2010 Canning Summary

Looking back, I neglecting posting about my canning in 2010. In fact, I hardly photographed it. Here's a list of this year's canning exploits. Much of this was given as gifts during our Christmas travels.


Strawberry Rhubarb Compote 5 (1/2 pints)
Strawberry Preserves (4) 1/2 pints
Strawberry Lavender Jam (2) 1/2 pints - More of this next year
Strawberry Juice (3) pints
Cherry Marmalade (8) 1/2 pints
Cherries in Syrup (2.75) qts,
Asian Pickles (4) pints (These were an experiment and I over-cooked them. Mushy pickles are not so good)
Bread & Butter Zucchini (2) pints
Crock Cured Dill Pickles (3 quarts) This was an interesting experience. I canned half of them and put half in the fridge. My mom says they are too salty so I didn't give any away. I also haven't opened the ones canned to compare the texture. My husband doesn't eat pickles so these are going very slowly.
Bread & Butter Pickles (9) pints
Blueberry Lime Jam (11) 1/2 pints
Lime Juice 1 (1/2) pint
White Grape Juice (4) pints
Dilly Beans (7) pints
Annie's Salsa (22) pints - I was very happy with this recipe. I used only the added tomato paste, not tomato sauce. We made it spicy and with the acid used 1/2 c. cider vinegar 1/4 c.lime juice, 1/4 c. lemon juice for a balanced flavor.
Tomato Sauce (3) quarts
Tomato Juice (2) quarts
Cider Jelly (15) 1/2 pints (pictured above)
Apple Sauce (7) pints

This comes to a total of (49) 1/2 pints, 62 pints, and 8.75 quarts, for a grand total of 51.25 quarts, or 12.8 gallons. Now to work on enjoying what we haven't given away, as well as to eat up the fruit and tomatoes we have stored in our freezer.

June Update: Fruit

In the yard we have a few fruit trees, vines, and bushes. I'm finding that not much fruit set, most likely because of a hard frost we had while the trees were in bloom in mid May.

We have a sour cherry tree on the side of the house. It only has a few green cherries on it this year. The sellers of the house left us a jar of jelly made from it last year so they must have had more fruit.

In the front of the house another tree, which I thought was ornamental. A few weeks ago I was weeding underneath and found a cherry on the ground. I looked up and have found a few other sweet cherries on the tree. I hope we can pick the handful of them when the ripen before the birds get to them.
We also have three apple trees. Apparently they were just planted last year. There are only about 5 apples on all three trees.
This spring I planted everbearing raspberries. They are just beginning to get their first blossoms. I probably should pluck them off and let the plants establish.
We found some blackberries in a pot at the back of the house. They are developing nicely. We've also seen a few places in the woods nearby where we should be able to pick blackberries.
For my birthday at the beginning of this month, I received 25 Honeoye strawberry plants. We won't let them fruit this year, but hope they will get well established.
There is one lone blueberry bush. It cross-pollinated with some in the field behind our house so we have a handful of green berries waiting to ripen.
On the front picket fence is a green grape vine. It is starting to set fruit. I'm not sure what we'll do with green grapes. Can you make green grape jelly?
This year's fruit will be measured in handfuls, but I hope it will be signs of bounty to come.

Strawberry Season

I just found out that strawberry season has come early to our area because of the warm spring. Last year the season began for me on June 24th! Now I hear we are already a couple of weeks into the picking.

Last Saturday I made some Strawberry Rhubarb Compote from a recipe from Doris and Jilly, with rhubarb from the farmers market, but the strawberries were from California. It made 6 pints. I immediately opened one to test it in my yogurt. It was perfect, not to sweet. I'm saving the rest for this fall when we can't get fresh strawberries.


Today we picked a few pints today for strawberry pie, but the patch was too crowded and over-picked to get enough for jam. I'm going to try another farm later this week. I have one more official day of work on Monday and then school's done! It looks like I will be finished packing my room by then too. So I'll probably be headed to the farm on Tuesday and the fun of freezing and canning berries can begin. I hope there are some still out in the field!

Asparagus & Strawberries

Today we planted 20 Jersey Supreme Hybrid Asparagus in the far back corner of the garden. These were thanks to birthday gifts I received. Matt also got me 25 Honeoye Strawberry plants which were put in next to the asparagus. We won't get to enjoy either this year, but they are an investment in the future. Now all perennial vegetables and fruits are in the ground. I may get 5 more raspberry plants at a later date but we have 5 for now. And we have officially dug every square foot of our garden.

The large masses of green are mostly our potatoes and onions taking off. We took off the windows from the cold frame and I planted broccoli and cabbage seedlings in there. I hope they will be more protected from the slugs. I may place row cover over it to shade some lettuce later this summer.

Strawberry Season

Today I went to a local farm and picked 20 pounds of strawberries. It is early in the season so it was hard work finding the ripe berries. Here's what is happening to all those berries.

• I canned 9 half pints of Strawberry Jam.
• I'm in in the process of making 7 or 8 more jars of Strawberry Preserves. They are plumping overnight before being canned tomorrow.
• I set aside two quarts to make Strawberry Pie for a picnic on Friday.
• I made the strawberry syrup to mix with cream for making a batch of Strawberry Gelato.
• I put one cookie sheet full of strawberries in the freezer.
• And I made a strawberry-mango cobbler for dinner tonight. ( I added a bit of cinnamon and cardamom to the recipe. If you like your cobbler sweet, add more sugar to the fruit).

There may be a few extras left for eating, but I may have to go pick some more next week for us to snack on.
Earlier this week we were perusing my favorite canning book, The Joy of Cooking: All About Canning & Preserving, and saw a recipe for Mango Preserves. When we went to the store on Sunday, mangos were on sale. So yesterday I started Mango Preserves and did the canning of them today.
Preserves take two days because first you let the fruit and sugar sit in a cool place for 4-8 hours, then you bring the fruit to a boil and to the jellying point. Then the fruit sits overnight to plump so it won't float in the jars. Finally you return the fruit to a boil before processing it in a boiling water bath.

The summer canning season is off to a good start!