Canning/Harvest, Recipes

2 Green Tomato Salsa recipes

I have converted this recipe (because I hate recipes that are variable, and this recipe is sooo easy to mess up with their instructions!) from the Ball Kerr website (they must have caught on, as it’s no longer available. I might try this one, though).

  • 4 1/4 lbs green tomatoes
  • 1 lb peppers
  • 1 1/4 lbs onions
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup lime juice
  • 20 grams cilantro, stems and leaves
  • 4 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pepper

Dump tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic and lime juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add cilantro, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and simmer 5 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into a hot jar leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. place lids and rings.

Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 30 minutes, adjusting for altitude (you will most likely need less, I live at 5000 ft). Turn off the heat, remove jars and let cool. Check for seal after 12-24 hours.

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This one is also modified in measurement methods. It comes from this website. I have labeled it “small batch” so that I can compare the difference. I will update on which I like better in the future.

  • 6 green tomatoes, chopped in large pieces
  • 2 green peppers, chopped in large pieces
  • 2 small onion, quartered
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 20 oz parsley
  • 1 long hot pepper
  • 2 limes zest and juice (I peeled the limes with a peeler, scooped out the insides, and tossed it in the food processer with the pepper)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Not Quite V8 juice, but as close as I could find: the recipe

To start off with, I got this recipe from this website (and she says she got it from the Ball canning book in 2014, but I didn’t fact check that), and the author has a lot of good notes, please go check it out. I’m only writing here so that I can remember how I changed it in the future.

I really wanted something with beets because real v8 uses beets, but I can’t find anything I trust, really. And since most of the recipes I found (okay, ALL of the recipes I found) called for waterbath canning methods, I didn’t want to add a very basic (as in contrast to acidic) ingredient without an official recipe to follow.

  • 2.5 oz celery. About 2 medium stalks or 3/4 c
  • 3 oz bell pepper. A little less than 1 or 3/4 c
  • 3 oz carrots. About 2 small carrots (I used 1 small and 1 med and had about 2″ left of the med) or 3/4 c
  • 3 oz onion. About 1 small to medium onion or 1/2 c
  • 5 g fresh parsley. Which is only about 4 sprigs, or ¼ cup
  • 22 lbs tomatoes. The recipe says about 65 medium, but I have so many sizes I only went by weight
  • 3 tablespoon salt, to taste (original only had 1 T and that wasn’t nearly enough in my opionion.
  • 1/4 c worcestershire sauce (not in the original recipe, but when I did my research, it is more acidic than what the jar needs to be at, so I felt safe adding it).
  • 1 T Lemon juice PER JAR
  • 1/4 tsp citric acid PER JAR

Prep all the veggies before you weigh them. I did thin slices for the celery and carrots, dices for the peppers, huge chunks for the onions (though my mom would have blended them in the blender to get as much onion flavor as possible), pinched off the heads of the parsley leaves, and quartered the tomatoes.

In a smaller (only in comparison, it was still 5 qts, which – aside from canning – is my largest) pot, place the carrots, onions, and about 5 lbs of tomatoes (don’t know for sure how much it was, because I measured everything out beforehand and then just grabbed enough to fill the pot decently. Squish the tomatoes with a potato masher to get enough liquid you don’t just scorch your carrots. Bring to a medium-high heat and simmer (you don’t want to burn anything) about 20 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients into a large stock pot (It filled my waterbath canner full! But when you mash the tomatoes, it’s not so scary). Start the heat out low so it doesn’t scorch while you’re trying to get enough liquid from the tomatoes to get everything to a simmer. As more liquid works its way out, and as it becomes easier to stir, turn it up to a medium (maybe medium-high, but on my stove, that burns it.

After the 20 minutes for the first (“smaller”) pot, add it to the large stock pot. It will take a while for the big pot to get to a simmer (and you may have to turn your stove up), but the carrots had a head start in the other pot, and the warm liquid will help the large pot get there a little faster. Once it reaches a simmer, let everything stay at a simmer for 20 minutes, giving your carrots enough time to cook down. You’re still going to have to stir frequently! But the longer it simmers, the easier it is to stir.

let cool for a few hours (it took us about 3 hours before we didn’t feel like we were going to burn ourselves), and then send it through the victorio (Food mill). As the bowl collecting juice gets full, place it in a clean stock pot and keep going until all the juice is processed. I like to send the skins and seeds through one more time and then re-mill about 2-4 cups of juice through just to get all the little pieces to work out, but that might be overkill?

