The Amish Canning Cookbook (17 page)

Rinse and pit cherries. Keep them in an anti-darkening, acidified water solution so they don’t darken while you are preparing the fruit. You can use 1 tsp. of ascorbic or citric acid dissolved into each gallon of water used, or ¾ cup of lemon juice stirred in per gallon.

In a large pot, combine sugar and Clear-Jel and stir to mix. Add the water and/or juice and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add the lemon juice and boil 1 minute, continuing to stir constantly. Gently stir in cherries.

Fill quart jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Following the directions in “Water-Bath Canning: A Step-by-Step Guide,” process the filling in pint or quart jars in a boiling water canner for 25 minutes at 0 to 1,000 feet, 30 minutes at 1,001 to 3,000 feet, or 35 minutes at 3,001 feet and over.

To Use:
Open a jar of cherry pie filling and spoon into a baked or unbaked 8-inch pie shell. Cover with a top crust if desired and bake in a preheated 425° oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the crust is baked and golden and the filling is hot.

Peach Pie Filling

6 quarts sliced peaches

7 cups sugar

2 cups + 3 T. Clear-Jel or cornstarch

5¼ cups cold water

1¾ cups bottled lemon juice

Peel peaches: To loosen skins so they slip off, plunge peaches into boiling water for 45 to 60 seconds and then rinse them in cold water. The skins will have begun to crack and peel and should come off easily. Slice the peaches and keep them in an anti-darkening, acidified water solution so they don’t darken while you are preparing the fruit. You can use 1 tsp. of ascorbic or citric acid dissolved into each gallon of water used or ¾ cup of lemon juice stirred in per gallon.

In a large pot, combine sugar and Clear-Jel and stir to mix. Add the cold water and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add the lemon juice and boil 1 minute, continuing to stir constantly. Gently stir in peach slices and continue to cook for 3 more minutes.

Fill quart jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Following the directions in “Water-Bath Canning: A Step-by-Step Guide,” process the filling in pint or quart jars in a boiling water canner for 30 minutes at 0 to 1,000 feet, 35 minutes at 1,001 to 3,000 feet, or 40 minutes at 3,001 feet and over.

To Use:
Open a jar of peach pie filling and spoon into a baked or unbaked 8-inch pie shell. Cover with a top crust if desired and bake in a preheated 425° oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the crust is baked and golden and the filling is hot.

10

VEGETABLES

W
hen you add canned vegetables to your stash of pantry items, you will have much more to choose from when preparing well-balanced meals for yourself and your loved ones during the cold winter months. Because they are a low-acid food,
you must use a pressure canner to safely can vegetables
. Follow the directions and don’t deviate and you can rest assured that your jars of food are safe to eat.

When you pick or purchase vegetables to process by canning, it’s best to gather only as much as you are able to process in a day. Vegetables that sit for too long before being canned can become overripe and begin to mold and decay. This will compromise the quality of your food and also heighten the possibility that the food will spoil in the jar. And of course you’ll want to avoid choosing any vegetable that shows signs of decay. If there are some blemishes, you can trim those areas away as long as the part of the vegetable you do use is in good shape.

Inspecting Jars for Food Spoilage

When you plan to use some of your home-canned low-acid vegetables, it’s a good idea to inspect the jar and contents before using. Obviously, if the jar has an unsealed lid, this is a sure sign that spoilage has occurred and you will want to dispose of the contents immediately. But even if the seal is not broken, there are other clues that the food might not be safe: If the jar lid doesn’t have a tight concave center indicating a good seal, or if the lid is bulging, the food has likely spoiled.

But even when all looks good from the outside, take a moment when opening the jar to continue your inspection: Smell for unnatural odors and look for spurting liquid when you pop off the lid. Check the underside of the lid and the top surface of the food in the jar to see if there is cotton-like mold growth. (Mold can be white, blue, black, or green.) If you can using well water, the lids may look darkened due to the minerals in the water. Acidic foods in particular can cause the underside of jar lids to darken. This is perfectly fine and is not the same as toxic mold growth—the food is safe to eat.

