Jammed...

Handsome got his wish. Yesterday, we processed the strawberries I picked up from the delivery truck on Sunday. These strawberries were hauled north from Plant City, FL and they're delicious! 

I stood and cored them on Monday, then bagged them in two quart batches to make life easier on canning day. All I had to do was dump them into my Kilner pot with the SureJell™ pectin, and once that mixture came to a boil, add sugar. It had to come back to a boil, and cook another minute to be ready to pack into pint jars. The jam was processed in a water bath for ten minutes and then removed to cool on the counter.

I purchased sixteen pounds (24 pints) of strawberries. After they were cleaned and packaged, I had four two-quart batches (plus another four cups to eat fresh). I processed two batches at a time, and we ended up with just shy of nineteen pints of jam.

This morning, they'll be labeled to put away. I'll have to rearrange the jam shelf in the pantry a bit to accommodate all these jars, too. Of course, a few will immediately be gifted, but I won't need to can strawberries this summer. I'll be able to concentrate on something else from the garden or local market instead. 

I think it's time for my morning coffee, accompanied by a small bowl of fresh strawberries and cream. A nice start to the day, don't you think?

I Was At It Again...

The day began with my trusty sidekick sleeping on my foot as I perused some of my canning cookbooks. She opened her eyes when Handsome stopped to take this picture. Once I decided what I was going to do, she had to relocate so I could move. She did keep my foot warm for a while, though.

I grabbed my trusty British Kilner pot and put all my thawed strawberries into it. I didn't drain off the liquid, which would come back to bite me later. sigh

This is what I took out of the water bath...fourteen beautiful jars of strawberry jam...that wouldn't set up. I went back to my books to learn that it was probably because of all that liquid I retained with the berries.

As I didn't need fourteen jars of ice cream topping (what I do with runny jam), I decided to redo them, adding another package of Certo to the pot - and removing some of the liquid from each jar as I poured it back into my by-then clean pot. After all was said and done, I had eleven half-pint jars of jam. Good enough!

 

 

I did a little rearranging in the end pantry cabinets. I still have space for the hickory syrup, which I didn't do yesterday. Perhaps I'll get to that this morning. I work from 4-10 pm today, standing in for someone else, so I'll have my morning tea and see how I feel. I might stitch on the corgi brooch for a while instead.

Yes, those are eggs on the bottom shelf. They still have the bloom to protect them, so they needn't be refrigerated. Behind the divider is my large jar of water glassed eggs, too. Still saving those for a rainy day. 

I have thirteen or fourteen gallon-size ziplocs of beautiful Roma tomatoes in the freezer. (Did you know that frozen tomatoes sound like billiard balls when they knock together? Yep.) Those will become homemade Rotel™, homemade pizza sauce, and stewed tomatoes. I'll do those soon, too, to free up space in the freezer, as well as refill the pantry until the vegetable garden yields in late summer/early fall. I still have to get the beds ready for planting. That won't be for a couple weeks, unless I can steal an hour here or there before then.

 

It's going to be a busy spring, for sure. The weather is gorgeous these days, so I want to get as much done inside as possible, to be able to spend more free time outdoors. It was a relatively mild, but long winter and I'm anxious to enjoy our Wisconsin spring and summer. Alas, it will be over far too soon.

 

Monday's Canning Results...

Monday was quite productive. Let me first explain my motivation for canning the sorts of things I show you. When prices started climbing a few years ago, I got miffed because the Pastorelli Pizza Sauce we used to purchase by the case had gone from $.99 a can to $1.79. We were already growing tomatoes, so canning our own pizza sauce was the first thing on my list.

Then, I looked in our pantry cupboards and assessed what sorts of things I regularly purchased at the grocery store, and what I might be able to do here myself. I'm talking about the things you usually find in the center of the store...not the things around the edges. I refer to the "edges" as produce, meat, dairy, but not the bakery area. I already handle that myself.

That's why you'll see many of the things I can are from the "center of the store"...jams, cake/muffin/brownie mixes; canned tomatoes and other tomato derivatives; spices; beans. You get the idea.

