Saturday, November 28, 2015

The Gift Of Canning

It is raining here today and our outside plans are on hold, however there is lots to do inside. We are making an official inventory of canned goods. We were pleasantly surprised at what we brought with us from Virginia. I had been canning there, slowly and steadily to begin our food stores and we ate well from it. Now it has to be sorted through and put to the front for first use here.

The canned vegetables have to be sorted as does the variety of tomato products. There are green beans and squash as well as a few jars of sweet corn. The relishes and chow chows have their own section.

Of course my personal favorite is the jelly jars. Pretty 1/2 pints of basically colored sugar!
There is Basil Jelly that is a pretty pale green, Tomato jelly a rich red and Spicy Tomato jelly which is a paler, more translucent red. Hot pepper Jelly that is a dark green and Sweet pepper jelly that is a pretty medium green.Sweet Red Pepper jelly is the prettiest as it is a pale red with tiny flecks of dark red pepper in it.
These are our treats, they are the most fun to make and always special to break out a jar. We know they are technically bad for us with all the sugar but they teach us appreciation and  moderation. These are the jars I label with pretty flowery and colorful labels, these are what we give as gifts for Christmas.

We took a Jar of the Hot pepper Jelly and the Sweet Red Pepper jelly to give to Dan at our feed store. He is Amish and had mentioned his sons love really hot stuff and always see who can eat the most of something that can peel paint! He says he just like normal things so we told him the Sweet Pepper jelly was for him.

The Hot pepper Jelly is made with our own peppers, Craig's Grande Jalapeno. I know from experience that home grown peppers are hotter than most store peppers so I cut back the amount of Jalapeno's I used by more than half. The taste is wonderful.......for about 5 seconds, then the firey furnace of Jalapeno kicks in and belts you a good one. It is far too hot for us.



I asked Dan if his sons had liked the jelly the last trip to the feedmill we made and he said something interesting. He said they had not opened the jars yet, they were enjoying how pretty they are. He said they look forward to opening them for sure but feel gifts are to be savored and enjoyed not just gobbled up as soon as you get them.
That made us think about our canning, not just the jelly but all of the good things we have laid away for our use. Being able to can the good things from around us is a gift. Something we may not take enough time to appreciate and enjoy. So look at your shelves of home canning and see how beautiful they look, savor the anticipation of opening them to make a meal.

We are blessed with plenty in this country and even the poor have so much more than people do in other countries. I am so pleased to be able to gift with canning and enjoy the work and effort that goes into making foods with love.

Take care everyone and God Bless.



15 comments:

  1. Canning is really useful. I read about it a lot on some of the blogs I follow. Now that my wife is retired we may make another effort. I tried to get a canning process up and running at our house a year or so ago but didn't. Mainly because we don't garden, so we had to buy produce, and it turned out just buying it at the grocery store was cheaper. But it's a skill I think we need to acquire.

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    1. Yes gardening does tie into canning but the Vacucanner Ralph found is going to be a good thing to keep our dry goods in. Canning with it is another option. We are going to buy things like good old beans and rice then Vacucan them for long term storage.

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  2. Yesterday I made soup. I opened 1 jar of chicken, 1 jar of chicken broth, 2 jars of yellow squash, picked some carrots from the garden and added some store bought cabbage. You're right, Fiona, we really enjoyed being able to eat our own food. There is just nothing like it. Great article.

    Fern

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    1. Do you add any seasoning to the chicken when you can it?

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    2. Salt. When we butcher the chickens we cut them up, put them in a stock pot barely covered with water, add some salt and simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Remove the bird, remove the meat, save the bones for broth later, then can the meat using the water it was cooked in. I put 1/2 tsp. salt in each pint jar before canning. It's great. We'll be butchering our older hens soon and they will join the jars already on the shelf. Once we finish all the butchering for the year, I'll get all of the bones out of the freezer, make more broth and can it as well. Can't beat it! Makes good chicken salad too, that's what we had for lunch today.

      Fern

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  3. hot pepper jelly
    use apple jelly to temper when you use it.
    i make chinese sweet and sour [and hot] sauce with apricot all fruit jelly [or maybe it is jam?] add rice vinegar, and then add some heat.
    sounds like a jar of your hot pepper jelly would make quite a lot of sweet and sour sauce.

    the jelly tempered with apple jelly--or your choice of flavor-- is good as meat glaze.

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  4. Thank you for that tip....however if Dan's sons like it I may have to do some trading! :)

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  5. Visiting from 5 acres and a dream...a large part of my enjoyment factor of putting up food is walking into the pantry and simply looking at the results. It makes me feel GREAT to know I'm taking care of myself, my animals, my farm by being a good steward of what God allows me to have. I'm prepping to make apple cranberry jam and cranberry marmalade; then there are the blueberries in the freezer, waiting to be made into jam.
    As to hot stuff, I like it, my stomach does not; my stomach wins...most of the time. I do enjoy mildly hot pepper jelly with cream cheese and crackers.

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  6. We are so glad you stopped by. We have to exercise FIRM self control with the sweet red pepper jelly! I bet your pantry is beautiful!

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  7. I love seeing shelves full of canned goods!
    Your jelly looks delicious :)

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    1. Well maybe a bit of bragging...but it is tasty! We gave a dear friend some and had to laugh when she refused to share with her husband!

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  8. Love your labels, too! I am so happy that I learned to can - and learned to get over my fear of pressure canners! Just turned 2+ gallons of turkey stock into pantry jars. All set for the winter!

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    1. People who do not can miss something, an appreciation of time welol spent and the blessing of knowing your food! The labels are fun to make!

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  9. Hot is not for me, I couldn’t possible eat it.
    But I make sweet jellies and jams and pickles which are pretty much normal and can be eaten even by children. Years ago I made and bottled lots of things, most of which I gave away but now time is often short and my preserving days are almost over.

    I do a lot of freezer cooking though, I like making my own ready meals from scratch; it’s such fun to come across a dish I have forgotten about.

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  10. I have plans for freezer meals, I have a good lasagne recipe that is easy and freezes really well but I have not had time to do it yet, plus I need to overhaul the deep freeze to make better use of space. My mother was from Surrey and made a marvelous ginger jam that is a fond recipe from childhood. What meals do you freeze?

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