Tag Archives: canning

All Things Cranberry

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There are some pretty standard Thanksgiving side dishes that are just required to be on the table and cranberry sauce is one of them. Many people I talk to claim to not really like cranberry sauce for me to later find out they are referring to the jellied store bought canned sauce they grew up with sitting on a plate that was still in the shape of the can, ridges and all. Well yeah… that ISN’T very good! If you haven’t had home made cranberry sauce, then you really are missing out! The internet is overflowing with amazing cranberry sauce recipes and each and every one of them are super easy to make!

Fresh Cranberries are cheap this time of year and even freeze really well! I always stock up on them around now. I don’t live somewhere that I can grow them myself or I absolutely would! Grab some extra bags of fresh cranberries and have them handy for after the Thanksgiving rush of baking so you can pull that canner out again! Cranberries are naturally acidic and are very easy and safe to can! You can even try fermenting them! I have some in the pantry now fermenting in honey.

Canning cranberry sauce is a very easy project and you can have home made cranberry sauce ready for whenever the urge strikes you. Simply make your cranberry sauce and can it using the same processing time as mentioned for the juice. Most cranberry sauces consist of only acidic ingredients (other than the seasonings) so safety isn’t really a concern here. Just don’t add any nuts before canning if you like nuts in your cranberry sauce.

Ok so why do you want to can all this cranberry sauce if you only eat it on Thanksgiving and Christmas!? Well that’s easy! Eat it on more than just Thanksgiving and Christmas!

There are tons of ways to enjoy cranberry sauce other than the obligatory spoonful of cranberry sauce on your plate 2 days a year!

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Spoon a little over your cheesecake or pound cake.

Put some on a sandwich (of course I also mean those left over turkey sandwiches).

Try stirring some mayo or cream cheese into the cranberry sauce for an amazing sandwich spread.

Use as a filling for small single serving pies.

Add some to your yogurt and granola for breakfast.

Make your own pop tarts with that left over pie crust.

Add a spoonful to your oatmeal.

Whip up some cranberry butter for toast or muffins.

Use as an ice cream topping.

Make a glaze for meats or create your own BBQ sauce recipe.

Add some to the top of your cream cheese covered bagel.

Create your own cranberry vinaigrette salad dressing by adding a spoon full of cranberry sauce to some oil and vinegar.

Use cranberry sauce in muffins, cakes, and bread recipes.

Cranberry Bars and cheesecake bars .

Mix in with apples or other fruit to make a cobbler, crisp, or pie.

Cranberry cookies.

Add to some roasted root vegetables.

Add to smoothies.

Serve with brie and crackers.

Make sure you don’t miss this opportunity to stock up on cranberries and hit up those after holiday sales in the grocery stores!

Happy Homesteading!

Fig Jalapeno Jam

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My neighbor has a fig bush. This bush doesn’t look that big but let me tell you about how many figs this thing pumps out!! Whew! I can barely keep up. There is an elderly couple who lives there and they like to enjoy a few figs from it but tell me to pick all I can. They say they hate to just see the birds get to them all. One day while I was filling up buckets of them, the man came out and asked me what I do with all the figs. I told him I had grand plans of making all kinds of things with them but that I mostly just stand at the kitchen counter eating them by the handful until I feel sick. He laughed and said I sounded just like his wife!
Even after sharing with friends I still managed to freeze a lot of them in vacuum sealed bags and am using them here and there. In an attempt to figure out what in the world to do with ALL THESE JALAPENOS, I decided that fig jalapeño jam sounded like the perfect treat.
This stuff is delicious! If you resist just eating it will a spoon out of the jar, you can put them on a cracker with cream cheese, add it to a turkey sandwich, make a marinade out of it or pour it over pork chops or chicken. If you mixed some in some olive oil, you’d have a zippy salad dressing with a nice kick! I was thinking I might even add a table spoon of it to some cranberry sauce and see how that goes! Let me know if you come up with other creative ways to use it! 

If you are new to canning, please consult a trusted source for safe canning procedures. 

This is a water bath canning recipe.

Fig Jalapeno Pepper Jam

Delicious on cracker with cream cheese, make into a marinade, spoon over pork chops, add to salad dressings.
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Equipment

  • water bath canner
  • food processor

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 2 cups figs
  • 2 cups bell peppers red, green, yellow, or orange will do
  • 1 cup jalapeños diced seeded if you want them less spicy
  • 1 pkg Sure-Jell
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 7 cups sugar

Instructions
 

  • In a food processor add the figs, bell peppers, and jalapeño peppers and pulse until desired consistency. I like to leave mine kind of chunky.
  • Pour the mixture to a large pot and add the vinegar, Sure-Jell and butter.
  • Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes
  • Add the sugar, stir, and bring back to a rolling boil for 1 minute.
  • Remove from heat and ladle into sterilized jars.
  • Wipe rim of jar, add lids and rings, and place in water bath canner.
  • Process 10 minutes for 1/2 pints and 15 min for pints.
  • Remove from canner and allow to cool.
  • Once the lids are sealed, occasionally gently shake jars to make sure your the pieces are distributed throughout the jar instead of all staying at the top.
    If you miss this step that isn't a problem. Just mix the jar with a spoon when you open it.
Keyword condiment, fig, jalapeno, jam, marinade, salad dressing

Happy Homesteading!