About the beans. I've been asked why I can beans when the dry beans last indefinitely. My reply is that in order to cook said beans, they're usually either quick cooked - which isn't really quick, or soaked overnight and then cooked. By pressure canning, I'm essentially cooking them as they're preserved, and I only need to crack open a jar and reheat them. Much simpler, don't you agree?

In the first photograph, I've canned chicken breasts (cubed). I found the Amish chicken breasts (no preservatives, no additives, no medicines in the meat) on sale, so I bought four and a half pounds. Three pints are seasoned with a taco seasoning, and the other two are plain, in their own broth.

I also canned half of an eight pound bag of pinto beans, which yielded eleven pints of finished beans. Are you getting the idea we like Mexican food? You'd be right.

The other bean I canned on Monday was a red kidney bean to which I added home mixed chili seasoning. When I want to make up a batch of chili, I chop onions and celery, brown them in a large pot, and then add my home canned beef, chili beans, and home canned tomatoes. I also add a bit of beef broth into the mix. I have a tender meat chili in less than an hour! The best part is that I know what's in every ingredient, and know I'm serving healthy food. I have sixteen pints to put on the shelf.

While the canning was going on, I took all the beef fat I'd trimmed over the past few months (that I'd frozen until I had a good batch) and cut it into 2" square pieces. Into an aluminum pan, and into a 350º oven. That roasted for the entire time I was canning, so I think that was close to four hours. At the end, I checked the temperature of the oil to be sure it was around 225º F, at which time I pulled the pan out of the oven.

I removed the remaining solids, and strained the liquid gold through a fine sieve, lined with multiple layers of cheese cloth. When that was done, I ended up with a full pint jar, plus half of a small one. I set it aside to solidify.

 

This is the end result. A beautiful, creamy tallow that I can use for pastries, baking, and even frying. When asked how to use it, my reply is wherever you would use Crisco, you can use tallow. Additionally, there are some who even use the tallow to make soaps and creams. I think I'll leave that to others, and use mine for the kitchen applications.

  

This is my last photograph for this post. I wanted to show you what's on these two shelves. On the upper shelf, you can see how I package all my mixes. Shown are my brownie mixes, corn muffin (Better than Jiffy!) mixes, and a basic muffin mix that I could add blueberries, or another fruit to. On my list is to package up my recipes for white cake, yellow cake, chocolate cake and spice cake to add to the shelf.

The second shelf has all my baking nuts from hickory, to pecan, walnut, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and more. 

To the left of the nutty assemblage are my home canned broths. I currently have turkey and vegetable, but I'll add chicken, and beef soon.

So there's a peek into our pantry cupboards. I'll share more contents after I add more this week. Today I'll be canning strawberry jam from the fruit I froze late last year. I'm also going to put up a number of bottles of hickory syrup. We've been using Dutch Honey lately (explanation HERE), but it's time to go back to our favorite.

So you know the drill. If you're looking for me today, I'll be in the kitchen (again), making and preserving more "Goodness from the Farm". I think it's a great way to spend May Day!

Happy May Day, friend!

Strawberry Jam...

Brynwood Needleworks - Our Kitchen Window View

Every morning brings another beautiful view from our farmhouse. The hollyhocks continue to open, now sporting five different colors. Where I thought there were only a buttery yellow, there is also a very pale peach, and then these beauties. Don't they make you smile? I can't look at them without feeling happy.

Brynwood Needleworks - Strawberry Jam

The temps got into the high 80s again, so I got creative for our canning process. I have that lovely, big, electric Ball™ Water Bath Canner, so I took it out onto the porch and plugged it in for the final step in making the strawberry jam. All the water bath steam stayed outdoors. Everything else was done in the house.

When all was said and done, there were nine half pint jars and six pint jars of strawberry goodness. We'll certainly have jam until this time next year. I'm only planning to make raspberry jam yet this summer, as we have plenty of leftover grape, strawberry/rhubarb, lemon balm, and crabapple jelly to last a while. I didn't make the Cowboy Candy yesterday, so I'll probably do that over the weekend. When I've made that, I'll share my recipe with you, in case you'd like to make your own.

Brynwood Needleworks - Busy Little Hummingbirds

 

While I stood stirring the jam in the pot, I watched the industrious, little hummingbirds returning to the feeders. From the looks of this feeder, it's their favorite. I'm going to have to refill it today. 

