My tomato plants were proficient, but our summer had very little heat so I had a LOT of green tomatoes. I found a recipe for green tomato salad which looked promising at https://natashaskitchen.com/canned-green-tomato-salad-recipe/ The canning advice at the end is questionable at best. All canning needs to be correctly processed. Turning your jars upside down to get them to seal is outdated and not safe. I researched a few recipes and spoke with people who know things and stuff…and adjusted the recipe to conclude with a 20 minute water bath…

As always,my comments and twists are noted in italics throughout the recipe below:

Salad for everyone

Prep

The right tools make the job so much easier. I have a lil with fine motor delays who loves to help Mama in the kitchen….so I have found things to make him as independent as possible. (a separate blog article for another time perhaps)

Grating all these carrots was a challenge-but I own a tupperware crank grater that was kind of pricey but I use almost weekly…after a year it has paid for itself…

The recipe

ngredients

Salad Ingredients:

• 7 lb green tomatoes 30-40 medium tomatoes
• 1.5 lb carrots 9-10 carrots
• 3 lb onion 6-7 medium onions
• 6 Tbsp salt 3.5oz or 100g

Syrup ingredients:

• 1 cup Canola oil 200g
• 1 1/4 cup of white vinegar 300g
• 1 cup sugar
• 5-6 whole black peppercorns
• 5 bay leaves

Instructions

Clean/Sterilize Your Jars

Making Canned Green Tomatoes Salad:

1. Wash all the vegetables. Using a sharp knife, cut each tomato in half, remove the stem part then cut tomatoes into 1/3″-thick slices. Place cut tomatoes in a large mixing bowl. I had some baby tomatoes that i simply halved.
2. Grate carrots on the larger holes of the grater. Add grated carrots to the bowl of tomatoes. See above for my marvelous tool….
3. Finally peel and cut each onion in half, then in half again, then slice them into thick slices. Add sliced onions to the bowl with tomatoes and carrots. Don’t slice the onion too thin or it will become to soft while cooking the salad. The amount of veggies I had at this point was greater than the size of my largest bowl. I mixed them in 2 bowls,even ratios and divided the salt accordingly.
4. Add 6 Tbsp of salt to the bowl with vegetables, mix them well, cover with plastic wrap and let the mixture sit for 12 hours at room temp. It’s best to add salt in the evening, so that in the morning you can drain the juice. Twelve hours later drain the juices from the vegetables.
5. In a large cooking pot, big enough to fit all the vegetables, mix together 1 cup of Canola oil, 1 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of sugar until it dissolves. I did not think this was enough “dressing” so I doubled the recipe. Add drained vegetables to the pot and mix them so they will be coated with the syrup. Finish by adding 5-6 peppercorns and 5 bay leaves. I added about 15 peppercorns …I like to live dangerously. Cover and bring the pot to a boil and cook vegetables on med/high heat for 30 minutes, stirring 3-4 times in the process.
6. While vegetables are cooking, clean and sterilize your jars and lids.
7. When 30 minutes are up, remove vegetables from heat and add them to each jar while piping hot, leaving just 1/4″ space at the rim. Pack the veggies in (you don’t want air pockets). PACK the veggies…you do NOT want air pockets. Use a butter knife or spacer tool thingy to remove bubbles. Next, screw the lid on and flip each jar over until they cool off. Do not do that! INSTEAD – clean off your rims and put heated lids and rings on. Hand tighten and waterbath 15-20 minutes. Remove and let stand for 24 hours. store any jars which don’t seal in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

I chose to can nectarines because I didn’t have to peel them… there, the truth is out now.

Prepping the Nectarines

Nectarines are quite simple to prep. Wash, slice and remove the pit and go.

I learned a couple of tricks though. You can cut them in half and remove the pit and then slice them…but i had trouble breaking them in half. If I cut them into segments and then just popped them off the pit one at a time I found it worked so much better!

I also found that adding a little lemon to some water in the bowl I was putting the slices in kept them nice and fresh.

The recipe I started with was simple enough and can be found here.. https://www.attainable-sustainable.net/canning-nectarines/

In her blog she reminds us that honey is not safe to feed lil people under 18 months of age. Please keep that in mind if making this recipe.

