Making Applesauce

Last week we set aside a day four our annual sauce making. The children love applesauce day, and love to help make the sauce. They are now all old enough to help cut, stir, crank, and fill the jars. All of their help really makes the process go fast, or at least compared to when I used to do it by myself when they were to little to help very much.

We started with six bushels of apples this year. I had decided that I need at least 100 jars to get through to the next season and we eat sauce almost every day. I do have about 35 quarts left from last year. Hopefully it will be enough. With the boys eating more I am not sure how we will do this year, only time will tell. 

I bought 4 varieties of apples. Golden Delicious, Smokehouse, Empire, and McIntosh. We like the sweetness of this combination best. I don't have to add any sugar.

This is our set up. I found this table at the thrift shop last year. My plan is to refinish it, but we use it all the time I can't imagine taking it out of the kitchen to work on it. It's perfect for clamping the strainer to.I use a Victorio Strainer strainer and love it. I made sure to wash all the jars ahead of time so I wouldn't have to take any time away for that. 

The first thing we do is wash the apples in the sink. To keep the flavors even we select 8 apples of each variety dup them in the water and then begin cutting them. I found that this is the perfect amount to fill my pots for cooking. All we do is remove the stems and cut into about 12 pieces.

  

I have a 22 quart stock pot and a 16 quart pot that I use. Just make sure your posts have a thick bottom to prevent burning. When a pot is full of apple pieces I add about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of water to the bottom and cook them down on medium heat. Since one burner has the canning pot I rotate the pots so one is cooking while one is getting strained and then we fill a bowl with cut apples until a pot is free. This keeps the process going smoothly and without breaks, unless we get ahead of the canner! 

The strainer makes it so easy! Put the cooked apples in the hopper turn the crank and out comes the applesauce. Hot fresh applesauce has got to be one on the best foods on this earth! 

After we have sent one pot full of apples through we then take the peels and sent them through two more times. By the time they are pressed that many times they look like paper. 

I have a stainless steel bowl that holds 8 quarts. I know when it is full that it is time to start filling the jars. I keep my jars war in the oven at 170 degrees until I need them. Then I pull them out and fill at the end of the little table. After doing this for so many years I have found out the most efficient way to make sauce in this kitchen. From here they can go right into the canner. 

Applesauce processes in a water bath for 20 minutes. I ran out of my Tattler lids and had to use the metal ones. I was quickly reminded why I love Tattler for applesauce. With the metal lids I have seepage that runs down the jars and makes them sticky. With the Tattler due to the tightening after they  come out of the canner I don't have this problem and cleaning the jars for storage is so much easier! There you have it one really long day and 108 jars of sauce for the pantry. 

I left them on the table for a few days before I washed and moved them all downstairs. They are so pretty all lined up in rows. 

weekend review

It was another busy weekend here at our house. The tomatoes are still coming in so I made another batch of spaghetti sauce. It's taking me longer this year due to how juicy the tomatoes are. I tend to dice them and then let them sit overnight and then strain some of the water out of them before I make the sauce. It seems to be working and I am getting the thickness we like, It just takes a bit more time.

3/4 of a bushel of carrots!

 David spent Saturday cleaning up the yard and garden. He tilled in the old bean rows and harvested the carrots. This is the first time we have gotten a decent crop out of our little garden. I am so excited to have carrots. I hope to can some of them for winter storage. We don't have a good root cellar to keep them over until spring. I'll put that one on the list for someday.

After tilling he and the children planted buckwheat for our cover crop. Hopefully we can harvest it and eat it as a little experiment. I do wish we had more space to grow everything we need. However God provides and this little patch have given us an abundant harvest this year.

I managed to take some time to get to the good will. I am on the hunt for more jars as most of mine are full. I was blessed with 27 jars on Wednesday last week from a friend at church. I had forgotten that I mentioned I was looking for more! Then I came across 24 more for 50 cents each. Usually I don't pay that much for jars but when you need them it's still cheaper than new ones. I like older jars better anyway they tend to not break as easily for me. Oops, I must have all ready started to wash them when I took the photo.

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I also found this little bread box. It will fit right in in my kitchen and it was only a dollar. I love little finds like this.

How was your weekend? 

