TXQFMom Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 as a pre teen I made dill pickles that did NOT turn out... 3 yrs ago I think.... a friend came over with her pressure canner & *tried* to teach me to can green beans... those did NOT turn out either... Now we come to this week... Sun we went to a up pick farm Mon-Wed I canned... by myself (well 18yod helped mostly with the baby, but she did one batch and we tag teamed a few things) OK we picked 56lbs of blackberries and 3lbs of blueberries out of that besides fresh *snitching* we got - 46 pints blackberry jam 12 qts blackberry filling (minus 2 broke) 2 refrigerator blackberry pies 2 baked blackberry pies 2 qts blueberry filling 3-4cups blueberries frozen Not bad! the jam was 12 batches.... 2 of regular and 10 low sugar So now my goal is... lol 104 pints of jam (min) 64 qts of filling (min) So I still need 58 pints of jam (min) 50 qts of filling (min) so I just need about 120 more pounds! I need a cheaper source! I just did the math and transforming it all into qts.... and counting sugar, lids, berries, pectin, and apple juice, but not jars or rings or pies or snitching or frozen blueberries... it cost $2.06/pint I did place an order this week for bulk pectin... I have the Link to comment
Jeepers Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 WOW! You didn't mess around. Good for you! Link to comment
TXQFMom Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 Ahem MamaTiger and Shurleen can assure you I rush in where angels fear to tread and rarely do things by halfs LOL Link to comment
TXQFMom Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 Oh and except for 2 jars that broke in the last round... everything jelled and everything sealed!!!! Yippee!!!!!!!! Link to comment
Shandy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Originally Posted By: TXQFMom Ahem MamaTiger and Shurleen can assure you I rush in where angels fear to tread and rarely do things by halfs LOL *Snort* That's a nomination for Understatement of the Year 2008. So are you in love with your All American? Good job, Mrs. J!! I don't understand how the green beans couldn't turn out right. Unless you tried to make them a special recipe? Hmmm. You should have canned with me. LOL So after the berries, what are you going to try next? Link to comment
TXQFMom Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 No respect I tell ya! I have not used my AA yet... Maggie is sitting about 6ft from me... but she scares me! I water bathed the berries. I think the green beans were too old. They were pretty bad ones we picked... then the who thing turned really cloudy and off looking... I know Margie has canned for years so I doubt it was her method. She is supposed to come try to show me again. Oh how I wish I could learn to can with Shurleen!! That would be a blessing! Wanna come teach me???? Next up... either peaches, green beans, or tomatoes... likely tomatoes, but those worry me... how do you know you have a good variety vs a low acid one? And I want to learn to can rabbit. Link to comment
Shandy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Mrs. J, you need to give the AA...you are calling her Maggie?? ...you need to break it out and give it (her?) a trial run. You will love it! Leslie's mom...sister?...used one for the first time not too long ago. It took one run and she was in love. Here's the deal. I've used canners all my life, and I've always been a little timid of them because of the stories. But the way the AA is constructed, you are safe. As safe as you can be in the cooking anything. I am not afraid at all, and with me in the kitchen, that's saying a LOT. LOL Why don't you give it a trial run with some jars just filled with water? As you follow the instructions, you'll begin to see how safe the thing is. Your timidity won't ruin any food, and by the time you are thru, you'll be ready to give it a good run with real food. And yes, that is *1 inch* of water. Tomatoes are pretty easy. You aren't going to have any trouble. I've been doing them for years, and they *all* have enough acidity to be used in a water bath. But if you are concerned, use "Maggie". The easiest way to get to know tomatoes is to read seed catalogues. A good seed catalogue will describe the acidity of tomatoes...but that's really for taste purposes. As far as I know, all tomatoes are high enough in acid to water bath. This is so exciting! I wish I was in TX! Link to comment
DenimDaze Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I undestand completely. My first batch of jam - we forgot to wash the berries. second batch - we smushed them way too much. third batch - we found out we were using too big jars so all 3 batches are in the refridgerator. On I went to cold packing raspberries. My one and only batch - well, I found you need more berries per jar then I thought possible, so I have 4 quarts of raspberry syrup. I have cherries and blueberries sitting on my table. Wonder what I'll do wrong this time? And my pressure canner is sitting beside me waiting for me to get the guts to use it. It is an intimidating beast! I'd really rather be using a power tool. Link to comment
MamaTiger Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Yes, my mother bought an AA for *us* to use and she's fallen in love with it! In fact, she's keeping it so busy there's no time for *me* to use it. LOL If you are doing *stewed* tomatoes, they are super easy in the WB and green beans would make a good first thing in the AA. Both are NOT difficult. I think that you and Shurleen should fly to Ga and we'll both teach you to can. *snort* Link to comment
Violet Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 The All American are great! However, stewed tomatoes are low acid, not safe for water bath canning. They must be pressure canned. ALL tomatoes must be acidified, even pressure canned ones. There is no way to know if the tomatoes are high enough acid to be done without adding acid. They can be done in a BWB, but raw packed ones in own juice take 85 min. along with the necessary added acid. Those are the USDA safe guidelines. Otherwise you are taking risk with botulism. If the green beans turned out that way it would seem that was due to underprocessing. Be sure to use current guidelines, not outdated ones. Things have changed over the years. Link to comment
TXQFMom Posted July 12, 2008 Author Share Posted July 12, 2008 Will definitely follow all the directions on these things and I knew I'd need to pressure can the tomatoes.... Better ask though! My Ball's Blue Book is dated hmmm ok I can't find a date!These things should have a date! LOL closest I can come is inside the front cover... copyrite Alltrista Consumer Products Company 2003 is there one newer? cover is the same as is currently in Walmart Link to comment
TXQFMom Posted July 12, 2008 Author Share Posted July 12, 2008 OH DH HAD COME IN WANTING THE FEED LIST... sorry do that in caps... anyway when we did the greenbeans she followed the time in this book... but they were definitely past their prime... Link to comment
Jeepers Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Originally Posted By: TXQFMom Will definitely follow all the directions on these things and I knew I'd need to pressure can the tomatoes.... Better ask though! My Ball's Blue Book is dated hmmm ok I can't find a date!These things should have a date! LOL closest I can come is inside the front cover... copyrite Alltrista Consumer Products Company 2003 is there one newer? cover is the same as is currently in Walmart Man, it is hard to find a date on those books! I couldn't even find it on their own site or Amazon. I bought my new book this summer and it says 2006 Jarden. But I think that is just when Jarden took over the Ball company. I think. This is the closest I could find. It says 2004. I'm pretty sure it is the newest one. http://www.powells.com/biblio/0972753702?&PID=33111 Link to comment
Violet Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 If you have a current copy it will have a cheesecake on the front with berries on top. Link to comment
TXQFMom Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 that is the one I have!!!! whew! Link to comment
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