Home Canning is Making a Comeback

Having been raised in rural Alabama, I must confess, I'm a bit domesticated. Growing up on my Grandmother's farm, I spent many a summer shelling peas and canning them in her kitchen. As I got older, we moved away from near my Grandmother, and my canning days were ended.

About 20 years ago, I got the wild idea to try home canning again, after finding a pressure canner in a catalog. I bought two and I have been canning ever since. Every year at Christmas my husband and I can about 75 quarts of pasta sauce and give them out as gifts. All of my friends and family look forward to it. I love to can and have been collecting canning recipes for years.

Home canning is a great way to save Summer's bounty, and shopping for fruits and vegetables at local farmer's markets can save you money. Using local farmer's markets also help the environment beca use the food is locally grown, and therefore no shipping is involved.

For those of you who are new to canning, or those who need a refresher, get the Ball Blue Book of Home Canning, or go to the USDA website and download their Complete Guide to Home Canning. Both of these are great resources.

To a lot of people, home canning can be intimidating, but if you plan your steps well, and gather all of your equipment before starting it can be a fun job for the whole family. You will also need some good recipes to follow. Always double check your recipes and read the manufacturers directions on your canners. This will help to avoid mistakes.
Why Do Your Own Home Canning?

Disregard the value of your time, canning homegrown or locally produced food can save you half of the cost of purchased canned food. Canning favorite and special products to be enjoyed by your friends and family can be very rewarding. Home canning has changed greatly in the 170 odd years since it was first introduced.

New developments in technology have resulted in safer, higher quality products. Home canning is a great way to take advantage of a great harvest, and preserve all of those fresh vegetables and fruits.

What Kind Of Equipment Do I Need

I would invest in a good quality pressure canner. You will need this to can low acid foods like vegetables, and meats. It can also be used as a water bath canner. I would advise that you purchase a 16-17 quart canner with a good pressure gauge, and petcock.

Use only standard Mason, Kerr or Ball type home canning jars and two piece self-sealing lids. Mayonnaise jars are not recommended for canning. The jars that you get from the Classico spaghetti sauce are good because they are Mason jars. Canning jars are available in a variety of sizes including 1/2 pints, pints, and quarts. Pint and quart jars are most commonly used, but some foods like crab meat and mushrooms should only be canned in 1/2 pint jars. Wide mouth jars are more easily filled and emptied, but they cost more than standard jars.

You will also need a good timer, an open mouth funnel, to fill jars with, a jar lifter, and tongs. And of course pot holders and baking racks or towels to set the hot jars on after canning. Other items that you will need are, a ladle with a lip, a sieve, a colander, a food mill, and sharp knives. Some of these items you will only need if making jams and jellies.

Home canning can be one of t he most enjoyable experiences that you will ever have. Get the whole family involved. It will make many great, lasting memories that your family will always have. You'll find pleasure in the canning process, and pride in your home canned jars of food. Remember, they also make great gifts!

Ro Pat

For some great canning recipes:  http://www.green-living-healthy-home.com/canning-recipes-ebook2.html

Homemade Canning - Eat Healthier And Save Money Canning Your Own Meals

Home canning is recognized as the best way of having a healthier and less priced meal. You can preserve and enjoy the vegetables and fruits grown at your own gardens throughout the year. If you adopt the right preserving methods, you can be assured that your fruits and vegetables have the same amount of nutrients as a fresh vegetable and fruit has. In fact in some cases it can be even better than the fresh or packed ones.

If you select a fruit from your garden and can it within first 24 hours then it will have a higher nutrition value than the one you get from the market. This is because most of the fruits and vegetables reach their customers several days after the harvesting. Canning food done with the right recipes is the safest way of preserving the foods. Canned fruits have equal level of Vitamins A and C compared with their fresh and frozen counterparts.

An organic or non-adulterated food is the best that everyone enjoys. Soups especially during winters are liked by all. Home canning soup is a good way for saving your money and it also saves time. Pressure canners are the best for shelving the canned soups. Also soups should be clear and any additions like thickeners, oils, noodles should not be added to it. The process of canning the soups will help you preserve your own crop along with getting the best nutritional value anytime of the year.

Tomatoes are another very popular food item and also very useful throughout the year. You can use the preserved tomato sauces when preparing meals like pastas and pizzas which is liked by kids especially. Tomato can be easily grown at your backyard garden and the excess can be canned and kept for adding taste and flavor to most of the foods. You have a choice of preserving the whole tomato or can puree it and store. Canning tomato sauce can be done by hot water bath canner method or pressure method. Home canned tomatoes are always preferred because the grocery tomato sauces are high in salt and additives, which should not be eaten if you have any health problems.

