reserved for the 4-year-old)

Cutting apples (Mom and kids)

Cooking apples (Mom and Dad's job)

Putting apples through the food mill attachment on the KitchenAid (mostly older 2 kids)

Re-heating and seasoning applesauce (Dad's specialty)

Filling jars and running hot water bath canner (Mom's specialty)

Phew!

I always have to kind of gear up mentally for applesauce day.

Every big bowl in the house, every cutting board, every large pot & saucepan, every kitchen surface: utilized and requires cleaning up later.

Don't get me wrong--there's a lot to compensate for the colossal mess.

For one, your whole house smells like apple cinnamon deliciousness.

All day long.

Fresh applesauce for lunch is hard to beat!

[Whoa weird, didn't plan on everything matching for the photo!]

Also, seeing as how it's an "all hands on deck" sort of experience, you get some quality family time together--with built-in snacks!

I am so glad my husband and kids are the sort to pitch in when its applesauce time!

The reward:

21 quarts

In case you're wondering why they're outside:

for big jobs like this, I usually set up the hot water bath canner on our camp stove that lives out on the deck. Then I set up the card table to put them out on once they're done.

We still have around 15 from last year, so here's hoping this lasts through until next fall!

p.s. I was a canning maniac last year!

We still have at least 12 cans each of peaches, pears, and cherries left, too!

...which is good, because all I've done this year is jam and applesauce.

Guess I've got more priorities straight, anyway. Ha!

Apple Harvest

Guess what?! We harvested our apples last week!

It took less than a minute.

There they both are.

Beautiful, aren't they? :)

So, all along I thought that tree was the Golden Delicious tree.

Um...apparently not!

In a way, I almost didn't want to pick them, since they had managed to withstand June drop, hard winds, bugs, and children.

They were good! We had them for dinner one night and everybody got to taste them.

In other apple news....

We went up to a u-pick orchard fairly close by (40 min. drive) to make cider and pick apples.

I thought we would just pick enough to eat fresh, since we still have some applesauce from last year.

(And since our own harvest was--ahem--not as bountiful as we might have hoped.)

Then--the orchard happened.

It is impossible to pick just a few when you're surrounded by trees loaded with fruit, the branches nearly touching the ground. We just couldn't do it.

So we picked Golden Delicious, MacIntosh, and Cortland apples by the armload.

We were able to restrain ourselves slightly more with the pears and plums.

The kids had to try every kind.

Looks like it's going to be an applesauce year after all!

We had to ask for extra boxes, since we had filled up the one I brought!

4 gallons of cider later, we were ready to go!

* * * * *

As you probably noticed, the pears were already very ripe, so they had to be done first.

So far I've made 1 more double batch each of Pear Pineapple and Pear Plum jam.

I'm still figuring out what to do with the rest of the plums.

There's a recipe for Freezer Plum jam that looks intriguing.

Meanwhile, I've got 2 boxes of apples in the garage!

I'm going to have to schedule in a day for applesauce sometime in the next few weeks.

Preferably on my husband's day off--large scale applesauce making goes MUCH better with at least 2 adults.

Have you been to any orchards lately?

There was one I used to go to in Illinois that always had apple cider donuts for sale.

They were pretty much the best thing ever!

2 Jam Recipes to Use Up Your Pears

If you are blessed with a pear or plum tree in your yard, now might be about the time you start wondering what in the world you are going to do with them all!

Of course, each can be canned individually, and dried.

For a change of pace, why not try some jam?

I don't actually have a pear tree, but I do have friends who offered to let me come pick their pears for free! Woohoo! Another friend has a plum tree that is just loaded down with plums.

I picked some last week, but I am planning to go back again and get more.

If you can get free fruit, the jam tastes all the sweeter! :)

The recipes I used are both from the book:

175 Best Jams, Jellies, Marmalades, & Other Spreads,

by Linda J. Amendt

5 stars: So many yummy-sounding varieties. 

I've only tried a handful of the recipes in this book, but so far we have really liked them all! (Including the "Cherry Berry Syrup" that resulted when I tried to substitute powdered pectin for liquid in one of the recipes. I knew better.)

These are all full-sugar recipes. I would really like to find some low-sugar versions of several of these, but in the meantime, I am eager to try out more!

By the way, I found this book on my library's "Book Sale" shelves. It was $1.00.

So here's what I've been up to this past week:

Pear Plum Jam

I used these yellow plums--I had a ton left over, as this recipe only calls for 1 cup.

Now I'm looking for more recipes for plums! :)

3 C. finely chopped cored peeled pears

1 C. crushed pitted peeled plums (I didn't actually peel mine)

2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 package regular powdered fruit pectin

5 C. granulated sugar, divided

1. Prepare canning jars and lids and bring water in water bath canner to a boil.

2. In an 8-quart stainless steel stockpot, combine pears, plums, and lemon juice.

3. In a small bowl, combine pectin and 1/4 C of the sugar. Gradually stir into fruit.

4. Bring fruit mixture to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the remaining sugar. Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 1 minute.

5. Remove pot from heat and skim off any foam.

Let jam cool in the pot for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles.

Wipe jar rims and threads with a clean, damp paper towel.

Center hot lids on jars and screw on bands until fingertip-tight.

7. Place jars in canner, making sure they are covered by at least 1 inch of water. Cover and bring to a gentle boil. Process 4 oz jars and 8 oz. jars for 10 minutes; process 1-pint jars for 15 minutes.

(I added 5 minutes to the suggested times to account for my altitude.)

8. Remove jars from canner and place on a wire rack or cloth towel. Let cool for 24 hours, then check seals. Wash and dry jars and store in a cool, dry, dark location.

Makes about six 8-oz (250 mL) jars.

I made 3x the recipe, and it made 2 dozen 4-oz jars, plus three 8-oz, plus 2 pints.

For what it's worth!

I was asked to do a demonstration at church, otherwise I would not have bothered with all those 4-oz jars! It takes a lot of extra time to fill them up and get the lids on.

Pineapple Pear Jam

2 C. finely chopped, cored, peeled Bartlett pears (about 2 lbs, or about 6 medium pears)

1 2/3 C. drained canned juice-packed crushed pineapple (don't use fresh--it won't set!)

1/4 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 box regular powdered fruit pectin (1.75 oz)

5 C. granulated sugar, divided

1. Prepare canning jars and lids and bring water in water bath canner to a boil.

2. In an 8-quart stainless steel stockpot, combine pears, pineapple, and lemon juice.

3. In a small bowl, combine pectin and 1/4 C of the sugar. Gradually stir into fruit.

4. Bring fruit mixture to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the remaining sugar. Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 1 minute.

5. Remove pot from heat and skim off any foam.

Let jam cool in the pot for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles.

Wipe jar rims and threads with a clean, damp paper towel.

Center hot lids on jars and screw on bands until fingertip-tight.

7. Place jars in canner, making sure they are covered by at least 1 inch of water. Cover and bring to a gentle boil. Process 4 oz jars and 8 oz. jars for 10 minutes; process 1-pint jars for 15 minutes.

8. Remove jars from canner and place on a wire rack or cloth towel. Let cool for 24 hours, then check seals. Wash and dry jars and store in a cool, dry, dark location.

Makes six to seven 8-oz (250 mL) jars.

(This actually made 8 jars. I gave away 4 already.)

You may have noticed the instructions for these recipes are virtually identical.

* * * * * *

Other recipes I want to try: the entire marmalade section, Sunrise Jam (apricot, strawberry, pineapple), Strawberry Kiwi Jam, Pear Lime Jam, Peach Plum Jam...oh, I could keep going for quite some time!

So, do you have a low-sugar jam recipe book that I should get?

Roasted Garden Tomato Sauce

Okay, I did end up making some of this extra delicious tomato sauce last week, and I even took a few pictures! A cooking blog this is not, but everything looks better with some illustrations, right?

In case you missed the earlier link, I used this recipe from Our Best Bites.

If you click on the link, they've got the printable step-by-step recipe & instructions.

We had all of these tomatoes to use up, plus the 2 bowls-full of the same size from last week.
[These are the rest of the onions. I probably should have pulled them all up a few weeks ago, as some of them were getting eaten by bugs, or something.]