Place the now-smooth(er) juice on the stove and heat it, but don’t worry about getting it to a simmer. Ladle juice into warm sterile jars, add the lemon juice and citric acid to each jar, and wipe off the rims. Add lids and rings.

Process jars in a water bath canner for 50 minutes (I’m at 5,000 altitude. You probably need less). Let cool and test for seal after 12-24 hours.

Of note: this recipe is supposed to make 7 qts. I ended up with 12! I processed it anyway, because 1) you add the acid to each jar, so I felt confident in the acid being there, and 2) If anything was extra, it was tomatoes, and not veggies.

Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Stewed Tomatoes Recipe

  • 8 qts tomatoes (13ish lbs.)
  • 2 qts vegetables (3 c onions, 3 cups green peppers, 2 c celery)
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 Tbs lemon juice (to taste. but note, it’s supposed to be 2 tbs IN EACH JAR. I tried it that way once. It was soooo nasty. Citric acid in the jars is a better bet)
  • 1 1/2 tsp of salt per jar

Heat vegetables and 2 qts tomatoes to warm, then add the rest of the tomatoes and the garlic. Heat to warm. Add lemon juice to taste noting that there is going to be salt added to the jars.

Process in a pressure canner for 30 mins.

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To make this into a Ro-Tel type stewed (spicy stewed), change the recipe as follows:

  • 8 qt tomatoes
  • 1 qt peppers (I did 2 jalapenos, 1 Anaheim, and filled the rest of the jar with green bell peppers (about 1 1/2).
  • 1 qt onions
  • 3 cloves garlic (pretty sure I forgot the garlic this year. Oops)
  • 2 Tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tsp salt per jar

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Notes: there is usually extra (as in more than 7 qts full) but I didn’t want to work the math to tweak the recipe down as this is the ratio I see given most often in other recipes and I know with tomatoes you have to be very careful not to tweak proportions. Most of those recipes are water bathed and in my research, it sounds like water bathing any tomatoes is a dangerous idea if you’re adding any other vegetables. That being said, I’m just an internet junkie and do not have enough knowledge to be an authority (AKA, Use this recipe at your own risk).

Canning/Harvest, Kids Need Play

Harvest!

Dear Reader,

Well, tis the season. Things are busy around here. We are harvesting apples and tomatoes before the freeze! We didn’t get our tomato plants into the ground even remotely soon enough, so most of our tomatoes are still in the green stages so we picked a TON of green tomatoes. This season, our preschooler has been super helpful. She has been anxiously awaiting the day the apples were ready to pick, even sneaking out to go check them frequently. The day we decided it was time to pick, she was super excited! Does it really count as an intentional preschooler activity? Maybe not. But it is teaching her life skills I mean, doesn’t everyone need to know how to harvest and preserve? And if I can teach her now, then all the better.

There was a hard freeze warning a few nights ago so we harvested all the tomatoes, green or not. We filled every box we could find and I calculate it’s about 10 half-bushel boxes worth? I have been weighing the tomatoes as I use them (the ready ones and the ones I know are not going to turn red) and keeping a tally, and I’ll add an update at the end of this blog. So far, just in the past few days, we’ve got 2 boxes of ripe tomatoes, and I made 2 batches of green salsa with the ones I knew weren’t going to ripen. The pic with little fingers are the beginnings of the green, as my preschooler helped me sort them. Obviously, for the most part, she can’t tell what is going to ripen vs what isn’t, but she is good at making a pile and picking red and yellow from the green. The other picture is my brag picture. that tomato is huge! I weighed it and it weighs 1 1/2 pounds! It fills both palms! I prayed it’d ripen before the freeze. It’s not quite there, yet but it can ripen in the house now.

