August is the heart of the preserving season. More often than not, when I look back on the dates of the items in my pantry, they will have August dates. Since it is the middle of August, I went on a three-day canning blitz this weekend. It could have been done in two days, but we went out to pick blackberries. So, that took a few hours out of my canning time. And, I have ended up with a list of 7 things to preserve this weekend.
7 Things to Preserve this Weekend
One: Pickled Beets
My husband hates beets. When he was growing up, if they needed to bring a canned item for a food drive, he and his siblings always grabbed the beets. Then, they felt sorry for the “poor kids.” I love beets. My grandmother often served canned beets with Italian Dressing. In recent years, I have served them with raspberry vinaigrette and learned to make Harvard beets. But, growing up, we only had canned beets from the store.
Last year, when I was at one of my local farms stands, they had beets. And, I decided to give pickled beets a try. I will NEVER go back to store-bought. The only problem is that the recipe I have used only makes a few pints. I hoard them. Luckily, no one in my immediate household will eat them.
I used this recipe for Perfectly Pickled Beets from Tasty Kitchen. I got approximately a pint per pound. Not nearly enough to make it until next summer.
Two: Cherry Jam
Cherry Jam is one of my favorites. But, I have never made it before because of the pits. I assumed it would be a hassle to pit all those cherries. In a Rachel Ray magazine, I saw a little blip about using a water bottle and a chopstick to push the pits out. That, however, was a colossal failure. I ended up just using a paring knife to cut the cherries in half and my food processor (a Ninja) to chop them in batches. Five cups of cherry halves made the four cups of chopped cherries I needed. The recipe was from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.
Three: Garlic Dill Pickles
Dill Pickles are best when made from small whole cucumbers that are brined overnight. We purchased 7 pounds of small pickling cucumbers from the local farm stand. They were picked only an hour or so before we bought them.
It is best to trim just a sliver from both ends of the cucumbers since the blossom end can cause bitterness or discoloration. Put the cucumbers in a solution so 1/4 cup of pickling salt to 4 cups or cold water. For the seven pounds we had in this batch, it took half a cup of salt to 8 cups of water or actually 6 cups of water and two cups of ice. Let them brine overnight.
Rinse thoroughly. Pack prepared jars with garlic, dill seed and cucumber. Then, pour a hot pickling solution of water, vinegar and salt over the cucumbers.
Four: Wild Blackberry Jam
Oh, wild fruit how I love the jam you make. (Wild Grape Jam is probably my most favorite of all homemade jams.) Sunday afternoon, we picked about 16 quarts of wild blackberries from my in-laws’ property. Usually, they are big and juicy. This year, we have had too much rain and not enough sun, so they are small and tart. But, jam is forgiving because of all that sugar. In fact, sometimes tart is better for jam.
I had enough to make two batches. (We left some for my in-laws to make their own. They went the seedless route. I, however, am lazy. And I like substance in my jams: big pieces of fruit, seeds–stuff that lets you know it was made from real fruit. So, I made Wild Blackberry Jam from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and…
Five: Wild Blackberry and Lemon Jam
Somewhere when I was looking through my canning cookbooks or on the interwebs, I swear I saw a recipe for Blackberry-Lemon Jam. In searching for it, the recipe was nowhere to be found. There is a recipe for Blueberry-Lime Jam in — and I found a couple of blackberry-lemon jelly recipes. But none were quite what I was looking for, so here is what I ended up doing.
Six: Watermelon Jam
Okay, so the recipe I more or less used from Food in Jars calls it jelly, but I think according to the technical definition of jam vs. jelly that it is jam. (Jelly is clear while jam, for lack of a better word, is cloudy.) This is probably one of the prettiest jams I make. And, it is Sunshine’s hands down favorite. Seedless watermelons are pretty inexpensive this time of year, so I cut it into chunks and throw it into my Ninja Blender.
I followed the recipe on Food in Jars, except that I used a package of powdered pectin. Assuming that a package is about 5 tablespoons, I went with it. I know that I’ve made this before and I’ve never measured the pectin.
Seven: Lemon Jelly
In one of my jam and jelly cookbooks, I saw a recipe for lemon jelly. It sounded divine–a perfect blend of sweet and tart (which if you haven’t figured out yet, is what I look for in a jam). 3 pounds of lemons added to the grocery list. The only problem. Umm…I kind of didn’t look at the instructions and that recipe was way more effort than I really wanted to invest. A search on the interwebs turned up lots of recipes for Meyer lemons. These were not Meyer lemons. Finally I found this one on the Better Homes and Gardens site. It’s almost like lemon meringue pie. This recipe uses a pouch of liquid pectin and was already starting to set up before I finished pouring it into my jars.
So my friends, take advantage of those August harvests and get canning. Let me know what you are going to preserve this weekend.
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