When I hang up my apron after 10 pm, 3 days in a row- it's been a good week :)
I've been canning like a wild-woman! The last few days has been apple pie filling (new for me this year!), crock-pot apple butter (also new), and crock-pot applesause (...also new. ). My mom and I have done applesauce together, but we've never tried it in the crock pot. So far, I love it!! After the apple pie filling, I did the apple butter (sauce is cooling on the counter right now)- chopped up 10 apples, tossed them in the crock pot with a little water, lots of sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and turned it on high for 5ish hours (stirring occasionally). I put it all in the crock pot during nap time, and strained out the peels and canned it after the kids went to bed- easiest canning I've ever done. ...also the only canning I've ever done by myself! My mom picked up a canning pot this week to be my very own, and my mom-in-law bought me the tongs/funnel/etc last year for Christmas. I've really come to love the way canning steams up my whole kitchen, fills my whole house with warm, sweet smells, I love how the jars look on the shelves all lined up next to eachother, and I love that those same jars were used by my Great-Grandma on her ranch in Wyoming.
I learned a few things, while venturing on my own:
*When lifting the lid of the canning pot to check for boiling, not only should you use tongs, but also lift away from yourself, so as to not burn your hands on the steam... otherwise your husband might giggle at you noisily dropping the huge lid on the floor :)
*Really, do leave enough air at the top of the jar, or your lids will try to expand UP while boiling... (I thought mine were going to explode!)
*Rinse dishes along the way, but save washing them until you've kicked your feet up with a rewarding snack! (currently I'm eating ramen. Yes, again. It's my comfort food :))
*a trick my mom taught me- if you don't fill enough jars to fill the pot, put in some with just water (HOT water) to keep them from falling over.
Hooray for family-picked, home-canned food! ...I think I would've liked some of the decades in the past :)
P.S. Here's the links to the recipes I *sortof* followed for the crock-pot apple butter and the crock-pot applesauce -- I followed the sauce recipe fairly closely, but the butter recipe I did some re-arranging. For apple butter I did 10ish apples, sliced, 1/2 cup water, 2c sugar (they say 7!!), um, can't remember how much of the spices..., and cooked on high for 5ish hrs, stirring occasionally and mashing occasionally. Right before I canned, I dumped it through a strainer into a big bowl to get the peels out (strainer with holes, not mesh). Enjoy!
I've been canning like a wild-woman! The last few days has been apple pie filling (new for me this year!), crock-pot apple butter (also new), and crock-pot applesause (...also new. ). My mom and I have done applesauce together, but we've never tried it in the crock pot. So far, I love it!! After the apple pie filling, I did the apple butter (sauce is cooling on the counter right now)- chopped up 10 apples, tossed them in the crock pot with a little water, lots of sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and turned it on high for 5ish hours (stirring occasionally). I put it all in the crock pot during nap time, and strained out the peels and canned it after the kids went to bed- easiest canning I've ever done. ...also the only canning I've ever done by myself! My mom picked up a canning pot this week to be my very own, and my mom-in-law bought me the tongs/funnel/etc last year for Christmas. I've really come to love the way canning steams up my whole kitchen, fills my whole house with warm, sweet smells, I love how the jars look on the shelves all lined up next to eachother, and I love that those same jars were used by my Great-Grandma on her ranch in Wyoming.
I learned a few things, while venturing on my own:
*When lifting the lid of the canning pot to check for boiling, not only should you use tongs, but also lift away from yourself, so as to not burn your hands on the steam... otherwise your husband might giggle at you noisily dropping the huge lid on the floor :)
*Really, do leave enough air at the top of the jar, or your lids will try to expand UP while boiling... (I thought mine were going to explode!)
*Rinse dishes along the way, but save washing them until you've kicked your feet up with a rewarding snack! (currently I'm eating ramen. Yes, again. It's my comfort food :))
*a trick my mom taught me- if you don't fill enough jars to fill the pot, put in some with just water (HOT water) to keep them from falling over.
 |
| My first canning pot! |
 |
| Apple Butter |
 |
| Apple Pie Filling |
 |
| ...My canning buddy :) |
P.S. Here's the links to the recipes I *sortof* followed for the crock-pot apple butter and the crock-pot applesauce -- I followed the sauce recipe fairly closely, but the butter recipe I did some re-arranging. For apple butter I did 10ish apples, sliced, 1/2 cup water, 2c sugar (they say 7!!), um, can't remember how much of the spices..., and cooked on high for 5ish hrs, stirring occasionally and mashing occasionally. Right before I canned, I dumped it through a strainer into a big bowl to get the peels out (strainer with holes, not mesh). Enjoy!
nice work! I would love to take something like this on if I could have the sugar! What exactly do you use the apple butter on/for?
ReplyDeleteI use the apple butter like jam. My Grandma used to make it more like applesauce, so we just ate hers out of a bowl.
ReplyDelete