There are still apples on the trees (2 aren’t quite ready yet. They’re a later variety), but so far we have gotten 7 boxes (3 of which are coolers) full storing in cold storage while I work on the tomatoes. Although our preschooler loved harvesting all the tomatoes, she loves picking (and eating) apples more. We have plenty of applesauce, so I think most of the apples this year are going to go toward apple butter and pressed apple juice. I’m really excited about the juice. We bought a press a few years ago but didn’t have the time to finish putting it together before we gave up and made applesauce. This year, though, that press is getting assembled. We have soooo many apples! But with 3 littles, it will be such a blessing to have fresh apple juice all winter long. I was talking with my mom this summer about how I always thought it was such a luxury to have juice at our house, but now that I have so many kiddos it makes sense. Keeping that much juice in the fridge is expensive! and one thing of juice only gives everyone only a small glass full before it is gone.

Check back in on a future post to see Canning totals! I like to keep track of them on my blog so that I can go back in next year and see what everything ended up equaling. It really helps me keep a better perspective on what the harvest is compared to the year before.

Keira at searchforseven.com
A Day in the Life, Canning/Harvest, Kids Need Play

What We did with Our Berries

Dear Reader,

I’ve had a longstanding date with my friend’s raspberry patch set for about once a year. She only calls me when it gets desperate in her patch and she’s struggling to catch up; her main goal is to fulfill all the demand that others have for berries from her patch and I usually take about half of the berries I pick. This year has been a great year for raspberries and she said she had more than she could handle, so I bought extra from her. That meant I’ve been busy working raspberries for the past few days. Since my preschooler helped me pick the berries, I figured she would also be interested in helping me process them, as well.

Obviously, this activity would have to be tweaked if you don’t have a food strainer, but you could easily mash berries with a potato masher! It just doesn’t involve a cool crank, too. My food strainer is called a Victorio, but based on the internet search dive I just took, they must have changed their name? either way, it looks like this. My preschooler could both turn the crank handle and mash the berries, and it was kinda fun watching her get so excited at something that is really technically a chore. She loved making “squished berry juice” and I loved both the help and the time with her. All in all, she lasted quite a while! Equal to about 4 quarts of raspberry juice/pulp. We added a little sugar and canned it that way.

I’m adding the activity scales here even though it’s not the end of the post because if you’re only reading for the activity, the rest of this is a little dry, but since this blog is also a chronicle of my gardening/canning adventures, I need to include the following information (mostly for me…)

All in all we had 6 gallons of berries (6 large clam shells) and it made:

  • 2 batches of jam with lemon peel pectin (aka 8 cups of berries, 6 cups of sugar, an entire bag of my homemade lemon pectin – about 10 tablespoon cubes but they were old and nearly impossible to separate from the bag, hence the large batch, and 4 T lemon juice (it just needed the lemon). It set pretty well, but I understand why they tell you to do it in small batches. Some of the jars are extra firm gel and some are barely set).
  • 2 gallon ziplocks of whole frozen berries (filled 2 xl cookie sheets and 3 regular sized (they’re Pampered Chef large size)
  • 3 1/2 quarts of raspberry juice (it required a whole cup of sugar to make it not so tart) and then I went to the store and bought a regular sized clamshell of strawberries, a large clamshell of blueberries, a whole bag of grapes, and a small clamshell of blackberries and that plus the remaining raspberry juice (and half a cup of sugar) made another 2 1/2 quarts so I processed it all together – 5 quarts, 2 pints – and although the canning guides said 1/4″ headspace, I think I really needed a whole inch of headspace because they bubbled out everywhere and 3 didn’t seal (2 ended up in my fridge but I didn’t notice the 3rd until I didn’t wanna trust it),
  • pulp for fruit leather (filled a quart bag but its currently still in my fridge. I’ll update when it’s leather). I used the strainer and only ran it through once, so it’s really just pulp and seeds without any liquid. The liquid was bottled in the quarts above).
Keira at searchforseven.com
Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Pumpkin-Apple Fruit Leather

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Pumpkin fruit leather is a great harvest treat. It’s nice and fall-y flavor. I don’t know if I’d care for it much in the spring, but it’s perfect in the cold months.

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For a information on dehydrators or drying methods, check the classic apple recipe.

Also note, these recipes are the right size for my dehydrator trays. You may need to adjust the amounts for your own individual trays/drying methods.