I however made some changes in how the recipe is put together…my notes are in italics as always.

The recipe

Ingredients

• 8-10 nectarines- I found about 3 nectarines = 1 pint
• 4 cups water
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 ½ finely grated fresh ginger root ¼ tsp per jar – I used fresh ginger in a paste from the produce section
• 6 tablespoons blueberries (1 tablespoon per jar) – I was very loosey goosey with this….read on

Instructions

1. Cut each nectarine in half, remove pit, and then cut each quarter into three pieces.  see above notes on cutting in sections.
2. To keep the fruit from darkening, place the slices in water containing lemon juice, ascorbic acid (3 grams ascorbic acid to 1 gallon of cold water), or vinegar. Drain.
3. Add ¼ teaspoon fresh grated ginger, plus 1 tablespoon blueberries to the bottom of each jar. I did this with the first 6 jars.. I wasn’t happy with how all the blueberries were trapped at the bottom and I didn’t think the ginger mixed in with the syrup as well…. so for the next batches I added the ginger to the syrup as I made it. I layered blueberries with the nectarines when I packed them. I was much happier with the result.
4. Pack nectarine slices into pint jars, leaving ½ an inch of headspace from the top of the jar. 
5. Boil 4 cups of water and add ¾ cup honey to make light honey syrup. I found this was enough syrup for 3 – 1 pint jars. You can easily double etc. to get the amount of syrup you need.
6. Cover the nectarines and spices with boiling light honey syrup, keeping the ½ inch headspace.
7. Swipe a butter knife or spatula around the outside of the jars to release air bubbles. Cap the jars. I bought one of those spacer tools, and it is surprisingly better than a butter knife.
8. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or process as directed below. 

Canning nectarines

1. Be sure to leave at least ¼” headspace. Wipe rims clean and place lids and rings onto jars finger-tight.
2. Process jars in a water bath canner for 25 minutes per pint or 30 minutes per quart using a raw pack method.
3. After processing, remove jars from canner and allow to cool on a towel for 24 hours. Before storing, check for seal. Store sealed jars in the pantry. Opened or unsealed jars of canned nectarines should be kept in the refrigerator.

You can play with how much ginger you use as well….overall this recipe is a real crowd pleaser….it is just prettier the way I did it 😉

I have been afraid of working with peaches…the peeling, the blanching….I love how they look in their jars but…well I don’t have a lot of feeling in my fingers due to my burns..so fine motor skills can be a challenge….which is why I can nectarines and not peaches…but

I found this bbq sauce recipe and the small amount of peaches did not seem too intimidating so I thought I would try it.

I also had just become the owner of a blanching pot….totally by accident. A nice family was giving things away and I took it thinking it was a small canning pot….happy accident for me.

I found that the riper the peaches were the easier the blanching went.

Blanch Blanch baby…

I boiled some water on the stove and worked with 4 or 5 peaches at a time. I scored the bottoms of the peaches with an x and I placed the peaches in the boiling water for 3-4 minutes.

I filled my sink with ice cold water and when the timer went off I tossed the peaches into the sink. The riper ones had the skin just fall right off. I had to work a little more with the others….it wasn’t pretty but it worked….and since they were going into sauce I thought it was just fine…

The original recipe I used can be found here https://www.freshpreserving.com/zesty-peach-barbecue-sauce-%7C-peach-barbecue-sauce-recipe—ball-br1058.html

It made 7 – 1 cup jars for me.

YOU WILL NEED

• 6 cups finely chopped pitted peeled peaches (about 3 lb or 9 medium) I used my food processor to chop them up, and all the veggies.
• 1 cup finely chopped seeded red bell pepper (about 1 large)
• 1 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 large)
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped garlic (about 14 cloves)
• 1-1/4 cups honey a note in Canada….check your ingredients on your honey if it is store bought….some so called honey are actually mostly corn syrup….
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp hot pepper flakes this can be reduced if you don’t like it too spicy. My first batch I did not measure carefully and dumped a whole bunch in… I like it, but it was sassier than expected.
• 2 tsp dry mustard
• 2 tsp salt
• 8  Ball® (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands 
• Optional:Ball^® freshTECH Electric Water Bath Canner + Multicooker

