Joyce is one of my Farm Girl Sisters from Mary Janes Farm. I am so pleased and honored to have her visit us today. She's brought a TON of really great info and some delicious recipes with her today, so I'll let her get right to it!
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I’m so excited to be a “guest blogger” for
you today. I’ll start with introducing myself - My name is Joyce, and I live
in Prince Edward Island, Canada. I moved
here 2 ½ years ago from British Columbia, Canada. I’m a mother to three wonderful children (6,4,
17 months) and a wife of 7 years, and I’m a music teacher (you can check out my
website at www.joyfulmelodies.ca). I’m homeschooling my children and love it! I
love being able to work from home, and stay home with my children. So...today
I’m going to share a little on canning with you all. I’m by no means an expert, but it is one of
my passions, so I’ll share some interesting tidbits and two of my basic recipes
with you.
I grew up with canning, so it only made
sense when we moved to PEI and bought 132 acres that I would start canning
myself. I prefer to can from only the fruit and vegetables we grow in our
orchard and garden. But, I didn’t realize that things had changed since I was
little and helped my mom can her beans in a water bath. With the danger of botulism in water baths, I
realized that a pressure canner was the way to go for me when dealing with
low-acid foods. Botulism is a food
poisoning caused by bacterium Colostridium
botulinum. Some say this bacterium
can be destroyed by long-term boiling (ie 3 hours!) but I say the best, and
safest, way is to heat the food in your jars to 240˚F. You can use a
water bath canner for high-acid foods such as lemons, pickles, plums and other
fruit. These should be processed at 212˚F. Low-acid
foods need to be processed in a Pressure Canner. These include carrots, beans, turnips, beets
and other vegetables. Here’s your basic canning steps.
High-Acid Foods:
1.
Wash jars and lids, place jars
on a rack in boiling water canner. Cover with water and heat to a summer (about
180˚F)
2.
Set screw bands aside and heat
snap lids in hot water. Make sure it’s
not boiling! Keep jars and lids hot until ready to use.
3.
Prepare Recipe. Ladle hot food into hot jar leaving the
appropriate amount of headspace (which will vary from recipe to recipe – but
generally it should be ¼ inch for jams & jellies and ½ inch for fruit,
pickles, relish etc.)
4.
Using non-metallic utensil,
remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim with a
wet cloth removing any stickiness.
5.
Center snap lid on the jar and
screw on the screw band until fingertip tight.
It’s important to not over tighten.
6.
Place jar in canner. When all jars are filled, adjust hot water in
canner so that jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water.
7.
Bring your covered canner to a
rolling boil. Process (which means boil filled jars) for the time your recipes
indicates.
8.
When processing time is
completed, turn heat off and remove canner lid.
When boil subsides and water is still, in approximately 5 minutes,
remove jars without tilting. Cool jars,
upright and undisturbed for 24 hours.
9.
After cooling, check each jar
for sealed lids (curve should be downward and do not move when pressed). Remove
the screw bands and store jars in a dark cool place.
Low Acid Foods
1.
Wash jars and lids and place on
rack in pressure canner. Add 2-3 inches
of water and heat (180˚F)
2.
Set screw bands aside and heat
snap lids in hot water. Make sure it’s
not boiling! Keep jars and lids hot until ready to use.
3.
Prepare Recipe. Ladle hot food into hot jar leaving 1 inch
headspace.
4.
Using non-metallic utensil,
remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim with a
wet cloth removing any stickiness.
5.
Center snap lid on the jar and
screw on the screw band until fingertip tight.
It’s important to not over tighten.
6.
Place jars on the rack in the
pressure canner. Adjust the water level
as directed by the manufacturer of your canner.
Lock canner lid in place and place over high heat.
7.
Vent the canner following
manufacturer’s directions.
8.
When pressure reaches required
level, begin counting processing time. Make sure to regulate your heat to you
maintain the required pressure level.
9.
When processing time is
complete, turn the heat off and let the canner stand undisturbed until the
pressure reads zero. Wait two minutes
longer then remove cover, tilting cover away from face – you don’t want to be
burned by the steam!
- - Remove jars without tilting.
Cool jars, upright and undisturbed for 24 hours.
11. After cooling, check each jar for sealed lids (curve should be downward
and do not move when pressed). Remove the screw bands and store jars in a dark
cool place.
The first recipe
I’ll share with you today is Blueberry Jam.
This jam won Best of Show Award last year in our local festival. It was very exciting to receive $30 from
Bernardin as a gift! And the ribbon is beautiful J I hope it wins an award for you as well.
Joyce’s Best of Show Blueberry Jam (Water Bath Canner)
Ingredients:
·
4 ½ cups blueberries
·
¼ cup lemon juice
·
7 cups sugar
·
2 pouches Bernardin Liquid Pectin
Directions:
- Prepare 8 half-pint (250ml) jars
- Wash and crush blueberries in blender.
- Stir sugar into fruit mixture in a large, deep stainless steel pan. Over high heat bring mixture to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
- Stir in pectin. Mix well.
- Ladle jam into jar (1/4 inch head space).
- Process for 10 minutes.
There are so
many delicious recipes out there that are long boil if you prefer to not have
sugar in your jam. You should also try
pie fillings! These always get great raves.
I just quickly make a pie shell crust, pour in my filling, top with a
crumb topping or more pastry and voila! My pie is done.
The next recipe
is a basic green bean recipe. There are
so many other ideas for canning vegetables – soups, stews and so much more! You
can even can meat!
Green Beans (Pressure Canned Vegetables)
- Choose young, tender and crisp beans. Wash, removing string and trimming ends. Break beans into 2 inch pieces.
- Place beans in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for 5 minutes. Pack hot beans into hot jars. You can season beans if desired (so many options here – get creative!) and add the water you used to boil them in.
- Boil for 20 minutes in pint (500ml jars) or 25 minutes in quart (1L) jars. Pressure canners should be at 10 lb (69 kPa).
If you’re a
novice at canning I would highly suggest “Bernardin Guide to Home
Preserving”. If your experienced at
canning, I would suggest “250 Home Preserving favorites” by Yvonne Tremblay. There
are so many options – pair your favourite herb with your favourite fruit or
vegetable. I love to pair my lavender
with my strawberries in jams. Add some
fresh parsley from your garden to your carrots. Prepare your own spaghetti
sauce using your own tomatoes and fresh basil from your garden. The possibilities
are truly endless, and the best part is that after all your hard work, all
winter long you can relax knowing you have food stored in your pantry, ready to
eat – from breakfast to dinner!
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Thank you so much, Joyce! I'll definitely be checking out those books - how 'bout you?Enjoy!
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