Even canned beans are a good option and can be easily added to any fresh soups, salads and many other dishes. Beans are very good for health and have a lot of valuable vitamins and minerals, which is essential for our body to function properly. All the beans like black beans, pinto beans, green been, and garbanzo beans can be canned in a very easy manner at home. Always pick crisp and mature beans for preservation.

Homemade canning saves you a lot of money when compared with the grocery market rates. Look for the in-season vegetables and cheap jars and cans. Found to be very economical and healthier than other ways, home canning is the best way to preserve foods.

How To Can Homemade Blueberry and Peach Pie Fillings

During the summer and fall months, I enjoy going to our local orchard and farmers markets here in Pennsylvania and purchasing our fresh fruits. I will bring them home and freeze or can them for use during the winter months.

One of my favorite things to can is homemade pie fillings. Canning is not hard to do and there are many books out in the marketplace that will explain how to do home canning. You can find free information on the internet that will also explain how to do home canning, along with the supplies that you will need to do the processing.

The following 2 recipes are the ones I use to make homemade blueberry and peach pie filling.

Blueberry Pie Filling
4 1/2 quarts of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup lemon juice
rind of one lemon, finely grated
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon mace
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 1/2 cups water

Wash and remove stems from blueberries and then drain. Combine lemon juice, grated lemon rind, ground nutmeg, mace, granulated sugar and water in a large pan. Cook until the mixture begins to boil. Fold in the blueberries and cook for an additional minute. Ladle mixture into clean hot jars. Clean the jar rims and seal. Process quart jars in a water bath canner for 30 minutes.

Peach Pie Filling

6 lbs. fresh peaches
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 3/4 cups water
5 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wash, peel, pit, and slice peaches. Loosen skins in boiling water for 35 seconds, then submerge in cold water. Gently peel off the skins. Place slices in a container of water until all peaches are sliced. Combine lemon juice, water, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg in a large saucepan. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture boils. Drain peaches and add to syrup mixture. Cook for 3 minutes. Ladle the mixture into hot jars. Clean the jar rims and seal using water bath canner for 30 minutes.

Simple and Healthy - Staying Healthy On The Road: How to Make Salad With A Teaspoon

There's something about travel that captures my imagination. Seeing exotic places, meeting interesting people, experiencing things you just don't get at home. And of course finding new taste sensations (chilli fried grasshoppers with lime anyone?). Even traveling for work can be fun. Takeoffs and landings. Fancy (and not so fancy) hotels. The security of a corporate credit card. Traveling to places that the average tourist wouldn't ever think to visit. But there are times when the constant eating out and room service can make you feel a little bleeah. Which is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago when I was traveling for work. Four days into the trip, I found myself badly missing my kitchen and craving a big salad. Not those tiny mixed leaf room service options with bad dressing, floury tomatoes and exorbitant price tags - but a seriously big healthy salad - preferably made by my own hand.
And so it was that I found myself wandering though a supermarket close to the hotel, racking my brain as to what I could cook for dinner that would be: A. Healthy and involve salad and B. Able to be prepared with the cooking equipment in my hotel room - namely a teaspoon.
Lets just say thank heavens for prewashed bags of mixed salad leaves. And for things in cans - with self opening lids. And that lemons can be persuaded to give out their juice with a teaspoon. Who would have thought? Since then I've been experimenting with minimalist, low prep salads. The tuna chilli is definitely a favourite. The chickpea and parmesan comes a close second. I had it for lunch at work the other day. One of the guys from marketing commented on my lunch saying 'That looks amazing - where did you get your salad?" Do you think he would have believed me if I told him I made it with a teaspoon?
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tuna chilli salad serves 1
Tuna with chilli oil is my new favourite thing, but feel free to choose plain tuna if you aren't up for a little spice. I like to use the oil from the tuna as a bit of dressing for the salad. By all means use tuna in springwater (drained) if you have a low fat fetish.
1 bag pre washed salad leaves 1 small or medium can tuna in oil with chilli 1 lemon
Open salad and pick out few leaves to make room for the tuna. Flake tuna and chilli oil into the salad bag and shake a little. Punch lemon with the handle of a teaspoon (see image below) squeeze lemon juice over salad through the hole. Enjoy.
chickpea & parmesan salad serves 1
The tricky thing with this salad is that a whole tin of chickpeas can be quite a big eat. If you're not super hungry feel free to ditch some of the chickpeas. I was also a little worried about not being able to properly wash the chickpeas but they tasted lovely with a little canning juice left on. It's been a long time since I last used pre-shredded cheese. If you are preparing in the luxury of a kitchen - or somewhere with a cheese grater handy at least - I'd recommend going with better quality parmesan. But the pre shredded stuff was surprisingly good.
1 bag pre washed salad leaves 1 can 400g (14oz) chickpeas, drained 1 lemon 1 small handful shredded parmesan cheese, optional
Open salad and pick out few leaves to make room for the chickpeas. Add the desired amount of into the salad bag and shake a little. Punch lemon with the handle of a teaspoon (see image below) squeeze lemon juice over salad through the hole. Sprinkle over cheese if using.