My little 4-year old was my best helper, as big brother and sister were in school.

He especially loved using the kitchen scale to weigh everything.

(The recipe calls for 2 lbs. of tomatoes, but he decided all of the vegetables had to be weighed!)

I have found that this recipe is pretty forgiving.

You blend everything up at the end anyway, so you can totally sneak in some other veggies!

In addition to our tomatoes, both cherry tomatoes and regular, I had 2 yellow squashes that needed to be used up, so I cut up one per batch. My smaller garden onions were perfect--I probably put in 2-3 per pan, and we used up 4-5 of our smaller garden carrots per pan, as well.

After you prep everything: wash, stem, peel, etc., then you just chop everything up, into roughly the same size pieces.

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper (as per the recipe), and put it in!

Here's the first pan, all ready to go in oven.

Pretty, isn't it?

 Our top oven is a convection oven.

This was in the convection oven, on 285 degrees F for about 2 1/2 hours.

It's a bit overdone.

The tomatoes are more like dried tomatoes, and you can see the one corner is quite brown and crispy.

That's okay, though! They have great flavor and will go in the blender, anyway.

I did pull out the ones that were completely brown and crunchy, first.

This pan was in the lower oven on 300 degrees F (no convection) for about 2 hours.

This is more what you want.

You can see it's a lot juicier-looking than the first pan.

I combined the entire contents of both pans in my food processor.

I also added 1 cup of beef broth, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp of minced garlic (from a bottle), and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Blended it all up.

I did not add any herbs or spices, beyond the salt & pepper prior to baking.

I will add those depending on what I use it for.

It was so delicious, I could eat it with a spoon.

Seriously. Yum!

From this double batch, I ended up with around 6 cups of sauce.

I divided them into 2 quart-size freezer bags, let them cool completely, then put them in the freezer.

This makes wonderful spaghetti or pizza sauce, and it's also really good as a tomato-basil soup, if you add in some cream or milk on the stovetop, and some basil.

As far as using your harvest, this project is comparatively easy and very satisfying.

Basically, the main work is chopping things up.

I hope I'll get enough tomatoes to make at least one more batch before frost!

Pineapple Sage Jelly

I planted pineapple sage this summer, more just for fun than anything.

The leaves smell and taste like pineapple!

I imagined delicious pineapple-sage lemonade and ...that's about it.

Well, it is doing fantastically well, up here on my top vegetable terrace.

I've got so much of it, unexpectedly, and realized that I have never actually cooked with it.

Or even know what to use it in.

So I started doing a little Google research.

I found some intriguing recipes for things like:

Pineapple Sage Pound Cake

Pineapple Sage Salsa, Corn Fritters, and Smoothies

Plus, many people recommended using it for cooking with chicken and pork.

I considered just drying it, but several sources said that it loses its pineapple flavor when dried.

Then I found Lemon Verbena Lady's recipe for Pineapple Sage Jelly.

It sounded quite intriguing.

So I decided to do some adventure cooking!

Preparing the herbs: chopping them up after washing them.

Partly, this picture is to celebrate the first time using my stick blender's little food processor attachment. Yay!

Here's what I got out of it: 4 half-pints (+ a little extra)

We tried it out the other day.

We put it over cream cheese and had it with crackers.

It was delicious!

Lemon Verbena Lady suggests using it as a glaze, as well.

I think it would be really good as a glaze for baked ham.

Yum.

I was surprised at how many stems it took to come up with 1 1/2 cups packed leaves, but there's still quite a bit up there. I just need to remember I have it, so I can start experimenting with it some more.

Have you done any adventure cooking lately?

Of Raspberries & Pie Cherries

This has truly been a banner year for raspberries!

Our own patch has produced more than it ever has, and we have had 3 different friends invite us to pick at their houses. Yes!

We thought we were in berry-picking heaven at the first friend's house.

In about an hour and half, this how many we got.

Then we went to the next friend's house. It was amazing!

There were huge tall bushes, loaded with clusters of large, ripe berries!

In the same amount of time as the day before, we got 3x as many--roughly half a gallon.

