My wife just started canning this summer. Here is what we did today with stuff from our garden, marinara sauce made from Roma tomatoes and fresh herbs and jars of peppers (poblano, banana Serrano and jalapeños)

I found these jars for 13 cents each today at an estate sale 😁

Lots of tomatoes to can this year and a lot more to come.!!

Peach Pie Filling

🥧

Yield: Approximately 7 quarts

Reference: Adapted from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) 

🧾 Ingredients • Fresh peaches: 6 quarts sliced (approximately 17.5 pounds or 7.9 kg) • Granulated sugar: 7 cups (1 cup per quart) • Clear Jel® (cook-type): 2 cups + 3 tablespoons • Cold water: 5¼ cups • Bottled lemon juice: 1¾ cups (¼ cup per quart) • Optional flavorings: • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (for warmth) • 1 teaspoon almond extract (for subtle nutty depth) • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (for aromatic sweetness)     . Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C) 1 teaspoon per gallon of water.

🔪 Instructions 1. Prepare the peaches: Peel, pit, and slice the peaches. To prevent browning, treat them with a solution of ascorbic acid and water. 1 teaspoon ascorbic acid to 1 gallon of water, let the peaches soak for 15-20 minutes, drain before use. 2. Make the slurry: In a large pot, combine Clear Jel with cold water. Whisk until smooth. 3. Cook the mixture: Over medium heat, stir the slurry until it thickens and becomes translucent. 4. Add sugar and lemon juice: Stir in the granulated sugar and bottled lemon juice. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture returns to a boil. 5. Incorporate peaches: Add the prepared peaches to the thickened mixture. Gently fold to combine. 6. Fill jars: Ladle the hot pie filling into sterilized quart jars, leaving a 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary. 7. Seal and process: Wipe jar rims, apply lids, and screw bands until fingertip-tight. Process in a boiling water canner for 30 minutes at sea level. Adjust processing time for higher elevations as needed.   

🧠 Notes • Peach quantity: Approximately 2½ pounds (1.13 kg) of peaches are needed per quart jar . • Flavor enhancements: Optional additions like cinnamon, almond extract, or vanilla extract can be included to personalize the flavor profile. These ingredients are commonly used in pie fillings to enhance aroma and taste. • Lemon juice: Bottled lemon juice is recommended to ensure consistent acidity, which is crucial for safe canning.

An account I follow shared this recipe today: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNwgOm-wBCA/?igsh=ZjF2cXhvNTFsdHI0

I’ve never seen a recipe like this before (jello? Just turn the jars upside down and then flip and press the lids??). This is hogwash, right?

I picked 2 cups of elderberries (most had gone to the birds) - what was left was largely half-ripe.

I’ve never cooked with elderberries before, but I was hoping to use them to make a jelly, along with some autumn olives and concord grapes I found.

I’m having second thoughts, because it looks like less-ripe elderberries have higher concentrations of toxic sambunigrin than ripe ones.

However, I’ll be thoroughly cooking it to make jelly (and could even do the “cook down” approach instead of using pectin.)

Will the lengthy cook time of jelly be enough to counteract the extra concentration of sambunigrin, or should I not risk it and just toss them?

Thanks!

We have very hard water and I forgot to add vinegar to the canning water to prevent limescale powder from forming on the outside of my jars. Can I wipe them down with vinegar once they cool, or will that potentially weaken the seal? It's only aesthetic so I suppose I could just leave it.

So I’m not new to canning. Not even new to pressure canning. I have canned many, many quarts of chicken stock before using the Presto recipe (in the book that comes with the canner).

But this is a first. Video is of Ball jars with brand new Ball lids; rapidly sealing and unsealing and resealing many times. I let the pot come down from pressure naturally and waited a further about 20-30min before removing the lid from the canner. Pressure canned at 11lbs for 25min. They all seem to be sealed down now after a good few minutes of this musical number! I store without rings so if they unseal I’ll know to toss, and I’ll use these up first. But it was odd and I’m wondering if anyone knows the mechanism for this behavior?

Hi all! I've seen many posts about tossing tomatoes into a bag and freezing before processing. The advantage is the skins slip off easily so no need to blanch.

So, do you core your toms before freezing? Or just pitch 'em and freeze 'em?

I am wanting to make Balls Roasted Basil Tomato Soup but do it in stages. I roast r d the tomatoes and peeled them. I then put them in a zip lock bag with the juices and placed in the freezer. I am hoping this is okay. I have frozen raw tomatoes for later peeling so why not roasted tomatoes.

