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So excited tomorrow I finally get to pick up my strawberries and make jam 
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Jul 7, 2019 11:51
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 21:48 |
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Made strawberry jam (I only used one packet of jam sugar)  Goes well on pancakes (finnish style), though a bit runny since it's still hot: 
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Jul 7, 2019 16:57
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So I salted the plums and vac'd them, but I'm not getting anywhere near the amount of expansion that it seems like I'm supposed to. It's very odd I'll open them up after 6 days tomorrow and see how they came taste, but it's always nerve-racking to me when a ferment doesn't act like it's supposed to!
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Jul 8, 2019 18:24
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Has anyone here tried the Tattlers reusable lids? If so, what do you think of them?
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Jul 8, 2019 19:44
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This is probably a really silly question, but if I've used a jar for something non-canning related (I filled them with stock and froze them for convenience) is it safe to use the lids for canning later on, or should I toss the lids just to be safe?
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Jul 8, 2019 21:08
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AnonSpore posted:This is probably a really silly question, but if I've used a jar for something non-canning related (I filled them with stock and froze them for convenience) is it safe to use the lids for canning later on, or should I toss the lids just to be safe? Dunno, but you can buy plastic lids sized to fit Ball canning jars. Obviously not usable for canning, but good for after opening a jar of jam or for non-canned uses. DreamingofRoses: reusable canning lids would give me anxiety, because they have to wear out eventually and I don't want to get botulism. I'm not particularly thrilled with using disposables, but for like $.50 apiece they're cheap peace of mind.
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Jul 8, 2019 22:03
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:
That’s fair, I just worry about it from an environmental angle. I know they can be recycled but my overall goal is to reduce consumption.
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Jul 8, 2019 22:19
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You want to use the plastic lids for freezing anyway. They aren't air tight for that reason.
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Jul 9, 2019 05:07
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DreamingofRoses posted:That’s fair, I just worry about it from an environmental angle. I know they can be recycled but my overall goal is to reduce consumption. Yeah, I absolutely respect that. I believe home canning is still better for the environment than store-bought, just because less fuel is spent on transportation and you re-use the jars. That doesn't mean you can't improve on that, it's just something I'm personally a bit skeevy about. I'm mostly biased because the old Mason jar rubber lids were supposedly re-usable, but the rubber would wear out and they'd become unsafe. If the Tattlers lids are proven safe, or even just "you can re-use this up to X times, then you need to throw them out", that's great. I just don't know much of anything about them so my inclination is to err on the safe side.
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Jul 9, 2019 05:15
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DreamingofRoses posted:Has anyone here tried the Tattlers reusable lids? If so, what do you think of them? Not yet, but I plan to give them a try. As long as they let you test each jar before opening the same way you do regular lids I don't see a problem. My mother (who grew up on a farm and suffered food poisoning from improperly canned food) taught me to tap the lid with a spoon listening for a "ping", then listen for the hiss of inrushing air as the lid is pried off. If the spoon tap makes a "thump", there's little or no vacuum under the lid (or, God forbid, a spurt of pressure), or the lid comes off with very little resistance out it goes, no questions or second-guessing. We can about 150 jars of whatnot a fall and most of the seal failures are spotted while the jars are cooling down. We have 1 or 2 jars a winter where the lid falls off when we go to use it but there are no obvious signs of spoilage. Doesn't matter, they get buried in the compost heap. AnonSpore posted:This is probably a really silly question, but if I've used a jar for something non-canning related (I filled them with stock and froze them for convenience) is it safe to use the lids for canning later on, or should I toss the lids just to be safe? I doubt anyone has looked at the issue close enough to give you a definitive answer. No manufacturer is going to stick their neck out and give the go-ahead for this and it's not something that people do often enough for a university extension to run a definitive study on. The answer's going to vary anyway from manufacturer to manufacturer depending on the characteristics of the type of rubber used and and whether it takes a set from just the pressure of a screw band and the cold in the freezer, potentially screwing up its ability to seal a second time. Way too complicated. Probably a better way to look at it is: what's a jar of product worth to you? Catch a bad seal in the cool-down phase and you're forced to use the product immediately (when your fridge is already full of fresh product) or go through the hassle of re-processing it with a new lid. If it fails during the winter you're out the time and money to produce a litre of product. $0.20cdn for a new lid is one less thing to potentially go wrong and even fresh-out-of-the-box lids sometimes fail. Having said that, I have a set of canning lids I re-use to vacuum seal jars of dehydrated fruit and dried beans. They're marked so I don't use them for anything else. If a seal fails ndb, the dried fruit is still safe to eat but might taste a bit stale.
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Jul 9, 2019 06:55
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Yeah after posting the question I realized it was definitely a "it's probably not worth it to risk it even if it's fine, considering the cost of the lid" sort of thing but thanks for the reply.
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Jul 9, 2019 07:03
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Did some more picklin'! Cucumbers! Got some that were the correct size this time. There's a Japanese supermarket near me that sells the right ones - in general, their produce is WAY better priced than anywhere else around. I swapped out the apple cider vinegar for white this time, and added more garlic.  Onions! I'm trying the brine without sugar this time. Also, one jar is using apple cider vinegar, one is using white, and one is half and half. I'm determined to perfect my pickled foodstuffs.