Summer Busy

I have been trying to find some time in the past couple of weeks to hop on here and share with you all. Apparently that is harder to do than I thought! It's harvest time and the food is pouring in. Thanks to all the rain we had this year the crops are going crazy and the fruit is juicy and big. 

Last week I ordered 2 two bushels of peaches and put them up for a total of  51 quarts.

We also harvested about 3/4/ of a bushel off of the one tree that produced this year. I took those after we ate as many as we could and made cinnamon spiced peaches. I have never done these before so I am looking forward to trying them in a few weeks. They smelled so good as I as putting them in the jars. 

We also went and picked blackberries to make some jam. 

The berries were beautiful, and the vines were so full. 

I also made dilly beans, canned green beans, garlic, and banana peppers. 

And lets not forget the tomatoes. I've lost count of how many gallon Ziploc bags I've put in the freezer to deal with later. I am so thankful to have so many this year. Last year with the lack of rain and disease I had to buy whatever I needed. I am looking forward to spaghetti sauce again after we ate out last jar in April.

Through all of this we have been doing school also. I normally don't have anything planned for August but due to all the moving, not moving, having the house on the market, etc. we felt we were a bit behind. So I have been using this summer to catch up.  It has been lots of fun as we are studying the Revolutionary war and finishing up our botany lessons. I am looking forward to our first 6 week break and a couple of field trips to Valley Forge, and  Brandywine Creek. I also have a post in the works about our curriculum for the new year starting on September 16th!  Now, I must get back to the kitchen the tomatoes are calling smelling.

Canning Favorites-Tuesday Ten

I thought since I am so busy with the harvest I would share some of my favorite tools or must haves to make any canning session successful. I am always on the look out for new products that make things go faster, smoother, or easier.  I apologize in advance that it is more than ten. I just couldn't limit it anymore.

1.A large stock pot(or two). Everything I do is in large quantities so small pots are a waste of time and money. I currently have a 22 quart stock pot and an 12 quart stock pot and am purchasing another in-between size since two is not enough for me as I often have many things going at once.

2. A strainer. This is one of my most important tools as it makes it so easy to make sauces, juice, and salsa. I couldn’t live without it. If fact I just replaced it this year as my old one stopped working I use it so much!

3. Canning pots. I love my pots, this is Eeny, Meeny, and Miny. Yes they have names as they are used often. The biggest can hold 9 quarts at a time, although I mostly use it to wash beans in as it takes up a lot of room on the stove. Meeny holds seven quarts, and Miny holds 7 pints. I especially like using the little one for pints since it doesn’t take so long for the water to boil.

4. Jar lifter and funnel. These items make it easy to lift hot jars out of the canner and pour food into jars. My jar lifter is from the goodwill as I like it better than the one I bought new.

5. If your going to can you must have jars! I love the look of narrow mouth jars so that is all I use. I have all sizes, many were left in our old home for us, and the others are from the goodwill yard sales, and I have purchased some. I think I have somewhere between 500 and 800 jars not counting my blue ones.

6. These tattler lids are my new favorites, they are BPA free and reusable. I am planning on switching over to these now that I have given them a try. Love them!

7. Another find! This is better for you than surjell and you can use no sugar or other sweeteners with it. No more relying on white sugar! I ordered it off of Amazon.

8. This is one of my pressure canners. I have a smaller one also. You will need one of these if you want to can low acid foods such as beans or chicken broth.

9. I love baskets and I especially love them when they are so useful! The large one are bushel baskets, then half bushel, and then peck. They come in handy when canning recipes call for those measurements. Or when picking things out of your garden, you can get very accurate measurements by using them. All of mine are from the antique store but they were the same price as purchasing new. I paid 8.00 for the bushel basket and less for the others.

10.One can never have enough bowls! All that food has to go somewhere when working with it! These bowls were a Christmas gift from my mother and are hands sown my favorite. They are stainless steel and have quart measurements that you can read from the inside or outside. The largest bowl holds 8 quarts!

11. I love these books, the recipes are simple, easy to use and good! My Ball blue books is so worn all the pages are falling out. I just noticed that Target now carries it for about 8.00.

The only thing missing from that list is an outdoor kitchen! It would be so nice to not have my floors sticky all summer or heat up the house. Now I must get back to my kitchen as I have grape juice processing.

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Strawberries!

