What a event. Around 11 o'clock in the morning I started. I mushed my berries one layer at a time. At first I didn't know what this was. So I threw a few berries into the bowl and mashed them then add more. Hopefully this was what they were getting at. The biggest mistake the I made was not starting the canner before I started jamming. After I made the jam, which was quite easy, I put the lids and bands on and waited for canner to boil. During that time I encountered another problem, the half pint jars don't fit on the rack! With a little testing I noticed that the jars fit nicely on the outer edge of the rack and if I carefully lower and raise it would work. I lost my jar lifter, which is old anyway, but it worked with regular tongs. After the jars were processed you couldn't imagine my excitment when I heard the tops pop! It was like Christmas. All of my jars sealed.It's amazing to know that you played a part in putting food up for the winter. Yeah, it's only jam but that's one less thing that I need to buy at the supermarket. I played a part in it's making. I picked the berries, mashed them, cooked, and processed them. Just knowing that will make the jam taste great. As for the cost, it was about $1.79 per jar which doesn't include getting a canner, bands, jar lifter and anything that can be reused. So for $9 in berries, about $1 in sugar, 75 cents for six lids. If you have your own blackberry bush it's even cheaper, only 30 cents a jar.
I'm looking forward to making pickles next weekend and after that perhaps applesauce. Yummy!
6 comments:
Hi Rachel!
You answered me on Cold Antler about idiot-proof pickles! I want to try them. I have started some plants from seed this year(tomatoes & green pepper) and tried a little more gardening than in the past. I dug out some areas around the yard and grew some green beans here, tried some peas there(the woodchuck liked the peas), some cucumbers in another spot...but it has been so wet, I don't know what I'll end up with. I live in Western NY state and we have Amish here,too. They have a produce auction very close to my mom's house, so I'm thinking I may hit that for some quantity. I have canned tomatoes in the past and I freeze corn. This year I worked on some variety and seed starting and next year, I hope to be better at them.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Knitting-Crocheting-Illustrated/dp/1592570895
Try this to help with your knitting,too. If you start at the knitted dishcloth, you will have success with it. And if you don't, it will still wash your dishes and you try again. It is a good way to practice some different knitting patterns and instructions and make some up...and for the most part, whatever you come up will still wash dishes, even if they are flawed. A ball of solid colored cotton yarn is fairly cheap and you can get 2 dishcloths out of one ball. Yell if you need any help. I'm not very advanced and I'd really like to make a VERY simple sweater for myself, but I'm afraid to go the next step. You may enjoy felting, too, which is knitting with wool yarn and then washing it in HOT,HOT water to shrink it down and make it more solid(felt). I've worn a hole in the felted slippers I made a couple of summers ago and have yarn to do another pair. Just gotta get it started and stay in one place long enough to get it done! you have to keep track, but I make an extra copy of the instructions and use a colored pencil and tick off where I am, so I don't get lost.
Do you live where you can garden? It was great to score the jars from the 'rents! My mom never did canning with a canner. More just tomatoes piping hot into the jars and then freezing, although she canned peached last year when I wasn't looking!! I'm hoping to join forces this year. I forgot to ask my brother yesterday about blackberries. Last year he went out several times and I ended up with a 1/2 gallon jug of his extra berries!! What are brothers for!!
Stop over and read me sometime at justtwiddlin.blogspot.com and keep in it. I'm determined it will get easier. Don't know that I will get the hubby excited enough to raise chickens here, but who knows!?!?
P.S. I got the book at the Library, then borrowed it so much that I took a coupon from the Sunday paper and bought my own copy at Michael's or AC Moore for 40% off. Worth the investment!
We seem to have similar situations...where are all our commentors?? Someone must want to listen to everything we have to say and don't they want to offer their 2 cents?? :o)
If I had my own car I would go to some produce auctions but that's two hours away, could be worse, and I don't have my own car...yet. Otherwise I would have to spend $7 on pickling cucumbers, but then again, I'm supporting local farmers.
Rachel-
Yeah, my mom's about 20 minutes from me, so that's not bad at all. I have to figure out where to get the pickling cucumbers..how many do I need for a batch?? cucumbers and jars?? Are you slicing cucumbers or making spears lengthwise?
Thanks for stopping over to my blog! Yeah, don't start on the freezer!! My is well-stocked, but at least I can usually see what's in there, unlike the deep, dark cupboard!!
Have a good day!
Well, I picked up a packet of pickle mix at work. If you want to make them from stratch head over to pickyourown.org, there are a lot of canning recipes there! But for the pre-made mix I need about 28 pickling cucumbers which at my farmer's market would cost me $7. For the jar I have wide mouth pints that I found in my mom's celler. I'm thinking about making spears because it's a little faster than the slices.
Post a Comment