It was pouring rain and we were completely soaked (but happy!)

By the time we got to the third friend's patch (the next week) we were on a roll.

There weren't as many, but we didn't mind!

We have picked pie cherries twice: once at a neighbor's down the street, and once at a friend's house. (It being the first year, I didn't expect to get any from our tree.)

So....what in the world do you do with a whole bunch of raspberries and pie cherries?

For raspberries, you eat them fresh every way you can think of first. (Of course!)
Pie cherries--you can make some fresh cherry crisp or cherry pie.

After that, you probably want to think about preserving them somehow.

1. The easiest way to preserve them is to freeze them.

Berries and cherries both freeze very well, although I would say sweet cherries are better for freezing on their own. When it comes to pie cherries I add some sugar! (see #2)
Also for the cherries, you may want to cut each one in half after pitting them to make sure you haven't missed any, especially if you plan to use them in smoothies. (Pit slivers in your smoothie = no bueno.)

After they are rinsed (and pitted,) spread them out in a single layer onto a cookie sheet--as big as will fit into your freezer. Freeze them for 2-3 hours.

At that point, scoop them into a Ziplock bag and put them back into the freezer.

(Much easier to use than having a solid block of frozen fruit.)

Fruit frozen this way can still be used in jam later, if you are so inclined, or in baked goods, smoothies, as ice cream toppings, etc.

2. Make freezer jam or freezer pie filling.
If you use Instant Pectin for your freezer jam you don't even have to cook it!
I usually just use the recipe on the inside of the label of the pectin container.
In general, you will need to rinse and mash up your berries (potato mashers work well), before adding the sugar and pectin. Stir it around, let it sit for about 30 minutes, and you're done!
So easy! Put it in freezer-safe containers and call it a day.

You can also use Classic or Low-Sugar Pectin for freezer jam, but you have to cook the jam for a short time. (If you don't do that, the pectin doesn't dissolve and is very gritty. Ask me how I know. Ha!) I don't like the flavor of cooked raspberries as much, so I stick with the Instant for them.

There are a couple of different recipes in the Ball Blue Book for freezer sour cherry pie filling (or just freezing the pie cherries in a sugar syrup.) I did the one where you add cornstarch and sugar, then cook it on the stove for a few minutes to let it thicken.
It makes last-minute dessert so easy and delicious!

3. Experiment!

(L-R: raspberry freezer jam, freezer cherry pie filling, cherry raspberry jam) 

For the first time this year, I made some Sour Cherry-Raspberry Jam, using this recipe from Taste of Home magazine. It is so good! (It is cooked, then processed in a hot-water bath.)

The tart cherry compliments the sweeter raspberries to perfection.

The cooked raspberry flavor that I don't like is all but covered up. Yay!

Our bushes are about done producing for the year, but if we get any more raspberries, I've got a promising-looking recipe for Raspberry Peach Freezer Jam to try next.

Folks, this is going to be good!

[In other news, we might need a bigger freezer...]

Ball Blue Book of Preserving

Have you thought about getting starting with home canning, but not known where to even start?

Growing my own vegetables is what got me started with canning and preserving. After all, I had put all that work into growing and harvesting them. The last thing I wanted to do was waste all that good food and effort.

So, my first foray into canning was homemade salsa. I bought some of the ingredients, used all of the tomatoes from my garden plus some, and went to town. I ended up with a painful hot pepper burn on my hands, and several pints of salsa that tasted like mildly spicy spaghetti sauce. Well, live and learn, right? (By the way, I am still hunting for the perfect home-canned salsa recipe.)

Then, another year I did some peaches. Oh my goodness. Home-canned peaches are not even in the same category as the store bought! It's summer in a bottle! Tons of work, but oh so good. Then there's home-canned applesauce. Another big step up from peaches, as far as work and mess to clean up, but again--really no comparison with the watery, sour, store bought stuff.

By then I was hooked! I have done cherries, pears, and peaches almost every year, and an extra large batch of applesauce every other year or so. We've had an assortment of homemade jams that have been so delicious. I've even tried salsa a few more times, with mixed results.