DIRECTIONS

1. PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil.  Wash lids in warm soapy water and set bands aside.
   
2. COMBINE all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens to the consistency of a thin commercial barbeque sauce, about 25 minutes. If desired, puree in batches in a food processor or use an immersion blender to help break down the peaches.  I needed to blend my sauce. It still was a little chunkier than commercial sauce…but that’s ok it was mostly smooth
   
3. LADLE hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until jars are full. 
   
4. PROCESS  for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove lid and let jars stand for 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

I have made this with and without the pepper flakes…both are awesome. I actually like it on hotdogs with cheese….don’t judge me…I have small people to feed…it makes me feel like I am eating real food to add this sauce…although it is kind of a waste of something so delicious.

I was offered an opportunity to pick Carmine Jewel Cherries for FREE….well, I don’t say no to free food… so Q and I set off on our first every cherry picking adventure.

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These cherries are sour…so when I started looking for recipes to use them I was disappointed….but my thought process was…

1. Recipe is for cherries
2. Recipe has sugar in it
3. Why the heck not use sour cherries….

and I was right.

Pitting Cherries

I do not own a cherry pitter thingy. I hear they make such glorious devices…but I was without. I googled a few different methods and settled on using a stainless steel reusable drinking straw.

I simply poked it through the cherry and the pit popped out like a charm. There were a few mangled cherries but mostly they were nicely pitted.

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I stored them in 2 and 3 cup increments in freezer bags until I was ready to use them.

Making BBQ Sauce

The blog I used was https://www.daringgourmet.com/cherry-barbecue-sauce/

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 3 cups pitted cherries fresh or frozen/thawed
• 1 cup plain tomato sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 cup cane sugar, for low sugar alternative use sugar substitute, e.g. Swerve Sweetener, though if canning you’ll need to confirm if it’s suitable for that purpose)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder I used regular chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dry ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper I skipped this, my kids don’t like pepper.
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika I used regular paprika
• 1-2 teaspoons liquid smoke optional I didn’t use this either…

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a medium-sized heavy-bottomed pot and cook the onions and garlic until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes.
• I got everything measured while the garlic and onions cooked..since you basically just throw it all in the pot together this was an easy recipe to follow.
• Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth. I used my little 3 cup food processor to blend the sauce. It took a few times but it worked fine.
• Pour the sauce into non-reactive air-tight containers and store in the refrigerator. Wait at least 3 days before using to allow the flavors to meld. Will keep for up to a month.
• If canning for long-term storage, pour the hot barbecue sauce into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Remove and let the jars sit undisturbed for 24 hours before moving them to a cool place. Will keep for up to a year.

Notes

Slow Cooker Method: Alternatively, after cooking the onions and garlic you can place everything in a slow cooker and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours. Once pureed in the blender, return the sauce to the slow cooker and continue to cook uncovered if the sauce needs thickening. Cook until desired thickness is reached.

This has been fantastic on chicken!!!

Notes on spices…

If you didn’t know, dried spices are a lot more potent than fresh spices….I adjusted the spice up for one batch and made another with it as written. Both were fantastic.

I was originally going to make Chocolate Cherry Jam – but I ran out of cherries and had extra Raspberries.

This jam is decadent so I made it in small jars for treats. It is amazing in coconut squares or on a sweet bread or scones for a special tea.

This recipe taught me that it is important to taste before you seal your jars – because I was canning with a large number of small people running around the house and somehow forgot to add the sugar. Thank heavens adding it at the wrong stage (according to the recipe) still worked.

YOU WILL NEED
•       8 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
•       1/4 cup lemon juice
•       2/3 cups pure cocoa powder
•       6 Tbsp. Ball Classic Pectin – I just used one pouch of powdered certo 
•       4 cups sugar

This recipe – I can NOT find where I originally got it – so if it is yours send me a message so I can give credit where it is due!

This recipe made 8 – 1 cup jars for me.

DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.

I like to keep m stove for cooking so I brought up my big ole counter top roaster and heated water in it. I used this to keep jars hot and it was not in my way!

2.Combine raspberries and lemon juice in a large stainless-steel saucepan. (I just used my regular pots)

In a small bowl whisk cocoa powder and pectin together; add to raspberries stirring to combine.