Now, on a more specific note, classic apple leather is my daughter’s favorite. She likes things plain and simple. I personally think it’s kind of… boring. But if your kid (or you) like boring, you may love this leather.

The recipe? Just 1 1/2 c of applesauce. Smooth it onto the tray in as even layer as you can get. The smoother you can get the applesauce, the better it will dry. I plan on investing in a silicone bench scraper, though I don’t own one yet. I think it’d be perfect for getting the layer smooth. My spatula doesn’t quite cut it for me. It works for now, but I’d like an upgrade.

I don’t have any fruit leather trays, and I am on the fence about getting them. Sometimes the food just sticks to them. Instead, I take a square section of parchment paper, place it over the dehydrator tray to mark where I need to make a few cuts to fit over the center vent and then mark the edge of the tray, as well. (I just set it on the tray and rub my fingers over the tray and let a crease form, then I use that as a guide to cut. It’s an imperfect art, but I like the results. I also don’t cut the center all the way off, but make lots of slits, so that if anything is runny, it has less of a chance of falling through the layers. That’s a mess.

Classic Apple Fruit Leather
Cuisine: snack
Author: Keira @ Searchforseven.com
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 c applesauce
  • Other tools:
  • dehydrator
  • Parchment paper (or leather trays)
  • spatula or bench scraper
Instructions
  1. Spread the applesauce evenly on the dehydrator tray lined with parchment paper
  2. Turn dehydrator on and let it do it’s work for 6-8 hours. I start the dehydrator in the morning and turn it off in the afternoon or evening, depending on when it’s done.
  3. Cut the leather into desired strips or sections. somewhere between 5-15 sections is ideal.
Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Classic Apple Fruit Leather

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Classic apple fruit leather is probably the easiest fruit leather you’ll ever make. It’s a good place to start if you’ve never made leather before. The reason it’s so easy? It’s simply applesauce poured into your dehydrators.

Since this leather is so easy, I’ll take the time here to discuss dehydrators. I have a Nesco dehydrator (no affiliate link. It was actually a wedding present. I’d show you one similar to what I have but every time I try to link to one Nesco changes their links!). I wish it were square. My grandmother’s was rectangular. My mother assures me that round is the best drying power because of the hole in the middle, and an even distribution from that hole. I don’t know. She’s probably right. There’s just no good way to keep a pie-shaped fruit leather in nice rectangular roll. My mom says I’m being silly. Isn’t dried-thoroughly better than cut-square? She’s probably right. But in the meantime, I usually just store mine in pie wedges. I bet if I sliced them a bit thinner, my kiddo would eat them better, because believe it or not, a whole pie shape is a lot of fruit to swallow. She’d probably eat them better if instead of dividing the dry fruit-leather pie into 5 sections, I divided it into 15 sections.

My dehydrator says to dry fruits at 135º. The internet says to make it 140º. Following either instruction will leave me with something rubbery and very undesirable. It dries the outside too quickly and leaves the centers still gooey and moisture-laden. Moisture means mold and spoilage. Bad news. I dried my leather between 115 and 125º, depending on the thickness. It actually took less time to dry at that temperature, because the dry was more thorough. It didn’t have to fight a hard crust to get to the moisture.

That brings up another point… Most ovens don’t go below 170°. I’ve never made fruit leather in an oven. I have heard it can be done, but I don’t know what happens to shelf-life. From what I can understand from the process, it will either shorten self-life greatly or it will give you a tough hart-to-chew product. The internet is full of how to dehydrate in an oven. Most say cook at 175º for 2-4 hours, checking after 1 hour. I think the oven is good in a pinch, but you really should consider a dehydrator if you like the idea of homemade fruit leather. It will give you safer results.

Also note, these recipes are the right size for my dehydrator trays. You may need to adjust the amounts for your own individual trays/drying methods.

Now, on a more specific note, classic apple leather is my daughter’s favorite. She likes things plain and simple. I personally think it’s kind of… boring. But if your kid (or you) like boring, you may love this leather.

The recipe? Just 1 1/2 c of applesauce. Smooth it onto the tray in as even layer as you can get. The smoother you can get the applesauce, the better it will dry. I think it’d be perfect for getting the layer smooth. My spatula doesn’t quite cut it for me. It works for now, but I’d like an upgrade.

