Canning - How To Make Homemade Blueberry Chutney

During the summer and early fall months, I enjoy canning some homemade blueberry chutney for my family and friends. The process is rather easy to complete and will only take a few hours.

You will need your basic canning supplies: half-pint or pint-sized canning jars, water bath canner, seals and rings, jar lifter, funnel and a ladle.

Blueberry Chutney Recipe

4 cup fresh blueberries
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seed
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, finely grated
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper

Place blueberries in a large colander and rinse under running tap water and remove stems or any defective berries. Drain water for 5 minutes before placing them into a large stock pot. Stir in the finely choppe d onion, table salt, ground nutmeg and dried red pepper. Bring this mixture to a full boil and simmer over medium heat. You will want to stir the mixture every couple of minutes and simmer for approximately 45 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. I find that a silicone nonstick spatula works best for stirring.

Ladle the hot chutney into your warm half-pint or pint sized jars, leaving a 1/2" head space. Wipe the jar rim clean with a soft cotton towel and place the seals and rings onto the jars.

Process your jars in a water bath canner for 10 to 15 minutes or according to manufacturers instructions. Remove jars from the canner and let them cool in a non-drafty area of your kitchen. After 2 hours, double check your jars to make sure they have all sealed properly.

This blueberry chutney will keep up to 1 year in properly sealed jars.

Homemade Canning - Escalating and Canning Your Very own Food

But should the issue come up, there are several techniques in which pest problems can be tackled biologically. One of these solutions will involve planting another species of plant intermixed with the key crop that repels the injury-triggering pest a practice that is usually acknowledged as Companion Planting. Biological Insect Command is also very effective. In this latter procedure, a predator insect is released into the crop to wipe out the pest. The two these techniques are completely purely natural, do not introduce poisonous chemicals in the crop, and therefore, thoroughly organic.

Natural hydro growing does take a very little bit far more effort, but the rewards far outweigh and far more than justify the several extra lengths taken. Apart from giving a fruit or vegetable that is free of unsafe chemical compounds, natural hydro growing also provides a merchandise that is wealthy in nutrients which is much more than can be vouched for commercially grown crops that are typically products of overfarmed nutrient-deficient soils.

In this scenario, a very little can surely go a very long way. Cultivating a hydro garden and escalating your own meals is quite fulfilling. Taking it a action further more and developing an natural and organic hydro garden is not only rewarding but the finest preference for your overall health.

Homemade Canning - Increasing and Canning Your Individual Food

For a extensive time, this posed a dilemma for hydro growers who wished to opt for organic rising approaches. But today organic and natural hydroponic fertilizers are extensively accessible, which make it doable to deliver a plant with the excellent mineral resolution, with out having to resort to non-natural and organic means. Reduced-acid veggies have to have to be canned a lot more cautiously to prevent spoilage. Even so, like fruits, the ideal garden can develop anything to can weekly or bi-weekly all 12 months-prolonged.

When setting up a residence-grown garden for canning, decide on vegetables for individual seasons:

Winter months Garden Create:

Cabbage

Brussels sprouts (in coastal locations)

Kale

Spring Garden Generate:

Asparagus

Celery

Dark leafy greens like spinach

Summertime by Drop Garden Make:

Green Beans or Lengthy Beans

Rhubarb

Peppers

Okra

Onions and Garlic

Peas

Zucchini

Dark Leafy Greens like Kale and Swiss Chard

Herbs

Even a modest family members garden, or container garden, can create adequate to stockpile canned develop. Many of these meals can well with minimal or no earlier cooking. Simply just scrub them, chop them up, things them into a jar, pour boiling h2o over them, screw on a lid, and place them into the pressure canner. Each vegetable, vegetable mix, or relish has a specific time and recipe that wants to be followed to the letter when canning it. Failure to adhere to a recipe for the distinct meals can end result in an inedible products, or even worse, spoilage.

Canning - Hot Pepper, Corn and Cucumber Pickle Relish Recipes

During the summer and fall months, I like to spend time in the kitchen canning foods that we have harvested from our backyard garden. Canning is easy to do and you can preserve for your foods for up to 1 year by canning them.

One of our favorite things to make with our excess garden vegetables is homemade relishes. To make the following recipes, I suggest using a food processor to finely chop up your vegetables to get them to the consistency that is needed for the recipes.

Here are 3 of our favorite recipes that we enjoy making.

