Posts Tagged With: Ball canning

How to Guide All About Grape Vines, Grape Juice,Grape Jelly.

Posted on September 7, 2020 by jolynnpowers

Fresh concord grapes from the backyard 2019.

This post is actually 2 years in the making. Last summer (2019) was the first time in years the Japanese Beetles did not destroy my chances of getting grapes from the Concord grape vines on our property. We treated for them (more about that later) so I was lucky to get about a half bushel of grapes. I chose to make juice from the grapes. I canned the juice ASAP. The plan was to make jelly over the winter. Then the old trelles crashed to the ground about mid Jan and I just forgot about the jelly until about a week ago. So we started all over by cutting the vines back building a new trellis and making jelly from canned juice.

To begin with if you have older vines or like us we had a very old trellis system that did not function well for two large heavy vines you might consider pruning your grape vine back. Grape vines produce much better when the vines are short and pruned regularly. In my case the trellis collapsed before we got time to replace it, forcing me to prune back the vines in the cold weather to get the old trellis out. When I was done our vines were about 4 feet long compared to 16 feet.

Old grape vine with fence style trellis.

New Grape Vine Trellis in place with short vines on the ground in April 2020.

Tom and I talked about how beautiful a grapevines could be even if you didn’t use the grapes. I wanted something that was just as pretty in the yard as functional. I also wanted to be able to walk under the trellis if we were working in the near by vegetable graden. So this is what we came up with. The Trellis is 6 foot 6 inches high made 8 feet apart on the inside. We cemented the 4×4 posts into the ground so they would not move.Everything is pressure treated and we used 2×4 hangers to create the top. After this stage I added some recycled garden wire to the top to give the vines something hold onto as they grow. Then we waited for the vines to get long enough to put on the trellis. In about 4 mouths they had grown 5 or more feet and I could begin to train the vines using zip ties and string. After a couple hours the longest vines were secured and ready to grow for the rest of the summer. Next year I should have a nice place to pick my grapes.

for more info about the pruning a old grape vine check out this grapevine post.

Training the grapevines over the new trellis 2020

Weaving the grapevine over and through the wire of the trellis 2020

As I said before we treated for Japanese Beetles. We also have a huge sugar ant problem in the house. So I used our fertilizer spreader to spread a yard pest insecticide in the back yard and around the foundation of our house. It was a game changer, very few bettles … stopped the mole damage we were getting from them looking for the beetle grubs and reduced the ants in the house. I don’t plan to treat again for several years. I would like to see if we can keep the beetle problem under control with a more natural soap and water treatment for a while but this brought a balance back to my yard for a while.

Part two: The best part of having grapes is grape juice and jelly. Both are easy to make at home and do not require a pressure canner. We follow The Ball Jar Company recipes to cann our juice and make jelly

Grape Juice: Wash all the grapes, removing all stems and leaves. Then place all the grapes in a large stock pot with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan by a inch or two. Around a cup per gallon of grapes. Bring grapes to a simmer crushing the grapes with a potato masher as the heat rises. Simmer 10 minutes. Don’t boil this releases the bitterness from the seeds into the juice. Strain through a couple layers cheesecloth to remove seeds. Let juice stand 24 hours or overnight to cool if possible before straining a second time. Prepare for the rest of the process by gathering up either a jelly bag or using several layers if cheesecloth. For this batch of juice I used 4 layers of cheesecloth, rinsing between about every two cups of juice. I think I spent more time rinsing out the clothe out then straining the juice. In the end I had 6 quarts of juice with no sugar and nothing artificial. It was worth it in the end. If you want to cann the juice as a cocktail add 1 or 2 cup sugar per gallon of juice.

Canning the Juice: I planned to make Jelly from the juice so I did not want to add any sugar. If you were going to drink the juice like a cocktail you would need sugar to make it taste good enough to drink.

As always wash and sterilize your quart jars, lids and seals as you heat your juice to a hot simer. Remove from heat and fill jars with hot juice. leaving a 1/4 inch head space wiping the top lip of jar. Place jars in a boiling water bath canner. Make sure each jar is covered fully with water and follow the directions in the Ball Canning Blue Book. Mine is a 1949 version and a 1991 version…. They both say the same thing.

Reheat to a simmer, pour into clean hot jars. Process 30 minutes in hot water bath at 185 -190 degrees.

For a great online store link to all things Ball Mason Jar.

