To squeeze or not to squeeze...that is the question!

Yes, I know it's been awhile since I've blogged...but we are still alive down here in the frozen tundra of Oklahoma. And we've been canning, too! While we were snowed/iced in, I decided to haul out some of the apple peels and cores from the freezer and make jelly.

As soon as I started boiling these peels, I noticed the beautiful color of the juice. My mind turned pretty quickly to the county fair! Now, after boiling these peels, you let them sit overnight then strain the juice from the peels. To strain, I put all the pulp in a double layer of flour sack towel and hang it above a pot to let the juice drip out at an excruciatingly slow pace. Now, any jelly maker will tell you that you are NOT...I repeat, you are NOT to squeeze the pulp as it will cloud your jelly. This has always been tough for me because it seems wasteful (and you KNOW I hate wasting anything). I decided to do a little experiment and make one batch of jelly from unsqueezed pulp and another from the juice obtained from squeezing the pulp to get the remaining juice. Here, let me show you the results:





The jelly on the left is from squeezed pulp and the jelly on the right is from nonsqueezed pulp. Quite a difference, huh? Does this mean I will not ever again squeeze the pulp? NO WAY! I got a whole batch of jelly just from squeezing...that's five cups of juice that would have been thrown out. I think this double batch method works pretty well...one batch of nice, clear jelly and one batch of what we've decided to call "peasant jelly!" LOL! We don't really care about clarity when we're loading our PB&Js, doncha know?



Anywho...You'll be seeing this jelly again...she's going to the county fair for sure...and I think she'll bring home a blue ribbon!! BTW...that bubble you see just to the left of the words "Perfect Mason" is a bubble in the glass...not in the jelly. Aren't old jars fun?

Apple Craziness!

Apples at 42 cents/lb? Oh, yeah!! So far, I've canned 24 pounds of apples, which translates into 17 pint jars of applesauce which figures out to around 58 cents per jar! The only canning supplies needed were new seals as I already had to jars and rings...canning rocks! I've got 24 more pounds to can tomorrow and plans to do one more round later in the week before the sale is over. I <3 my local grocery store...they even play Christian music so I can sing along while shopping!

P.S. I'll share pics of all this appley goodness later! Stay tuned!

Apple Pie Filling

The apple pie filling won out! I used this recipe from Recipezaar. After doubling the recipe to account for the amount of apples I had, my yield was 10 quart jars of apple pie filling with some syrup left over. Here are some pics:



The coolest thing about this canning session? The jars! These are the jars that Homestead Man's grandmother gave to me. One of the is a Mason jar with the liberty bell with the dates 1776-1976 on the side. Another is an Atlas jar. It's so awesome to think of all the things she might have canned in these jars.

Apple Butter Recipe

Apples are on sale again!! Here's the recipe I used last year for Crock Pot Applebutter.

CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER

Put 3 quarts of apples, sliced thin, in a crock pot and cook overnight on high. Next morning, add 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cloves. Cook all day on low. Tastes like old-fashioned apple butter that is cooked in copper kettle.

Here's the one I found for apple pie filling:

APPLE PIE FILLING

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons salt

10 cups water
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 drops yellow food coloring
6 pounds apples

Directions:
1. In a large pan, mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add salt and water and mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and food coloring.
2. Sterilize canning jars, lids and rings by boiling them in a large pot of water.
3. Peel, core, and slice apples. Pack the sliced apples into hot canning jars, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace.
4. Fill jars with hot syrup, and gently remove air bubbles with a knife.
5. Put lids on and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

I bought 18 pounds of apples tonight, so I have to decide whether I want to make apple pie filling, apple butter, or applesauce...decisions, decisions, decisions!

Big things come in small packages...

The first two types of tomatoes that I planted are just beginning to sprout. Aren't seeds amazing little capsules of life?

As you can see, these are planted in our newspaper pots that can be planted directly into the garden soil, lessening the transplant shock on the plant. In addition, the pots will add organic matter to the garden. I had some plastic forks that someone brought to a get together here at our house that I decided to use for plant markers this year.

I had hoped to get the carrots planted in the garden yesterday, but our youngest and I have both been down with the flu, so they'll have to wait. Maybe I can plant them later in the week.

In other news, digging around in the freezer, I came across a frozen package of apples that I put up when they were on sale. We made some delicious apple crisp with them.

Apples, apples, who's got apples?

WE DO! They were on sale at our local grocery, so we took advantage of it and got 15 pounds of apples. I canned 7 jars of apple butter and froze four batches of pie filling. I had hoped to share some photos with you today, but my camera battery went kapooey, so you'll just have to wait a bit while it is recharging.

I couldn't help but look forward to our own trees putting out enough apples for us to preserve. It is so hard to wait! I know we're making improvements on our little chunk of Oklahoma that will really pay off in the long run, though, and I'm trying to be patient. It's a lesson God has been trying to teach me for years, peace and tranquility in the waiting, and I think He's found a way to get through to me in the garden...or at least force me to practice.

The girls have put their stamp of approval on the apple butter...they've already eaten the half jar that was not full enough to process.