Tuesday 12 February 2013

 
 
Canning last Fall
 
 
 
I know it's a little late to talk about canning, but as I plan my garden for spring, I also plan how I'm going to preserve all my fruits and veg, that is if my garden florishes, which is not always the case.
 
Last spring was cold and not a great year for my garden, but I did get a bumper crop of apples, although they were a little smaller than normal...

 
 
 
... too many for just the two of us to eat, so I canned most of them.   I don't have an apple peeler and corer (on my wish list) so I was doing it all by hand...
 

...then I had an idea; what if I didn't peel the apples then put them through the potato thingy ?


...so I did.  The amazing thing was that the skins were trapped in the masher thing and the skins gave the cooked apples a pink tinge...

 
 
...you can see the difference between the peeled apples with the jar on the right.
Much less work and an unexpected result, although I am still in the market for an old fashioned peeler and  corer.
 

While I had all my canning equipment out I pitted and canned cherries I got from our friends in the  Okanagan.  I added a little brandy to each jar and they are fantastic over ice cream.


The jars on the right are apricot jam I made from apricots we got from the same friends.

This year I plan to buy a pressure canner so that I can can soups, veggies, stalk - now I just have to plan the veggie garden.....



 



 

 

2 comments:

  1. We don't can much in the UK but it's something I'm going to have to learn as it loks a great way of presevering the harvest. What type of apples were they, they've got a nice colour to them.

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    1. Hello Kev,

      I m not really sure what type of apples we have but I think they are Braeburns - they are very very sweet and quite disease resistant.

      Our family came to Canada from the uk when I was young, and growing up my mum never canned either. I got into it when we moved out to our hobby farm. So far I have canned fruit and tomatoes but this year I want to can veggies so I will be getting a pressure canner (veg is not acidic enough to can safely in a water bath).

      I find that I use the fruit I can much more than I do the fruit I've frozen (too much planning ahead to thaw frozen produce).

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