More canning

[hlmauera]

Marian and I pickled and canned beets yesterday and steam juiced elderberries to make jam. We only made one small batch of jam because of time constraints. We'd originally planned to pickle green beans too but they were too mature for pickling.

Beets:








Elderberry mash (compost):


The process:


I don't have any pictures of the finished product. Maybe Marian will take some of that and the juice. It was interesting to see how the colors of the two juices were so similar. We actually needed to double check ourselves a couple of times before pouring juice. Side by side it's not a problem- but separated you start to second guess. I got a dozen small jars of beets and one small jar of jelly to sample. We'll finish the jelly on Tuesday.

Comments

[trey-dowell.livejournal.com]

Oh, we have a steamer, but I don't even know if I've ever put the thing to use. It -is- out of its box though, which leads me to wonder since I have an abundance of storage places where I live. To be honest, I don't even know if we have elderberries here, but I've always been curious to try and make my own jam. Blueberries, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries all grow extremely well here.

I think I might have tried candied beets and liked them, but I'm sure pickled beets are out. Not only is it the taste, but the texture of them and color reminds me of less than pleasant things!

I found your journal at random. There is a very, very stupid 'random journal' button on the home page. I say stupid, because whenever I click on it I seem to make it to a journal that is in Russian. Out of the fiftyish times I've clicked it so far I have made it to 4 pages in English, and the rest were in Russian (I think) and one in Arabic. You were found by random, exhausting button clicking!

[hlmauera.livejournal.com]

I don't know about Elderberries in Montana either. In the Pacific Northwest they grow into trees- even though the field books tell you they are a bush growing no larger than 8 feet. Our trees are at least 30 feet tall. But the process of making jellies and jams is essentially the same and all fairly easy. It just takes time. All of the berries you mentioned make good jams and jellies although cherries are more often made into preserves or pie fillings.

I could see how the color of beets could be a bit off-putting. We always joke that when we work with beets the kitchen looks like the scene of a blood bath. But since I like the taste I'm willing to put up with the imagery. Our beets were pickled in cinnamon, clove, all-spice and mustard seed. They will be nice sweet pickles for us to enjoy.

I haven't noticed the random button. I guess I should investigate, although it sounds a little frustrating. You are always welcome to read here.