# It has begun ;)



## Quills (Jun 14, 2011)

The 2011 canning season has begun 

I started today, with strawberries. The strawberries are finally in, despite the cool, wet conditions here. The UPick strawberry farm run by a friend of mine is on high ground, and due to the moisture and a few days of relentless sunshine, the crop is finally ready, and it is a BUMPER!!!

I was at the field early this morning, and home with four 6qt baskets before nine o'clock. I've been making jam and strawberry sauce for pancakes since then. I have done 14 jars of strawberry pineapple jam and 14 jars of strawberry sauce today. The 2011 count, so far: 28 jars.

Rhubarb is ready in the perennial garden, and there is some asparagus out there that needs cutting, as well. The gooseberries are just about ripe, and the blackcurrant bushes are fruiting heavily, but not yet ready.

There are blossoms on my peas, so they'll probably be producing in not too long (we like them young and sweet), and then we'll start on tomatoes and hopefully, peppers!


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## IrritatedWithUS (Jan 9, 2011)

All I have prepped so far from my garden is rhubarb. Everything else is growing...every so slowly. Just last month we had 2 nights of 39 degree weather. Not good! This week we've had 3 days of 85 degree weather and 
all next week it's supposed to be 66-70. Bummer! I want summer back!

GOOD JOB, THOUGH! KEEP ON CANNIN'!


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

Quills said:


> The 2011 canning season has begun
> 
> I started today, with strawberries. The strawberries are finally in, despite the cool, wet conditions here. The UPick strawberry farm run by a friend of mine is on high ground, and due to the moisture and a few days of relentless sunshine, the crop is finally ready, and it is a BUMPER!!!
> 
> ...


awesome! I've never made jam but would love to try. strawberry sauce sounds incredible also..........Good Job :congrat:


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## Kai22 (Apr 30, 2011)

Quills said:


> The 2011 canning season has begun
> 
> I started today, with strawberries. The strawberries are finally in, despite the cool, wet conditions here. The UPick strawberry farm run by a friend of mine is on high ground, and due to the moisture and a few days of relentless sunshine, the crop is finally ready, and it is a BUMPER!!!
> 
> ...


Nice! My rhubarb went crazy this year so I've got 14 jars of strawberry/rhubarb jam and another 14 of rhubarb/ginger. I wish I could get strawberries in abundance like you did! Strawberry sauce sounds lovely!

I can't believe your gooseberries are almost ready! Ours are just now flowering.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Hey Quills-what's the recipe for your strawberry sauce? Could I talk you into posting it in the recipe share section?


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## Quills (Jun 14, 2011)

I'm happy to post it -- it's pretty simple 

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f54/strawberry-sauce-6884/#post75085


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Slowing down here in the south.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

Nothing our of my garden yet! Still waiting! It has been DRY and over 100F here the last few days! The rain FINALLY just came through and the temp dropped 20 degrees to 79F in a hurry! I am hoping it rains the rest of the day and long into the night.


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## Quills (Jun 14, 2011)

I'd send you some of our wet if I could, Pam. We've had flooding, flooding and more flooding this year. Bad for field crops, but pretty good for gardens!


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

canned my 1st beets today..... went out this afternoon to the garden with a friend who stopped by and OH MY GOSH.......beans were ready.....they weren't there yesterday, I swear!!:dunno: lol, picked some green beans...how great is that.,....I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now, I think I need to go fishing.........:2thumb:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

neldarez said:


> canned my 1st beets today..... went out this afternoon to the garden with a friend who stopped by and OH MY GOSH.......beans were ready.....they weren't there yesterday, I swear!!:dunno: lol, picked some green beans...how great is that.,....I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now, I think I need to go fishing.........:2thumb:


I sure know what you mean about the beans-I saw flowers just a few days ago and now when I checked they looked about 2 or 3 days from being big enuf to pick! even tho I have just a few bags frozen still from last year(they hid at the bottom of the chest freezer on me) I can't wait to chow down on the raw ones fresh from the garden! Best breakfast ever!


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

Emerald said:


> I sure know what you mean about the beans-I saw flowers just a few days ago and now when I checked they looked about 2 or 3 days from being big enuf to pick! even tho I have just a few bags frozen still from last year(they hid at the bottom of the chest freezer on me) I can't wait to chow down on the raw ones fresh from the garden! Best breakfast ever!


lol, we call that grazing ............