Bring mixture to a rapid boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add the sugar and return to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

 
3.Ladle hot jam into a hot jar, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe the jar rim. Center lid on the jar, apply band and adjust to fingertip-tight . Place the jar in the boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled. 

4.Process filled jars in boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove lid and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when center is pressed. 

I didn’t do the step where I removed the heat for 5 minute. I simply waterbathed and let them stand. I had no trouble with any of my seals.

Pinterest makes me think I can do things…and sometimes they work out spectacularly!

I was trying to find something to do with a bunch of raspberries and was searching the net when I stumbled across the idea of layered jams… Why not, right?

I decided to use jams not jellies because they are a thicker consistency and I thought they would set faster so the layers wouldn’t bleed…seemed like a good call.

The best advice I read when layering the jams was to pour the second and subsequent layers over a spoon into the jar. This slowed the speed of the pour as well as prevented a big ole pit in the layer of jam below….

Making the jams

I chose a basic raspberry jam and then a crabapple jam (to which I added ginger in a moment of inspiration….or more like…hey look what I have in the fridge…)

Raspberry Jam

I took my 7 year old to a you pick raspberry farm. They should have weighed him before and after and charged me the difference for how many berries he ate…. I think he ate at least 12 cups…he also had fun being “the devil”…he quietly crawled through the patch and exchanged his berries for other’s which looked better. He was quiet so it took me a bit to catch on to what he was doing…

I used the jam recipe right off of the Certo site: http://www.kraftcanada.com/recipes/cooked-raspberry-jam-certo-liquid-182066

I was working with liquid Certo for no other reason than it was cheaper on amazon when I was ordering… I don’t have a preference for liquid or powdered…just note they don’t substitute back and forth in recipes so watch out ….

Also – as a novice jam recipe….this is my first choice for people.

Makes 8 (1-cup/250-mL) jars

• 3-3/4 cups prepared raspberries (buy about 6 cups raspberries)
• 6-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 pouch Certo Liquid Pectin

• Crush raspberries, one layer at a time. I put my raspberries in a ziploc bag and squished them to crush them…this is a fun sensory activity for young kids..Sieve half the pulp to remove seeds, if desired. I did not desire too.. Measure exactly 3-3/4 cups prepared raspberries into large saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice; mix well.
• Bring to boil on high heat; cook 1 min.
• Remove from heat. Stir in pectin.
• Stir and skim 5 min. to prevent fruit from floating to surface. Pour into warm sterilized jars, filling up to 1/4 inch from rims. Cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours or until set.

I made the jam and then set it aside until I had made the crabapple jam.

Crabapple Jam

Not having learned from taking my youngest son for raspberries, I took him and his 12 year old brother to pick crabapples…this went well for 3 minutes before the throwing of apples began….it ended with my 12 year old on his phone…which I ignored because the throwing of apples had stopped.

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There are TWO steps to this jam…I am typing them up differently than on the original blog because…..The second time I made this I got the pulp made, and then was well into the jam when I misread the recipe…I thought I needed to add the water…. I made delicious syrup…so watch what you are doing!

original recipe https://handfulandapinch.com/crab-apple-jam/

Ingredients

crab apple pulp

• 2.2lb / 1 kg fresh crab apples
• 2 C water

Instructions

crab apple pulp

rinse the crab apples in cold water, add the apples with 2 cups of water in the Instant Pot  and cook for 35 min on “soup / broth” or add the apples and 2 cups of water in a big pot and cook for about 35-40 minutes until the fruits are soft and get mushy mash with an immersion blender and over a big bowl strain through a fine strainer to separate the pulp from the seeds, stems and any hard part

I did the stovetop method and it only took 20 minutes to make mushy crab apples. I did not use an immersion blender (as I don’t have one) but I did use a food mill which was slow but did the trick.