I'll be weeding in the garden first thing today, and then Handsome and I will tackle the grass again. Man, it grows quickly when it's hot and sunny. If we don't mow today, we may need to bale it!

I hope you have a safe and happy holiday weekend. We'll be staying close to home. It's where we love to be.

 

July So Soon?...

Brynwood Needleworks - Illustration from Diary of a Country Woman

 

If temperature is any indication, it surely is July in Wisconsin. Sweet neighbor, Shelly, picked up strawberries for me from a local grower, so in spite of the heat, I'm going to be canning strawberry jam today.

 

While I'm at it, I'm also going to be canning up a batch of Cowboy Candy (candied jalapeños), too. In for a penny... Right? It's time to start working on this years' canning for winter goodness.

Thanks for your comments on the hollyhocks. I'm glad the beautiful flowers inspire others to plant them, and that they bring back fond memories for some of you. Just those thoughts make me smile.

 

I have multiple tomato and green pepper plants in the ground, too. They're filled with blossoms, so I'm hopeful for a nice harvest of those in late summer.

After all the canning is done and put away today, I'll be working on two new strawberry sachets. Both are gifts, and they'll be good practice for the flower designs I've chosen for them. I'll share more of them soon.

For now, I hope you're enjoying the weather in your neck of the woods. We're out even more than usual with this silly, smart puppy. Tag will have a video of her to share next week! You won't believe it. 

Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow.

 

 

    -

Sunday Funday...

Brynwood Needleworks - Sunday Canning

 

When I got up on Sunday morning, I knew that canning was on my agenda for the day. I got out my hardware, and Handsome helped me when I got to the "jarring" step. By the end of the day, I'd canned ten pints of Zucchini Pepper Relish (from one zucchini from Shelly!); one quart, plus 10 ounces of tomatoes (also from Shelly's garden); and six quarts of late season Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling.

Brynwood Needleworks - Zucchini Pepper Relish In The Works

The first thing I did was shred the zucchini in my Cuisinart™ food processor, and then hand chop the peppers and onions. They went into my pot, along with the requisite amount of apple cider vinegar, and cooked down for about a half hour.

After straining off the apple cider vinegar used to cook down the mixture, I added mustard and celery seed, sugar, and more apple cider vinegar. After the entire mixture came back to a boil, I put it up in pint sized jars and gave it a fifteen minute water bath. While everything was processing, I cleaned up for Round 2.

 

Brynwood Needleworks - Beautiful Tomatoes and Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling

I did the batch of tomatoes next. These beauties came from Shelly's garden and filled a nice-sized bowl. I thought I'd get two quarts, but came up short, so I put the balance into a ten ounce jar which worked just fine. I put the two jars into the water bath canner and set about preparing the pie filling.

Round Three began when I went out into the garden with Handsome and the pups, and pulled rhubarb. Handsome took the stalks from me and cut off the leaves. After we picked what we needed, we headed back to the house.

I cleaned and peeled the rhubarb, and then washed, cored, and sliced the strawberries. In my clean pot, I mixed ClearJel™ and sugar, added water, and brought the thick mixture to a boil. Once it boiled, I added lemon juice and mixed it well. I had to bring it back to a boil, and then I took it off the heat, and added the fruit.

All the jars were sterilized in my canner. (I have the awesome Ball™Electric Water Bath Canner that I bought on sale last season. I bought it HERE, but Amazon and other companies carry it, too.) I lined up all my jars, filled them, wiped the rims, added the lids and rings, and took them to the canner.

They processed perfectly (tomatoes, too), but, because my apple pie filling siphoned, I took some advice from a fellow canner, and left them in the water bath to cool down. I turned it off and just waited about twenty minutes. They came out without a single jar sputtering and siphoning!

When I took this photograph, the jars were still too hot to clean and label, so I'll do that today. I just let them sit, undisturbed, overnight. They'll be fine to label after coffee.

I still have six quarts of strawberries I bought on sale, so I'll turn those into jam later today. It will be nice to have them available for holiday gift giving, as we certainly don't eat everything I process!