Making Jelly: Canned juice is good for up to a year but your grape juice may look clouded in the jar… don’t worry you still get beautiful clear Jelly.

6 month old juice with cloudy appearance.

To quote my ball guide it is better to us canned juice then fresh!

The use of unsweetened, canned juice prevents the formation of Cream of Tartar crystals from forming in the jelly. After the juice is canned the crystals form and fall to the bottom. The canned juice should be strained through cheesecloth before using and the sediment at the bottom should not be used.
The Ball Blue Book of Home Canning , Preserving and Freezing Recipes CR 1949.

Cooking the Jelly: As always prepare lids rings and jars by washing and sterilizing. If using prepared juice, measure exact amount of juice into a 6 to 8 quart stockpot. Add water if necessary to get exact measurement. measure exact amount of sugar into a separate bowl with a dry measuring cup. Add juice to a large stock pot then sugar and mix well. Add 1 tsp butter to help reduce foaming( I do not do this with grape jelly but I do with others). Bring mixture to a rolling boil, one that cannot be reduced when stirred, boil 1 minute stirring constantly. Quickly add pectin and return to a rolling boil 1 minute, then remove from heat. I personaly do a sheeting test before I remove from the heat. if when a teaspoon of jelly sheets from the spoon it is ready. Sheeting is when you scoop up a teaspoon of jelly and slowly pour it back into the pot but some jells to the spoon and slowly slides off in a sold sheet. Then I remove from the heat and scrape as much foam off as I can before ladeling into prepared jars. filling jars leaving a 1/4 inch headspace.Wipe jars with a damp rag and add seals and rings. Place in warm water in canner until 1 to 2 inches of water covers jars. Bring water to boil, process at a boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars from water and let cool 24 hours before deciding if there is problem with the jelling.

If everything goes according to plan you should have about 7 half pint jelly jars of homemade Concord grape jelly.

Homemade grape jelly from backyard grapes. 2020

Well, it has been a long journey from picking our first grapes to making a new trellis, canning juice and finally making the jelly. I hope you find this helpful and it makes it possible to make your own Jams and jellies. My family loves homemade jelly so I am happy to have the vines.

Categories: Ball Mason Jar, Grape Jelly, grape juice, Grapevines, Jelly, pruning grapevines | Tags: Ball canning, Ball Mason jars, Grape Jelly, grape juice, grapevines, pruning vines | 3 Comments

Chili Sauce from the Garden

Posted on December 17, 2018 by jolynnpowers

Sauce with tomato peppers onions and spices

The weather in West Virginia this fall and early winter has been a soggy mess. So to keep the family warm and fed until the cold of winter freezes up the mud and turns the world to a lovely white. I have been cooking comfort food in the rain. Home made Chili is a easy quick dinner when you make and can the sauce at the peak of tomato season.

Chili sauce from the garden is a family favorite. We have been making this sauce for generations and it can be made fresh from the garden or canned and stored for the long winter. We usually use ground venison as the meat adding a mixture of kidney beans to the sauce when ready to serve.

If you raise tomatoes and sweet bell peppers you can make home made chili sauce with just a little effort. This recipe usually makes 7 to 8 quarts of sauce but you can easily cut the recipe down or double it for a larger family. Each quart of sauce added to one pound of ground meat and two cans of beans makes around 6 to 7 servings of Chili.

For this recipe you need 25 pounds of ripe tomatoes. I usually have about half that ripe at one time in the garden and end up adding some to mine from the farmers market. You can also buy a half bushel of tomatoes at once and make one turn of sauce.

cored tomatoes ready for boiling water bath.

The first step is to wash, core and scald all 25 pounds of tomatoes. I do the best I can coring the tomatoes and leave them whole to scald to remove their skin. The more ripe the tomato the faster and easier it is to remove the skin. I boil about a gallon of water in a large stock pot adding tomatoes until they reach the top of the pot. Boil the tomatoes 3 minutes until skins come lose. Dump hot tomatoes into a cold water bath in a sink and allow to cool. I add a couple of trays of ice to the bath. Refill the cold water bath as it gets warm after adding 5 or 6 pounds of tomatoes at a time. The skins will pull lose easily leaving a nice pealed tomato for chopping.

Next dice up tomatoes with a ruff chop and place in large stock pot to begin to cook down. At this point you will have enough juice to cook the tomatoes with out scorching if you use a Med/High heat.

