A Few Canning Tips

It's been forever since I've posted for Kitchen Tip Tuesday, but this week I came up with TWO tips to share! (You'll have to come back next week for the second one.)

Though my garden seems to be calmed down a bit this year versus last year (or maybe I planted different stuff? Dunno...), I have been doing a fair amount of preserving. There are a few things that I've figured out from last year, my first year of canning, to this year.


1) Use rubber dishwashing gloves to protect your hands from scalding steam, blurping jam, hot jars, and anything else that can and will burn you. I figured this out the hard way when I was stirring strawberry preserves and it blurped up on my hand - and of course I had both sinks full of hot water warming my jars - a blast of cold water would have felt so much better!

2) Use plates instead of dishtowels to line your countertop. Last year, I used dish towels, and they ended up soaked from wet hot jars, and they soaked all the other stuff that cluttered my countertop (I get messy when I can, and cook, and bake...). By using plates, I keep the water contained, and they just go in the dishwasher when I'm done, rather than dishtowels that need to be washed and may end up stained. Plus, the good stuff that dripped off my funnel could be scraped into a jar and not lost.

3) I have also experimented some with using a propane cooker outdoors for canning. It gets the heat out of the kitchen, and since the pot is deeper, I stack jars on top of each other. (I'm not sure if that's a legitimate practice, but Laura does it, so I do, too.) I can't take credit for the idea of using the cooker outside, my friend Kim posted about it a while back. [And I can't remember if her blog is private now or not, so my apologies if you are not able to view it.] My canner rack doesn't fit in the pot, so I line it with a clean dish towel or a couple of dish cloths first. It is a bit more dificult to keep an eye on, but keeping that heat and humidity out of the house is quite worth it.

My tips from last year to help keep the heat out of the kitchen were:
* setting a fan in the doorway to blow cool air in (while Goose was in her room for quiet time) OR blowing the warm air out of the kitchen.
* dumping my hot water as soon as I was done with it (I would also recommend taking it outside to cool and then using it on your garden or reusing it the next time you can).
* taking my jars from the water bath into the bathroom to cool - I lined the tub with a towel and set them in there. I also put the pot in there until it cooled down.

Kim's post linked above also describes her experience with reusable canning lids, which I'm quite seriously thinking about giving a try next year. Especially since I always seem to run out of lids! Maybe if I took a count at the beginning of the year and planned ahead, I could avoid that... but I'm not sure I see that happening. :>)

So far, I have canned blueberry syrup, strawberry preserves, peach jam (from the Blue Ball book), some strawberry peach "jam" (it was kind of an accident), salsa (recipe at Kim's post above - make sure to wear gloves while cutting peppers!), and tomato sauce. I prefer to do enormous batches of tomato sauce, so I freeze the tomatoes until I have a lot. For smaller batches, I cook them down in the crock pot overnight with the lid off plus however long it takes to get down to the consistency I want; for larger batches, I cook them down in the biggest pot I have. This year, I have borrowed my dad's food strainer. You dump the sauce (or whatever) in the hopper, and turn the crank. The good stuff comes out one spout, the bad stuff another. I often send the "bad stuff' (seeds, skin, etc.) through one more time to get all the good stuff out that I can. And yes, this year I remembered to add lemon juice to my tomato sauce. I still need to make applesauce (no apples from my dad this year, sniff, so I bought some) and I want to re-do my spicy tomato juice from last year with the food strainer so poor hubs doesn't have to chew it as he drinks it.

What are you preserving? Any tips for me?

Head over to Tammy's Recipes for more Kitchen Tips.

Review - Cabela's Heavy Duty Dehydrator

For my birthday and mother's day present, Hubs told me I could get a dehydrator this year. I had been eyeing the high-end Excalibur dehydrators, but found the Cabela's Heavy Duty Dehydrator that has 10 trays and seemed similar to the Exclaibur. I couldn't find any sort of comparison anywhere, and a question to Cabela's customer service went unanswered.

