Home Canned Sweet and Sour Sauce

This is one of our family's favortie ways to use up garden produce. We've outgrown the pint-size jars and so this year I chose to can this sauce in 3 cup jars. I didn't even know they existed until I started searching for them, knowing a quart of sauce would be too much. They are as tall as quart jars, but skinnier. I hope they will be the perfect size for our needs.

Salsa Making Day

We've been chopping and freezing peppers, onions, and tomatoes all summer getting ready for Salsa Day. This allows me to wait until I have the time to put it all together and also keeps any produce from going to waste since the garden produce is never ready all at the same time.

Blackberry Pie Filling

We are growing blackberries. Our patch is now 4 years old and doing very well. Our berries are huge! I have been picking and freezing every few days until I have enough to do something significant with them. It's tricky to save very many each picking though because we have quite a few berry snitchers who just want to eat one more before they are put away FOREVER.

Tomatoes Galore!

We just picked all of these today. It's our first big picking. "What shall we do with all of these?" the children ask.

"I have plans," I asure them.

We will be chopping most of them up in the food processor and freezing for later. They will turn into

Homemade Apricot Fruit Rolls

We've started the harvest season in our neck of the woods. I've been busy these last few weeks picking cherries to make pie filling, picking raspberries to make freezer jam, and picking apricots to make fruit rolls. My kids love to eat the fresh apricots, but they are not big fans of  apricot jam or bottled apricots. They LOVE the fruit rolls though!

The Joys of Ultra Gel, Ultra Sperse, or Instant Clear-jel

Ultra Sperse ,Ultra Gel, Ultra Maxi-gel or Instant Clear-jel - A rose by any other name would smell as sweet right?

I want to sing the praises of this amazing product whatever it is you want to call it. This product is a modified corn starch that thickens products instantly, hot or cold. No cooking is required! Because it is made of corn, it is gluten free.

Faux Strawberry Jam

This jam is tasty and delicious! No one ever guesses that the main ingredient is green tomatoes! (They all just think it is strawberry jam.) We'll let them go right on thinking that way. It's bright red color makes it a wonderful choice for holiday gifts.

Salsa Verde - a.k.a. Green Tomato Salsa

 

Salsa Verde from my own garden! This is a mild salsa that is wonderful with chips and also great to flavor meats in the crockpot. I like to add it to chicken or pork roast and then use the meat in burritos or enchiladas. It is also good added to white chicken chili in place of the peppers or green chilies called for in the recipe. It is so simple now that I have jars waiting on my pantry shelves. Plus, wouldn't they make festive holiday gifts? (And to think that the main ingredient is something that most people would just throw away.)

Home Canned Sloppy Joe Sauce

It's hard to find someone who doesn't enjoy a great sloppy joe every now and then. Having the sauce all canned up using my garden produce is a treat. All I have to do is brown some hamburger and stir in the sauce and dinner is done!

I've never canned sloppy joe sauce before. I searched out a few recipes and played with the spices until I figured out one that I know we will love. (I only played with the spices which did not change the overall acidity of the product so this can still be safely canned in a boiling water bath.)

Mix all the ingredients together in a large pot. Then ladle into jars and cap with lids and rings.

Cook pints in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Remove from the boiling water and allow to cool. Check to make sure the jars are sealed before tucking them away for longer storage.

Home-canned Sloppy Joe Sauce

10 cups tomato puree

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped green peppers

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

1 1/2 Tbsp celery salt

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1 1/2 - 2 cups brown sugar

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup Ultra Gel *

Make tomato puree using a food mill. To see how I prepare my tomato puree click here. (If you use the food processor, you keep all the seeds and tiny skin pieces - my family doesn't mind. If you use a food mill, the skins and many of the seeds are removed. It all comes down to preference.) Chop the onions and peppers in a food processor. Combine the tomato puree and the onions and peppers in a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Process pints for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. To serve: Mix one pint of sloppy joe sauce with 1 pound of browned hamburger. Makes approximately 7 pints.

*Ultra Gel is one of my favorite products for freezing and canning. To learn more about it, read my post on freezer jam. In this sauce, it helps the tomato puree keep from separating over time and also adds a little more thickness without requiring that I cook it down for hours. I really do love this stuff! You may not need an entire 1/2 cup depending on how long you simmered your tomato mixture down.

Salsa Day Prep

The garden is producing and we are harvesting as things are ready. 

