I don't have a pressure canner so my canning is limited to what can be done safely in a water bath, primarily tomatoes, pickles, fruits, jams and jellies. Tomatoes are the big one with us because we use loads of them in our cooking. Last week I thought I had enough to make a small batch of about 5 pints so I got out all my equipment and went to work. I got three pints. And one of them didn't seal.
Finally I did get enough tomatoes to can a batch of nine pints of tomatoes which is a decent start when you factor in the two previous pints. Last year I was able to can about 60 pints and still had 10 leftover from the previous year. Now I have 20 left, so if I can get about 30 done this year I know I'll have enough to get us through the year.
Yesterday I picked my woefully small red cabbages and made them into German sweet and sour red cabbage which my family likes as a side with roast pork and other German favorites. I had a hard time finding a canning recipe for it and searched the internet for the one I used. I'd prefer to use a recipe from a tried and true source, but unfortunately the closest I could find in the Ball Blue Book called for way more cabbage than I had. So I ended up using a recipe from a different source. It seems to me it has plenty of vinegar in it and I upped the sugar to suit our taste, so it should be safe. I try to grow red cabbage every year and I have to say it is not easy to grow a nice large head of it. The plants grow plenty of outer leaves which are very tough, but the heads they form are inevitably the size of tennis balls or less. Regular cabbage does so much better for me! I'm still looking for the answer to that mystery.
You will notice in the background of each picture that I have a lot of clutter in my kitchen. That is quite typical and something I'd like to conquer in the same way I'd like to conquer growing a decent sized head of red cabbage. Well, maybe not in the same way, because I get a whole lot more enthusiastic about growing vegetables than I do about decluttering the house! Anyway, let the canning begin!
Wow, you got an entire canner full! The best I've been able to do with my tomatoes so far was 5 pints of sauce. I must admit it was a really thick sauce, if I'd paid more attention to it I probably could have got 7 pints. I've about given up on getting enough large tomatoes ripe at once to do the diced tomatoes and salsa I wanted.
ReplyDeleteI never have enough tomatoes to do sauce, sniff-sniff. Last year I was able to can 15 quarts of sauce because a friend with a huge garden and more tomatoes than she could handle gave me 78 pounds of them one day, all Amish Pastes. Alas, she moved away this year, so no more nice gifts like that! Sauce and salsa are on my dream about someday maybe list, but at this point, stewed tomatoes is all I can do.
DeleteI don't have a pressure canner either. I do freeze some of my stuff tho and do the water bath canning. I didn't even notice the clutter as was looking at the wonderful canning you did! Nancy
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind not to pay attention to the clutter! I freeze the majority of my vegetables too, but my freezer is almost full! We are talking about getting a second small chest freezer.
DeleteI love the idea of the sweet and sour cabbage! It looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteIt is very traditional in central and northern European cooking. You can buy jars of it at the grocery store, so I'm hoping my homemade will pass muster!
DeleteHello Nutmeg gardner!
ReplyDeleteI have spent a good part of my day searching for a red cabbage recipe as you have. My Aunt has the recipe, but she isn't at home, and can't quite remember it, but It contains bacon and apple and onions. However I believe because of the bacon it needs a pressure canner. I've made my own recipe, and may wait for her to get home and read off her recipe for me next week, but I'll let u know how it turns out. Obviously the internet needs this recipe. I believe the recipe comes from my great grandmother who came from Germany.
Happy Canning! I love it!
Thank you Colleenjean, you are right, it is very frustrating trying to find a good canning recipe for the German style of red cabbage. We love it too; I was born in Germany and my mom is German, so I grew up on the stuff; my own sons love it too. I could freeze it but would rather save the room in the freezer for other things.
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