I don’t have any fruit leather trays, and I am on the fence about getting them. Sometimes the food just sticks to them. Instead, I take a square section of parchment paper, place it over the dehydrator tray to mark where I need to make a few cuts to fit over the center vent and then mark the edge of the tray, as well. (I just set it on the tray and rub my fingers over the tray and let a crease form, then I use that as a guide to cut. It’s an imperfect art, but I like the results. I also don’t cut the center all the way off, but make lots of slits, so that if anything is runny, it has less of a chance of falling through the layers. That’s a mess.

Classic Apple Fruit Leather
 
Cuisine: snack
Author: Keira @ Searchforseven.com
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 c applesauce
  • Other tools:
  • dehydrator
  • Parchment paper (or fruit-leather trays)
  • spatula or bench scraper
Instructions
  1. Spread the applesauce evenly on the dehydrator tray lined with parchment paper
  2. Turn dehydrator on and let it do it’s work for 6-8 hours. I start the dehydrator in the morning and turn it off in the afternoon or evening, depending on when it’s done.
  3. Cut the leather into desired strips or sections. somewhere between 5-15 sections is ideal.

Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Lemon Pectin (citrus Pectin)

Having food allergies has taught me so much. It’s also led me to so many doors I otherwise would not have passed through. I never thought I’d be the type to WANT to make homemade pectin, because I didn’t much care for jam. Come to find out, what I didn’t care for was the pectin. It has corn syrup solids in it (called dextrose). No wonder I’d always thought jam was too sweet. I have made preserves, instead, for years, but my husband misses jam. And preserves are not easy! They require standing over a hot stove all day, usually in a hot month. They fog up my windows and the humidity lingers. And they just plain take forever. Still good, though. Just lots of work.

Interestingly, my daughter hated jam as much as I did, but when she tasted some without the added dextrose, she told me instead, “Well maybe I like jam… but only if you make it.” Someday, kid, you’re going to actually put two and two together. Hates marshmallows unless mom makes it… corn. Hates jam unless mom makes it… corn. Not a big candy fan… corn. Kid, you have a corn allergy, too!

I think she doesn’t want to put the pieces together yet. Especially because her other biological relation already ignores her other, clearly tested, and serious allergies. If she recognized this one, she’d have to starve for 2 days.

I’ve made apple pectin before, and if I had to pick just one method, I’d go with citrus from now on. It worked easier and I could see results faster. If you’ve got lots of green, unripe apples, though, you may want to look into the other pectin.

During canning season, I go through lots of lemons. That is one other thing that I have to do now because of allergies. Bottled lemon juice contains a sulfate. Sulfate-anything makes my mouth go numb and my throat swell up. Not a good combo. Plus, fresh lemons are so much better for you. I know that canning people usually say avoid lemons because you can’t guarantee the pH, but I’d rather not die from anaphylaxis . Some day, I might find a way to check the pH of my food and then find out what it’s supposed to be in canning, but I don’t know where to start; which always leaves me spinning in circles. I feel like Captain Jack Sparrow trying to find a certain chest when he doesn’t know what he wants. “Ah! A heading. Set sail in a… uh… a general… that way! direction.”

but I digress. Lemon pectin. Love it. Will never buy a box again. Easy-peasy.

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In order to help you understand, lets take a second and go over the parts of a citrus fruit. Biology lesson. Okay, these are not the terms you’d find in a biology textbook. But you would find them in old cookbooks.

image from Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries:

Image from Oxford Learners Dictionaries

    • Zest: the oily coating on the outside of a lemon, lime, orange, or other citrus fruit. The part of the rind that has the color to it. Strong, potent flavor. Used in essential oils. It really only becomes zest after it’s been grated off of the lemon, but peel becomes so ambiguous and jumbled as part of the rind, that for my purposes, we’ll call it zest.
    • Pith: the white squishy part of a citrus fruit. Contains the most pectin. Pretty flavorless. Most often discarded (what a shame).
    • Fruit: the piece of a citrus most commonly used. Contains the juice and the pulp inside of membranes dividing the fruit into sections. Most often used for both consumption and juices.
    • Pips: the seeds. I don’t know why they’re not just called seeds, but pips sounds fun. Especially when you want both the pips and pith.