A few weeks ago, we received a coupon from Cabela's in the mail, so we decided to pull the trigger on buying the dehydrator. So far, I really like it! [No, Cabela's didn't give me anything to write this review. Since my question didn't get answered, I'm pretty sure they don't know I exist. But if they wanted to send me a little somethin'-somethin', I wouldn't be opposed...] Katie at Kitchen Stewardship has a great comparison today of the Excalibur Dehydrator Head to Head with the Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator, and I thought I'd weigh in with my comments on the Cabela's version. Note that I haven't actually used either the Excalibur or the Nesco, I'm just commenting based on what Katie said.

By the way, we received a Cabela's ad in the mail today that notes the same model will be on sale for $99.99! The sale runs Saturday, June 26 from 8AM to noon ONLY. The original price is $149.99, so that's a very good deal... better than what we paid with the coupon, grr. Ah, well, I've really been enjoying it the past few weeks, so I can't complain. You can check the web site here to see if there is a store near you - the sale is in-store only.

The Cabela's dehydrator differs from the Excalibur as follows:

* Size - the trays are smaller on the Cabela's, but there are also 10 trays versus nine for the Excalibur. The overall size is 13"x18.5" for the Cabela's with 11"x14.5" trays; and 16.5"x19" for the Excalibur with 15"x15" trays.

* Similar to the Nesco, the trays are "what you see is what you get" - there are no screens or liners. (Though the Nesco may come with fruit roll liners, or at least you can purchase them separately.) I have found a lot of things fall through the holes in the tray. Apparently, Cabela's does not manufacture any sort of a liner for these. I considered purchasing Excaliabur liners and cutting them down, though I'm not sure what they are made of, so that might not work. The instruction manual for the Cabela's one has a fruit roll recipe that references liners, but an internet search led me to learn that they are coated with teflon, anyway, so no thank you!

To make soaked oats, I simply cut some parchment paper to approximately the size and shape of my trays, less 3/4 of an inch or so on the edges so there would be some air flow. I have used (and re-used) these pieces several times and they're still doing fine. I plan to give them a good wipe with a dish rag next time I wash dishes, but I haven't bothered doing anything else besides brush them off so far.

* I haven't found it to be terribly noisy or that it warms the room too awful much - I have used it in my laundry room (that tends to be warm anyway) and mostly it stays in the spare bedroom.

* There is no cover or door for the front like the Excalibur has. Instead, the trays have a "front" to them, so when they're all closed, they basically create their own door. I haven't found this to be a problem. I even have used the dehydrator to raise dough, and just removed the trays so my bowl fit. I'll admit it didn't seem to raise in record time, but probably a bit more quickly than in my air-conditioned kitchen. Perhaps next time, I'll hang a towel over the front and anchor it with something heavy on top.

* After using it a few times, they trays seem to catch on each other, so that as I'm pulling one out, another seems to pull out with it. I'm not sure why, but so far, it is only a minor annoyance. If it gets to be a major annoyance, I'll contact Cabela's customer service and complain.

* It hasn't bothered me that the shelves don't have sides. I typically bring the trays to the kitchen, load them, and then return them two or three at a time, and I haven't spilled yet. (Wow, that is probably tempting fate...)

* Similar to the Excalibur, it is large and heavy. It isn't something I'd leave on my kitchen counter, which is why I don't, I guess.

* The Cabela's dehydrator does not come with a timer to shut itself off. However, we have a plug-in timer that we got at Wal-Mart or some such that would work fine if I needed something shut off at an inconvenient time. From what I have tried so far, though, I feel it is similar to a crock pot in that another couple of hours won't really hurt.

EDIT: I forgot to mention... I don't think the dehydrator gets as hot as it says it does. I ran it at 165, and put my probe thermometer in varying racks; it never registered above 135. I ran it at 135, and it stayed right about 120. Not sure if that's common to dehydrators or what, but it's a bit disconcerting.

Anybody have any questions or comments about dehydrators? I'm totally fascinated by them and looking forward to using the heck out of mine! I'm linking this post to Frugal Fridays at Life As Mom.

Also, for more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes.

Freezing in Plastic

I'm a big proponent of freezing food, and also a big proponent of re-using containers, whatever they may be. However, did you know that when plastic freezes, it becomes brittle? This also goes for plastic bags (such as the ones with zip tops), to some degree.

This becomes a problem when you, say, drop something frozen on the floor (or against other frozen items). You have the hard floor meeting something frozen solid (and ice crystals can be SHARP!), with brittle plastic in between. Even pin-holes, which are almost undetectable, will let air in and moisture out, leading to frostbite if you put it back in the freezer. If you drop it while removing from the freezer, you'll want to take care in the way you thaw it because it could leak.