Last week we had strawberries from our own yard. So many that we made a batch of jam, a batch of syrup, and a batch of strawberry lemonade concentrate. I figured we picked about 20 quarts and that doesn't count the large amounts that disappeared into our stomachs. The children ate so many that they were getting tummy aches from all the fresh fruit.

I was so excited because I really thought we wouldn't have any since I hadn't taken care of them in the fall. With all the rain they were plump and juicy. Although they were hard to pick because there were no rows. I have since learned the value rows for ease of picking. This is the first time I have made syrup. It was very easy to do and I processed 14 half-pints. I plan to use it to flavor our teas and slushies over the coming months. I suppose it would be good over pancakes also, I just prefer maple syrup. I also plan to make up a batch of strawberry lemonade concentrate, but we had a house showing last night so I had to clean up instead of making a bigger mess. Hopefully I'll get to that today.

Canning Fail

Anyone ever had a canning fail?  Well, I have had many, from breaking jars, to jam not setting in the decades I have been canning. So many things can go wrong. But this one tops them all. I made my pickles to spicy. Yes, all 24 pints of  dill pickles. I was so excited that my pickles were actually crispy. This is something I have been working on for a while. Then I bit into one. Ouch! I finally had my Mom through them out when she visited. I just couldn't do it. After all I worked hard to make them last season, despite the fact that they burn your throat going down. Even my husband couldn't take them, vinegar and spice do not mix! This is my great Grandmother's pickle recipe and apparently I misread the directions, even though I have made them before.Lesson learned. So sad.

But I will have crispy tasty dill pickles one year.

A Giveaway!

This is one of my favorite things during canning season. I use it to puree berries, make salsa, applesauce, jam, tomato sauce, etc. You put the food in the hopper, crank the handle and the good stuff comes down the white chute and the yuck comes out the end. No removing skins or seed it does it all for you. It is so easy to work that my children fight over who is going to turn the crank! So I thought it celebration of the fact I have been blogging for two years I would give one away!

One reader will win a strainer for your own use. It comes with one screen for apples/tomatoes. It will save you so much time in the kitchen, especially if you can in large quantities or want to get started.

To win:

• Leave a comment on this blog post for one entry. Please include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win!
• Share this giveaway on your blog for two entries, and be sure to let come back and let me know!
• This giveaway is open to all US residents and will end Tuesday night at 8:00.

Diced Tomatoes

On Tuesday I took my brood out to Lancaster for the day. We needed to get some things from the grocery out there and of course take a scenic drive through some Amish country. We stopped at a couple of farm stands and picked up some fall decor. I was also on the hunt for some cheap tomatoes. Everything I have canned so far with tomatoes has been from my own garden. The season is winding down and I know we don't have enough for everything we needed this year. I spotted a bushel of seconds at a stand for 8 dollars. Score! They were in pretty good shape, just covered in stink bug bites and really ripe!So first thing Wednesday morning I started turning them into diced tomatoes for our winter soups and stews. Here's how to do it.

First remove the skins by blanching for 60 seconds. The skins should start to split.Take them out and place them in ice water to cool them quickly. I keep old peanut butter containers and freeze big ice blocks that take longer to melt than small pieces of ice. Core and peel the skins. I also had to cut out a few worm spots, I was working with seconds so I expected that.Dice them up. Now you are ready to can them. Wash and sterilize the jars so they are hot.  I keep mine in the oven at about 170 degrees, I have broken so many jars while canning over the years from not having hot jars. I do have a lot of old jars and jars from yard sales but I find that it's the new ones that break the most. They just don't make them like they used too! Add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to each quart, and fill with the tomatoes. Wipe off rims, and tighten lids and rings.Place in water bath canner, making sure jars are covered with one to two inches of water. If not add more. Bring up to a boil and time for 45 minutes.Remove from canner and place on a cookie sheet, towel, or cutting board. This way if they leak a bit it won't be a huge mess. Then listen for the pop of the jar sealing. It has to be one of the best sounds of summer. If it doesn't seal you can store those jars in the fridge. If you are careful it won't happen very often. After they have set about 24 hours remove rings, rinse off jars, and store in a cool dark, place. From one bushel of tomatoes I got 16 quarts of diced tomatoes. I think that should last most of the winter. Still trying to figure out my totals on some things.