Jar Love: Can-apalooza 2014

Last week, while I was standing at the sink peeling, pitting, and slicing peaches for the umpteenth hour of canning my son asked me, "Mom? Is it fun to can?"

Uhhhh....

Is it fun? To stand on your feet for hours on end. To have your fingers split from being constantly wet and gooey. To keep your stomach steady while carving out bugs, bruises, and bad spots from produce. To accidentally singe or slice your fingertips. To tremble with fear every single time you have to light the propane-run camp stove. To wash dozens and dozens of canning jars. To have to clean the sticky, wet kitchen afterwards. Fun???

Well...not exactly. But oh the sense of pride. My inner Little Red Hen is practically crowing at the sight of all those freshly sealed canning jars that will feed my family for the coming year. I know exactly what went into my food. No gluten, no dairy, no preservatives, no chemicals, no mystery ingredients. Feeling secure in these ways gives me such complete satisfaction that can be achieved in very few other activities.

This year, my sister Erin and I took on the mother load of canning. Everything kind of lined up two weekends ago. My husband was out of town. I had the truck. I had the time. I drove my truck down to my sister's place stopping at a local farm to purchase apples and peaches. The ladies that helped me load box after box just kept saying, "Are you sure you can do this? This is a project! Are you sure?"

Ye of little faith...

It took us all weekend working together and then a few days beyond that working on our own but we did it! Over 300 jars of peaches, pears, applesauce, apple pie filling and raspberry jam between us. Whew! (I only took home peaches and jam this year. Everything else was for Erin.)

Behold, the Riley Women at work!

Much thanks to my brother-in-law Kip for keeping eight kids fed and entertained all weekend. We couldn't have accomplished it without him.

Kip showing Dee and Cee his bees.

Some notes to self for next year. (Don't mind me; I just need a safe spot to put this stuff so I can find it next year):

*While the 2nd pick peaches ($10/half bushel box) may be the better financial deal, they aren't always the easiest to can. Lots of gross spots to cut out, lots of green produce. If you can afford it, go with the first pick ($20/half bushel box).

*I purchased 10 boxes of peaches but only canned about 8.5 of them for a little over 80 sealed jars. Several of the boxes were too green to can all at once. I did a few batches after Can-apalooza and then just left the rest for fresh eating.

*2014 was O'Henrys peaches. Not my favorite. Hope to get Angelos again next year.

*Each half bushel box makes about 9-12 jars of peaches.

*Wide mouth jars are best for peaches, but not necessary. Just cut up the peaches in smaller pieces for a regular mouth jar.

*You need more rings. Oh and get sealing lids (especially regular mouth) earlier in the year. Everywhere was sold out by mid September.

*Free raspberries are awesome, but don't load up the boxes too full because they turn into a juicy mushy mess. I tried low-sugar raspberry jam this year. We'll see how it compares to regular jam (which is definitely awesome but so full of sugar). Buy more Pectin.

*Maybe do peaches in a few smaller batches, especially if you have to do it by yourself.

*Try applesauce again next year, but use at least 3 kinds of apples if not more like 6. Honey Crisp, Gala, Wine Sap are some good choices. (Half-bushel boxes cost $20-$22 at Mitchell's Farm this year. How does this compare to lady in ward?)

*Buy a Victorio Strainer for applesauce.

*Purchase a bigger strainer spoon like Erin has. Also a bigger pot for cooking apples.

*Try spaghetti sauce like my cousin Elayne did. This looks amazing!

Oven Roasted Marinara! More than once I have tried to boil down juicy tomatoes to make sauce. After hours of boiling, the overcooked tomatoes just don't taste that great anymore. 
Today I discovered oven roasted marinara sauce and it's just too good not to share.

I filled as many pans as I could fit in the oven at once. A few red peppers and onions on top. (I think I would skip the red peppers and do garlic and fresh basil instead.)

Roasted @350 until soft and slightly caramelized. I think mine went about 1 1/2 hours.