I was reminded of this while I was thawing frozen tomatoes to use in spicy tomato juice, salsa, and tomato sauce. I put the bags of tomatoes in the bath tub to thaw since I could spread them out and there would be no danger of condensation damaging the surface underneath. I picked one up, and water just *streamed* out of a hole the diameter of my pinky finger. I was pretty thankful it was still over the bath tub!

For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

Freezing Tomatoes and Green Peppers

This summer, I've been blessed to have tomatoes coming out my ears. Not literally, thank goodness, but from my garden. This picture shows one picking - I've done that a few times a week for the past two or three months! I've given some away, canned spicy tomato juice and jalapeños, frozen jalapeños, salsa, canned tomato sauce (need to post about that!), but freezing tomatoes is my go-to thing. Back when I was first gardening, I didn't really have enough tomatoes to can, nor the equipment or courage to do it anyway. So I froze them. I still like to have some in the freezer, plus it's a good way to keep them until I get enough to can juice or sauce.

I pick all the ripe ones, then wash out one side of my sink. I rinse the tomatoes individually under running water on the other side, rubbing my hands over the outside to remove any debris and using my thumb to pop the stem off, and stack them in the clean side.


I then core each tomato by cutting around the stem area so it makes a little cone. Pull the cone out, and discard. If there are any bad spots, I cut around them. The tomato at right was chomped on by grasshoppers, and I ended up cutting off the entire top half of the tomato to get out the "ick". I start by cutting conservatively, then give it a sniff. If I smell anything bad, I rinse my knife and keep cutting until all I can smell is summer sunshine and fresh tomato.

I then put the whole tomato (or what's left after cutting out the bad spots) in freezer bags. I've found that if you quarter or halve the tomatoes, you can fit far more in a bag, but then it's much more difficult to remove them without completely thawing.

I use these tomatoes in unstuffed green peppers (recipe coming soon!) and any recipe calling for whole or diced tomatoes. I don't care for the texture of canned diced tomatoes, so I usually puree them or just use sauce if appropriate instead.

Note that I don't blanch the tomatoes - I prefer to keep the skins on because they're easier to separate without thawing. To use, I just pull out the number of tomatoes I need and run the still-frozen tomatoes under warm water. The skins slips right off. I then thaw and use, or in the case of soup and the like, I toss the whole frozen tomato in and just let it thaw.


I also froze some "green pepper pucks" for the first time this year. I usually wash my peppers, quarter them, cut out the seeds and membranes, and just freeze that way, but I thought I'd go one step further this year.

I used my chop wizard to mince the pieces (I prefer my green pepper small), then packed them pretty tightly in the cups of my silicone muffin pan. I added just enough water to come to the top so they would hold together, then froze it. Once solid, I popped the pucks out of the muffin pan and put them in a freezer bag. My muffin pan cups hold just under 1/2 cup each. Again, depending on the circumstances, I will either thaw and drain the peppers, or just toss them in and let them melt. (Note that you need a cookie sheet under the muffin pan for stability.)

For more frugal ideas, visit Life as MOM!

Cutting and Freezing Jalapeños

The pepper plants in my garden continue to produce well, and I still have some blooms so it looks like we'll be getting peppers up until it freezes. (Which, based on the buzzing insects - locusts or cicadas, whatever you call them - may not be too far away!) I canned some jalapeños but I like to freeze some, too.

Kitchen tip: ALWAYS wear gloves when cutting jalapeños. Seriously. It is SO NOT worth the burn! You can get plastic or latex gloves similar to what food service workers wear that are pretty cheap, but they can be a bit flimsy. Replace them as soon as you notice them sticking to your hand - that means you likely have a leak somewhere. Wash your hands immediately. DO NOT rub your face, eyes, or anything else. If you wear contacts, I highly recommend removing them before working on the jalapeños just in case. That is the reason Alton Brown always wears glasses now.