Next add onion, peppers, garlic, sugar, spices and allowed to cook until everything is soft. Simmering the sauce for about 30 minutes. At this point add tomato paste, 2 cans will help to reduced the amount of water in the sauce. The sauce could be canned at this point if you like a chunky sauce or I put ours through a food mill to remove any seeds, skins and lumps.

(I make small packets of spices to drop in the simmering sauce to make it easier to remove the large seeds and leaves.)

pickleing spice and a 6x6 piece of cheese cloth ready to tie up

pickleing spice and a 6×6 piece of cheese cloth ready to tie up

spices wrapped into cheese cloth

After pressing the sauce through a food mill, heat sauce to boiling and ladle into clean prepared quart jars. I always wash and sterilized at least 9 jars just in case I end up with more then 7 quarts of sauce. Add clean sterilized lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath 20 minutes. No pressure needed with high acid foods like tomato sauce( 20 minutes for quarts and 15 minutes for pints). Each jar will last at least one year after being canned. I rarely make less than 14 quarts at a time.

Garden Chili Sauce

1/2 bushel ripe tomatoes or 25 pounds

1 cup chopped fine hot peppers we use a med hot pepper.

1 cup chopped sweet peppers

1 cup red onion

2 heads of garlic chopped fine this equals about 10 cloves

1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 2.0 oz can ground chili powder, more or less to taste

2 small cans tomato paste

1 tablespoon pickling spices, placed in a cheese cloth,

We use Mrs Woods Mixed Pickling Spices but if you do not have Pickling spice, mustard seed, Bay leaves, whole allspice, cinnamon and coriander seeds can be used.

When ready to use add one pound cooked ground meat and two cans of kidney beans simmer and serve.

for more information on canning in a boiling water bath please refer to the Ball Jar Website.

Categories: canning, country cooking, gardening, peppers, Preserving, regional food, Venison | Tags: Ball canning, Canning, chili, comfort food, country cooking, Gardening, tomatos | 3 Comments

Easy Homemade Strawberry Jam

Posted on June 5, 2016 by jolynnpowers

Making homemade jellies and jams is one of my favorite thing to do when fresh fruit comes into season. Strawberries wild and cultivated are in season here and I just could not resist a large sale that featured strawberries at a local market. Strawberry Jam is one of the easiest jams to make and is almost fool-proof.

Homemade strawberry jam

I would love to have a strawberry bed in the near future but for now I have bought mine. So in about 1 hour 30 minutes, I made enough jam to feed my family for the rest of the year. The total cost for making Strawberry Jam was about 8$ compared to 17$ dollars if you pay 3 dollars a jar for store-bought Jam.I am hoping that next time I can drop the cost to 3$ dollars when I can raise my own berries.

Ingredients :

Following the Ball Blue Book canning guide you will need 2 quarts or 8 cups crushed clean fresh strawberries. I bought 5 pounds of strawberries and used about 3 pounds to get 8 cups of crushed strawberries. 7 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 6 Tablespoons Ball Classic Pectin. This is one whole jar of powdered pectin. 1 to 2 tablespoons butter if needed to reduce foaming.

Supplies:

You will need 8 half pint jars ( we call them jelly jars) with lids and rings I always get two extra ready also. A boiling water canner with enough boiling water to cover the tops of you jars with 1 to 2 inches of water.You will need a potato masher to make the crushed fruit, a jar lifter, funnel and a ladle. One large dutch oven or stock pot for cooking the jam in. I like to wear rubber gloves to protect my hands from the boiling hot jam but you can skip it if you are careful.

After washing jars lids and rings, sterilize the jars either in the microwave or in the boiling water of the canner. I boil my lids and rings separately in a small sauce pan that I keep very hot until ready to us. Remove from sterile jars from canner or microwave and place on a towel to cool and dry.

ready to crush 2 cups of strawberries at a time in dutch oven

In large stock pot add the 2 quarts of smashed berries, lemon juice and classic pectin mix together well. Bring to a boil, stirring to keep from scorching. Add sugar to pot and stir until sugar dissolved. Return to a rolling boil, one that will not stop when stirred. Boil one minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat add one teaspoon of butter if jam is foamy on top. Mix in well and skim top of Jam to remove foamy skin. Ladle hot jam into clean jars leaving about 1/4 of inch of headspace.Be careful to not to burn yourself on hot syrup. Clean top rim of jar to remove any leftover fruit or juice adding lid and adjust ring. Process 10 minutes in boiling water canner. Remove from hot water and let completely cool check rings and tighten if needed and store for up to one year.

