Lemon Bumbleberry Syrup

August 17, 2020 Sarah

This syrup recipe can be used for most berries. Use what you have on hand, and better, it is great for really ripe berries. The syrup is canned thin, but is easily thickened* when going to use it. Being that it is thin you can use it for many uses, outside of on pancakes, such as for Italian Sodas or drizzled on yogurt.

A tiny bee on my berries while picking.

Lemon Bumbleberry Syrup

Ingredients:

2 quarts berries (8 cups), washed and drained
6 cups water, divided
1 large lemon
3 cups sugar

Directions:

Place your mason jars in a canning kettle, fill jars with water and about halfway up the kettle. Turn onto high and let come to a boil.

Add the rings and lids to a small saucepan, cover with water, bring to a simmer.

In a large stainless steel pot add the berries and 2 cups of the water. Zest the lemon into it. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Crush with a potato masher while it is simmering.

Take off the stove, and pour the berries into a large bowl through a fine mesh strainer. Press the berries gently to extract as much as possible. Discard the seeds and pulp.

Rinse out the pot, return to the stove. Add the remaining 4 cups water, sugar and the berry juice. Bring to a boil, continue to boil for 5 minutes.

Drain mason jars into the kettle, place on a clean kitchen towel. Dip a ladle and canning funnel into the water to sterilize.

Pour the hot syrup into the jars, leaving ¼” head space. Take a clean paper towel that has been wetted with hot water, run around the edges of the jars to clean. Place canning lid on, put on a ring, tighten with hand.

Place jars in canning rack, lower down into water. Bring water back to a boil, with lid on. Make sure the jars are covered with water, if not add the water used to heat the lids.

Once water is boiling, process for 10 minutes.

Remove, place on a cooling rack covered with a clean kitchen towel and let cool. Listen for pings, after they have cooled, gently touch the tops of each lid to make sure they are down. If any flex, place that jar in the refrigerator and use up within a month. Take off rings and wash. If jars are sticky, wipe off.

Makes 4 to 6 pints (Why the huge range? It comes down to your berries and how much liquid they release. Our blackberries were very ripe and fell apart quickly. If you are using berries that are less ripe, you will get less. And…blackberries produce more liquid than blueberries and so on).

Use within a year.

*To thicken: Add 1 cup syrup to a small saucepan, whisk in 1 Tbsp corn starch. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Do not thicken before canning, corn starch isn’t stable for this.

~Sarah

The Forgotten Area of Prepping: Mason Jar Lids

January 30, 2020 Sarah

A few years back I was patting myself on the back for my canning abilities (and who doesn’t?) until my husband pointed out a truth I had overlooked. If you are a prepper, or even a well rounded homesteader, you are a preserver by nature. You might have a pantry, closet or even cellar full of mason jars of all sizes. And you will tell yourself that you are ready. After all, you know how to use the mason jars, and put up food every year to eat (especially if you garden or farm). Waterbath canning can be done without power, and can be done outside, over a hot fire, if one needed to.

Until you realize that of all the parts of canning you are limited by one thing. Without that one thing you will run out of the ability to can.

How many lids you have on hand. (And yes, I hear you Tattler Lid freaks, settle back down there…..it is a huge investment if you can a lot – if one is just getting started out, and has the money, you might want to look into it.) If you only have a few packs of lids on hand, that is a real issue. In multiple ways. After that discussion with Kirk, I pulled out every jar we owned. And lets just leave it at that we have over 500 mason jars. That was my count when we moved 2 years ago. So who knows where the real number is.

Many of my jars had no lids on them, and my rings were in gallon freezer bags, shoved in the back. I spent a day washing all my jars, and letting them fully dry for a day in our warm house.

I then put a new lid on every jar, with a ring on them, loosely fit. Now my jars were clean and ready to go. It didn’t matter if I stored them in the kitchen, pantry or in our sealed cellar (it stays 55* or so year round). Not only did it get my jars organized, they stay clean. I had to buy a lot of lids, and a number of rings to do this.

Then I bought enough lids to cover them again. Rings are not a huge issue, as you take them off and wash/dry after canning. The key is to remember to restock lids after canning season winds down. Make that a goal. I keep my lids in a container to ensure the boxes stay clean and dry. And that I know where they are at all times.

Regular Mouth canning lids 12 packs. Yes. You need that many. Well, I did. I needed more than that. Many times over.

Wide Mouth canning lids 12 packs. I keep a couple hundred on hand at all times.

For those without a ton of mason jars: 4 dozen of each type, for 8 dozen total. This is a good starter set.

Do you need regular mouth lids with rings? This is a great find. Sometimes the “pretty” ones get put on sale, even in hardware stores.

And…lets talk about preserving fruit and berries. Sugar is the easiest way to do jams and jellies, but if sugar was limited could you do it? I keep a supply of Pomonas’s Pectin on hand. It doesn’t expire if kept tightly sealed (once opened I store the packet in a small mason jar), and allows preserving with little sugar.

The thing is properly stored all these items last a very, very long time. I have canned with lids that were 30 years old and they did just fine. Even if you never need them for an emergency, you will have them on hand for yearly canning. And have bought them at a good price.