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

neldarez said:


> lol, we call that grazing ............


I also stand out in the garden in late summer with the salt shaker and chow down tomatoes warm from the sun and all juicy yummy, with the juice just running all over my face! Then I swing by the beans and eat a few and maybe a small cucumber or baby zucchini(raw) and then finish it off with the late raspberries. snacky snacky, munchie munchie!:2thumb:


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

Emerald said:


> I also stand out in the garden in late summer with the salt shaker and chow down tomatoes warm from the sun and all juicy yummy, with the juice just running all over my face! Then I swing by the beans and eat a few and maybe a small cucumber or baby zucchini(raw) and then finish it off with the late raspberries. snacky snacky, munchie munchie!:2thumb:


That is absolutely called grazing!! oops:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

neldarez said:


> That is absolutely called grazing!! oops:


:2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb:


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## Quills (Jun 14, 2011)

17 quarts of green beans today. It is very, VERY hot in my kitchen!


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

well, I made my 1st jam........apricot/pineapple. the recipe called for crushed pineapple and I only had tidbits so I called a friend and asked her if she thought that would work and she said nope, put it through the blender. Guess what........forgot that I had given my blender away so all I had was a smoothie blender....so, I put them in there, poof, instant slush!  Great, now what........went ahead and used this slush as if it was crushed, hmmm. It said to cook until thickened......I don't have a clue how thick thickened is...it said about 25 minutes.......I cooked it for 40 minutes...it was thicker than when I started, that's for sure. Finally got tired of being holed up in the kitchen so decided I must have reached the thickened stage.......I filled 17 1/2 pints and put in water bath for 10 minutes. They taste really good but they did not set up as firm as they should be......:gaah: This wasn't my best day, but, wasn't my worst day either........this stuff is really really good tasting! Forgot to tell you that I also made an apricot pie ( also 1st) When I cut it, lakes of juice filled the pan and the cots were so bitter....... nasty stuff......Chuck ate some and said it wasn't all that bad........grrrrrrrr:booboo: I ended up cleaning up the kitchen, taking a pill and going to bed......lol but..........syrup jam is really good.............:2thumb:


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

Quills said:


> 17 quarts of green beans today. It is very, VERY hot in my kitchen!


Good for you! I'm doing them tonight or tomorrow ...........


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

I don't know if anyone else ever has this problem or not but when I go to vac. seal the lids on a jar, many many times it won't seal.......so, I get another jar, move the stuff over and try again......over and over again it doesn't work or 1 out of 4 does. really frustrating............DH went to put lids on for me after I dried some zucchini the other day and they wouldn't seal ( as usual) so he said that he had seen me boil the flats before I canned, so he went to the kitchen, brought the flats to a strong simmer, took them back to the vac. sealer and it worked like a charm!! All this time it was the stupid seals not the jars or my machine! These lids were bought this year at walmart but I just wonder how old they are. So, if anyone else is having problems vac. sealing, try this with your lids. It worked again today where I tried to seal jar, wouldn't work, heated up flat, worked perfect!!!:surrender:


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

neldarez said:


> I don't know if anyone else ever has this problem or not but when I go to vac. seal the lids on a jar, many many times it won't seal.......so, I get another jar, move the stuff over and try again......over and over again it doesn't work or 1 out of 4 does. really frustrating............DH went to put lids on for me after I dried some zucchini the other day and they wouldn't seal ( as usual) so he said that he had seen me boil the flats before I canned, so he went to the kitchen, brought the flats to a strong simmer, took them back to the vac. sealer and it worked like a charm!! All this time it was the stupid seals not the jars or my machine! These lids were bought this year at walmart but I just wonder how old they are. So, if anyone else is having problems vac. sealing, try this with your lids. It worked again today where I tried to seal jar, wouldn't work, heated up flat, worked perfect!!!:surrender:


For what it's worth, I almost never get a seal on my jars unless I used a second lid. (Not sure where I read this, maybe a post from Emerald, maybe from an Amazon review...?) Anyways... I use two lids, run the vacuum sealing, then pull the attachment off. Usually both lides are stuck to the jar, although sometimes the top lid isn't stuck. If both are stuck, I pry off the top lid along the side edges, using a dull knife or similar to do the prying. As a result, I now have a dinged up lid that I've just marked 'for dry canning' and I use the same lid over and over again as my top lid.