Tag will be here tomorrow with some great news! He's looking forward to sharing it with you, so I won't spoil his surprise. You'll just have to grab your morning coffee or tea, and stop by to find out what he wants to crow about now. I'll be back on Wednesday with more porch photos for you. See you then!

First Batch Of 2019...

Brynwood Needleworks - Strawberry and Strawberry/Rhubarb Jam

 

Last Friday, I found a really great deal on strawberries, so I bought them. I have a bumper crop of rhubarb this year, so jam was on my immediate agenda. With such a busy weekend, yesterday was the day to do a little canning.

Handsome and I picked some of the rhubarb, and I prepared the strawberries. I made five pints, plus one 8 ounce jar of strawberry jam; and then two pints, one half pint, and seven 8 ounce jars of strawberry/rhubarb jam. By the time I was finished, the kitchen smelled wonderful, and all this goodness was stored away.

 

The jars are now cooled, cleaned and labeled, and in the pantry, so I'll be on to the next thing today. I'm still working on my table runner, so I'm going to wait to share more photos until it's closer to - or completely - finished.

 

I'm running a few errands with my sweetheart, but I'll surely end up in the studio after we get back home. As always, I'll show you what I accomplish when I see you again tomorrow.

 

Happy Hump Day!

 

Plain Ol' Strawberry Jam...

Hickory Hill Farm's Strawberry Jam

 

It was a simple and tasty recipe, but it took a little time. I cleaned and cut up the fresh strawberries I bought last weekend...and used the recipe from inside the box of SureJell™ pectin. 

 

Once the stems, leaves and cores were removed, I crushed the prepared strawberries, and mixed them with one box of SureJell™.  I also added a teaspoon of butter to keep the foam down. I brought the mix to a boil, and took it off the heat to add the sugar. Once the sugar was mixed in, I brought it back up to a rolling boil for 1 minute, and then put into sterilized jars. Into the water bath canner for 15 minutes and I was done. I made two. tasty batches. 

 

They're labeled now. I called this jam "Plain Ol' Strawberry Jam". No ginger. No vanilla. No rhubarb. Nothing exotic. Just plain ol' strawberry jam.

I also finished creating all the pieces for the Summer Block of the Week, but didn't get much further. I have an eye doctor appointment today - which includes dilating my eyes - so I'm not sure I'll get any more of it done today. We'll "see". (wink)

 

Jellies and Jams...

Hickory Hill Farm Lavender

Yesterday was a "make Lavender Jelly" day. I harvested lavender flowers before the sunlight was directly over these perfect, little flowers.

Friday's Harvest

I didn't need many, and when I brought them into the house, they filled the kitchen with a wonderful aroma.

Lavender Flowers Detail

 Perfect, tiny flowers.

Lavender Jelly On Toast

By 10:30 am, all the jars were in the canner, processing. I scraped the last of the jelly from the pot, and sat down for a late breakfast...Lavender Jelly on toast, of course!

Lavender Jelly

Before I could finish my tasty breakfast, the timer went off and I pulled the jars of Lavender Jelly out of the bubbling water. I tried to combine food coloring to get the jelly to be more lavender, but even though blue and red make purple, it didn't turn out as I planned. I'll try again next time. Thankfully, color had no effect on the taste of this jelly. It's heavenly!

Strawberry Jam

I also made six half-pints of Strawberry Jam...

Sweet Basil Jelly

and four half-pints, plus three "smalls" of Sweet Basil Jelly. I think this will be if for canning basil this season. I'm going to let the rest of the plant go to seed now.

Pantry Shelves

 

My pantry is filling nicely. Top Shelf: Regular Dill Pickles; and canned Sweet Banana Peppers. Second Shelf: Bread & Butter Pickles, Salsa, and Chopped Tomatoes. Bottom Row: Sweet Basil Jelly, Strawberry Jam, Lavender Jelly, Strawberry-Rhubarb and Pears in Light Syrup.

I'm going to the Farmer's Market with Aunty Margaret and Uncle Dick today. If I find Roma tomatoes, I'll be bringing them home to can this weekend. Otherwise, I'm going to be making aprons in the studio! 

 

Enjoy your weekend, my friend. I sure will.