Can it Forward

I've been doing a bit of "fun preserving" this summer.  (Canning doesn't have to be all serious and practical.)  It started with the dandelion jelly.

Then I made a triple berry syrup sweetened with honey.

I got crazy with peaches.  Canning a number of jars of quarters in a light syrup.  And using my new thrift store dehydrator to make peach fruit leather, and dried peach slices. 

After all these projects Owen said to me "Oh Mom!  I know, we need to get some blueberries, and can them--for the winter."

He's obviously been reading Blueberries for Sal and thinks he's a genius for coming up with the idea to do the same things for ourselves.  Not like preserving food for the winter isn't what I've been doing already for the last two months!

But who am I to argue with an enthusiastic 6 year old?  So we went and bought some blue berries.

We canned them on Saturday since it was National Can-It-Forward Day.

And who am I to argue with a national day where everyone is supposed to can something?

So we canned blue berries.  Owen wrote out some labels for them.  I love how he mostly ignored my example spelling.  He sounded it out in his head. . . each time. So each label is spelled differently.

Hopefully they will be good for muffins and oatmeal this winter.    And hopefully Owen is getting something out of all the canning going on around here.

Urban Foraging: Spring Dandelion Greens and Jelly

If you've ever bought a bag of salad called a "Spring Mix" you may have noticed something in the bag that looked suspiciously similar to dandelion leaves.  Well, you were right--it was dandelion greens.  Dandelions (yeah--the ones that grow outside) are perfectly edible.  The green leaves can be eaten alone or mixed in with other lettuces.  They need to be picked before the plant flowers for them to be the most tender and the least bitter.  They are still bitter--I won't lie--Jeremy and I were sampling our patch in the backyard yesterday.  But added to a mix of lettuces and with a nice vinaigrette dressing they could make fore a completely edible salad.  And hey--they are free.

You always want to make sure they haven't been sprayed with chemicals or anything, but most places that you see overgrown with dandelions don't have that problem (or they wouldn't be there). 

I've wanted to make Dandelion Blossom Jelly since I first saw the idea a year ago.  (And violet jelly, maybe that's next.)  I love the idea of foraging the unimpressive and turning it into something useful for my family.

 Though I was doubtful--we found enough dandelions in just our yard.  This is great since we know our yard is un-sprayed.

4 cups of blossoms.

Grab the base of the bud. with scissors cut off the top of the dandelion.  This is just petals, let them fall into a bowl and discard the green bud.  You should end up with around 2 cups of petals. 

Dandelion Jelly
3 cups boiling water
2-3 cups dandelion petals
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 box Sure*Jell pectin
4 1/2 cups sugar

Pour boiling water over petals.  Allow mixture to steep a few hours until it has returned to room temperature and taken on a nice yellow color.  Strain water into a liquid measuring cup.  Add lemon juice and any additional water needed to bring total to 3 cups dandelion infused water. 

Follow directions for making "cooked jelly" from the pectin box for instructions on adding the pectin and sugar and water-bath processing the jars. 

The jelly is delicious.  I've heard it described as tasting like straight honey.  If you've ever eaten one of those flavored honey sticks at the market I would say that's an accurate comparison. 

I took the advice of Marisa and canned the jelly in a variety of jars, so I have different options for presentation or gifting.

I love the sunny color and think the whole project is just perfectly novel!

Fruits of My Labor

Peaches were on sale the other day. So I went and bought a ton to bring home and can. . . until I got home and decided that sounded really boring.

I wanted to do something fun and fulfilling.  So I made a batch of delicious fresh peach syrup for pancakes and waffles, and canned that. 

(It's also delicious on ice cream--just sayin'.)

I found a packet of freezer jam pectin leftover from some previous venture and used that to make a batch of peach freezer jam.

Then I chopped up a bunch of peaches with lemon juice and sugar to eat over ice cream and cheerios. 

And finally I canned 7 quarts of peaches to tuck away in our cupboard. 

I sliced a couple for the boys to eat fresh.  But then there were one or two that went bad quickly in our un-air-conditioned kitchen. 

This week the peaches are not on such a great sale, but I did buy one more bag to make into baby food for this winter.  (My baby really wants some food to eat!)

It's good, I feel productive.  I like knowing there's no high-fructose corn syrup in my family's jelly.  But my favorite project was definitely the peach syrup.

Jewel Tones

Home canning is becoming a lost art. I think it's really sad, because there's nothing quite like the feeling of looking at something you've created with your own hands--particularly something that will provide for the physical well being of your family.

I was asked to teach the teenage girls in our congregation how to can homemade jelly tonight. I've never actually done this (unless you count canning apricot jam at my grandma's house when I was 12) but as I said--lost art--they were unable to find anyone who did have experience except for ladies who claimed they hadn't canned "in 20 years!"

So I decided I needed a test run so I would have a better idea of what I was "teaching" the girls. The girls meet for only an hour so I used a shortcut method for making jelly by purchasing bottled juice. Super easy!

So you need only 100% grape juice (Concord--purple-- is what I saw was recommended, but it might be fun to try a white grape sometime as well), sugar, and pectin.

Pectin is a substance that occurs naturally in many fruits and is what makes the jelly "jell". Powdered pectin is a natural product made from apples and provides enough pectin to help homemade jellies reach the desired consistency.

Follow the recipe in the pectin you buy to measure juice, then add pectin and bring to a boil.

Add sugar and bring back to a hard boil.

Boil 1 minute stirring constantly.

Ladle in to clean jars. Wipe the rims and top with lids and rings.

Submerge in waterbath canner and process for time alloted by your altitude in the instructions.

Remove to a towel to cool. Let sit undisturbed overnight. Mark contents and date on lid (Lids aren't reusable, the rings are. )

Then sit back and admire your beautiful jewel-toned jelly jars!

Saucy Apples

A friend of mine came over on Friday and we canned homemade apple sauce. I have a bit of experience with canning, and most of the right tools, so she wanted to come see how one goes about the whole "canning" experience.

I've never done applesauce before, but I missed peach season due to the woes of early pregnancy, and wanted to do something that the young children we both have would enjoy.

It was pretty simple:

• Peel, core, and slice apples (We did about 12 lbs and chose a variety to get both good taste and texture.)
• Put in a pot and barely cover with water (I also squeezed in the juice of one lemon for preservation of color)
• Simmer 'till soft, then puree (I thought my stick blender might turn it to juice instead of sauce but it actually worked perfectly)
• Eat or "can" or I suppose you could freeze it too(Our batch made 11 pints)

The best part about it was seeing how interested and excited Owen was about the whole thing. The jars were cooling on the counter and Owen wanted to pop one open right then and eat it. We finally caved in for dinner Saturday night and let the boys have some. I'm really pleased with how well it turned out. And Owen's interest in the process makes it all worth it!

Now I have nine more pounds of apples I bought. What should I do next? More applesauce or apple butter? yummm. . . apple butter. . .

Is It Worth It?

Yes, is it worth it? This is what I asked myself last fall as I bought two moderately-priced bags of peaches, and took them home to can. Why would I do that? The peaches weren't on some great deal. They definitely weren't coming hand-picked off a tree in my own back yard. So why bother?

It's just something I want to be a part of my life. I want my children to know that food comes from nature, not just tin cans. I want my children to know that food is something we create, not just pull out of plastic bags. I want food preparation to be a task that brings our family together, not just regarded as a necessary evil. Will canning store-bought peaches in the middle of the Kansas prairie accomplish any of those things? I don't really know. But I do know that when I see this...





I think the answer to my original question is "yes."