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Freeze Dryer - Anyone have experience
A friend of mine is buying a freeze dryer. Very expensive unit. I'm sure it will come with instructions and recipes but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with a unit like this. Tips? Suggestions? Recipes? Do's and Don'ts?
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Electric Pressure Canner- Total Game Changer!
I bought a pressure canner three years ago and finally pulled it out a few months ago only to discover that I can use it on my glass stovetop. Disappointing, but I found out shortly after that electric pressure canners exist! It only cans 4 quarts (wide mouth) or six pints at a time, and I can only use it to water bath can…
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The Power of Canning
Garlic has a well-deserved reputation for being easy to grow, easy to harvest, and easy to use. Many gardening books describe it as the first vegetable in which you can become self-sufficient. Just grow somewhat more than you need and replant some of the cloves each year. But the one area of garlic where I used to struggle…
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Canning season ending?
Earlier this week, I needed to buy a set of widemouth jars for sprouting, since the sprouting lids are all widemouth. Checking the online site for the local Walmart, pint widemouth jars where I n stock and could be ordered for immediate local pickup. So I drove out to the store, only to find them out of stock again. (A few…
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A canning issue
I canned dilly beans today. While they came out fine, I ran into an issue that has come up before. The canning directions say to cut the beans slightly shorter than the jar height, and stack them vertically. But that is impossible to do without a great deal of waste, because your beans aren't going to be exactly 1X, 2X,…
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Candy thermometers for canning jellies
I use a candy thermometer to make apple jelly. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of the usual process of dripping jelly off of a wooden spoon, trying to tell when the jelly is ready to be poured into the jars to set. You just keep boiling, reducing the heat when the temperature starts to creep above 100C/212F (indicating…
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Recipe request: make-ahead apple pie filling
I have a glut of apples roughly every other year. I'd like to find more uses for them. One idea I had is a pie filling that is made fresh and canned, or possibly frozen. Then in midwinter, I would open the pie filling can, dump it in a pie crust, and make fresh pie. Does anyone have a recipe they can share for a cannable…
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Homemade Pectin, Iiquid & powdered
I made liquid pectin years ago, and froze it, but never did use it. Now it's too old. 😞 I guess I'll be sticking with the bought stuff this year. Here are some instructions for those who still wish to make their own this year.
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Best Way to Store Fresh Tomatoes
I'm going to have to try this. The Best Way to Store Tomatoes | The Kitchn
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Kangina: ancient fruit & vegetable preservation
Kangina, an ancient fresh fruit & vegetable preservation method from Afghanistan. I wonder if this could be copied in any of your areas? It would be interesting to actually find specific instructions.
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Garlic from last year, What to do with it
I happen to have a plethora of garlic from last year, I’m wondering what’s the best way to use it to preserve the nutrition. It’s all perfect heirloom garlic that just didn’t get eaten over the winter. Some of it’s a little older so I do have to go through it. Does anyone have any recipes for either water bath canning,…
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Tomato Sauce for Canning tastes odd
I took some of the tomatoes we grew this summer when I was too busy to deal with them and threw them whole into the freezer. Took them out this weekend and thawed them. Drained much of the liquid from them. Ran them through my Victorio food press to remove seeds and skin. Cooked them down today. But when we tasted them,…
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Fiber in the winter diet?
I am curious as to how you keep enough healthy fiber in your diet during the cold months when the garden is not producing. In warm weather, I eat a lot of salads, using lettuce, spinach, and mustard. I also put quantities of these green leafy plants on my sandwiches. Green onions or scallions are also a common addition.…
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For Arthritis Suffers: Did you know?
Did you know that some of the food items that you might find interesting to know about (that might bother your arthritis are: legumes, nuts, and orange cheese. I find that if I eat any of these things my hands are very sore. I do wear compression gloves but not all of the time. I do wear them when I play the organ and have…
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Shelf life of foods, a helpful & easy to use guide
Bookmark this one to mark your goods before storing!
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Great article on making potted meat
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Pressure canning first time
I did my first-ever pressure canning session about a week ago, canning green beans in water and a bit of salt. My canner is an electronic Instant Pot Max. Overall things went well, and I canned four pints of beans. This canner is too small to can quart jars. The only issue I had was when depressurizing the canner, some of…
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Traditional English Mint Sauce
I was picking mint today for mint sauce and thought I'd post the recipe as I have mentioned mint sauce in other discussions. Mint sauce was a common condiment in both my husband's and my home when we were growing up. Very traditional with lamb and green peas. It has medicinal benefits as a digestive particularly with fatty…
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Expiration Date of Condiment Packets
I was looking for something similar and ran across this. I'm posting it for everyone because I can't be the only one here who ever wondered about it.
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Apple recipes/ preservation?
I bought half a bushel of eating apples and half a bushel of cooking apples. I thought I might try canning apple pie filling, making my own apple cider vinegar, and canning applesauce. I’ve made dried apples before but my family eats it as quickly as I dry it, so I probably won’t bother. I also tried Persian apple…
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Storage Tip for Kale, Spinach and Swiss Chard
I have been planting Kiss for several years now (Kale, Spinach and Swiss Chard). Tip: Take a One Gallon (I use Freezer Bags) Plastic Bag-add as much greens as you can stuff into the bag-then over the top on both sides use paper toweling. The bag will sweat but my greens have stayed in pretty good shape for 1 month. Once in…
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Crab Apple Jelly
I have just picked all the crab apples off our tree - more than I thought there were! :D I am making crab apple jelly but it seems to take a lot of sugar! Does anyone have a hint/tip for reducing the sugar, or is that just the way it has to be? I love crab apple jelly like Mum used to make, but I also want to reduce our…
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Sumac!
We have lots of it and every year I tell myself I am going to harvest it before it is too late and every year I miss it. This year I was on track to get some then we had an unexpectedly bad storm that ruined most of it, but I found a stand in a protected spot that still had plenty of red berries in amongst the brown ones…
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Canning lid sources 2022
List your source below. Site says available, US made Wide & regular mouth, 60 count Regular mouth 1200 count Disclaimer...I have never ordered from here. I ran across it while searching for something else.
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Meat on the "do not home can" list?
Found this on Morning Chores. Item #10 is meat. I'm curious to see what our more experienced canners have to say about it.
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Pressure canning tomatoes
I bought a pressure canner for the first time, especially so I could can tomatoes without having to add extra acid. (I tried using citric acid for the first time last year, using water bath, and the results are very sour!) I know the pressure canner allows you to can things that don't have more acidic pH, like other…
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Canning meat
Given @Marjory Wildcraft's video messages and Lynnette Zhang's interview, this might be a timely read. My pressure canner just came in yesterday. I got a Presto, since I don't know enough to warrant the dollars spent on an All American. I bought it mainly to can low acid veggies. But, with the price of meat…
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Win a freeze dryer!
I entered! Would be a lovely prize, and I have no place3 to put it. But I'd figure it out. Win a free freeze dryer | Harvest Right™ | Home Freeze Dryers | Freeze Dried Food Storage
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I just discovered Black Garlic
So I’d heard of black garlic but never tasted it. Seems its been around for 1,000 of years, just not on my radar. OMG it’s absolutely delicious. My friend who grows organic Russian hardnecked garlic, bought a garlic cooker/roaster & cooked it on low heat for 12 days. She bought some with her on her last visit, so see what…
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Bog Butter
This is a very long, but actually fascinating look at ancient butter & butter keeping.