Read The Amish Canning Cookbook Online
Authors: Georgia Varozza
The Amish Canning Cookbook (15 page)
Makes about 4½ quarts or 9 pints.
30 lb. tomatoes (about 4½ gallons)
2½ lbs. ground beef
1 cup onions, peeled and chopped (don’t use more!)
1 cup celery or bell pepper, chopped (or use a combination, but no more than 1 cup total)
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced (optional; don’t use more!)
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. salt or to taste
2 tsp. black pepper
2 T. oregano
¼ cup parsley, minced
¼ cup brown sugar
Skin tomatoes by plunging them into boiling water for about 30 to 60 seconds or until skins start to split. Remove and dip into cold water; slip off loosened skins. Remove cores and quarter the tomatoes. Place in a large pot and boil uncovered for 20 minutes. Put through a food mill or sieve and return to the large pot.
In a smaller saucepan, brown the hamburger and drain off fat. Add onions, celery or bell pepper, mushrooms, and garlic and sauté until tender. Add to the sauced tomatoes in the large pot along with the salt, pepper, herbs, and sugar.
Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently so the bottom doesn’t scorch, until the sauce is thick and reduced by about a third.
Fill jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Process pints for 60 minutes and quarts for 70 minutes in a pressure canner as follows:
Weighted gauge canner:
Process at 10 pounds pressure from sea level to 1,000 feet in altitude; at 15 pounds pressure above 1,000 feet.
Dial gauge canner:
Process at 11 pounds pressure from sea level to 2,000 feet in altitude; at 12 pounds pressure from 2,001 to 4,000 feet; at 13 pounds pressure from 4,001 to 6,000 feet; at 14 pounds pressure from 6,001 to 8,000 feet.
Makes about 4½ quarts or 9 pints.
C
anning fruit when the summer harvest is in full swing makes good sense. You can purchase fruit at the best prices during this time because there is such an abundance when the fruits are in season. And if you grow some of your own fruit, head out to your local U-pick farm stand, or find a patch of wild berries or apples to pick, your cost will be lower still. Just make sure that if you pick “wild,” you aren’t inadvertently taking someone else’s produce. In some areas of the country, there are abandoned or vacant homesteads and it may seem that the fruit is there for the taking, but it’s likely that the land is owned by someone. So ask first before you pick. Or offer to do the picking for the owner in exchange for half of the harvest.
Fruit
When gathering or purchasing fruit for canning, pick only as much as you think you can process within a short period of time so the fruit remains in good condition. The fruit should be ripe, and any spots on the fruit that are bruised or blemished should be cut out before processing. When you are preparing the fruit work quickly in one session; never let the fruit sit for long periods during this time.
Sugar Syrup for Canning Fruit
It’s possible to safely can fruit without using sweet syrup. You can use juice or water instead. But you will have to hot pack unsweetened fruit (by first boiling the fruit before placing in the hot jars), and the sugar syrup tends to plump up the fruit and keep them slightly firmer during the canning process. For years I canned my fruit using water, but I’ve since gone to using a lightly sweetened syrup instead, and I think my canned fruit is better for that change. But suit yourself.
Here is a handy guide for making different strengths of syrup for your fruit canning needs:
Mix together the sugar and water and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar is completely dissolved. If you don’t use the entire batch of syrup in a canning session, you can always refrigerate it and use for the next batch.
Estimating Fruit Needed per Quart Jar
Preparing and Processing the Fruit
Light-colored fruits such as apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and pears should be held in an anti-darkening, acidified water solution so they don’t darken. You can use 1 tsp. of ascorbic acid or citric acid dissolved into each gallon of water used or ¾ cup of lemon juice stirred in per gallon.
When canning, follow the directions in “Water-Bath Canning: A Step-by-Step Guide” in chapter 3.
Wash, peel, core, and slice the apples. Place the prepared fruit in the anti-darkening solution (above). When all of the apples have been sliced, drain and rinse the apples before putting them into a large pot. Boil apple slices 5 minutes in a sugar syrup solution of your choice (see “Sugar Syrup for Canning Fruit” for syrup recipe) or water. Pack hot fruit into hot jars, leaving ½-inch headspace; cover with the boiling cooking liquid and process in a water-bath canner for the correct amount of time as follows:
Wash and chunk the apples. Remove seeds. (There’s no need to peel them.) Simmer, stirring frequently, until soft. You may add a small amount of water to prevent the apples from sticking if necessary. Put the apples through a food mill or sieve. Add sugar to taste if desired. Reheat the applesauce to simmering. Pack hot fruit into hot jars, leaving ½ inch headspace; and process in a water-bath canner for the correct amount of time as follows:
Wash and halve the fruit (no need to peel). Remove pits. Use an anti-darkening solution to prevent the apricots from turning brown. Drain, rinse, and drain again.
To hot pack apricots, heat the fruit in sugar syrup or water until heated through and then pack hot into hot jars, leaving ½-inch headspace.
To raw pack apricots, pack the raw, unheated fruit into the jars and poor boiling water or syrup over them, leaving ½ inch headspace.
Process in a water-bath canner for the correct amount of time as follows:
Berries (Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries)
Note: Strawberries do not can well.
To hot pack, bring berries and ½ cup sugar per quart of berries to a boil in covered pot. Shake pot frequently to prevent scorching and sticking.
To raw pack, tightly pack berries into jars. Cover with boiling syrup and process in a water-bath canner for the correct amount of time as follows:
Wash cherries and remove pits if desired; it’s not necessary to remove the pits before canning.
To hot pack cherries, heat cherries and syrup or water in a large pot until boiling. Pack hot cherries in hot jars and cover with hot cooking liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace.
To raw pack cherries, heat syrup or water (if canning sour cherries, it’s best to use a medium or heavy syrup); keep syrup hot. Ladle some hot syrup into hot jars (¼ cup for pints; ½ cup for quarts). Fill jars with cherries, taking care to tightly pack cherries without crushing them. Leave ½-inch headspace. Add more syrup if necessary to cover cherries, maintaining ½-inch headspace.
Process the cherries in a water-bath canner for the correct amount of time as follows:
