Canning foods? Drying spices? Sources for Spice Jars?

by Matthew

Mar 9, 2011

Just wondered if other people have had success in canning their goods or dehydrating them.

 

I have a Presto 23 quart pressure canner, and an Oster dehydrator.

 

Only products I did and liked were Jam (mixed berry of raspberry, blackberry, black raspberry) and homemade ketchup (ok but not as good as heinz, but better for me I am sure).

 

I can post the recipe for the tomato soup as well, I modified a few recipies to make mine.  Mainly a pile of tomatoes and celery for main ingredients.

 

Did not like the tomato sauce canned (needed citric acid for safety).

Peperoncini, were soggy and didn't taste anythign liek store bought.  Grew 15 lbs of them and they were all a waste.

 

My spices are great.

Garlic powder, Jalapano powder, Parsley, Basil, Dill, oragano, Chives.

 

Excellent source for 1OZ Tiny jars to give to your friends and family (kindof expensive shipping though).

http://www.sunburstbottle.com/glass-jars/spice/VERB

 

They also sell 4oz jars at reasonable prices.

 

I have yet to find anywhere much cheaper.  I like glass cause no BPA in it.

 

 

 

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  • up

    Matthew

    I was hoping to some day freeze apple juice or cider (not sure of difference).  I have 3 small apple trees I planted ~ 3-4 years ago.  Fuji apple and two red delicious.  SOme day they should be bigger and give more fruit.  Got maybe 30 apples off the Fuji last year, none off the red delicious which I blame on a late frost.

     

    Want to build a cider press if I have time this summer...but probably won't with alll the other things on my list.

    TCLynx said:

    Since we are in a citrus growing region we wind up concentrating and freezing lots of grapefruit juice.  We just have one grapefruit tree and one tangerine.

     

    The tangerine juice is so incredibly sweet that unless it is an especially heavy bearing year, we don't get enough of that to preserve much but the grapefruit is a big tree and we usually wind up with a freezer full if we don't concentrate it.

     

    To concentrate citrus juice we will juice it and freeze jugs of it.  Then once frozen we pull it out and thaw the jug about half way, usually flipping it upside down over a large container.  The first half of what thaws is going to be the strongest stuff, what is left frozen is quite watery.  We then re-freeze the concentrated stuff in blocks as best we can and seal up in freezer bags for longer term storage.

     

    Certain things are best frozen to preserve the vitamin C content.  Citrus juice is drastically changed if canned.

     

    Here is an important resource for anyone doing home food preservation.

    National Center for Home Food Preservation

    Mar 12, 2011

  • up

    TCLynx

    just make sure if you are gonna freeze apple juice or cider that you get it done before any fermentation begins or the jugs will burst before they fully freeze and you wind up with a freezer full of apple slush.  Dad has stories of once getting lots of apple cider they were gonna freeze but they were a bit too late.  I do have fond memories of home made apple sauce.

    Mar 12, 2011

  • up

    Rank Wang

    I bought a lot of glass jars here https://www.reihey.com,
    which can almost meet the needs of the entire kitchen.
    They are also easy to store and organize. 

    But glass material is heavy and fragile.It is recommended to choose carefully

    May 22