If you do find yourself suffering from "jalapeño hands", you can visit this post by Newly Purnell for a number of suggestions for relief. (warning - some comments are a bit crass, and some contain swear words - that pain would drive a saint to drink, though . . .) It sounds like different things work for different people. Some that I noticed included:
* milk - I recommend pouring on a cloth or paper towel and applying that to the burning area
* rubbing alcohol (also pour on cloth and apply) and/or hand sanitizer
* rubbing the affected area on something made of stainless steel if possible
* paste made of baking soda and water
* Calamine lotion
* An anti-oil facial astringent or anti-oil acne cream containing benzoyl peroxide
* honey
and many, many more.

Actually, I'm thinking I might declare a pair of rubber gloves (like those used for washing dishes) for jalapeño use only, because I tend to use my left thumbnail and index fingernail to scrape out seeds and membranes, which eventually weakens the glove and that leads to a very high likelihood of jalapeño hands.

To freeze "whole" jalapeños, I cut the tops off, then run the tip of my knife around the top of the pepper between the flesh and the seed pod in the center, through the ribs, or membranes. I then make one cut down to the bottom tip. I open the pepper up, remove the seed pod, try to remove as much of the ribs as I can, and all the loose seeds. I then put them in a freezer zip top bag and freeze. Today I fit about 32 jalapeños per quart bag, though I could have packed a few more in if needed.

Hubs likes jalapeños but isn't crazy about cream cheese, so the standard jalapeño popper recipes aren't his cup of tea. A few years ago, I came across a recipe for Jalapeño Chicken Wraps in a Taste of Home magazine that Hubs really likes.

I found that in order to get the bacon as crisp as he likes it, I needed to pre-cook the bacon if I used the grill. I have also made them in the oven, and that seems to crisp the bacon better.

Enjoy your hot peppers - but do it safely! And for more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

Canning Spicy Tomato Juice & Jalapeños

It's been a while since I've introduced a new category to my blog, and I hope this one ends up with lots of posts eventually! This week, I canned spicy tomato juice. It's a recipe I've had for a while (and I actually managed to track down via the Taste of Home website - spicy tomato juice recipe) and I'm sure I clipped it because it gives instructions on freezing it. I've been afraid of canning for a long time (something about sending your whole family to the hospital does that to a girl) but I really want to conquer it!

There are still quite a few tomatoes in my freezer from last year (I'll have to share with you how I freeze tomatoes!) so I tried using about half frozen and half fresh. I ended up making about half again the recipe, although I ended up with about double the yield. I also didn't pay strict attention to the amounts, just put in about what I thought it should be and had Hubs taste test it when it was done. (YOU tell ME how many tiny onions make up "three medium onions" worth - plus half again, to boot!)

I will use about two quarts of this when I make chili (mmmMMM, can't wait until I make it so I can share that recipe with you!) and I also canned several smaller jars as Hubs enjoys it in a red beer every now and then.

Surely you know I couldn't do this without an "incident" right? Since tomatoes are so acidic, I went with my dad's advice that I didn't need to put them in a water bath to can them. So I washed the jars in HOT soapy water (using rubber gloves - it was that hot), and rinsed them in HOT water, then filled them with HOT juice, then put HOT lids on them and screwed on the rings. Then I started clicking around to some friends' sites, and got nervous.

I ended up removing the lids, using new (boiled) lids, and processing them in a water bath. (EDIT: I now am adding lemon juice to each jar, and I've also read that juice should be processed in a pressure canner. Good grief this stuff is complicated, isn't it???) Since I had a bit of extra space, I also made some pickled jalapeños since Hubs likes them.

Like everyone's kitchen, mine HEATS UP when canning . . . some things that I did to try and keep it cool included:
* setting a fan in the doorway to blow cool air in (while Goose was napping, of course).
* dumping my hot water as soon as I was done with it (I would also recommend taking it outside to cool and then using it on your garden).
* taking my jars from the water bath into the bathroom to cool - I lined the tub with a towel and set them in there. I also put the pot in there until it cooled down.

I also wasn't quite sure where to store my newly canned treasures. Away from heat and light is recommended . . . so I put them under the bed in the spare room! It's close enough to the kitchen that they won't be hard to grab when I need them.

If you're new to canning, I highly recommend Laura at Heavenly Homemaker's Canning 101, and you may remember that Lori at A Frugally Old Fashioned Homemaker put together a great post on Helpful Canning Information.