It will be WAY easier on you to grate/peel the lemons first, before you do anything else. Seriously. And before you do THAT you will want to wash/scrub your fruit. You can’t be sure of how carefully that fruit was cared for or what is on the peels.

I took a regular peeler to my citrus, but you can get the colored skin off however you would like. I wish I had a channel knife zester. There are so many uses for the zest. I, however, have not come up with enough ways yet. I’ve added the lemon zest to lemonade, before. That was great. I also want to learn how to candy them and such. My sister makes cleaners out of them. I haven’t tried that. I have dried them, but when I do dry them, they just sit there. Unused. Unloved. Wasted. I confess, this year, most of them ended up in my compost. Baby steps. Next year, I’ll try harnessing the lemony powers of goodness into something… good.

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anyway, after you’ve peeled the citrus (as you can see most of mine is lemons and limes. It was salsa season. Grapefruits work amazingly, too. So much pith, it only takes a few of them. Plus they have a milder flavor. probably because you get more pith and less oil residue), juice them and use the juice for whatever you had in mind. Or bottle it. I’ve seen recipes, but I haven’t tried it. You will need some lemon juice for your pectin, so it’s nice to have lemons in the bunch, no matter what other combination you have in mind.

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The more color you remove from the lemon, the better off you are. You can still see quite a bit of color on my citrus, but I’m not particularly worried about a lemon/lime taste in my jams.

After you’ve isolated the pith, throw in the pips (the seeds. They have tons of pectin, too). and add everything to a food processor. Chop, chop, chop.

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When you’re done, you’ll end up with something that looks like this:

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Now you have the base for your citrus pectin.

Measure out your pith into 8 ounce batches. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and let it sit at room temperature for two hours. Then add about 2 cups of water and let it sit another hour. Transfer everything to a pot and rapidly bring it to a boil (stirring as needed). Once it boils, turn it to a simmer, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove it from the heat and let it cool in the pan for about 20 minutes.

Then send it through a jelly bag or a few layers of cheese cloth (sorry, I lost my picture of this part of the process). If you squeeze the bag you will definitely get more pectin out of it (and I often find that it’s the pectin that will congeal the best), but your jellies will be cloudy. I don’t know why people care, but some do.

Test your pectin. To do this, I like to scoop out a spoonful and chill it in the fridge, so it cools faster than the rest of my pectin. Sources say you can’t test it when it’s warm (though I have gotten citrus pectin to set up even when warm. Never apple pectin, though), and then add a splash (my grandma’s terms) of rubbing alcohol over it. If it sets into a semi-solid blob that you can get onto a fork, you’re set. If not, reduce it down a little bit more (I’ve never had to do that with citrus, but I have had to do it with the apple pectin. Now you know why I prefer citrus pectin).

To Store:

Either bottle (which I’ve never done) or freeze your pectin. To freeze, measure into an ice cube tray. I know that each of my cubes will be about 1 1/2 Tbs. When solid, remove from trays and add to a freezer bag (they’re still kind of sticky when frozen. That’s not a bad thing. That’s pectin that works). It should store for 6 months to a year.

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My sources tell me that to bottle it, re-heat the pectin until just below a boil, fill sterilized jars with 1/2″ headspace, and then process for 15 minutes, depending on your altitude. I haven’t tried it. It seems a waste of cooking time to bottle pectin.

To Use:

Here’s where it gets tricky. With a box of pectin, it tells you exactly how much sugar to use, how much fruit to use, and how much pectin to add. With homemade pectin, it’s all a bunch of variables. Your pectin is different based on each individual fruit. I would definitely use a box pectin a few times until you know what you’re looking for (although, really, sometimes they vary, too. I’ve got some syrup downstairs in my fruit room that was supposed to be jelly. I also have some really soft-set jams. Both from store-bought pectin).