If you suspect a jar of food has gone bad,
do not taste it!
Instead, dispose of the food in such a way that no people or animals can get to it. I’ve had food spoil a total of two times in more than 40 years of canning experience, so this really is rare. If you suspect a jar of food has gone bad, remove the lid and then place the jar with the food still in it and the loose lid upright in a pot with water to completely cover the jar. Boil for 30 minutes. Cool and dispose of the food in the garbage or by deeply burying the food in an out-of-the-way area. You can wash and sterilize the jar for reuse. Don’t forget to thoroughly wash and disinfect your work area, tools used, and hands when you are done.

Estimating Amount of Vegetables Needed per Quart Jar

Vegetables that do not can well include artichokes, avocados, bananas (mashed), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (pickled is fine), cauliflower (pickled is fine), eggplant, lettuce, and summer squash (such as zucchini).

Preparing and Processing the Vegetables

In this section you will find listed the most common vegetables suitable for canning and the specific guidelines for each.

Altitude Adjustment Directions

Depending on the altitude where you are canning, you may need to adjust the psi of your canner in order to ensure that your food has been safely processed at the required high temperatures. The following chart lists the adjustments you need to make depending on where you live:

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.

Asparagus

Wash and trim off the woody ends and remove the scales from the stalks. Rinse again. Leave whole or cut into 1-inch pieces.

Hot pack:
Cover asparagus with boiling water and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Loosely pack hot asparagus into jars. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with cooking liquid or fresh boiling water. Leave 1-inch headspace. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 30 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions above.

Raw pack:
Pack tightly in jars without crushing. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with boiling water. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 30 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions above.

Beans and Peas, Dried

Dried beans include varieties such as pinto, black or black turtle, kidney, red, pink, Great Northern, small white, navy, dried Lima, cranberry, and so forth. Beans are highly nutritious and inexpensive and make a great addition to your meal planning. The downside to using dried beans, however, is that they take several hours to cook—not the kind of time many of us have with our busy schedules. Store-bought canned beans could be an answer, but instead, why not can your own supply? It’s so much cheaper—and easy too.

Place beans or peas in large pot and add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover the pot, and let set for 1 hour. Drain. Again, add water to the beans or peas to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and boil 30 minutes, stirring often.

Hot pack only:
Pack hot beans or peas into jars. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with hot cooking liquid or boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Beans, Green or Wax

Wash, trim ends, and cut or snap into 1-inch pieces.

Hot pack:
Cover beans with water; bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Pack beans loosely. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with boiling cooking liquid or boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Raw pack:
Pack beans tightly in jar. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with boiling water. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Beans, Fresh Lima or Butter

Shell and wash the beans.

Hot pack:
Place beans in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Loosely pack jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with boiling cooking liquid or boiling water. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 40 minutes and quarts for 50 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Raw pack:
Loosely pack beans into jars. For small beans, leave 1-inch headspace in pint jars and 1½-inch in quarts. For large beans, leave ¾-inch headspace in pint jars and 1¼-inch in quarts. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with boiling cooking liquid or boiling water. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 40 minutes and quarts for 50 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Beets

Cut off tops of beets, leaving 1 inch of the stem and root. Wash beets, put them in a large pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and boil 15 to 25 minutes or until the skins slip off. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Slip the skins off and trim the stem and root ends. You can leave small beets whole; cut or slice medium or large beets into ½-inch cubes or slices. Halve or quarter very large slices. Pack jars. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover beets with boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 30 minutes and quarts for 35 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Beet Greens

(See Greens.)

Carrots

Wash, peel, and slice carrots.

Hot pack:
In a large pot, cover carrots with water and bring to a boil. Pack into jars. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Cover with the boiling cooking liquid or boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 25 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.

Raw pack:
Pack sliced carrots tightly into jars. Add salt, if desired (1 tsp. per quart, ½ tsp. per pint). Ladle boiling water over the carrots, leaving 1 inch headspace. Following the pressure canning directions in chapter 4, process pints for 25 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes at 10 psi, adjusting the psi as necessary for your altitude according to the altitude adjustment directions.