Canning Homemade Salsa Recipes Requires Special Care!

When working with canned salsa recipes special care is required because there is a health risk if not done properly. Because of the bacteria which grows in improperly canned food, the central nervous system can be damaged, and even death can result in the worst case, when this bacteria is consumed in small quantities.

Since most salsa recipes contain a mixture of low-acid foods such as onions and chiles, an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar must be added to prevent the growth of this bacteria. Special care must be taken to ensure that they contain enough of this acid to be processed safely in a boiling water canner.

When following canned salsa recipe instructions, make sure to follow them exactly. Use the amounts of each vegetable listed in the recipe and add the amount of vinegar or lemon juice listed.

Do not can salsas that do not follow these or other research tested recipes. Remember that you always have the option of freezing or refrigerating the salsa.
Do not thicken salsas with flour or cornstarch before canning. After you open a jar to use, you may pour off some of the liquid or thicken with cornstarch.

Pretreat the jar lids according to the manufacturer's instructions. When canning your salsa, fill the hot clean jars with the hot salsa. Make sure you don't leave any salsa on the rims. Take a clean, damp paper towel and wipe the rims of the jar. Put on lids and screw on metal bands.

When processing in a boiling water canner, use a rack to keep jars from touching the canner bottom and to allow the heat to reach all sides of the filled jars. Put the jars into a canner that contains simmering water.

Add the boiling water if needed to bring water 1-2 inches above the top of the jars. Don't pour the water directly on the jars. Place a tight-fitting cover on canner.

Bring water back to a rolling boil and set a timer for recommended processing time. Make sure the water is boiling gently and steadily.

Remove the jars from the canner immediately after timer sounds. Don't leave the jars in the water too long or the food might spoil.

If you find that a jar is not sealed, refrigerate it and use it soon after that.

When storing, wipe the jars and label them with the date and the contents of the jar. Store the salsa jars in a cool dark place and use it within a year.

When you are ready to try your homemade salsa recipe, before opening each jar, look for any bulging lids, leaks, or any unusual appearance of the food. If you notice an odor, mold, foam, or anything that might make you suspicious, destroy the salsa food.

As you can see, you need to take great care when canning salsa to ensure that the quality of the food is maintained. But the results are worth the effort!

Lemon Juice or Pickles Give Fish Better Flavor

Thanks to modern methods of canning, refrigeration and transportation, our finny friends may be bought in markets everywhere and served in hundreds of delectable dishes to bring new food flavor to t h e daily menu. When prepared well, no apologies are necessary for serving fish. It then isn't just another inexpensive way of giving the family their protein foods, but becomes a tasty meal in its own right.

Both dill and sweet pickles, chopped, impart a new flavor to fish when used in the stuffing. Rub lemon juice over fish to be baked, broiled or fried. Again and this is a trick worth knowing - a bit of lemon juice sprinkled on canned salmon or tuna before creaming or scalloping, brings out all the flavor of the fish. When making fish casseroles with leftover fish, or with the various kinds of canned fish, add India relish or chopped sweet mustard pickle for a zestful contrast in flavors.

Codfish Steaks With Mushroom Sauce

6 small or 3 large codfish steaks
1 small onion
1/4 lb. mushrooms
6 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper
Paprika

Put codfish steaks in oiled baking dish. Chop onion and mushrooms. Cook in the 6 tablespoons water and the butter 3 minutes. Add flour and stir in until well blended. Add milk, and keep stirring. When mixture boils, season with salt and pepper. Pour over fish. Dust top with paprika and bake in moderate oven (375 degrees F.) 25 minutes or until fish is tender.
If you are fond of fried fish, you will like the following dish. Inexpensive and quickly prepared, it is just the thing for those emergencies when hungry, unexpected guests arrive. Serve with lemon wedges or chill sauce, mashed potato nests filled with peas, and plenty of bread and butter for a hearty meal.