Drain them before you process them into sauce. I put mine through a food mill so I didn't have to core the tomatoes or peel the onions before hand.

The end result was nice and thick, I just seasoned it and let it simmer a few minutes before I canned it. Best sauce so far.

Vlog Vednesday: How to Dry Pack Easter Candy

Last year I wrote a blog post on what to do to preserve all that naughty leftover Easter candy. This year, I thought I would make a video about it for Vlog Vednesday.

Same information as the blog post. This one goes out to all those "visual learners".

Jar Love #5: Brown Rice

Just a little more jar love...

I've been dry packing again, using THIS method.

This time it's not leftover Easter candy. (Rats!) Nutritious, gluten-free brown rice that I purchased in bulk from my local Costco will be saved nicely in smaller portions for my food storage.

Candy or rice, it all looks so pretty to me sitting in clean canning jars. My inner Little Red Hen is preening.

Helpful hint: I cut out the nutrition and preparation information from the bag and stuck it in my recipe book for future reference.

How to Preserve Leftover Easter Candy and Other Goodies

Last week I shared the success I had with preserving our leftover Easter candy. A few people asked me how I did it and, lucky you, I'm more than happy to share!

First, a disclaimer...I have no idea if this is the "right" way. There are actually several methods out there to dry packing and preserving food. This is just the way my sister and mom showed me how. They are pretty darn smart and resourceful women. I think we are in good hands.

You are going to need a few supplies to do this:

Leftover Easter candy (or Halloween or Christmas or chocolate chips or pretzels or cookies or whatever! Sky's the limit! Just nothing powdery; It gets sucked up in the tubing and out the lid and prevents sealing.)
Canning jars (Kerr, Ball, Mason are the best. I stock up on these at 50 cents/bottle every time I go to my local thrift store.)
Canning lids (You can find these at Walmart, other grocery stores, online, etc.)
Canning rings (They often come with the jars, but if they aren't look at Walmart and other stores. These aren't absolutely necessary, but they satisfy my obsessive compulsiveness, they double protect the sealing, and they just look nicer.)
A hair dryer (You can find this is in your local bathroom.)
A Food Saver/Ziploc Vacuum Pump gadget (I will explain how to rig this together.)
Tubing*** (Look at your local medical supply store or pharmacy.)

The Food Saver contraption (white lid looking thing) is actually an attachment for a bigger, more expensive machine. It would be awesome to have that machine, but my budget doesn't exactly allow for that right now. Fortunately, you can use a Ziploc Vacuum pump along with the Food Saver attachment to dry pack canning jars. Really!

My Food Saver attachment was a gift from a wise mom. Word on the street is that the Food Saver attachment is available at Walmart. I looked for it the other day and only saw the big machines. You can find the attachments for sale online, try the Food Saver website or Amazon.com. They come in wide mouth and regular mouth size.

You can find a Ziploc Vacuum Starter Kit at your local Walmart or grocery store.

To rig up your custom Food Saver/Ziploc Pump you need to take off the bottom rubber piece from the Ziploc pump that is used to vacuum out bags. Grab a milk jug lid off of an empty gallon milk jug and poke a small hole in the top, just big enough for the Food Saver tubing to fit snugly inside. The milk cap will fit perfectly over the end of the Ziploc pump.

Now use medical tape or duct tape or whatever you have to secure the milk cap on to the pump. Be certain that no air can leak from the hole in the lid or the edges of the lid or pump.

Stick the free end of the tubing*** into the Food Saver attachment and it's ready to use.

Clear as mud? If you have any questions just ask and I'll see what I can do to help!

Now, you need to prep your canning jars.

They need to be CLEAN and DRY. I wash mine with a bottle scrubber and a sink full of hot soapy water. A good rinse and a towel dry later, I use my blow dryer to make absolutely certain they are dry. Water could cause food contamination problems, so remember: A dry jar is a happy jar! Even if your husband laughs at you for blow drying jars in the kitchen...