I canned salmon for the first time today, followed all the rules: 10+ psi for 100 minutes, wiped tops clean before placing sanitized lids, etc. When the pressure fell to 0 and upon opening the canner I noticed a fish smell. Removed all the jars and didn’t see any noticeable cracks or leaks, all the jars were still boiling inside as expected except for one. I have noticed there is a film/reside left on the jars and lids from the water. Is it possible that the non boiling jar leaked? Would it still be safe to store if it sealed correctly or need to be eaten right away? Thank you for any help or tips!

So I am in the middle of my first attempt at waterbath canning. For warming the jars, it was suggested that I put them into the waterbath to warm, then take them out and fill them one at a time.

I need a "for dummies" explanation of this, because it did not go smoothly! If I tried to put them in empty on a raised rack, they floated and fell over. So I filled them with water and submerged them. However, I couldn't empty them very well when pulling them out. The jar lifter tong things only work when lifting straight up, so I couldn't drain them. What I ended up doing was lifting them out full of hot water and using oven mitts to dump the water into the sink before filling with hot salsa.

Is that what everyone else does? Am I missing something?

(Will post photos of the salsa along with follow-up questions later!)

My fiancé pulled out a can of grape concentrate that was canned by her mother in 2008, the seal isn’t broken on it and the color is still purple. It’s been kept in a dark area that hasn’t gotten over maybe 75 degrees Fahrenheit. She swears it’s not going to kill me. Is it safe? Does anyone else have experience with fruit concentrate this old?

Hello. I was using the Ball recipe for crushed tomatoes in quart jars. Jars were processing. Burner was apparently too high because water boiled away down to 26 oz height. They had processed for the full 45 minutes. They just came out so still extremely hot.

What next? Refrigerate only? Or is there a chance to save?

Hi! I’m new to canning as in this is the first thing I’ve ever canned. They’re glacier tomatoes packed in water. Is this too much space/air to have after processing?

So I'm wondering can I use the decorative apples that I grow around my place for a jelly/jam or could they possibly poison me, Or are all apples safe to use for jams and jelly's?

I have a general question about using my All American. I was working this afternoon on a new setup so I can use my canner outdoors and not heat our house up so much. Is it okay if the weight jiggles more often or just continuously for a little bit? I assume so and that if anything it's just wasted heat/energy since the weight is being let off but I wanted to check that nothing detrimental would be happening that I'm not aware of.

I made this recipe today but the yield was double what the recipe states. Only change I made was that I didn’t put the tomatoes through the food mill to remove the seeds and puree. I did take off the skins. I added an extra 1/4 teaspoon citric acid to each pint jar. (on top of the 1 tsp called for in the recipe). Thoughts about the safety?

Finally getting around to foraging some fruits that are really best as a juiced product. Any tips on steam juicers? Best brands? Features? Sales? Thanks!!

Feel free to talk me out of buying something if you think I'm making a mistake :P

I have Citric Acid instead of bottled lemon juice. What is the ratio per quart of tomatoes?

Help! I make peach preserves every year and have never had the peach pieces go to the top. I did think when filling the jars that maybe I left the pieces too big. I’m about to process another batch and chopped my peaches up smaller. Any tips to keep this from happening next time?

I had a bunch of green tomatoes so I made a recipe (not for long term canning/storage) of faux raspberry tomato jelly. Basically equal parts pureed green tomato to sugar, boil, then add a large packet of raspberry jello. They have been sitting for half a day now (in the fridge) but they are almost liquid still. It tastes fine, just is more like soup than jelly... Is there any way for me to save this?

Thanks!!!! First time my tree yielded, and I'm not sure I've ever tasted anything better.

Help please! We are halfway through our first canning project and I’m uncertain whether we’ve made an error (or many errors).

We grew approx 15 pounds of cherry tomatoes this year. The plants were monsters. I also have five large heirloom plants but these ones aren’t ripe yet.

After filling the freezer with soup, sauce and oven dried tomatoes using the cherry toms, we decided to try our hand at canning, more or less following the ball recipe for basil garlic tomato sauce (3/4 ratio).

I’ve read that you have to remove the skins for safe sauce canning, so at someone else’s suggestion I bought a hand crank stainless steel food mill. So after we cooked down the tomatoes, we ran them through the smallest mesh of the food mill. It kept getting clogged so we did small batches and scooped out the skins/seeds/pulp as we went. What came out was straight liquid.

Then we sautéed our onions and garlic, added the tomato juice, and started reducing. It’s reduced down to 3/4 so far and is still basically juice consistency.

So this being the case, I have a few questions!

1. Should we have used a larger mesh for the food mill, to let some of the pulp through? And once we’ve reduced to half, can we still can this sauce or is it basically tomato juice?

2. Since we didn’t use a food processor, the onions and garlic are still chunky. Should we process it all after it’s finished reducing, or would that add too many air bubbles?

Also welcome other feedback on our process so far.

Thank you!

Another year with a successful batch of pickles and dilly beans. It makes me happy, and I wanted to share with you all.