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Jul 10, 2019 04:30
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Hexigrammus posted:Not yet, but I plan to give them a try. As long as they let you test each jar before opening the same way you do regular lids I don't see a problem. My mother (who grew up on a farm and suffered food poisoning from improperly canned food) taught me to tap the lid with a spoon listening for a "ping", then listen for the hiss of inrushing air as the lid is pried off. If the spoon tap makes a "thump", there's little or no vacuum under the lid (or, God forbid, a spurt of pressure), or the lid comes off with very little resistance out it goes, no questions or second-guessing. I still keep loving this up with pickles--I can never pack them tight enough to match the brine/pickle ratio in the recipes, and consequently i get a floating pickle in like 1/3rd of the jars that touches the lid, making the spoon test less effective.
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Jul 10, 2019 18:33
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The technique I learned was to pick the jar up by the lid (though if you're doing this after processing, wait for the jar to cool first). The lid's adhered to the jar just through vacuum pressure, so if it's strong enough to lift the jar then the vacuum's still in place. Definitely also listen for the inrush of air when you open it though.
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Jul 10, 2019 18:58
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Oh hay canning/pickling thread! I've just started getting into making my own pickled onions and cucumbers. Refrigerator only at this point, I haven't messed with canning/preserving yet - and don't really feel a need to, I just love making these for an easy ingredient to add to lunch/dinner. If you want a new recipe for refrigerator pickles then Google Alton Brown kinda sour pickles. This is my third year using that recipe. I planted an extra cucumber plant this year to keep up with demand. I sub white wine or red wine or rice vinegars for the. Champagne vinegar. I also add in a few slices of jalapeno and one or two pinches of dill from the garden.
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Jul 10, 2019 21:58
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 2.5 kg of black raspberries though I dropped and exploded a pint. Get foraging, goons.
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Jul 15, 2019 18:33
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I bought ~4.5 pounds of boysenberries for making jam, and took a wild guess that I'd need two pint jars, three tall jam jars (~12oz apiece), and one regular jam jar. I came out with maybe a couple of tablespoons of leftovers after filling the jars. The biggest tragedy of this batch is that the thin skin of fruit leather stuck to the inside of the (nonstick) pot won't come off to anything less than fingernails, and I just cut mine. 
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Jul 15, 2019 19:30
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I’ve never had boysenberries before. You are out in the Pacific Northwest? I think they come from there. Better than other berries?
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Jul 16, 2019 02:05
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I'm in California. They're briefly available at one particular farmer's market that I know of, so it's a bit of a hassle to get them. As for flavor, they're kind of like blackberries with a bit more tartness to them? They make fantastic sherbets, which is how I was introduced to them. I'm mostly enthusiastic about them because they provide some extra variety to my jam stock, which would otherwise be entirely strawberry and apricot. This is my second try making jam from them; my first try failed because I didn't cook them down enough, so I ended up with basically canned boysenberry juice.
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Jul 16, 2019 02:16
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You might like mulberries if that flavor profile appeals to you. I made another 2kg of jam with them a couple days ago. Here they grow all over, give off insane amounts of fruit, and nobody bothers picking them. In the Romance languages blackberries and mulberries are the same word because they are almost identical (mûres, more, moras)
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Jul 16, 2019 02:35
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Rotten Red Rod posted:
These came out really good! I think it might have been the increased garlic more than the white vinegar, but either way I have my new recipe. Just the flavor I was looking for, and with the right kind of cucumbers this time. Rotten Red Rod posted:
These came out... Ok. The apple cider vinegar ones are better than the other two, but neither one is really the same without the sugar. Gonna go back to the original recipe.
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Jul 16, 2019 02:46
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Have you tried fermented ones? Way better than with vinegar and take only 30 seconds prep time. I just put away a quart and they’re fantastic despite elevated temperatures being bad for ferments
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Jul 16, 2019 04:19
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I'm in California. They're briefly available at one particular farmer's market that I know of, so it's a bit of a hassle to get them. As for flavor, they're kind of like blackberries with a bit more tartness to them? They make fantastic sherbets, which is how I was introduced to them. I'm mostly enthusiastic about them because they provide some extra variety to my jam stock, which would otherwise be entirely strawberry and apricot. When I was a kid we used to pick our own berries and other fruit at Gizdich Ranch, which probably has the funnest name for what basically amounts to you paying somebody else for the opportunity to work in their fields. We usually got boysenberries and strawberries, sometimes apples. Nobody really pays attention or cares if you eat a few berries while out in the field, and we always picked enough to make several big batches of jam, plus more to snack on at home.  Looks like boysenberry season just ended, though.
