1. Strawberry Jam ( This was our first canning attempt )
2. Bread and Butter Pickles
3. Canned green beans the other night
4. Our most recent adventure - Blackberry Jam
Went and picked a few blackberries today, not near as many as I had hoped for. They are not all ripe just yet but I did find a few that were ready. I wasn't sure if I had enough for jam but after some mesurements I found that I did have just enough. Woo-Hoo !!! More canning.
Here Katie tries to make off with the loot.
Cooking up the berries and sugar and pectin mix.
Ended up with 7 -- 1/2 pints of beautiful blackberry jam.
I left the seeds in because I don't have a food mill just yet, this is, just yet. I think the seeds give it a nice look though. All in all, I am very pleased with the outcome. Getting more fresh goodies stocked up for me and the family. Not too bad for an hour of berry picking in the peacefulness of the wilderness. Time well spent !!
8 comments:
It looks like you have the whole family involved, which is the best way to go! I appreciated the comments left by the other reader about availability of canners at garage sales, etc., and that is definitely one way to gather up stuff for storage if I keep an eye out. The jam looks great--judging from the fact that your little girl liked the berries so much, it's a pretty safe assumption that the jam will be a hit too!
You are going to wear that canner out! LOL :)
Aren't blackberries the neatest little gift from Mother Nature? I just love seeing them everywhere around here.
We have a Foley Food Mill ($20, I think), and it was a great investment for canning tomato sauce and juice. Very helpful. I never thought about taking the seeds out of the blackberries though... hmmm... is that even legal? :)
Ron
Marie, I always try to get the whole bunch involved. Katie is the most willing though, the others seem to just stay too busy with their own stuff.
Ron, I love blackberries too, I will be looking into getting a food mill very soon. My tomato's just won't seem to get ripe. The instructions that I found for making the jam said that you could remove the seeds but I would never thought of that. Yes I am keeping the canner hot, man I love that thing. haha!!
Chris
The jam is gorgeous - your little one will be quite the canner when she grows up, at this rate!
Chris, What is next on the list to can? Where do you find all your recipes? The net?
Working on the moat...
http://foragingprepper.blogspot.com/
Rook
Last year I picked blackberries for the entire weekend and brought home a large quantity. My daughter and I used an Amish cookbook and attempted to create home- made jam with organic sugar and a pot. After we were done, it seemed as though 10,000 berries equaled ONE jar of blackberry. I never even considered using pectin. Can you use the pectin without a canner? The berries will be ripe soon and I need to start my plan!
Dave is looking for a food mill now but I had not planned on a canner in the budget... maybe I should?
Lisa
Yum!! I like the look of the seeds in it, too!! Gen--IL Homesteader
Nita, Katie loves to help with anything that I do. I hope she learns the homesteading life.
Rook, looks like we will be pickling watermelon rinds next, I know that sounds funny, but we have a melon and thought we would try it out. Check out pickyourown.org for insrtuctions on canning anything.
Lisa, you have got to check out pickyourown.org, they have a wealth of information that even I can understand. Just look under the canning tab. You need pectin to make jams and jelly, you can get it at any grocery store, powder or liquid for dosen't matter. You can can berries without a canner, we didn't use ours for the berries, just a hot water bath. Again check out pickyourwon.org.
Gen-Ill, I love the seeds too.
Thanks to all for your comments, keep 'em coming.
Chris
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