Cowboy Candy

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Jalapeños are still in abundance this fall in the garden! One of the ways we preserve the harvest is making Cowboy Candy. Cowboy Candy is something my family, friends, and extended family just simply can’t get enough of. I make well over 2 dozen jars of it every year and still run out. That’s a LOT of jalapeños by the way! They cook down quite a bit so a ton of jalapeños doesn’t actually make that many jars. Cowboy Candy on EVERYTHING! Put it on baked potatoes, chili, sandwiches, or just eat it out of the jar!

I am often asked for the recipe and I like to act like it’s some kind of secret. It’s not though. It’s just a basic recipe that has never let me down. It does make extra brine. Go ahead and put that in another jar and get that canned up too! You can make a marinade out of it or a glaze. I’ve seen people suggest adding some to Bloody Marys. You could give a kick to a homemade salad dressing. Get creative!

I do recommend wearing gloves because when you cut up a bunch of jalapeños, it can be tough to wash the juices off. You do NOT want to be the one who rubs your eye later and have regrets (speaking from personal experience here)!

I personally prefer to cut the slices by hand. My husband loves to help. Okay, I’m joking but he helps anyway.


*If you are not experienced with canning, I recommend you reach out to your local extension or other trusted source for instruction on safe canning procedures.

Cowboy Candy

Water Bath canning recipe. Delicious on a cracker with some cream cheese, in a sandwich or sub, on a baked potato or chili.
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Equipment

  • water bath canner
  • canning accessories (jar lifter, etc)
  • pint or half pint jars
  • new canning lids
  • canning rings
  • knife or food processor with slicer
  • gloves

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 lb jalapeños
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp celery seed

Instructions
 

  • Wear gloves to protect your hands
  • Remove the stems of the jalapeños
  • Slice in 1/4 inch slices with knife of food processor slicer
  • Put all ingredients except jalapeños into a big pot
  • Bring to a boil
  • Add jalapeños, bring to a boil and cook down for 5 minutes
  • Prepare your canning jars
  • Fill each jar and add juice leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Make sure you get out any air bubbles, pack peppers in tightly.
  • wipe rim with damp cloth, apply lid and ring, screw on fingers tight and into the water bath canner it goes.
  • Process 1/2 pints for 10 minutes or pints for 15 minutes.
  • Take jars out of canner and let cool completely on a towel.
  • Check seals, clean jar and store (I always store my canned items without ring)

Happy Homesteading!

Canning Applesauce

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Did you know the only apple native to North America is the crab apple and they are actually members of the Rose family?

Apples go with fall as much as pumpkins and mums! We are still in full swing canning mode, furiously puttin’ up for winter and apples are in the queue!
I’ve yet to start growing apples here. I’m still looking for just the right variety for this area. Apple trees benefit from the cold and it simply doesn’t get that cold here but I will find it and I WILL grow some! Any one have any suggestions for a nice multipurpose apple that will grow well in northeastern North Carolina?

Applesauce, apple butter, dehydrated apples, apple cider vinegar, apple pie filling, apple jelly, apple scrap jelly, making homemade natural pectin, fermented apples, apple juice/cider, hard cider and freezing are a few ways people go about puttin’ up apples for the year.

Applesauce is an important “MUST HAVE” in our house. We often have it with dinner. We will put it in a pot on the stove to warm up while we eat and have it for dessert! The kids claim that I make the best applesauce in the world. It’s certainly the best they have ever had. It is definitely an up grade from store bought!

I remember a story my great grandmother would tell about how much she hated peeling and coring all of my great grandfathers apples from his trees to preserve. I was determined to NOT hate it. The first thing I looked up when I went to make applesauce the first time was whether or not I could make it without peeling. Well, good news folks! You can. I wonder what my great grandmother would say to how easy my applesauce processing is compared to what she used to do. 

I won’t get into all the specifics of safe canning procedures in this post. I will at another time write a detailed post concerning how to can safely and will later create a link from this post. Until then, if you are a beginner and unfamiliar with canning, I encourage you to reach out to your local extension office for instruction or other trusted source. 

So you have your pile of apples. Now what!?

Supplies Needed

Canning pot and canning accessories 

Steamer

Lids and rings

Canning jars (pint or quart)

Lemon juice (optional)

Cinnamon 

Ginger

Sugar (Only if you want. It’s not necessary to add sugar so feel free not to)

Apples (I used Gala apples)
(You will need about 21 pounds of apples for 7 quarts of applesauce, 13.5 pounds for 9 pints.)

Instructions 

Before you get busy cutting up these apples, you have to get them all washed up! 

Now remember, I said NO PEELING! 

Just core your apples and chop them in pretty big chunks. 