The most important bit is to add the pectin before you boil your fruit (I think store-bought pectin is added after). You’re going to need a whole lot more pectin than you add from a box, too. A good place to start is 3 tablespoons (for me, that’s 2 pectin cubes) per cup of fruit. You may still need to add some fresh lemon juice as you’re making pectin, but with this recipe, you get a head start because it’s already in the pectin. You could need up to a whole cup of pectin.  You will need to keep track of how much pectin to add because a good rule of thumb is equal parts pectin and sugar (more sugar, to taste). It all depends on how hard of a set you have. To test your fruit to desired thickness, freeze a plate in advance, and when you’re ready to test your jam/jelly, take a spoonful and drop it onto the plate. You need to be able to run something through it and it takes a while to re-fill the space. This is a soft set. If you want a really firm jelly, you will want to let it set on the plate, and then touch it. If it wrinkles, it’s good.  I’m impatient. I don’t want to wait for it to cool, because then the jelly in the pan is cooked much beyond the jelly I tested on the plate, so I usually keep track of how thick it is and how long it takes to lose its shape.

If all of this is just too much work for you, you can just throw a few pips, or a mixture of chopped pith and pips into a cheesecloth pouch and add it to your boiling jams/jellies. I like something I wont have to fish out, though. And I like to adjust the amounts as needed. both are harder with throwing in a bag. You get much less control.

Citrus Pectin
Recipe Type: canning
Author: Keira @ Searchforseven.com
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 batch
Making pectin from citrus peels. Easy Peasy.
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces chopped pith/pits from citrus fruit
  • 1/4 c lemon juice
  • 2 cups water, any temperature
Instructions
  1. Measure out your pith into 8 ounce batches.
  2. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and let it sit at room temperature for two hours.
  3. Add 2 cups of water and let it sit another hour.
  4. Transfer everything to a pot and rapidly bring it to a boil (stirring as needed). Once it boils, turn it to a simmer, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
  5. Remove it from the heat and let it cool in the pan for about 20 minutes.
  6. Send it through a jelly bag or a few layers of cheese cloth
  7. Can multiply recipe.
Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Tomato Paste from skins

In case you haven’t noticed, I hate wasting any part of my fruits and veggies. Every time I process my produce and there is something left over, my mind asks, “what can I do with this? There has to be some use for it.” And, surprisingly, there usually is! With tomatoes, I was left with tomato skins. So I googled it, and found this recipe. I’m glad I found it, because I bottle about 200 lbs of tomatoes in a given year. From just 25 lbs, I got about 22 quarter-pints of tomato paste. I could have had more, but by the time I got to the last batch of bottled tomatoes, the first batch of skins went bad. Note to self: Do the sauce as the skins become available. They don’t last long in the fridge.

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Isn’t this perfect sauce? I could have boiled it down a little further into a thick paste, but I left it as sauce. It’s a thick sauce, though.

It is important to wash all the pesticides and bacteria off of your fruit and veggies, especially if you intend to use the skins! There are a few different ways to wash them, so you can pick what works best for you.

Then blanch your tomatoes by sinking into their pot of boiling water (I let the skins pop. It cooks the tomatoes a little longer, but I like how much easier it is) and then sinking them into cold ice-water.

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Do whatever you planned with the tomatoes. I make salsa, stewed tomatoes, and just plain bottled tomatoes. When I fill the bottles, I go in sets of 7 to fill my canner, then I throw any extra tomatoes that don’t fit in the right amount of jars into the pot. It’ll take a little longer to boil out the liquid in the tomatoes, but it is a good use for the extra tomatoes.

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I know, it doesn’t look like much, yet, but place all the skins and the extra tomatoes into a pot and turn the stove to medium (avoid any high setting. Burning tomato is not the best way to spend your evening).

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When it starts to get all soupy-looking use a stick blender to puree the skins. I simmered the tomatoes about an hour and a half, then pureed them and let them simmer another hour.

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you see the good pulp forming? I’m sure it’s overkill, but after the second hour, I blended the tomatoes again, and let them cool slightly (just so I didn’t get burned. The tomatoes were still hot, but not boiling).

Here’s where I deviated from NW Edible. She works her tomatoes through a fine-mesh sieve. I have a fine screen

attachment to my Victorio

. It saves a ton of work! I don’t know if you need the fine screen, but I didn’t want to risk it. I ran it through twice. I wanted as much of the tomatoey goodness as I could get. I actually got a ton the second time, too! In the end, I got a bowl full of little straw-like skin leftovers and a bunch of coarse seeds and beautiful tomato sauce in a clean stock-pot.