8 cups mashed strawberries, lemon juice, pectin ready to boil

8 cups mashed strawberries, lemon juice, pectin and sugar ready to return to a boil

Jars loaded into canner to process 10 minutes. No pressure needed.

In the end I finished the morning with 9 half pint jars of jam and still had a few strawberries left over for strawberry rhubarb jam also. I grow rhubarb so I made a small batch of Jam with the leftover berries and three stalks of rhubarb.They all tasted great and will keep us thinking of summer all winter long.

Ball Classic Pectin

Categories: canning, country cooking, strawberries | Tags: Ball canning, Canning, easy home made, Jam, Preserving, strawberries | 7 Comments

Grandpa’s Home Canned Venison Chili Sauce, made from the garden.

Posted on September 8, 2015 by jolynnpowers

When trying to live closer to the land many families turn to hunting, fishing and home gardens. In our families case we do all three, letting nothing that comes our way go to wast. Canning venison chili Sauce is a great way to use up extra produce in the garden and take a little of last years deer burger and make it into an on the go meal for those cold winter months still to come. This Labor Day weekend my family made about 13 quarts of this chili starter in about 6 hours. Each quart of sauce when added to one large can of kidney beans will make 5 to 6 servings of home-made goodness.

We started with only one problem, my tomato plants blighted this year. I have only one remaining tomato plant and we had to buy the two quarts of juice this recipe calls for. In better years I have made tomato juice and added some Tabasco sauce for the bite we love in our chili. So instead this year we bought two bottles of V-8 ( one hot and one regular) to fill the needed juice in this recipe.

I used the current Ball “Blue Book, Guide to Preserving” as our guide for processing times and head space for making our meat sauce base. Any ground meat including venison should be processed for 1 hour and 15 minutes with chili needing a 1 inch head space. We then used grandpa’s recipe for the broth portion of the chili and added the recommended 5 pounds of ground venison. This resulted in 6 quarts of what my family knows as Grandpa’s venison chili and it is a family favorite.

My kitchen smelled soooo good for most of the day because of the fresh ingredients from my garden like hot peppers and garlic.

Cody,Jamie and I cooking and canning

So for Grandpa’s Venison Chili

1 large yellow onion

2 teaspoons chopped or pressed garlic

1 cup sweet pepper diced

1/2 cup hot peppers ( we used banana peppers).Up this amount to 1 cup if you use plain tomato juice

3 cups tomato paste or 4 small cans.

2 quarts of tomato juice, or in this case 2 quarts v-8 juice one hot and one plain

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

black pepper to taste

5 pounds ground venison

2 table spoons vegetable oil

this makes 6 to 6 1/2 quarts of canned chili.

Some of the many peppers I have growing in the garden

In a large 8 quart stock pot add oil, onions and garlic. Saute’ until onions are beginning to soften and add ground venison. Brown all 5 pounds over mid heat with onion and garlic. Once the meat is cook add juice and all remaining ingredients. Simmer for about ten minutes string often to prevent sticking and making sure all the ingredients mix thoroughly. Bring chili to a boil and ladle into clean, sterile, quart mason jars leaving 1 inch of head space. After cleaning any spills off top lip of jar, top with clean sterile lids and rings that are just tightened. Place in pressure canner with simmering water ( amounts vary) and add lid and begin to process after ten minutes of steam has escaped the canner. Process jars for 1 hour 15 minutes at ten pounds pressure. Remove hot jars from canner and set in a clean dry place to cool and you should hear the ping of the lids as they seal. Eat any chili in unsealed jars with in a few days and store inside the refrigerator. The remaining jars that have sealed should be used within a year of processing and stored in a place that stays above freezing.

Home Canned Venison Chili with Canner

Now all I need is a crisp cool day to enjoy this home-made chili. Happy Canning!

