Monday, January 4, 2010

Canning


The cold weather can be a bit discouraging. I found I had a bit of cabin fever over the break, all of the time off and too cold to go outside. I'm not as brave as some, as under 60 degrees is pretty much off limits for me. The few nice days that we did have were spent outside with the family roaming around.

I did manage to put some of my time to good use, practicing my canning skills. Canning is a necessary step for my goal of eventually eating produce only from my garden. They also make great gifts :)

I used Jenny's recipe from "Rock Rose". This recipe was so delicious, I'll be using it again. It was also very easy. My 12 year old daughter made a batch and turned it into shortbread lemon bars, mmm! I've frozen several bottles for later.

This corn relish recipe is from the official Ball canning cookbook. It uses frozen corn, which is always in season, and cabbage straight from the garden. It has a great vinegar bite to it, with a nice sweetness as well. Next time I may add a little heat.

Fig Jam. This was my first attempt at jam. It was very easy and turned out well. This one is made with dried figs, so can be made year round. This was also from the Ball cookbook.


4 comments:

Rock rose said...

You have been busy. I love making chutneys and jams and the lemon curd is my favorite. I'm glad it worked out for you. My son bought me a new double boiler for Christmas- it will make several batches of the curd next time I make it.

JMarler said...

That fig jam was AWESOME!!! Monica loved it!

Unknown said...

Hi My name is Chris,
I live in San Antonio and have recently started a garden. Last year I planted tomatoes in early April (transplants), I thus learned that it gets way too hot way to fast for that. I was thinking of starting some seedlings under lights this year, but I do not know when I should start them under lights so that they can be ready to go in the ground. Do you have any suggestions? I'm looking at peppers and tomatoes again this year.

SomeLikeItHot said...

Jenny - Thanks again for the recipe. I'll be watching your blog to see if you post anymore of them :)

Jon - Glad she liked it, I'll have to send more her way on the next batch.

Chris -
Peppers can be started as early as Dec 26th. Tomatoes as early as January 8th. These are the dates I got from the Organic Gardening Club here in Austin. I'm assuming San Antonio would be the same. Good luck with your seedlings.