Canning & Food Preservation

Cherries, strawberries, Bananas, apples. So good.

Hi there! Hopefully this is the right place. I tried searching for what this might be and I came up with a lot of different answers.

This is a store bought can of plain tomato sauce, we were making soup. We noticed this white paste on the side of the can, when I poked it it was soft, almost like a thin fat?

Smelled fine, and the sauce looked fine otherwise. But we got nervous and threw it away, afraid of botulism or other nasties. Plus we wanted to finish cooking.

Does anyone know what this is? Some sources said it might be calcium nitrate, but they also say it would be hard and wouldn't break up in your fingers if rolled. This was a paste.

Anyway, just wondering for next time, figured you guys would know. Thanks!

Fruit leather is becoming a weekly occurrence, it seems. Cara Cara oranges, grapes, apples. (I take all the uneaten fruit from the last week or two and heat and blend it.)

See title.

So I wasn't in the mood to post this at the time but when my mother passed away this summer, she had just washed a bunch of jars and a pail of cucumbers. Dad asked me to do something with the cucumbers so they didn't go to waste. I don't know for sure what she was planning but, pickles seemed like a safe guess so I pickled them. I didn't even want to look at them until this week when I finally labeled them and put them on the shelves with the rest of the canned goods. Frustratingly, they turned out really good but because I was in a bit of fog at the time, I don't even remember what recipes I used.

Made a bigger batch than usual this time, 24 jars total. Besides pickles (which I've made lots of), I also tried garlic, radishes, bell pepper and cabbage for this round.

I love the colour of the red cabbage especially. Can't wait to try them in a few weeks

Made some peach fruit leather. Just blended peaches. I've never had fruit leather break like that. What happened? How can I fix it?

Had to use up some kitchen leftovers today. Super pleased with how it turned out!

In the making:

Edit: Here’s the recipe. I couldn’t find a recipe that didn’t use already-made dill pickles, so I combined several recipes instead. I used the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s vinegar solution ratios for sweet pickles to make sure the pH was safe. Then I used a combo of spices from a sweet dill recipe and a sweet horseradish recipe.

My dill plants didn’t do well this year, so I used dried. It’s important to note, I’ve never made this recipe before and since I just canned yesterday I don’t know yet whether it’s good.

Makes 4-5 pint jars

• 4 lbs cucumbers
• 1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 3.25 cups granulated sugar
• 0.25 cup canning salt
• In each clean, sterilized jar add:
• 0.75 tsp mustard seed
• 1 Tbsp dill weed
• 1.5 tsp prepared horseradish Cut off a little of the blossom end. Slice and put in hot vinegar solution. When cucumbers are heated through, pack in jars. Add vinegar solution, leaving a 1/2” headspace. Water bath can for 10 minutes.

Strawberry honey butter! My first attempt at this recipe from the Ball canning website. It's delicious, think it'll go great on waffles and ice cream! It's a bit runny, but that's fine!

Made the yearly candied jalapeños! Well, half of them as the place I get the jalapeños from only barely had 4lbs, let alone 8lbs.

From the bones of a couple Costco rotisserie chickens and veggie scraps saved in the freezer. Only boiled the bones for a couple hours, so didn't get as much gelatin out of them as I'd like, but it was getting late. I also thought I had more pint jars, had to put the last bit of stock into a couple quart jars in the fridge.

Is it possible to mix jar sizes when canning? Assuming you process them all using timing for the larger jar size?

[Image description: five pint jars of opaque tan broth, still slightly bubbling as they cool on a towel on a kitchen counter. In the background a stock pot and an All American 910 can be seen.]

A batch of ginger & citrus marmalade I made today, plus some ginger tea as a byproduct!

Wrote 23 on three jars before realizing.

Is there any motivation techniques. We did soooo many gherkins last year. I find myself actively leaving the gherkins out of meals. Even though I used to buy them from shops and have them everyday.

I have 5 or 6 large jars in the pantry but I just can't seem to get through them. Was it the process that put me off. Hundreds of cucumbers to wash slice and then can.

Pictured is stewed tomato, salsa, spaghet sauce, tomato juice, marinara, ketchup, pickles, cranberries, gooseberry jam and ancient peaches from years gone. All sourced from a pretty modest sized garden. Not shown is sauerkraut and frozen corn

My last batch was from two years ago, so I need to get on it and make more! Hopefully the 20lbs for 15 dollars is still a deal at the roadside stand where I get the apples!

Candied jalapeños from last year! Great with crackers and cream cheese

Week by week, my dragon's hoard grows (there are another 6 quart jars of canned peaches not in the picture)

Just apples, pumpkin, peanut butter and some spices... this was a fun afternoon project, and they turned out delicious!

So I'm interested in grinding up some fruits (strawberries or whatever) and just throwing them in a jar and preserving them. Basically I want to make a jam without pectin or sugar. How terrible of an idea is this?

Been wanting an All American for ages, and keeping an eye on local ads finally paid off! Thinking of getting back some precious freezer space and starting off by canning some stock.

[Image description: a brand-new looking All American canner 910 sitting on a kitchen counter]

(Humble brag intro)

Today I was able to score used All American 921 and 910 canners for $35 picked up! The canners were sold but the niece of the original owner with no known history.

In doing my research, my understanding is that this brand is built solid! That said, does anyone have experience giving an all American canner a tune up?

My general approach:

1. Inspect for any structural issues
2. Take everything apart and clean it
3. Clean and buff the body with a scouring pad (not steel wool)
4. Replace the safety blow plug

Is there anything else you’d recommend?

TIA!

My cold room. Bottom shelf is dehydrated food, the rest is pickled food and jams.

So many jams...

Too many jams...