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hlmauera ([personal profile] hlmauera) wrote2010-10-10 09:04 am
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And yet more canning....

Saturday, we had to finish canning the pears. Waiting much longer would have resulted in a lot of spoilage so, even though I've been ill all week, this had to be done. Since I knew we were going to be canning anyway, I stopped at a farm and picked up green beans. They say you can pack about a half a pound into a pint jar so I was aiming for about 15 lbs. The farm was selling beans for $1.99/lb so I packed a box full which weighed about 9-10 lbs I thought (over 7 the last time I weighed it. The volume of beans seemed adequate for a day's work, even if the poundage seemed low) and went to get in line. There was a woman with a cart ahead of me but a cheerful checker said "I can help you over here" and met my eye so I knew he was talking to me. Only, in the short time it took me to get there, someone else was already there and someone had pulled into the other line too. So I waited. It wasn't a big deal. But the clerk apologized profusely and, when I went to put the box on the scale he stopped me. "I'm going to give you a great deal. How does $5 sound." Well it sounded wonderful to me and if I got a half a pound into each jar, I had about 12.5 pounds in the box. That worked out to about 40 cents per pound. I was thrilled because all the other canning accoutrement has cost a pretty penny--$45 yesterday alone. The trick with canning is reusing the jars and growing your own. That's where it's cheaper but I like canning my own because it's fresher, tastier and just the way I like it.

I left my house at about 9:15 but by the time I stopped at Bi-mart for jars (just a note, Winco is cheaper), the farm for beans, and mom and dad's to pick up the pears and start a load of laundry, it was after 10:30 before I got to Marian's. Trudi had to work the flu shot clinic so for most of the day it was just Marian and I. Trudi showed up after work (around 4) in time to help pack the green beans into jars. She was disappointed that she didn't get to help with the snapping. So was I, actually, it's a very tedious process and takes way too long.

Marian and I made a trip to Winco to get spices for the pickling and for spicing pears. She picked up some jelly jars as well. Then we went to Cash-n-Carry to pick up onions, garlic, vinegar, and sugar (this is our third 25 lb bag but we didn't have to open it yet). Marian decided to make another batch of onion marmalade which sounds nasty but tastes fantastic. It has been affectionately labeled "onion glop." It's great for pizza's, stew and anything else where a hint of caramelized onion and a little sweetness is welcome. Then we made lunch and went to work.


I started with the pears because they were the messiest and Rose/Ruth was coming to clean the kitchen (she bargained with Marian for fabric) and I didn't want to be making a huge mess. It turned out to be a non-issue but the order didn't matter much to me. Marian started reducing the onions- it turns out that this is an all day process.







As I mentioned above, I decided to spice most of the pears. I made four jars regular and then added cinnamon, clove, and ginger to the rest. I deliberately left some bark and cloves in the jars. In all I had an even dozen jars of pears.

Then we moved on to the beans. I forgot to take a picture of the mounded box but this is after we'd snapped about half:



About this many:


We snapped for hours! Marian was stirring the onions frequently and had reduced them to about half the previous volume and added the vinegar and sugar.
Finally an empty box!



And a mounded bowl of beans:



Then I started scalding and packing the jars. To each jar we added two cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of pickling spice.



Then I brought 2.5 cups of vinegar, 2.5 cups of water and 1/4 cup of salt per batch to a boil. In all I did five batches but I did three at a time then two. I had about 1/4 cup left over.



I might have had more left but I somehow managed to pour about a half a ladle full over my left hand. That smarted! It seems to be ok now--just a couple of sensitive spots.

Then was into the canner:



By the time we finished the 25 pints of beans,



the onion glop was ready:



(I know it looks nasty but that's just the balsamic vinegar. It truly tastes fantastic!)

Then into jars:



The kitchen was a really busy place. While canning was occurring, dinner was also cooking. Marian used the slow cooker to simmer a chicken carcass and was continuously removing broth to put into the chicken soup that was on the back of the stove. We also used the oven to make our Pakistani dessert (ricotta, cardamom and sugar- baked):



The dessert never lasts long and this was no exception. There were only bitty crumbs left before we finished for the day.

This picture was taken before we set the pickling mixture on to boil on the only open burner:



All in all it was a productive day. I was exhausted, so I went to Mom and Dad's finished my laundry, went home, and was in bed by 9:00.

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