Clear as mud?


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

We started canning for something different to do ... it has since turned into an obsession! Literally have hundreds of jars and I'm thinking we're going to run out in a couple of weeks!

Right now, 80 pints of beans, and it goes on and on and on 

WRT to vacuum sealing, always heat the lids first, and carefully rotate the sealing head off the jar. Too easy to catch a lip and break the seal, but it's really hard to twist a lid off the jar.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

I canned up 2 quarts and 3 pints of pickles yesterday! I can't wait to try them! I have pulled some banana and jalapeno peppers, yellow wax beans, some zukes, and two tomatoes from my garden...so not really enough to can with. I did grab a couple green tomatoes for my mom so she could have some fried green tomatoes!


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> For what it's worth, I almost never get a seal on my jars unless I used a second lid. (Not sure where I read this, maybe a post from Emerald, maybe from an Amazon review...?) Anyways... I use two lids, run the vacuum sealing, then pull the attachment off. Usually both lides are stuck to the jar, although sometimes the top lid isn't stuck. If both are stuck, I pry off the top lid along the side edges, using a dull knife or similar to do the prying. As a result, I now have a dinged up lid that I've just marked 'for dry canning' and I use the same lid over and over again as my top lid.
> 
> Clear as mud?


goshen, try heating the flats.......I'm so sold on that. I sealed 3 jars today, 1st try each time because I heated the flats. We don't know how long those flats have cooked inside of warehouses..........this is such a blessing to me to know to do this now!!:beercheer:


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## snappy1 (Sep 2, 2010)

neldarez said:


> goshen, try heating the flats.......I'm so sold on that. I sealed 3 jars today, 1st try each time because I heated the flats. We don't know how long those flats have cooked inside of warehouses..........this is such a blessing to me to know to do this now!!:beercheer:


How do you heat the flats? Boiling them or in the oven? How hot and for how long? Thanks!


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

snappy1 said:


> How do you heat the flats? Boiling them or in the oven? How hot and for how long? Thanks!


Just like you would for canning, 10 minutes at the proper temperature... I just heat them to boiling, and only occassionally have a seal failure.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Hmmmm... I'd be reluctant to put them in boiling water right before using them for vac sealing dehydrated foods. I'd be concerned that I wouldn't get all the moisture off. But that's me.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

In my _late planted _garden, cucumbers came in first, then kept coming. Eating as many as we could, coupled with giving them away wasn't putting a dent into what was growing. I've never made pickles before but realized the need. I now have 72 quarts of pickles. The recipes didn't call for it so I didn't add a crisper or Alum powder. The pickles are therefore a bit soggy but still taste good.

Tomatoes are now coming in and I'm expecting literally thousands of them _since I have over 80 plants and each already have 25-50 tomatoes._

After doing the pickles, I've come to the realization that my 4-burner kitchen stove isn't going to cut it to handle canning in volume. I was at Costco the other day and found a Expedition 3X Triple Burner Stove - Camp Chef - The Way to Cook Outdoors for $159. With 3 turkey-cooker style burners, I believe this will help immensely. Here's a pic. The griddle lifts off as I expect to use it more for canning.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

Regarding heating the flats, I do the same and have never had one not seal for me. In a small sauce pan, I bring to boil then let simmer. Obviously, don't forget the tongs so you can lift them out.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

snappy1 said:


> How do you heat the flats? Boiling them or in the oven? How hot and for how long? Thanks!


just put them in a pan and bring to boil or strong simmer, just a few minutes, just to soften the rubber.........


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Hmmmm... I'd be reluctant to put them in boiling water right before using them for vac sealing dehydrated foods. I'd be concerned that I wouldn't get all the moisture off. But that's me.


I take them out of the boiling water and put them on folded paper towel, dry thoroughly and yay! sealed jar! :congrat:


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

neldarez said:


> I take them out of the boiling water and put them on folded paper towel, dry thoroughly and yay! sealed jar! :congrat:


I should give it a try, then!


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