Mandarins in Light Syrup

After canning the chicken soup, I felt I wanted to do some more.  Seriously, I think I have an addiction!  :)  I was looking online and found a recipe for canning mandarin oranges.  So off to the store we went and I picked up three boxes, thinking that they're so small, I would need a ton to get a good batch.  I went a little bit overboard but that's ok!  That's just more to put in the cupboard for my family.  When all was said and done, after doing it two different days, I ended up with 13 pints and 8 half pints.  The recipe couldn't have been more simple!

Peel mandarins and remove as much of the pith as possible.

Make a syrup from sugar and water.  (I did a light syrup using a 3 parts water, 1 part sugar) Simmer on the stove.

Prepare jars for hot packing.

Process in water bath for 10 minutes.



 

Moving on to Dehydrating

I think I've done all the canning I want to do this year.  Unless I come across something else I just have to do, that is!  I spent Saturday canning chicken soup.  It's The Canning Diva's recipe, Nature's Cold & Flu Remedy and it's delicious!  With that and the beef stew I've canned, I'm ready for the cooler weather!  Now I'm moving on to dehydrating.  I made Cajun seasoned jerky yesterday and tomorrow I plan on drying apples.  I think I'm going to do a batch of mesquite jerky and a batch of banana chips soon too.

Just Two More

After I finished canning the beef stew and the applesauce, I decided I was going to do one more thing and that would be if for the year.  Well, I've changed my mind.  I'm canning caramel apple pie filling tomorrow, which was the last thing I was going to do, but I decided to do some chicken soup too.  A while back, I went to a class that a friend was teaching about canning, and we made her chicken soup.  It was delicious!  I decided I have to make some of that too!  She shares the recipe at her awesome site, The Canning Diva, along with a lot of other yummy recipes and tips about canning.  I'm going to try to give it a rest after that....but honestly, we'll see!  I truly didn't expect to get into canning as much as I have and when I find something I really want to try, it's become like an addiction, and I can't stop thinking about it until I make it!  I guess there are worse things to be addicted to, right? :)

I May Be Addicted

To canning, that is!  Seriously!  Last year, I learned how to can salsa in a water bath.  After I made a batch of apple butter and a batch of carrot cake jam.  This year, I have gone a little crazy with it.  My mother-in-law showed me how to use my pressure cooker and that's opened up a whole new world as far as canning goes.  Here's what I've done, so far:

32 quarts, 3 pints of salsa

16 pints of garlic dill pickles

10 pints of applesauce

10 pints of beef

9 half pints of strawberry chocolate sauce

and I am in the process of pressure canning 8 quarts of beef stew as I type this.  All that I have listed has been done in the last two months!  I love it!  I love preparing everything, I love seeing all those jars cooling on the counter, I love seeing jar after jar arranged in the cupboard and I love knowing that my family will have these things on hand when we need them.  What I love the most though, is hearing the pings when the jars are sealing.  Hearing those is like a reward after hours of prep work.  I plan on making apple pie filling next and after that I think I'm going to be done....that's the plan anyway!

Ready For More

More canning that is!  I did my first batch of salsa for the year yesterday.  I ended up with six quarts.  I tried a new recipe and I think it's going to be good!  Since I'm going to make a lot more, I'm going to try a couple different recipes I've found and see which one we like best.  It didn't take as long as I thought it would either.  The kids were really good and after the tomatoes were peeled and chopped, I used my new food processor for the garlic, onions and peppers.  The pulse feature is perfect!  I was afraid it might turn everything into mush but it chopped everything nicely.  Using it was a huge time saver!   I might do some applesauce this year too.  Last year I did apple butter, which was really good, but we go through tons of applesauce here so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Carrot Cake Jam

Although I haven't been canning for very long, I love it and am always looking for new recipes to try.  I went to the library and found a couple of books with tons of recipes.  I saw one in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving that I just had to try called Carrot Cake Jam.  I made it yesterday and it turned out great!  Here's the recipe:



 

1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots

 1 1/2 cups chopped cored peeled pears

 1 3/4 cups crushed, canned pineapple, including juice

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 package powdered fruit pectin

6 1/2 cups sugar

Combine carrots, pears, pineapple and juice, lemon juice, and spices in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Lower temperature to a simmer and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add powdered pecting, incorporating well, and bring carrot mixture back to a boil. Add sugar all at once and return back to a full boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 full minute.

Ladle hot jam into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.