Canning season!

dolores haze

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I've got a bumper crop of tomatoes on the vine. I'm a little worried, 'cos it's been quite cool here and nothing is ripening. *crosses fingers*

I usually make the tomatoes into sauces - a ranchero, a masala and a marinara - before canning. I just used used the last jar of marinara from last year.

I'll be making my end-of-the-garden green tomato pickle, both spicy and extra spicy versions. I'll be canning apple sauce and pickling onions.

Right now my spicy pepper crop is overwhelming me. Does anyone have any suggestions for pickling/preserving habaneros, chilies, jalapenos, etc?

I have an urge to make a green tomato chutney this year. Does anyone have a great recipe?

What are y'all planning on canning this year?
 
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L M Ashton

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I can't do any canning - canning supplies do not exist here. :( This has me very sad. I was a serious canner back in Canada, and my jams, chutneys, apple sauces, and so on were in high demand among those whom I let have some. :D My apple sauce saw me through months of gall bladder problems while I waited for surgery.

Hot peppers - have you considered either pickling some or making some hot pepper jelly? Hot pepper jelly is fantastic with cream cheese on crackers. Beyond fantastic - absofrickin'lutely fantastic. :) I'd be loving some of that myself...
 

L M Ashton

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Oh, you could also make sambal oelik, which is absolutely delightful. You could also consider drying some peppers and/or later breaking them up into pepper flakes. :) Or grinding into a powder a la cayenne, paprika and the like. :)

But seriously, do a buttload of hot pepper jelly. You won't regret it. :)
 

dolores haze

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The hot pepper jelly sounds fab! Do you have a recipe? I particularly love old family recipes. My green tomato pickle recipe is my husband's great grandmother's.

Drying is tough in the humid climate I live in. I'm going to try oven drying this year. Last year I used the microwave, which dried my herbs perfectly, but almost blew my fragile electrical system.

That's a shame about the lack of canning supplies. You're in Sri Lanka, right? No canning in SL? What do they do instead? Drying?

My blackberries are in. I'm going to try my first ever blackberry jam. Recipes or links to tried-and-true recipes would be appreciated - again, somebody's great-granny's recipe would be perfect. I love to think of all the women before me who have followed the exact same process.
 

L M Ashton

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I don't have a recipe unfortunately. None of my recipes made it here with me when I moved except the ones I had on my computer. Sad, sad, very very sad.

The thing is that here, there is no growing season. Or, rather, it's all growing season. Plant whatever will grow whenever you want and however many days later, you reap the benefit. Our temperatures don't vary much more than five degrees year round. So there isn't as much of a need to preserve, you know? Chutneys and sambols, for example, are made fresh the day they're consumed unlike the canned western versions.

I'd still love to make my own jam, but in this heat, I'd end up passing out, so I don't. :)
 

JLCwrites

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Does anyone know a good book on canning? I'd like to give it a try. My mom used to can tomatoes, but unfortunately I was in high school at the time, and rarely hung around the kitchen. :(
 

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I used the canning book put out by the canning equipment company - could be Ball or some other company. Reliable, accurate information with very decent recipes to start with, too. I found it in the canning section at my grocery store. I'd start with something like that. :)