HOME CANNING

[Hamradioop]

FEISTY you are being to nice , crack the whip and make the beggars Work

[Decaff]

FEISTY you are being to nice , crack the whip and make the beggars Work

I agree!!! I would love a garden with fruit trees to make all that lovely jam with, crumbles, chutneys, cherries in brandy, rose hip syrup... Tell them they won't get any dinner if they don't help you!! You are missing out on so much yummy produce there. If I was closer I would show you how to make a stash of yummy goodies for the months ahead.

Get a book on basic jamming and chutneys or look on utube for instructions you will kick yourself when you see how easy it is.

[Ragdolly]

True! It's stoopid easy! I can burn water I'm that bad in the kitchen... Except when it comes to canning

[FEISTY]

FEISTY you are being to nice , crack the whip and make the beggars Work

DD is in Higher year now and has "too much work". Having been laid low by that awful cold in July (have another one now and hubby has it too), I've struggled to crack the whip. Anyone who has kids will know it can be more exhausting to get them to help than just to do it yourself. Hubby works long hours. Helps in the morning before work and does a wee bit (I do mean a tiny bit) when he can, but his major contribution is cutting the enormous (in comparison to the standard abode) amount of lawn we have. He has started on the hedges too, but I fear for them . I do everything else except the outside of the windows. Even the guy who does that leaves them wet. I'm considering getting another guy I saw yesterday who does them properly, but I even do most of the small DIY - I do a better job . My big problem is I hate heights, otherwise I'd be up on the roof clearing off the moss . Better get on!

[FEISTY]

Decaff and Ragdolly - I promise you I will get myself set up to do canning next year . xx

[Hamradioop]

F

FEISTY you are being to nice , crack the whip and make the beggars Work

DD is in Higher year now and has "too much work". Having been laid low by that awful cold in July (have another one now and hubby has it too), I've struggled to crack the whip. Anyone who has kids will know it can be more exhausting to get them to help than just to do it yourself. Hubby works long hours. Helps in the morning before work and does a wee bit (I do mean a tiny bit) when he can, but his major contribution is cutting the enormous (in comparison to the standard abode) amount of lawn we have. He has started on the hedges too, but I fear for them . I do everything else except the outside of the windows. Even the guy who does that leaves them wet. I'm considering getting another guy I saw yesterday who does them properly, but I even do most of the small DIY - I do a better job . My big problem is I hate heights, otherwise I'd be up on the roof clearing off the moss . Better get on!

DD needs a reality check, I had a son like that with a soppy X Wife who babied him. He got Three Good A levels and chickened out of Uni because he would leave with a debt. He now flips burgers in MacD and hates every minute of it. Moral of the story do not baby the kids they need to learn how to work as soon as they are capable of it. If she gets an allowance it should be work related. Sorry for the Rant but I have seen what can happen.

[Stasher]

Ragdolly - where do you buy your jars and can you re-use those lids time and time again? The whole bottling/canning thing is something I've never done and neither did my Mum. Thought you could use the jam jars from bought jam, but it seems you can't re-use the lids. Don't want to ask any company, because they'll just want to sell any product they have on offer. They're not interested in you saving money using jam jars. Your advice would be helpful. I've got stuff going to waste because I can't use it and I haven't gotten around this tricky canning business .

Okay, I'm well confused. Is canning different to jams and chutneys? Because I sterilise everything and my reused jam jars (and reused lids) hold their seals. We have just eaten chutney and marmalade made two years ago. Seals were in tact and everything was fab and groovy (no one's died!) Why should I have this expensive kit when everything is sealed on my 'I'll take any empty jars you've got love, thank you'.

Am I missing something?

[m0tty]

Is canning different to jams and chutneys?

Hi Stasher,

yes there is a difference, home canning ( that's what it is called over the pond ), encompasses the art of making jams, chutneys, but it also covers preserving vegetables, meats, soups, sauces etc. With food canning, it is a slightly different process and if not done correctly, can have health consequences. Please go to the beginning of my thread on page 1 where I go into detail about this process, but just to give you some quick info, to properly process food you ideally need the 2 piece screw top jar for this process. If you was canning an high acidic food, you would just use the process of water bath canning, but, on the other hand, if was canning meat for example, you need to put the jar/s into a pressure canner. You would then pressure cook for 55 mins. at 10psi, the reason for this is, is so that you kill any harmful bacteria such as botulism, e-coli etc. These bacteria can survive up to an astonishing heat level that normal cooking would not kill, so the only way to be sure is to reach seriously high temperatures for a prolonged period of time. To this end you need a jar with a lid system strong enough for the job, hence the different equipment needed in relation to jam making etc. Using ordinary jam jars would not do using this method, and, quite frankly, dangerous for a few reasons i.e. lid seal may be destroyed due to high temps. Jar may fail for same reason etc.

If you need any more info Stasher, then somewhere in this thread I've provided a few links to my google drive

All the best

Daz

[Hamradioop]

M0TTY Google drive links are here viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10215#p111795

[Stasher]

Thanks Daz, Hamradioop

Something to mull over