To season, the measurements all depend on how much sauce you get. my tomatoes were really sour, so I added a bit of honey, some powdered garlic, some onion powder, dried parsley and oregano, and a little salt. Dried seasonings don’t mess with the pH too much, but I wouldn’t want to mix in too much. The flavor will get stronger as it is processed. And you can add more flavor afterwards.

Make sure to get the pH right. This is best achieved with a bit of lemon juice or citric acid. I can’t use the citric acid, though I wish I could (it’s usually corn-derived), so it’s lemon in this house. Add the appropriate amount to each bottle. Also, word to the wise: once I used vinegar. DON’T do it. sure, you wont have to worry about botulism, but you also wont have to eat it. It’s nasty. Oh, and do just the right amount of lemon juice, too. My tomatoes were so acidic this year, adding the lemon juice made my whole body cringe. I’m probably not being safe, but I cut the amount in half. It was the only way I could stand to eat them! I’ve never had that problem before, though. Just with one farmer’s boxes of tomatoes from the local farmer’s market. It might just be the variety he grew.

Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Fruit leather recipes

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Apples, apples apples! I feel like I will never run out of apples. Thank heavens, though. I like apples. And so does my picky little miss. With having over 25 cups of applesauce still in my fridge after making apple butter, apple pie filling, apple sauce and apple juice, I decided that we were in dire need of fruit leather. Or at least my apples were in dire need of becoming fruit leather.

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We all enjoy fruit leather, as long as it’s done right, but I’ve never actually made it with apples before. I feel that was a major oversight on my part, because if you look at any store-bought fruit leather (not fruit rolls, though. They’re mostly corn or pectin), the main ingredient is apples. Knowing what I know about food science, I’d attribute that to a few wonderful characteristics from the apples themselves. apples make a softer, smoother fruit paste. They have natural pectin, so they can congeal without added ingredients. This also makes them stay softer when they’re dry.

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I tried a few different apple leather recipes this year, and I can tell you, I ate the left-overs with a spoon. So yummy. After scouring the web, I came up with 15 different recipes of my own creation, tweaking what I found online to fit my own needs/tastes.

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Some are a bit weird, but they’re worth a shot. Truth be told, I actually like the weird ones. I just can’t get my family to try them. They are an “acquired” taste, I suppose.

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We took a bunch of the leather on vacation with us, and didn’t come back with any leftovers. They made a convenient snack while waiting in line.

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I’ll post this here, though I’ll probably have to mention this in every recipe, as well. My dehydrator says to dry fruits at 135º. The internet says to make it 140º. Following either instruction will leave you with something rubbery and very undesirable. It dries the outside too quickly and leaves the centers still gooey and moisture-laden. Moisture means mold and spoilage. Bad news. I dried my leather between 115 and 125º, depending on the thickness. It actually took less time to dry at that temperature, because the dry was more thorough. It didn’t have to fight a hard crust to get to the moisture.

That brings up another point… Most ovens don’t go below 170°. I’ve never made fruit leather in an oven. I have heard it can be done, but I don’t know what happens to shelf-life. From what I can understand from the process, it will either shorten self-life greatly or it will give you a tough hart-to-chew product. The internet is full of how to dehydrate in an oven. Most say cook at 175º for 2-4 hours, checking after 1 hour. I think the oven is good in a pinch, but you really should consider a dehydrator if you like the idea of homemade fruit leather. It will give you safer results.

Fruit leather Recipes:

Classic Apple Fruit Leather (also known as plain)
Raspberry-Apple Fruit Leather
Pumpkin-Apple Fruit Leather
Lavender-Apple Fruit Leather
(I warned you there were weird flavors)
Whole-foods Green Apple Fruit Leather (The recipe looks weird, but try it. It’s one of our favorites)
Cinnamon Spice Fruit Leather
Spiced Blueberry Fruit Leather
Apple-maple Fruit Leather
Apple-Rhubarb Fruit Leather
Apple-Peach Fruit Leather
Cranberry-Apple Fruit Leather
Apple-Pear Fruit Leather
Apple-Almond Fruit Leather
Apple-Coconut Fruit Leather
(My personal favorite)
Apple Vanilla Fruit Leather