Tasty Tuesday - Canning Pickled Beets

This recipe is spicy not a hot spicy but a tasty spicy. My Mom use to serve these along with Bread and Butter Pickles instead of chips with lunch. I also remember as a child standing on a chair helping peel the skins off the beets, giggling at my red fingers.  I now where gloves when canning beets...unless I feel like showing off my industrious side.

Supplies
Canner or Large pot
Tongs (to lift the hot jars)
Slotted Spoon
Ladle
Jars and lids
4 lbs of beets
2 Onion (thinly sliced)
2.5 Cups Cider Vinegar
1.5 Cups Reserved water from cooking beets
1 t Salt
2 Cups Agave nectar (or sugar)
1 t whole Allspice
1 t whole Cloves
3 sticks Cinnamon broken a bit

Preparing the Jars
Fill your canner/pot with water, place clean jars filled with water in the canner/pot.  Place the rings of the lid in the water bath but not the flat lid part, you can get the seal to hot and it wont work.  Slip them in right before you fill your jars.
Start heating up your jars, this sterilizes them.  If it comes to a boil turn it down...but you will be turning it up later.

Prepping the yummy gems
First cut off tops, leaving one inch of the stems and leave the roots on then wash them.  
Put these in a pot and bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook for fifteen minutes. 
Take them out of the pot but be sure to keep the water you boiled them in.
Now you can cut off the top and root, peel the beets  You can run a little cool water on them so you can peel them without burning your little fingers off but try to keep them hot. Slice them up and set them to the side. GORGEOUS!

Make the Brine

Combine the remaining ingredients in a sauce pot (or the pot you boiled the beets in...less to clean up)

Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer.  Isn't it pretty!

Now Add the Beets...such beauties and look how full my pot is!  My pot it runith over...abundance for sure.  Cook these until the beets get warm. 

DON'T FORGET to Slip your lids into the water bath with your jars and rings.

Place your jar on a plate to catch all the spills.

Using a slotted spoon fill your jars with the beets, onions, allspice and cloves.  Take out the cinnamon sticks and don't add any fluid yet. 

Pack those jars good and tight but leave head space.  I fill to the lower rim of where the lid screws on...about 1/4 inch. 

Once packed you can add the brine. 

Place a lid and ring on the jar and tighten.  Use a towel to do this so you wont burn your hands. 

Place jars in the water bath bring to a low rolling boil for thirty minutes. (you may have to add more water to keep your jars covered) 

Remove jars from bath and place on a towel and listen for that beautiful popping sound of sealing lids.

There is a canning kit with tools that make the job easier and safer.  It has a jar funnel, jar lifter, magnet stick and various other things I cant think of.  But they all are super tools that I can't imagine living without.  They have plastic but the metal is much more durable. 

Though I used regular pint jars here, I recommend using wide mouth.  It is easier to fill and your hand will fit down in them for clean up. 

Enjoy and happy canning.

Tasty Tuesday - Preserving Peaches

I'm just Preserving Peaches...and showing off some of my milk glass collection here in Georgia.

What your Gonna Need
Wide mouth pint jars with two piece lids
Peaches
Sugar
Salt
Lemon juice
Water
Lots of pots and towels

Have your jars sterilizing in a not quite boiling water bath.  A water Bath is a large pot that can hold canning jars and is deep enough to cover the lids with water.  They sell pots like this with a rack but you can just use a really big pot.  Slip your rings around the jars to heat them up and sterilize them as well.  Do not put the seal part of the lid in yet. Do that about a minute or two before you are ready to seal the jar.

Make your syrup
You can make your syrup as heavy or as light as you want it.
Light: 1Cup of Sugar to 4 Cups of Water
Medium Light: 2 Cups of Sugar to 4 Cups of Water
Medium: 3 Cups of Sugar to 4 Cups of Water
Heavy: 4 Cups of Sugar to 4 Cups of Water
In a pot, add the sugar and the water together, heat it up but, do not bring it to a boil until you are ready to pour it over the peaches. 

