Canning Etc. Season 2018

Since my husband is British and loves rhubarb I have read extensively about trying to grow it in the south (Texas to be specific) and the most promising article was about growing it from seed as an annual. We have tried it all… we have not been successful. We have ordered roots and we have started seeds. We have planted in the shade and partial shade. We have tried several different varieties. We have been able to get it to start growing but it’s just too hot to bring it to any kind of maturity. Our rhubarb pies come from a tin purchased in the grocery! And it’s the same story for gooseberries and currants. It’s just not going to happen unless you might have a air conditioned greenhouse… :flushed:

Katy

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Hmmm. I had read those articles too about growing it in the south but obviously never had to try it. I wonder if the problem you are having is it needs higher levels of sun and cool temps. If so, perhaps growing it during the winter in a high tunnel or GH with supplemental light would work. (Just a theory, I have no idea if it will work or not)

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indianberry has good prices for croms.

https://indianaberry.com/products/1/19/Plants/Rhubarb

Tell me more about the canned potatoes. I’ve never heard of that.

Canning potatoes is pretty much like doing beets or carrots. I don’t can carrots so much since I can grow them year round, and I’m not too fond of the taste of them canned.
The advantage of canning potatoes is that when you harvest them, the skins are thin and so you don’t need to peel them. Plus, since you have to cook them anyway, it makes it convenient for doing mashed potatoes all winter plus other dishes like potato leek soup, and stews. I just scrub them, dice them, fill qt jars, add canning salt and pressure can them.
Some folks say they don’t care for the taste of canned potatoes but maybe they are thinking of store bought. One year I added citric acid in addition to salt and that made them taste off to me.
To use I just heat them in a pot w/some garlic pwdr, use a stick blender and ta dah, mashed potatoes. :blush:

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Some pickled purple okra, we added a clove of garlic and sliced jalapenos. Did 3 pints and 2 quarts. We are prob done with pickling stuff this year, got way too much. If do any more, it might be some hot peppers.

Wish we would’ve got more beans done, but they got too big and stringy to get another batch done. But, we did run 28qt in total this year. We did can about 13qt of diced tomatoes, better than last year. Not much corn at all, except for a few ears to freeze.

Next year, I’ll be reluctant to grow any beans, cukes or okra. I want to grow everything in our big plot down the hill with the great soil, so it’ll be easier to take care of. Going to concentrate on corn, tomatoes, peppers and maybe some cabbage.

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Hopefully you save your jars. I had sticker made with every jar I gave as gift. It said please return jar to Mrs. G!

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My wife tells folks that if they like whatever canned goods she’s given them and want more in the future, they’d better return the jars :grinning:

The stickers are a good idea

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Do you ever have anything left over from the previous year? Just yesterday I finished eating my last jar of grape jelly from 2017. I had finished canning jelly this year in early August. Nice to be eating fresh jelly again!

Oh, we have lots of stuff from the previous 4 years of canning. The only things I think we have left from 2014 are some half runner beans, and maybe some cabbage.

We have so much stuff canned that we’re running out of room in our cellar. We also have store bought items there as well- cans of fruit, veggies, extra coffee, tea, pasta, etc. Our cellar is partly in-ground, but it doesn’t keep things as cool in the summer, or as warm in the winter as I’d like. If I had the dough, I’d build a new one up here closer to our place.

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Sometbing that’s bothered me about the new canning lids is that they say, “helps keep canned food sealed up to 18 months”. What does that mean?? That in a couple years, all this stuff we’ve canned will pop their seals?? What’s the point in canning stuff for the future, if this is going to happen?

Heres a pic of what I’m talking about

Am I missing something?

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Found this article, it kinda clears things up. They’re not saying they’ll unseal after 18 months, just that they’re guaranteed to seal up to 18 months, as opposed to 12 months as before. They should be OK if the food was processed properly.

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You can really tell the difference. After a couple of years, jam loses most of its fruit flavor

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Maybe they think that canned stuff will become contaminated the longer its stays canned even though it is sealed. As in botulism.

Maybe you should plant less quantities of any individual veggie. Or just give away any excess.

Yeah, I agree. But what gets me is that with jelly, if i cook a batch and then place it in jars for the recommended 10 minute boiling water bath canning inevitably I will have a dub left over that will not go into the BWB - say just enough to put into a small sampler jar. I will stick sampler jar in the frig without sealing and eat it in a day or 2. Well that jelly that did not go thru the BWB will always have a far superior taste compared to the canned jelly.

Should ignore the directions and BWB for just enough minutes to seal the jars - say for 5 minutes or less rather that 10 minutes?

I would think it is risky to not process for as long as directed, unless you can store the jars in a fridge or freezer.

But I agree with your findings, unprocessed foods taste better than ones that have been boiled for some time. The way we handle this is to avoid canning in the traditional ways, and move to freezing and refrigerating. Most pectins now have directions for “refrigerator jam” and freezing fruit does make for better tasting fruit when you finally are eating it (in most cases).

I does make you dependent on having electricity to run your freezer, but the results are far better IMO.

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Used to be, when I made preserves, I poured melted paraffin over the top and kept it in the cupboard. Never died from it.

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I don’t see how it could get contaminated if it’s sealed. Plus the pressure aspect of processing should destroy the organisms that possibly could harbor the botulism source.

Well, we plant a lot so that we can store it in case of hard times or a bad season(s). We shouldn’t have planted as much cukes this year, we really didn’t need that many pickles. Can’t live off of pickles! No cukes next year other than just a few hills for fresh eating, same for okra.

I’ve noticed something with these SureTight kids after you take them out of the canner. They don’t make that loud “ping!” like the previous ones. At least not as pronounced as before. @JustAnne4, (and anyone else), you do some canning, have you used these new lids, and if so, have you noticed anything different about them?

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Hmm - I just now noticed that my lid packages is labeled “SureTight”. Was not aware of that!

Had not noticed any less of a loud “ping!” though. Well at least the regular size lids has always had that definite ping. The wide mouth lids never really had any ping to amount to anything that I can remember.

The mosquitoes sure are hungry here. Must going to be an early winter.

The ping sounds the same to me. Maybe your hearing isn’t as good as it once was!