Categories: canning, country cooking, deer hunting, gardening, Hunting, Tomatoes, Venison, venison | Tags: Ball canning, chili, country cooking, Gardening, hunting in West Virginia, tomatoes, venison, venison recipe | 3 Comments

Canning wild game, a non electric storage opption

Posted on October 30, 2013 by jolynnpowers

As some of you already know my family lives as much as possible on the land that surrounds us and the bounty that God provides. This includes fall hunting for wild game and fishing as much as possible for our food. My problem has always been what to do with all the meat that the boys bring into me. Well of course we freeze a large portion of our meat and fish but three years ago we went with out electric for about 10 days and lost most of our families food. This brought up the conversation about going back to canning at least a portion of our meats so we would not lose all of our food again.

My husbands family has cold packed canned deer and pork for over 40 years mostly because the quality of meat when it comes out of the jars is OUT STANDING. The high pressure and moister combine and make the most tender juicey meat. The only way to explain it is to think pulled pork that all you have to do is open the jar and pour out. We can deer meat for BBQ sandwiches and I make a wonderful deer tips with gravy out of. The meat is safely stored for two years and is easy to transport to hunting camps and on summer camping trips. The meat is already cooked, warm the contents and eat.

To start with I suggest that anyone wanting to learn more about the safety and processes of home canning get a good canning book like this one.

Ball blue book of canning copy right 1970

Processing of meats MUST MUST MUST be done under presser so this process is not for those who use the boiling water bath method. Meat is very easy to process but the time involved is a little lengthy. The average time is 1:30 of cooking time so I plan about 4 to 5 hours from boneing out the deer to the end of the canning process. One nice size white tail deer will make about 7 quarts of cold packed stew meat. In this case I made 6 Jars and had about 11/2 lbs left over I wanted to use in another way.

First, as always wash and sterilise your jars rings and lids, and look for chips or cracks in the jars.This defect will prevent the jars from sealing properly and spoil the meat or make a huge mess in the canner. I use quart jars and this will make about 4 portions of meat per jar. You can use pints and adjust the cooking time accordingly ( pints process for 1 hour 15 mintues).

I start my canning preparations with washing everything down with a little bleach water that includes my cutting boards and knives and even the table where I am cutting the meat. We cover everything with butcher paper and get the meat ready to debone.

white tail deer meat ready to be deboned

We do not can the tenderloin pictured above left. They are tender enough on their own but the remaining steaks and roasts get processed. The only requirement is that the pieces of meat are about bite size and fit in the mouth of your jars easily. We try to remove any excess fat or connective tissues. Cold packing jars saves time but the meat can be cooked and packed hot with a broth in jars also.

bite size pieces of deer steak

These pieces get packed into warm sanitized jars and with a wooded spoon. I push firmly to pack meat into the jars this removes excess air gaps and fills the jars full. You need a one inch head space in the jar to prevent the natural juices from leaking out of the jars as it boils in the canner.

deer meat ready for jars

The fuller the jars the better it is, the nature broth will not cover loosely packed meat and this can lead to discolored meat after storage.

using a funnel keeps jars cleaner when packing

At this point you have the option of adding salt to your meat, we add 1 teaspoon per quart of meat. It is not a necessary item but does make the broth and meat more flavorful so we choice to use it.

adding salt to canning jars of meat

The next step is to clean the lip of the jar and make sure no salt or meat residue remains on jar to prevent the lids from sealing. Then add the lids and seal to jars and place them in the canning with enough water to cover the jars by at least one inch of water.

canning jars in pressure canner with water

Then cover the canner and start a high fire. Venison is canned at 10 lbs of pressure for 1 hour and 30 minutes making it take around 2 hours total. The first 30 minutes is for the heat to raise into the canner to reach 10 lbs pressure. I usually let my canner cool over night so the cooling process doesn’t interfere with use of my stove. In the morning the jars and water are still hot to the touch but ready to remove from the canner.

At this point the jars are cooling and I check to make sure all the seals are tight and each jar is clean. I usually risen them before adding the name of the contents and date. I usually process at least two deer every year this way and this gives us security that even if the power goes out we will have fresh safe meat to eat.

canned deer meat and my hard-working canner

Don’t be surprise that after you jars have cooled even further that a small amount of fat appears in the jars. It is not seen when the jars are warm and slowly forms on the top of the broth. It is totally safe and not going to spoil. The fatter the meat the more fat will form in the top of the jar. In this case venison is very lean and usually less than a teaspoon of fat collects in the jar after canning.

This process is the same useing beef or pork. The only changes that are made are for cooked meats and stews or soups. That is when you really love having your “Ball Canning Guide” so that every thing is safe and healthy.