It makes "Salsa Day" so much easier if I have already chopped and frozen many of the ingredients.

A food processor makes for quick work.

Be sure to wear gloves so the pepper oils don't bother your hands. (Or worse, get into your eyes because you touch them after working with the peppers - that was a painful lesson learned a few years ago!)

I have a blue pair of gloves I reserve for using with food - my yellow ones I use for cleaning.

Label your bags of chopped ingredients and freeze them until the big day arrives. If you won't be making salsa this year, you can still chop and freeze your peppers and onions this way to use in other recipes.

Applesauce Day

Here's the view out my living room window - we had a productive day! It was a little smaller operation this year - it was just us not the entire family this time. See last year's post here.

It began with us steaming the apples in the juicer to get them soft. Doing it this way keeps the juice undiluted.

Each of the kids took their turn squishing the apples - they all still vie for turns.

I added kool-aid to some of the sauce then sweetened to taste with sugar and added some of the juice back in to make it the right consistency. 1 packet of kool-aid will flavor 6-7 quarts of sauce.

It was then into the canner for processing. We put up 34 quarts today - some regular and some strawberry flavored - all good!

Raspberry Syrup with Ultra Gel

We got to pick my parent's raspberry patch recently. It is a highlight of the summer - the kids are getting old enough that they can actually be helpers and know that we will make some delicious items with what we pick. I often make freezer jam with all of them, but this year I decided to make some raspberry syrup as well. 

I stretched my berry puree with applesauce for the syrup just like I do with the freezer jam recipe. I used about 6 cups of berry puree and 2 cups of applesauce to get my 8 cups of fruit puree called for in the recipe. It was a little bit of guessing since I just poured some puree into my 2 qt measuring bowl and added applesauce and tasted to make sure it still tasted as much like raspberries as I wanted. You can use all berry puree if you want to. The applesauce just stretches the more expensive berries and we can make more syrup or jam that way.

This recipe is very versatile. You can use whatever variety or mix of fruit puree you would like. You can also buy the frozen juice concentrate at the store and turn it into syrup - let your imagination dictate the flavor you want to try.

Soft Set Jelly/Syrup
8 cups fruit juice or puree	1 cup corn syrup
½ cup lemon juice	1 ½–2 cups Ultra Gel*
4 cups sugar
Combine fruit puree and lemon juice in a non-reactive pan. Combine sugar with 1 cup ultra gel and then add to fruit puree. Sweeten to taste with corn syrup (or honey or agave nectar - use the sweetener that you prefer) Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in additional ultra gel gradually until it reaches the thickness you desire - leave it thinner for syrup or thicker for jelly. Return to heat and boil 1 minute. Ladle into jars immediately and process for 35 minutes in hot water bath. Makes approximately 5 ½ pints. *Ultra Gel is the same as ultra sperse and instant clear-jel and these can be used interchangeably as the thickener in the above recipe. **This recipe can be frozen instead of processed with great results. ***If you are on a sugar-free diet, use whatever you desire to sweeten this syrup. Just store it in the freezer instead of canning it since we are cautioned against canning an untested recipe.

Homemade Grape Juice

Last Fall we had a neighbor call and offer us her grapes. She planted them years ago when her kids were all home and she doesn't use the juice nearly so quickly any more with just her and her husband at home. I've learned that when people know that you will use the fruit, they offer it free all the time. Most people don't like to see things go to waste so they love to share if they aren't going to get to preserving it themselves. Grape juice is about the easiest thing to preserve. My parents grow grapes and so I always grew up with homemade juice. I knew it was easy to do. So the kids and I went over to pick the grapes.

The first step is to wash the grapes and break off most of their stems. Then place them in the top of a steam juicer.

Fill the bottom pan with water and bring to a boil. We always do ours on the back porch.

For a great step-by-step tutorial, check out this article.

Now we are enjoying our work. To make grape juice, pour the bottle of concentrated juice into a picture. 

Add 1 1/2 to 2 jars of water. This depends on the grapes from year to year. Some years they have a stronger flavor than others. The key is to do it to taste.

Add sugar or whatever other sweetener you prefer, again do it to taste.

Stir to combine and then serve.

This quart of concentrate made 3 quarts of juice.

We bottled up 36 quarts from what we picked so we will be able to enjoy grape juice for lots of meals before we run out. It also makes delicious grape jelly and syrup. 