Sardine Cutlets

1 10-oz. can sardines
(Herring) packed in mustard sauce
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
Bread crumbs

Drain excess sauce from sardines. Mix together egg and water. Dip sardines in bread crumbs, then in egg mixture and then again in bread crumbs. Fry in hot fat at 375 degrees F. until golden brown. Serve with chill sauce. Serves 3.

Perch Baked With Tomato

1 lb. quick-frozen fillets of red perch
1 tablespoon minced onion
2 tablespoons butter
1.5 cups canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
5 drops Worcestershire sauce

Separate fillets (frozen or thawed) and arrange in shallow baking dish. Saute onion in butter, add tomatoes and seasonings, and boil 5 minutes. Sprinkle fillets with a little salt and pepper. Pour sauce over fish. Bake in hot oven (450 degrees F.) 20 minutes, or until done. Serves 2 to 3.

Tuna Vegetable Casserole

1 cup cooked carrots, sliced
1 cup cooked peas
1 teaspoon minced onion
1 cup tuna fish
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cooking oil
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk

Combine carrots, peas, onion, fish and salt in a 1.5 quart oiled casserole. Blend together oil, flour, pepper and salt in saucepan. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Pour over tuna and vegetable combination and top with dropped biscuit crust. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees F.) 25 minutes. Serves 6.

Dropped Biscuit Crust

1.5 cups sifte d flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons shortening
3/4 cup milk (about)

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening. Add enough of the milk to make a soft dough. Drop by spoonsful on top of Tuna Vegetable Casserole and bake as specified in recipe above.

Fish Croquettes, pickle sauce

Mix 1.5 cups cooked fish with 1 cup thick white sauce (3 tablespoons flour to 1 cup milk). Season to taste. Spread on platter to cool. Shape into croquettes, roll in crumbs, egg and crumbs. Fry in deep fat until golden brown. Serve with Pickle Sauce made as follos: Melt 1 tablespoon butter, stir in 1 tablespoon flour; slowly add 1 cup milk, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened, season with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup chopped pickle.

Vegetable Juice Fasting Diet Idea

One of your options thanks to a detox diet program is curb fasting. Other than fruits, you can also consider including vegetables in your juice fast. Contrary to what many think, there are unequal vegetable handout recipes that subjection again taste good. Vegetable juices are overmuch salutary mark subdivision your body detoxify and cleanse toxic waste material. Vegetables also contain one of the most abundant sources of vitamins also minerals. If your daily cookery lacks sufficient vegetables, then exaggerated vegetable drinks is another way of making sure that you do not forgo phytochemicals because nutrition.

Vegetable juice fasting allows your figure to absorb what you consume quickly without
activating your digestive style too much and thus improves your body's detoxification
motion. Taking vegetable drinks for a juice fast should not epitomize an upgrowth practice, but should only perform practiced money a economical period of time, spiel for about a tour.
Fasting on a vegetable check meat would not equate powerful to give you all the nutrients you need if you extend such a diet owing to further than it should. If you fancy some ideas, here are some vegetable juice vittles recipes that are yielding to make:

1. You can tie carrots, kale and wheat grass. Carrots are wonderful sources of beta-carotene and vitamin C.

2. else variety of the vegetable drink upper is to add spinach instead of wheat grass.
Spinach is very apt for your juicing diet because it is rich effect folate, unyielding also
Vitamin B.

3. Blend tomato, celery, parsley, broccoli also cucumber. Be out-and-out that you follow through only the freshest tomato that is develop by the situation they are picked from the plant. If they are taken at this state, they contain twice the amount of Vitamin C.

4. Season your carrot vegetable restraint with some garlic, ginger and onion. This mix is something various for your taste buds but is still healthy and nutritious.

5. Add cucumber again celery reputation your carrot vegetable mix. Cucumber is another apropos source of Vitamin C that aids your body's detoxification process.

It is crowing to choose vegetables that are organic besides free of pesticides. Before
juicing, wash besides rinse the vegetables notoriety filtered wet. You rap also consider mixing vegetables and fruits together to make tasteful juice combinations.
It is important that you nutriment your vegetable juices fresh at uncondensed times. You power juice just before stinging your drink. Alternatively, you can buy canning jars with produce sealing lids for keeping juice your refrigerator. rack up not keep your juices beyond three days however. Also, always keep your lid jars tightly closed owing to air exposure onus kill the constructive enzymes in your vegetable drink.

Vegetables are very nutritious and you can take advantage of its health benefits when they are fresh and raw. Making vegetable drinks are the best road you can manage them in their nipping state. All you longing to do is be a little creative in combining vegetables and how you restraint activate them toothsome and enticing.