Old Time Corn Cob Jelly

The older the recipe, the more fun it is to make...


This old fashioned recipe recalls a time when people couldn't afford to be as wasteful as we often are today.

When I mention people often wrinkle their nose as if I must be talking about something poisonous. Some of the finickiness that our society has developed is unfortunate because, quite frankly, tastes good.

I always make it with the red cobs that come from dent corn (the type of corn that is fed to cattle and squirrels). As an Iowa girl, I have fields full of dent corn all around me. If you are not lucky enough to have a corn field outside your back door, you can get some corn that is sold for squirrels and shell it.

I have seen recipes that call for the cobs from sweet corn, but I have never tried it. I imagine that it would still have the hint of corn taste in it, but I am not sure what color it would be, since sweet corn has white cobs. Perhaps I should try it some time and see what it is like.


This is based on a recipe from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking.


(Yield is about 4 half-Pint Jars)
(Printable Recipe)

12 red corn cobs
6 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 package powdered pectin

Break cobs in half. Add water and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain in a damp Jelly Jelly Strainer. If necessary, add enough water to make 3 cups of liquid. Add sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Add pectin and return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Fill hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

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Home Canned Chili

Having Canned Chili on hand is nice for those times when you want a quick meal. Make a big batch once and you have several meals that are just heat and eat.

Some jars of chili that can be heated in a small crock pot in a dorm room are also a nice gift for a college student who is missing Mom's cooking.

Although tomatoes are somewhat acidic, the overall PH of chili is high enough that it must be processed in a pressure canner.


Fill hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure. Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes. For altitudes over 1000 feet use 15 pounds pressure.

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The Lovely Bones - Tiller Troubles

To all those who have a workhorse of an old tiller...

My faithful Troy-Bilt tiller, Spiny Norman, is having his engine rebuilt this week.  While the Wheelhorse tractor, which rambled over a few too many stumps last season, has a cracked spindle on its mowing deck, and the greenhouse has three panes of storm splintered glass that need replacing.   I seems I need to set up a triage on the farm.  The thing about older machinery is that it’s worth fixing, worth rushing to the ER (Engine Repair?) for treatment.  Like organic farming versus chemical farming,  good tools presuppose a long-term relationship, not a one-night-stand with plastics and pot metal.


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Boyz in the Woods - Releasing Retired Roosters

I love this down home writing...

There’s a tangled stretch of forest along the Hudson River, flanked on both sides by a rural cemetery and an imposing power plant, where I go to release roosters that have out-crowed their welcome at the Farm...

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Canning Strawberry- Banana Jam

I was feeling inspired by the fact that I made banana-lime jam without burning it. I decided to make another jam that I really like but haven't made for a few years. The last time I made it, I quit stirring for a short while because I was distracted by something else, and it burned. I decided that one bad incident shouldn't turn me off forever.

This recipe is base on a recipe from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking. This has some fun jam recipes in it. However, it was published in 1970 and still give instructions for canning with the paraffin wax method. Since this is not as safe as the water bath method, the canning instructions should be updated.


One time I made this with raspberry gelatin rather than strawberry. That was quite good. I suppose you could have fun trying it with all sorts of flavors of gelatin.

Strawberry-Banana Jam
(yield is about 8 half-pint jars)
(Printable Recipe)

6 cups mashed bananas
1 1/2 cups water
1 package powdered pectin
3 cups sugar
2 - 3 oz packages of strawberry gelatin

Combine first three ingredients. Heat to boiling stirring constantly. Add sugar and gelatin and bring to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat. Fill hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

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Maple Apple Butter

The Ungourmet made the comment that she wondered what it would be like to add maple syrup to apple butter. This idea certainly sounded good enough to make me curious. I was pondering how well apple butter would cook down if you used syrup, when it occurred to me that I probably wouldn't pay for real maple syrup any way: I would use maple flavored syrup. Then I decided the thing to do was flavor apple butter with maple flavoring rather than cinnamon.

It was too tempting of an idea to pass up. I had to try it and I am glad I did, because it is delicous.



(Printable Recipe)

Use one of the following methods to prepare the pulp. As always, I recommend using Fruit Fresh when cutting up the fruit.

Method 1: To prepare the pulp, first quarter the apples. Cook apples until they are soft (about 20 minutes) using just enough water to prevent sticking (enough to cover bottom of pan). Run the apples through a food mill.

Method 2: Peel, quarter and core apples. Cook apples until they are soft (about 20 minutes) using just enough water to prevent sticking (enough to cover bottom of pan). Process in a blender or food processor.

Measure pulp. For each quart of pulp, add 2 cups sugar, 2 tsp maple flavoring, and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Cook slowly until thick. At first you only have to stir occasionally, but as it thickens you will have to stir more often. The apple butter is ready when it will mound up on a spoon.

Fill hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

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Honey, I’m home

The new hive supers and brood boxes arrived this week, sent in a backbreaking UPS shipment from Brushy Mountain Bee. Along with a smoker, protective clothing, and a Spring order for sixty thousand Italian bees, we’re getting serious about honey.

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