I have used the hot-water bath method for sealing the jars, which works for the fruits and high-acid foods like tomatoes or salsa. So far, I have not ventured into the realm of pressure canning, but I want to! For low-acid foods like vegetables, meat, or homemade soups, you have to process them with a pressure canner. Just think how awesome it would be to have several jars of your family's favorite soups all ready for those busy winter evenings. Pour them in the pan, heat them up, and dinner is done! Maybe I will get that figured out this year.

Okay, so let's talk about this book already!

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

5 stars: My go-to reference for several years now!

For the beginning canner, this book has a lot of good basic information, but it is fairly comprehensive as well. It goes through various methods of processing your canned foods, including food safety, equipment needed, altitude adjustments, and how to prepare everything. Then it has all kinds of recipes, from basic canned fruit, to jams, pickles and relishes, vegetables, low-sugar recipes, pie fillings, and even some dehydrated food like fruit leathers and beef jerky.

It also has several 2-page spreads with step-by-step illustrated instructions for certain things--canning tomatoes, canning green beans, dehydrating apples, and so on.

While I have branched out to other books and resources, I almost always check this one first. At least half the time, I end up using the recipe in here. I always use it when I'm canning a single type of fruit.

One last tip: If you know someone who does their own canning, ask if they will come help you the first time or two. It's way easier to learn by working with someone and watching. Not that any of it is particularly difficult, but there are a lot of steps and things to keep track of. In fact, I much prefer doing it with a friend or relative even now!

Make no mistake about it, canning is work--long and hot work, especially if you're doing enough to last all winter--but every time we open up a jar of fruit, I'm glad I did it. Plus, I find it so satisfying to see those gleaming rows of jars in the pantry.

* * * * * *

Have you done any canning or preserving? What home preserving cookbooks do you use the most?

How to Dry Oregano

Drying oregano is usually a June project for me, but it needed to be done in May this year.

Generally, you want to do it before it has blossomed.

I usually do mine in our dehydrator in the interest of time, but you can also hang bundles up in a warm, dry spot to dry.

So, here's what the oregano bush looked like in the garden.

Step 1: Give it a haircut.

Just whack it off!

No need for precision here.

Just grab big handfuls, and snip away.

(My kiddos loved this part!)

You generally want to leave the bottom 2 or 3 sets of leaves, so that it grows back again.

You can see there in front where my helpers got a little over-enthusiastic and cut it almost to the ground. Oops.

Step 2: Wash it good.

Step 3: Spread it out to dry.

You can put it into the dehydrator wet--it will just take a lot longer.

We had a forest on the counter!

We left it there for the morning. It was mostly dry by lunchtime.

Step 4: Pack your trays

Remember these will shrivel down to practically nothing, so don't be afraid to stack them a bit.

Also, the stems and leaves make enough air pockets between them naturally that they don't need to be in a single layer.

The first time we did this, we stripped all the leaves off first and put them on the trays.

That took a couple of hours all by itself.

We have found that it is MUCH faster to just put the whole stems on and pull leaves off once they've dried.

To get them to fit into the dehydrator, I had to push down the plants on the tray below, so that the one I was putting in wouldn't pull all the stems to the back.

Step 5: Follow the instructions for your machine and get it going!

Mine took about 6 hours at 125 degrees F.

I ended up doing 2 batches.

Step 6: Once they're done, it's time to strip off the leaves off and crumble them.

They should be so dry that they shatter easily.

If they're leathery at all, stick them back in for another hour or two.

The dried stems can go in the compost pile, if you have one.

Step 7: Store them in an air-tight container, like a glass jar with lid and ring.

Or, if you still have a quart and a half from last year, (like I did), time to share with friends!

It does take some time and work, but compared to most preserving projects, it's not so bad.

My kids really liked helping. I packed the trays, but they helped with all the rest.

Plus, your house smells like oregano for an entire day!

I have found the homegrown, dried oregano to be much more potent than the store-bought stuff, even a couple of years later. Meanwhile, if you need fresh, the bush will recover within weeks.

By the end of the summer, mine is always covered in blooms (and bees).

Have you ever tried this? How has it turned out for you?