Make your Fix
The fix keeps your peaches pretty, no body likes nasty brown peaches. They sell something commercially but for me canning is about using simple ingredients so that I know what is in my food.
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Lemon juice
1 Gallon Water

Set this to the side

Peel your peaches like you would a tomato.  Set them in boiling water for no more than 60 seconds.  Then put them in a bowl of Ice water.  (I do about three peaches at a time) Gently peel the skins off, slice them in half pull the pit out ans scrape the red membrane out (this will make them bitter if you don't) Put them in the prepared fix. They can rest in this while you peel your other peaches, but no more than 20 minutes.

Fill The Jars
Turn up your syrup to bring it to a boil.

Remove jars and rings from water bath and place seals in water bath. Turn this up as well to a low boil.

Gently rinse the peaches and pack them in the jars.

Fill to withing a 1/4 inch from top of jar with syrup. 

Place seal on top then close it with a ring and put it in the water bath.  Repeat until you used up all your peaches. 

Keep bath at a low boil for 20 minutes.  Remove jars from water and let rest...then you will hear the glorious popping noise of your lids sealing.  Once cooled take lots of photos because they are just so pretty. Pretty as a Peach.

Canning Apple Butter Recipe

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

14-15 Apple about 13 cups chopped
4 Cups of Sugar
1 Cup Apple Cider
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 1/2 Teaspoons Nutmeg

Wash, peel, core and chop apples (My handy dandy apple peeler, corer, slicer does it all for me...naa...na...na... na...naaa)
Top with the rest of the ingredients stir in.

Cook on high for 7 hours add more Cider if it gets too thick.

Place in jars, they don't even need to be warm. Top with lids...they will seal on their own.


This is the easiest and best tasting Apple Butter I have ever made

Raspberries Preserves

RASPBERRY PRESERVES
Growing and preserving food is one of my favorite things to do. I am blessed with raspberries. As many as I need. The first thing I make with my harvest is Jams and Jellies. It is everyone's favorite and you can do more than just spread it on toast. Try adding a spoon full to Oat Meal or Cream of Wheat. Delicious on turkey sandwich as well.
The recipe I use is in side the Certo Sure Jell Premium Liquid Fruit Pectin box. It provides several methods for different fruits. I have been preserving food since I was a child. Helping my grandmother, mother and Aunt. The caner I have was my Mothers. One tip I have is make sure your water bath is as hot as what you are putting in the Jars, do not let the jars cool or they will burst in the bath. Also use fresh Pectin throw out what you don't use in a season. It doe's age and all your hard work will be for not.Most important make sure you have a little helper with you. Not only doe's it make it fun but you will be passing on a wonderful gift.

Marmalade

This years Tangerine Marmalade brought a different kind of Abundance than last years. Last year friends from Florida caused the discovery of The tangy irresistible spread. Not only did there visit bring the joy of their company but a bag full of the orange orbs of sweetness. I cringe at the thought of waist and hunted for recipes for such a bounty and this scrumptious Marmalade was one of them.
This years Abundance craze started at a great sale at our local market, an idea from another dear friend, a ten year old Son wanting to show how grown up he was and me wanting to share the knowledge I have collected. The collaboration of all this along with a cutie-pie of a daughter and we made our first "How To" video. Alex is a born camera Man while Trinity makes the fruit even sweeter. We had so much fun creating this video, it gave us a chance to see what we were made of and enjoy each other in the process.
If I can develop my editing skills we will have our first video for sale on my blog spot before Christmas.

Canning Carrie

Preserving the Bounty

One of my hobbies is canning. I love putting up food of all kinds. And as you can see it is quite beautiful.

A dear friend in Florida has a tangerine tree. She and her husband were coming for a visit and thought she would bring me a few!

Well, sixteen jars later...not counting the one we put in the fridge. We still have enough left to do this all over again.

One thing that I insist upon is no waste with fruit like this. So the one that are not eaten get pealed and given to the squirrels and birds. And the peals are strung and dried to scent the home. You can also candie the peel but as of now all of our fingers are orange and I think I will sit down with a cup of coffee and an English muffin covered in tangerine marmalade.