Hot Pepper Relish

1 quart hot pepper sauce
1 large onion
1 tablespoon table salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 pint white vinegar

Mix together the first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Cover the bowl and let stand for 4 hours. Stir in the granulated sugar and white vinegar. Cook in a medium-sized pan, stirring frequently for 45 minutes. Pour mixture into hot jars and seal in a water bath canner. Makes 1 1/2 pints. This recipe can be easily doubled.

Homemade Canning - Include Canning in Your Emergency Food Stockpile

Many people equate food stockpile with end-of-the world scenarios. However, stockpiling food is essential for a number of reasons including weather emergencies, natural (and not-so-natural) disasters, cash flow shortages, increasing food prices, extended guest stays, power outages, and much more.

Stockpiling food by homemade canning can provide you and your family with healthy cooked food that is ready to eat with no electricity or fuel needed.

How Much Canned Food to Stockpile

To find out how much food to stockpile, figure four meals' worth per person in the household per day. Stockpile two weeks' worth at a minimum, while 3 months' worth or even two years is even better. The reason is, if the power is out due to the weather and you have guests or neighbors who need assistance, you may be able to provide for them too. Plus, if you (or your significant other) lose your job, you will have enough groceries in your storage for a few months or even years to supplement your food bill.

Make Home-Made Goods Through Jar Canning Quickly & Easily

An effective and safe way of preserving food is through jar canning.?While some people say that food canning is not that easy, it is actually an easy process. Safety should always come first when canning foods. Never fail to check canned foods before you consume them especially the expiration date which can vary depending on the kind of preserved food.

Containers should be kept for your next canning project. Take note that these jars should go through sterilization processes or steps prior to canning for safety. Also, this is a major factor in preserving your food thus, is a necessity. There are different techniques in canning but the two most common ones are pressure canning and water bath. The latter is largely used to process high acid foods and the former is mostly used for low acid foods.

A big no-no in jar canning is the reuse of the metal lids.?In contrast, the bands can still be r eused to properly grip until they pop and seal throughout the cooling course. After, the band gives no other function so it can be already removed.?Lids are readily available and inexpensive. They can be purchased anytime.

The popping sound which happens during the cooling process is an indication that the jars are sealed. In canning, by using high pressure canner, forces air come out from the jars as the food is heated.?As soon as the containers cool, the seal or lid is bluntly sucked down to seal the jar. Unless the jars are intentionally opened, nothing can get in and out of the jar.

A cool and dry place is the perfect storage of canned goods. You have also to follow the recommended processing period specific for jar canning. For the reason that there are jar pop and seal, it does not mean that the food inside the jar is already safe.?The content of the jar should be heated using the right temperature, the right heating duration, and using the right technique.

Food must be heated and should remain that way for a definite period of time in order to destroy bacteria which it may contain. If your budget permits you and you can afford investing on a quality canner that fastens the way it should then it is much better. You should also remember that you should not skip steps, do short cuts or modify steps but to always follow jar canning instructions. This ensures safety. Lastly, do not fail to sterilize jars for canning.

Homemade Canning - Growing and Canning Your Own Food

When it comes to canning, the fresher the produce the better the flavor and the longer the shelf life would be of the canned produce. Avoid store-bought fruits and vegetables; these have been in cold storage, which results in a shorter shelf life and poorer flavor. Opt instead for produce purchased from a farmers market or from your garden.

How to Choose Produce to Can

If electing to purchase from a farmers market, make sure the produce is really from local farms and has been picked within three days of purchase. You can tell if the food is local by checking for distributor labels, rubber bands or ties, boxes from retailers, and so forth while at the market stalls. Also doing proper research on the farmers market or farmer stall helps to ensure the food is locally grown and not purchased in bulk from a distributor.

Even better yet, grow your own produce for best results. Home-grown foods picked at the peak of freshness and canned weekly or semi-weekly result in a delicious and fresh-picked taste that will win awards and smiles over store-bought goods. Research is the key to perfect canning. Find out which foods should be picked in the morning and which should be picked in the evening for the best flavor.

The Best Fruits for Home-Grown Canning

The easiest produce for homemade canning are fruits like peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, berries, quinces, oranges, apples, and cherries. These are also easier to grow and produce a large harvest from a single tree or two. Most fruits are high-acid and usually a lot of sugar goes into the process which further helps keep the fruits from spoiling.