After letting your jars cool completely (think melted chocolate if you don't), you can dump in whatever candy or goodies you have, leaving an inch of space from the top. Make sure to tap and twist your jar a few times to let the contents settle.

I had some really great coupons for these M&M candies that I wanted to use before they expired. But I had a ton of Easter candy that I just preserved. Normally I would have passed up the good deal on the M&Ms since I already had a bunch of candy sitting around, but by preserving them, I don't have to worry about them getting stale in the cupboard. (But between you and me, really...When have M&Ms ever been in the cupboard long enough to become "stale"? I know, I know. I'm laughing too.)

That's the beauty of this whole preservation thing! You can buy the holiday candy after the holiday, catching all the good deals, dry pack them at home and use them next year. They won't taste old and you will have saved money. Awesome, right?

Carefully place the canning lids on the jars.

Push the Food Saver contraption over the top of the jar with the lid on.

Turn once to secure on tightly. Pump a few times. If you hear a clicking noise and see the Food Saver moving up and down, you are doing it right. This is the sound of the lid sealing on to the jar. If you don't hear that noise, readjust the lid and Food Saver until you do. Make sure your jar top doesn't have any nicks or cracks or try a different lid if it still won't seal.

Pump 15 to 20 times total to make sure the lid is sealed. Remove the Food Saver and gently pull on it with your hands to double check.

Screw on canning ring. Write the date on the top.

Stare admiringly at your freshly "canned" goodies...

...And sleep well knowing you saved another bag of holiday candy from being mindlessly wasted. Be secure in the fact that while the rest of the world is looting grocery stores after the economy collapses, your family will be dining on the freshest 5 year old gummy worms you ever tasted. ;)

Post Post: I forgot to tell you...You can unseal and reseal your jars over and over again! Pretty cool, eh?

***Post Post Post: I ordered another food saver lid for myself after writing this post and there was NO plastic tubing in the box! I had assumed it came with the contraption. When I questioned my mom about this, she told me she had actually purchased the tubing from a medical supply store and that it does NOT come with the food saver lid. I'm sorry to complicate things, but add one more step: Go to your local medical supply store and purchase a short length of medical tubing (Ex: nasal cannula, oxygen tubing, IV tubing, etc.)

Post Post Post POST: Here's a vlog Jeigh and I made to show you how to drypack!

What do you do with all that leftover Easter CANdy?

I know the Easter Bunny's name.

It's Melanie.

More specifically my husband's Aunt Melanie. Every year she hosts the most spectacular Easter Egg Hunt I have ever seen. The kids (almost) get tired of picking up the hundreds of eggs she lovingly stuffs with candy and money each year. Her annual labor of love is amazing! Every year we head home with bags and bags of candy in tow.

And man, do I love candy!

Too much.

So when I have bags and bags of it sitting in my house I'm more inclined to "love" it than is healthy. My kids love it too. Like most kids (and adults) they don't know when to say "enough" until they have tummy aches and other *ahem* issues. I finally wised up this year and figured out what to do with all that leftover Easter candy.

It's kind of silly how proud I am of these jars full of goodies. You'd think I planted those gummy bear seeds myself.

Seeing those freshly sealed jars makes me giddy for several reasons. Nothing was wasted. No one feels obligated to eat all the candy all at once. And some night in July we can pop open a jar of jelly beans (Vintage April 2012) wafting in the heady scents of Easter, savoring each soft, sugary bite, while reliving the good old days of Spring.

I had so much fun packing the Easter candy that I began looking for more things to preserve. I had a bunch of gourmet candy canes leftover from Christmas. I crushed them up with the intention of adding them to hot chocolate next winter. Brilliant, no?

And now I just might be getting carried away...

Chocolate chips, Oreos, more leftover Christmas candy, gluten-free noodles, gluten-free cookies, and gluten-free pretzels. All sealed and saved for another day. Nothing wasted. Nothing wanted.

HAPPY Easter indeed!

HERE is a blog post on how to dry pack.

And HERE is a vlog on dry packing.