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Jul 16, 2019 06:43
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Mmm boysenberry icecream
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Jul 19, 2019 04:32
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Viola! This made perfectly pink, super tasty onions, and I'm addicted to them. If anyone has suggestions on improving it, I'm all ears, but I'm pretty happy with it. You might enjoy British-style pickled onions  Here's how I do mine -Find small onions (we're talking like an inch in diameter maybe). Peel them and leave them overnight coated in salt in a colander. The next day, take some vinegar (malt is traditional but I know that's hard to find in America outside of the dinky little bottles for fish and chips - cider works fine), add small whole chili peppers and pickling spice (or cinnamon, cloves, cumin, whatever you fancy really. Boil that for a bit, let it cool, put onions and chilis in sterilised Mason jars (brushing off the salt) then fill with the vinegar, leave in a cool dark place for a week or so. You can either eat them whole as is (fish and chip shops over here usually sell them, actually), or they're really good sliced on top of cheddar in a sandwich. feedmegin fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Jul 19, 2019 |
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Jul 19, 2019 11:48
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I tried making pickled watermelon rind for the first time a week or so ago. My prior experience pickling is limited to making pickled red onions (which I definitely need to throw together again). They seem to have turned out pretty well:  As my first attempt, I just followed the recipe on Epicurious. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/watermelon-rind-pickles-5643 I did double it as I had so much rind left over after our 4th of July party (I still threw half of it away). Thoughts are they are pretty good, perhaps a bit sweet. Sort of like a spiced sweet pickle. If I try again I might see if there are less sweet/more savory recipes out there, but I'd call this one a win.
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Jul 19, 2019 13:42
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A thing I water bathed didn't pop, and the sound it makes when I tap the lid is dull. On the other hand it does pass the test where you lift it up by the lid with your fingertips. Is this fine or should I just pop the top and fridge and eat it soon?
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Jul 21, 2019 02:00
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If you're not sure, into the fridge with it. No point second-guessing your way into botulism.
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Jul 21, 2019 02:19
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Agreed. Why take chances?
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Jul 21, 2019 02:51
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I'm quickly learning that's the default answer to every "is this okay" question. Thanks!
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Jul 21, 2019 03:52
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Anyone have any recommendations for pepper jelly recipes? I've read the thread but I'd like some goon-tested recipes before I go internet trawling when I don't know much about what the end result should look like.
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Jul 21, 2019 14:46
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AnonSpore posted:I'm quickly learning that's the default answer to every "is this okay" question. Thanks! It's something I have to remind myself of every canning season - "I think that dull sound is caused by product floating up against the lid, I didn't hear it seal but the lid looks slightly depressed, maybe..." Then I grab myself by the scruff of the neck and put the jar in the fridge.
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Jul 21, 2019 16:25
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I got drunk last night and made some kinda soy sauce pickled egg thing. I boiled half a cup white vinegar, half cup seasoned rice vinegar, 1 cup water, like a quarter cup? aged dark soy sauce from Japan, 2 star anise, 2 dry chilies, bunch of salt and some sugar. Then I made hard boiled eggs, peeled em, poked a hole through them and covered them in the soy-vinegar brine (sans the star anise). They're sitting in the fridge in a jar now. They're not 'soy stewed eggs' (google search giving me lots of recipes for these) and they're not straight up western pickled eggs, they're some kind of (hopefully delicious) combo. Never pickled eggs before.
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Jul 21, 2019 18:01
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Ranter posted:I got drunk last night and made some kinda soy sauce pickled egg thing. My family does pickled eggs in a similar fashion but with the juice we use to pickle beets (ie we start pickling the beets first then add eggs). We don’t can them but they do turn out delicious and a beautiful dark red color. I’m really interested to see how yours turn out.
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Jul 22, 2019 13:29
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DreamingofRoses posted:My family does pickled eggs in a similar fashion but with the juice we use to pickle beets (ie we start pickling the beets first then add eggs). We don’t can them but they do turn out delicious and a beautiful dark red color. I’m really interested to see how yours turn out. I was always under the assumption that pickled eggs were trash drinking snacks at dive bars that should not be eaten under any circumstances. Then I tried red pickled eggs in Philadelphia and holy poo poo, was I ever wrong!
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Jul 22, 2019 22:54
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My dad always had a jar of pickled eggs at deer camp.
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Jul 23, 2019 11:43
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Like Clockwork posted:Anyone have any recommendations for pepper jelly recipes? I've read the thread but I'd like some goon-tested recipes before I go internet trawling when I don't know much about what the end result should look like. This is the one we use, it's pretty dang good. Perhaps just a little on the sweet side but I mean, it is basically pure sugar so.... 
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Jul 23, 2019 16:35
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DreamingofRoses posted:My family does pickled eggs in a similar fashion but with the juice we use to pickle beets (ie we start pickling the beets first then add eggs). We don’t can them but they do turn out delicious and a beautiful dark red color. I’m really interested to see how yours turn out. egg  
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Jul 25, 2019 04:04
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Ranter posted:egg Well, how is it? It certainly looks interesting.
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Jul 25, 2019 16:07
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$1.14/# for strawberries at the market yesterday. Time to can up some jam!!! We've already eaten through all the cans we put up in June. Like 8 cans in a month. It's so freakin' good.
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Jul 25, 2019 16:33
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