If you are looking for something that is easy to grow, maintain, and preserve give grapes a try.

Apple Cider Making Day

Apple Cider Day is a more recent family tradition. My dad recalls having an old press when he was growing up on their small family farm. A few years ago, I mentioned that I had been reading up on making apple cider and it got him all excited about it again. For the extended family Christmas present that year, he bought a cider press with the plans that we could all get together at harvest time in the Fall to make fresh cider. He has a few apple trees on his property and it is not uncommon to pick 20+ bushels each year. This year, we picked 8 bushels off just his golden delicious tree alone! (For those of you unfamiliar with how much a  bushel of apples is, they weigh about 48lbs.) This means we picked nearly 400 lbs of apples from just one tree! We make some into applesauce and pie filling and all the rest we make into cider.

Cider is an all day event -

Washing the apples is only the beginning.

Here is the crew of cousins who are chopping the apples into quarters.

We have a set-up that uses a new sink disposal to chop the apples to bits. Here is my dad shoving the apples into the disposal unit.

Here is the apple pulp that comes out.

We collect it in buckets while it waits for the press.

These two are helping to man the press.

They hold the fabric pieces open so the apple pulp can be scooped in.

The fabric piece is twisted tight and layed between plastic disks. (We purchased the plastic parts as a cider press making kit and then added the required wood pieces to build our own press.)

We layer three pieces of this apple-filled fabric in between plastic disks.

Then the pressing begins - with the help of a car jack.

Here is a closer shot of the jack. As it is tightened down, the cider is pressed out of the apples. 

Here is a picture of the entire press.

You can see the fresh cider dripping into the pan at the bottom.

Once collected, the cider is then pasturized on the stove.

We seal it in 2 quart canning jars for enjoyment in months to come.

By the end of the day, we all feel the need for a cozy place to sleep. I slipped downstairs at my parent's home when it was time to head home and found my two youngest asleep on the couch. They had had a fun-filled day with cousins and were worn out. Were't we all! There is nothing like a work project as a family though - it builds great memories! We pressed over 50 gallons of cider!

Canning Spaghetti Sauce

We now have 35 quarts of home-canned spaghetti sauce from our garden. It was my first year making sauce. Because I chose to pressure can it instead of using a boiling water bath, I had more freedom in the recipe I used. This recipe is not safe for the water bath canning process because it is not acidic enough.

Wash and cut your tomatoes in half. Place in a large glass bowl and cook in the microwave to release much of their juice. This saves you from having to simmer your pot down for hours on the stove- a huge plus for me! When done, strain the tomatoes from the juice. Reserve the juice just in case.

Puree the tomatoes in the food processor - peels and all.

Chop other vegetables in the food processor as well.

Here's my cute little helper. She is my only one home in the mornings this year so she has become my number one "helper." Those of you with young children know that it slows you down to have such a "helper," but I know I'm teaching her important principles so I try to be patient through it all. Her favorite job is to push the buttons on the food processor. Thank goodness mine has a lock function so it won't turn on until the lid is locked in place or I would have a giant mess!

Mix everything together. Add spices to taste. It takes more basil and oregano than you think. I buy my spices in bulk at our local grocery store. Stir in tomato paste until it is as thick as you like. You can also chop fresh herbs if you have them. I ended up adding the tomato juice back in and using a little more tomato paste so I could have a larger batch.

Fill jars. Then pressure can at 12 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes.

I ended up with about 9 quarts of sauce with this recipe. If you don't want to pressure can it, you can freeze this recipes with perfect results.

Home-Canned Spaghetti Sauce

18 cups tomato puree

3 large green peppers, chopped

3 medium onions, chopped

1 large zucchini, chopped

10 carrots, chopped

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar

3-4 cups tomato paste - enough to make it as thick as you like

Reserved tomato juice, if needed

Dried oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste

Wash and cut tomatoes in half. Place in a large glass bowl. Microwave for 12-15 minutes. This allows the tomatoes to release a lot of their juice. Strain the tomatoes from the juice, but reserve the juice in case it is needed later. Chop the tomatoes in a food processor. Chop peppers, onions, zucchini, and carrots in a food processor. Mix all the ingredients together. Use some of the reserved juice, if needed, depending on how much tomato paste you added. Fill jars and pressure can at 12 lbs of pressure for 20 minutes.