The Jam

• 3 3/4 cups of  crab apple pulp
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla powder I didnt have this so I just skipped it.
• 10 leaves fresh mint, washed and finely cut dried or fresh lavender flowers go really well with crab apples too, use 1/2 tsp. I did not have these either and when I looked to see what I had I found ginger. I used a couple of teaspoons…which I can’t imagine being any better!!

boil water in a big pot to sterilize 5 x 6 oz / 200 ml jars and lids for about 5 minutes and set on a fresh, moist towel upside down  I had already prepared 8 2 cup jars and a couple 1 cup ones for extra

in a medium pot add the pulp, sugar and vanilla powder and cook for about 30 min on medium heat. 

If you are using cinnamon, star anise and ginger add these spices now 

Stir frequently that it does not stick on the bottom. Once in a while strain the foam on top with a fine small sieve. This foam would muddy the jam in the jars. Just collect it in a small bowl and eat it on your morning bun, toast or add it to your yoghurt

test if the jam has thickened: after the jam was boiling slowly for about 30 minutes, put a Tbsp. of the jam on a small cold plate and place in the fridge for a few minutes. The jam is ready when it is not runny anymore. If it’s still runny, just cook for 5-10 minutes more and test again. I only boiled my jam for about 20 minutes before it was jammy enough….I was using green crabapples which have lots and lots of pectin so this might be why.

Layer UP

I started with the Raspberry jam for the bottom layer and let it sit for a few minutes before slowly adding the Crabapple jam.

Once I had my lovely layers I processed the jams in a water bath for 15 minutes.

These have been well received as gifts and payments to carpool my kids!

Affectionately known in this house as….the evil raspberry jam after my 7 year old mistook it for regular raspberry jam and ate a huge mouthful….

After picking a lot of amazing raspberries I was left with a few cups to find a purpose for.. and because I was doing salsa at the same time, I had jalapenos. (After my now 19 year old son once mistook a jalapeno for a green pepper they have been purchased rarely and well advertised in the fridge to avoid accidental ingestion and eye washes)

As the proud owner of a new google home, I decided to see if google had a way to combine these two ingredients – and yes, yes she did.

The original recipe is as follows: (with a link to the original blog below) Anything in Italic type are my changes and suggestions

Jalapeño Raspberry jam
•       3 cups raspberries approximately 1 1/2 pounds (I learned there are about 4 cups in a pound)
•       1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
•       1 jalapeno sliced along the sides
•       1/2 lemon juiced

Instructions
•       Prepare a small canning pot and two half pint jars. Place lids in a small saucepan of water and bring to a bare simmer.

I made 8 – 1 cup jars with this recipe.

•       In a medium bowl, combine the raspberries and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, stir the sugar into the fruit, mashing the fruit up a bit as you go.

You can make this recipe with frozen berries as well. Just warm them up in a saucepan to defrost and add the sugar….and continue ..

•       Once the raspberries begin to release some juice and the sugar is starting to dissolve, scrape the fruit and sugar mixture into a wide, 4-quart saucepan. Add the jalapeno.

seeds of a jalapeno are spicy – so I recommend cleaning out the pepper and then slicing it down the sides but not into pieces.
•       Bring the jam to a boil over high heat, stirring regularly, until the berries break down and the syrup thickens. You should smell both the sweetness of the sugar and the heat of the chili.

Now, as a person who does not work with jalapeno very often I thought my single pepper simmering in the big pot of jam looked lonely….and the couple of slits didn’t look like they would do the job…so I added more and sliced….this worked.. a little too well. I got a hot jam (not a hot mess) rather than a mild jam….

•       Once the jam has thickened to a spreadable consistency and passes the plate test, add the lemon juice.

I have this thing about making jam with pectin…I got nervous and added a package and then added the lemon….worked fine

•       Remove pan from the heat and fish out the wilted jalapeno.

I fished my multiple wilted jalapenos out a bit earlier….and thank heavens I did….I also found there was some foaming when I boiled the jam so I carefully skimmed that off and put it to the side….. I accidentally put it next to the foam from some regular raspberry jam I had made which my 7 year old then sampled…

•       Funnel the finished jam into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.When jars are cool, remove rings and test seals. Any unsealed jars should be stored in the refrigerator.

•       Serve this jam with fresh goat cheese or alongside cold meats.

This is heartily recommend…the goat cheese is especially good with this jam.

Credit to for the original recip http://www.simplebites.net/raspberry-jalapeno-jam/