Its that time of year again.... canning season. I love this season with fall and the weather cooling off. I really love canning and learning how to do something new. It seems like every year I am able to try to can something new.
We have a lot of fruit trees in our back field and we had the apple trees pruned this spring and they took a hit. Most of them are in shock and didn't produce this year. One did but then the crazy hail storm damaged everything. So we have a tree with some apples on it and they have been falling off. I didn't think they would be ready until the end of september but they are all falling off. So I went out and tried one and they are pretty sweet. I already have a ton of apple sauce from last year and even the year before. So I thought of the different ways I could use these apples I hate to see them go to waste. We could dry them or make apple pie filling, but they are pretty damaged with the hail so it would be a lot of work to cut it all out. I decided to try apple juice. I read up on it and they said that you should mix different kind of apples to make the sweetness better. So I got some from my neighbor and mixed the two since that was what we had. I tried juicing them in my juicer and then can it but it didn't work
This is what it turned into some murky liquid on bottom then what looked like good apple juice in the middle and a foam on top. I tried to skim it off and try it but it just mixed back up and it didn't taste very good at all. So I tried to put the apples in my steam juicer and that produced 1 half gallon of juice and it didn't taste very well either.
Well I tried and that is ok now I know what doesn't work.
Maybe I need a cider press?
The kids love to help do anything so its a good time to teach them and just talk to them while they help me out.
Then we moved onto something I know how to can for sure and its super easy. Plums .... I love these they go great in our smoothies and they are sweet. They help sweeten up any green smoothie and they are super easy and quick to can. Our aunt Darce has a whole bunch of these so I took a few grocery bags full and canned quite a bit. I love how easy they are, it makes you feel very accomplished.
All you have to do is cut them in half to get the pit out and then you throw them in a jar and fill it up. Then you top it off with water and your done. NO extra sugar or anything. Straight up pure plums.
I love being able to use all of the fruit and seeing my shelves fill up in the basement. I love being able to just run down to the storage room and grab another jar instead of putting it on the grocery list.
I am hoping to be able to make some peach jam this year too. I know jams have a lot of sugar in them. They have to have sugar for them to set up right so that is ok but at least I know exactly what is in it and I made it. So that is another new thing for me this year. I have done nectarine jam and it's good but peach sounds soo good. Usually I just eat all the peaches fresh because they are so good. I love the feeling of juice running down my hand and arm. I have gotten a few from my sister in law and my neighbor but we are clean out of canned peaches. So I have a plethora of places I can buy peaches from. I did plant three peach trees this year so in a few years I will be able to eat all the fresh peaches I want.
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