~Sarah

Preserving · Recipes

Instant Pot Apple Butter

January 15, 2020 Sarah

Using your Instant Pot to make apple butter is game changing. No baby sitting it, no stirring, and it is done in a short time, versus many hours on the stove.

I prepped this in a 6 quart Instant Pot, if using a 8 quart this recipe is easily doubled. Next time I will use our 8 quart.

Instant Pot Apple Butter

Ingredients:

8 cups chopped apples* (about 3 pounds)
¼ cup water
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp fine sea salt

Directions:

Peel, quarter and core apples, then chop up. Measure after chopping.

Add the apples and water to the Instant Pot. Put on cover and seal according to directions. Set “manual” (or “pressure cook”) for 8 minutes.

Once done, let pressure release naturally for 20 to 30 minutes. If your Instant Pot has the “keep warm” setting on, hit “cancel” to turn off.

Place a clean kitchen towel over the steam valve and hit release to let any leftover steam out (the pot must release naturally or the applesauce will bubble up into the valve).

Take off the lid, turn onto “saute”.

Using a potato masher, mash up the apple butter. Add in the sugar and spices, stir in.

Let cook down for a few minutes, until it is bubbling and mounds on a spoon.

To water bath can:

Add 3 pint mason jars to a canning pot, fill jars with water, then the pot about half full. Bring to a boil while apple butter is in the steam release period.

Place the lids and rings into a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a simmer.

When apple butter is ready, drain jars and place on a clean kitchen towel.

Sterilize a ladle, canning funnel and air bubble remover in the boiling water.

Fill with hot apple butter, leaving a ¼” headspace.

Run the bubble popper in each jar.

Wipe the rims with a new damp paper towel.

Place a drained lid on each jar, then finger tighten the rings.

Place the jars into the kettle, lower the rack in. Make sure the jars are covered with water.

Bring to a boil, process for 10 minutes.

Remove the jars, let cool on a towel covered rack.

Remove rings, check that each lid is flat and sealed.

Mark contents on lid, use within a year.

Makes about 3 pints.

~Sarah

Preserving · Recipes

Lower Sugar Orange Jelly

January 8, 2020 Sarah

The best product for canning I have found is something so simple: Pomona’s Pectin. Years ago when I found it I first thought of it as a bit fussy, only because it added another step. Later on I wised up and realized that tiny step opened up a world of canning I couldn’t do otherwise. And what was that? Being able to make jams and jellies with a lot less sugar than conventional pectin. Consider that if one made this recipe using “mainstream” pectin it would call for at least 7 cups sugar. The recipe here calls for ONE CUP. You can go as low as ¾ cup if you desire. I suggest tasting your juice to see how sweet it is, and adjust off of that. If 1 cup isn’t sweet enough, you can go up to 2 cups sugar. Which is still considerably less than regular pectin. The other benefit is that Pomona’s doesn’t contain preservatives.

Side note: Pomona’s can be used with Stevia in many recipes, see their website for recipes.

Lower Sugar Orange Jelly

Ingredients:

4 cups freshly squeezed and strained orange juice
2 tsp calcium water*
¼ cup freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp Pomona’s Pectin powder

Directions:

Place jars in canner, fill jars with water and canner ½ full with water, bring to a boil. Place lids in water in a small sauce pan; cover and heat to a simmer.

Measure strained juice into a large sauce pan.

Add calcium water and lemon juice, and mix well.

Measure sugar into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sugar.

Bring juice to a full boil. Add pectin-sugar mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.

Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Place a lif on, then a ring, tightened finger tight. Put filled jars back in canning kettle, bring water to a boil, making sure jars are covered. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals, lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.

Notes:

Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.

Makes 4 to 5 cups (I filled 5 jars).

Recipe borrowed from Pomona’s Pectin website.

Preserving · Recipes

Canned Pickled Red Onions

January 6, 2020 Sarah

Pickled red onions are so good in and on recipes. Three jars will keep the pantry stocked for quite some time. If you are concerned you won’t use a pint up in time, you can can them in in half pint jars as well.

Pickled Red Onions

Brine Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3½ Tbsp kosher salt

Onion Ingredients:

2 pounds red onions
1¾ tsp kosher salt
2 tsp whole peppercorns
3 dried bay leaves

Directions:

Slice off ends of onions, peel off outer layer. Cut in half, thinly slice onions. Put onions in a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the 1¾ tsp salt on and gently mix with tongs. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, put 3 pint jars in a canning kettle, fill jars with water and the pot about halfway with water. Bring to a boil.

Add 3 new lids and rings to a small saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a simmer.

To make the brine, add all the brine ingredients into a tall saucepan, bring to a boil.

Take out the jars, drain and place on a clean kitchen towel. Sterilize a canning funnel, air bubble tool and a ladle in the boiling water.

Divide the peppercorns and bay leaves between the 3 jars.

Rinse the onions well, drain in a colander, shaking off any water. Divide between the 3 mason jars, packing in tightly.

Pour the hot brine over, using the air bubble tool to swish, adding more brine as needed to reach a ½” head space.

Wipe the rims with a clean damp paper towel.

Place a drained lid on top, put ring on finger tip tight.

Pace jars back in canning kettle, bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.

Take out, let cool on the counter. Check for lids being down (if any do not seal, put in refrigerator and consume within 2 weeks)

Makes 3 pints. Use within a year.

~Sarah