Fill up your steamer basket with apples and steam them for approx. 20 min. 

If it is easily pierced with a fork, you’re good to go.

Now you want to take the apples and put them in a good blender (oh how I love my Vitamix! We’ve had ours for over 15 years and use it almost every day for one thing or another)

Blend in some cinnamon and some ginger to taste (don’t overdo the ginger) Be careful when blending hot apple chunks.

Add a little lemon juice (lemon juice isn’t necessary when canning apples but I enjoy it in there)

Sugar, if you want but really apples are sweet enough!

After its blended well, pour into a big pot.
If you have a smaller steamer, you may have to do a few batches steamed, blend in batches,  and add them all together to a big pot as you go until you have the amount of applesauce desired to fill your jars.

At this point you will want to bring your applesauce to a boil in your big pot. 

Turn it down some and simmer it for 20 min.
Don’t skip this step. When you blend your apples, there will be a lot of air in the applesauce. If you don’t let that simmer out, you will end up with siphoning in the canning process (ask me how I know). As it is, applesauce has a reputation for siphoning so anything I can do to minimize that is worth it to me.

After simmering for 20 min, you can get to the canning process.

Water-bath Canning (As mentioned before, in this post I will not get into the specifics of safe canning procedures. Please refer to your local extension office or trusted source for guidance.) 

Ladle your applesauce into your sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 in. headspace.

Tap the jar on a potholder or towel a few good times to get air out of the applesauce. 

Wipe your rims and finger tighten your lid/ring.

Fill your canning pot with jars and process for 15 min for pints and 20 min for quarts. 

Carefully remove your jars and allow them to completely cool. 

Check for a good seal once cooled. 

I always store my home canned goods without the rings but you’re going to hear a ton of different answers depending on who you ask.  That is a topic for another post. 

Happy Homesteading!

What to do with that Abundance of Fall Peppers!

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One of the shining stars of fall is the pepper. They love the heat and have a hard time in early spring getting going. They do start to shine in summer but there is something special that happens in the fall for peppers. They explode with fruit! Our jalapeño plants are DRIPPING with peppers!  Actually to be more factual, my uncle’s pepper plants are, not mine haha. He plants several jalapeño plants along with some flowers in his one and only little edible garden. He grows them for my aunt who could NEVER eat as many as they produce. He doesn’t even LIKE spicy things. That’s love I tell ya.

I stick to growing other varieties of peppers and just walk next door to pick as many peppers as I can haul back home. That’s the wonderful thing about gardening friends. Someone is bound to have a better crop of something than you and sharing is the best!
So what in the world do we do with all these peppers? Other than giving away many to friends and stuffing our selves with jalapeño poppers and salsa, we have discovered some delicious and creative ways to use up and preserve this abundance:

***Word of caution! When handling hot peppers, it’s not a bad idea to use gloves. The oils in peppers are difficult to completely wash away and you don’t want to make the mistake of rubbing your eyes after processing a bucket of hot peppers!

-“Cowboy Candy.” It’s candied. Sweet and Spicy! It’s so delicious on a sandwich, a salad, a baked potato, tacos, or just standing at the fridge scooping them out with a fork! Don’t toss out that extra brine! It can be used to make a glaze or a marinade for meat, add to a Bloody Mary, etc.

-Pickled Peppers Water bath canning them is the way to go and super easy to do

-Canned Salsa. Better make sure you get this done before all those tomatoes disappear for the year!

-Dehydrated Either in a dehydrator, oven dried, or air dried. Store in a mason jar with tight fitting lid. We use the dehydrator and set it on the back porch. Otherwise it runs the kids out of the house coughing haha!

-Powdered. Once you have your dehydrated peppers, you can pulverize them into powder to use as a seasoning.

-Freeze. Cut into slices and freeze. You can remove the seeds or leave them. Remember, if you’re freezing hot peppers, the seeds and the membranes will make it spicer. Add the frozen jalapeños to various dishes throughout the year. Freeze in small batches. 

-Frozen for Jalapeno poppers. Pick the biggest of the peppers to cut in half length ways, scoop out seeds, and freeze to whip up some quick jalapeño poppers later. 

-Hot Pepper Jelly. This is nice on a cracker with some cream cheese.

-Hot Pepper/Fruit Jelly. There are also recipes out there that add fruit such as peaches or figs to the hot pepper jelly. I haven’t tried one yet but it sounds delicious and is on the list! 

-Hot Sauce. There are tons of hot sauce recipes using so many kinds of peppers and some have various fruits added. I will recommend that the spicer the pepper, the more careful handling you should pay attention to. Trying to do preparations outside is also helpful to disperse some of the capsaicin molecules in the air. 

-Fermented. Fermenting sounds scary at first but I promise you is just a few simple steps to preserving your harvest and providing amazing probiotics in this delicious LIVING FOOD! 

Now if you would excuse me, I have about a 5 gal bucket full of jalapeños that need my attention! Preserving is hard work but I never said it wasn’t worth it!
So get to preserving and …

Happy Homesteading!