Category Archives: canning
March Stock Up
March has so many different holidays in many cultures so there is all sorts of basic ingredients on sale! What better time to stock up?
For holidays we have (in order) Ramadan, Purim, St Patrick’s Day, Holi, Palm Sunday and Easter. In addition to the items on the stock up list, which is fairly generic, you can also find on sale lots of dried fruits, nuts and seeds. Corned beef and cabbage should be on sale near the middle of the month (and cabbage dehydrates wonderfully). Of course with Easter there’s mountains of sweets and hopefully we will see turkey or ham be on sale.
Additionally it’s a good time to grab oxygen absorbers, candles and garden seeds.
Sour Cherries
Hey! I was lucky enough to find a sour cherry tree in my neighbourhood. So I took the kids and we loaded up. 
We got a good amount in a short amount of time. The trees are almost always full of fruit because people try one, thinking they’re regular cherries and don’t like them due to the sourness.
I had enough to make jam so I tried a new recipe. It didn’t set for me but next time I’ll either add pectin or boil longer. It’s still delicious and is being used in drinks and on ice cream.
I took 12 cups of pitted sour cherries and 5 cups of white sugar. Bring to a boil and left it boiling heavily for about an hour while my jars (8 250 ml jars) were in a hot water bath.
At this point I’d recommend testing for viscosity by taking out a bit and doing the wrinkle test.
I was impatient I guess and just canned it at that point. I left 1″ headspace in my jars and then boiled the jars for 10 minutes. They then sat on the counter for 24 hours while they sealed and cooled.
If you didn’t want to go this route, sour cherries are also good dehydrated with a bit of sugar, or frozen and added to baked goods.
Using the Tomato Harvest: Salsa!
Every year, I make my own salsa and can it. Every year I make more than the previous year and I still haven’t managed to be able to make it last over the winter. My vegetables this year in the garden did terribly, so when I saw that the grocery store had 50 lbs of tomatoes on for $10, I jumped all over that chance.
Here’s my favorite salsa recipe. I got it originally from my friend Judy (may she rest in peace) and altered it because she doesn’t add nearly enough heat for my family.
Salsa:
8 cups of Roma tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
4 cups onions, chopped
4 cups sweet peppers, chopped
1/4 cup vinegar
5 cloves garlic (or to taste)
Jalepeno pepper or to taste (I usually add a lot of jalepenos and Thai chilies but we like it really spicy)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp oregano (to taste)
1/2 tsp coriander
2-3 tbsp salt
Cook until veggies are done then add a small can of tomato paste. Cook for another
5-10 minutes then put into sterilized jars. Place your filled jars in a water bath canner and process for 20 minutes.
Home canned foods can last a long time but are usually best if consumed within a year to 18 months of canning.
Preserving Corn (While We Can Afford To)
Thanks to the weather conditions all over North America, crops are failing at alarming rates, especially corn. The price of corn has sky rocketed and I can only assume will continue to do so. Corn is of course animal feed but it is also a major ingredient in just about everything we buy today. I went to the farmers market and was asked to buy corn for $5 a dozen (this of course is locally grown but not organic). Later that same week, corn was on sale at the grocery store for $2 for 10 cobs. I grabbed as much of the $2 corn as I could (it also happened to be local).
You can freeze a cob of corn as is. No prep. Don’t shuck it or cook it, just throw it in the freezer (although I usually look for bugs and give it a rinse first). To cook your frozen cobs of corn, you can cook them with the husks on (takes a bit longer) or you can husk them while frozen and just throw the frozen corn in the boiling water just like you would if it was raw. The corn is best if used before 8-12 months in the freezer.
Corn can be canned using a pressure canner. Because it is a low acid food, you cannot properly can corn in a water bath canner. Make sure you use an USDA approved corn canning recipe.
The easiest and most space effective way for me to preserve corn is of course my ever faithful dehydrator (which you can purchase here). To do this, you can cook your corn as if you were going to eat it. Once it is cool to the touch, slice the corn off the cob. Break up the little pieces of corn and spread it out on your dehydrator trays. It takes around 6 hours (or more depending on the humidity in your area) for the corn to dry. I find frozen bagged niblets of corn dehydrate a lot faster (and sometimes nicer) than your own cobs. Once it is dehydrated, you can enjoy it as is for a snack. It is sweet and crunchy (make sure you drink lots of water). You can also grind it into corn meal or corn flour. You can add it, as is, to soup or stews.
I’m personally going to do as much as I can. There has been rumor of the cost of corn going up to $9 a bushel in some areas.
Make sure to store your dehydrated corn in a cool, dry area in a airtight container.
10 cobs of corn fit into one standard sandwich bag when dehydrated
Tips for Keeping Up Morale
Life post-SHTF will be very different than what we are used to. Different, harder, crueler and probably nothing like we expect it to be. We will have to deal with boredom (which can be a killer). People in the same environment for extended periods with a loss of privacy, a lack of hygiene, emotional issues, not to mention food fatigue and the digestive problems this can bring on will definitely need something to keep their minds off of things.
All of this is enough to bring anyone down. It is important to keep morale high. Boredom can lead to depression and depression can lead to a loss of will to live. This obviously is counter productive to our survival plans. So:
Give people a job to do, establish a routine. I’ve said it before, people thrive on routines. When you know what to expect and what your day looks like, it makes it easier to deal with.
Make sure you have entertainment. Books, games, decks of cards, coloring books for the kids, anything. If you don’t have a physical source of entertainment, put on a play, sing some songs or have a talent show.
Learn some skills that are fun and productive. Knitting or crocheting (which can be done with whittled sticks and plant made fibers!) can produce clothing, wash cloths, blankets and even nets for fishing. Wood working can make utensils (for eating and cooking), bows and arrows for hunting and improve your shelter!
Include some goodies in your preps. Candies or chocolates, stored in cool dark locations, can last almost indefinitely. I’ve seen freeze dried candies, as well as vacuum sealed mason jars of treats. (PLEASE do not throw out chocolate that has gone white! As a former chef I can tell you that it is NOT mold! It is called bloom and it is the fat in the chocolate separating. You can eat it as is or you can melt it down and mix the fats back in.) For the adults: a small bottle of your favorite liquor might be more to your taste. Or add a case of your family’s favorite soda to help ease the transition.
Above all else, never give up hope!
Strawberry Jam – no pectin
Strawberry jam is a yearly occurrence in our house. Everyone loves strawberries (so much in fact that last year when I purchased two flats of strawberries, they were gone in a few days before I could make the jam). I always use local strawberries because the flavor is amazing (so much more so than berries that have ripened on a truck).
This is the recipe my grandmother used, I’m pretty sure it’s the Bernardin recipe, so clearly I don’t own it.
Place 8 250ml size jars (available here) on a rack in a water canner and heat to a simmer (make sure water is covering the jars). Heat snap lids separately. Keep hot until ready for use.
Bring mixture of 8 cups strawberries (crushed), 6 cups sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice to a boil slowly. (make sure sugar is dissolved so it doesn’t stick to the bottom). Boil for about 30 minutes or until the mixture thickens and passes the ‘gelling test’. (Coat a spoon with the jam and move it away from your pot, watch the jam slide off the spoon, if it falls in chunks instead of drips, its ready).
Pour your hot jam into the hot jars leaving a quarter inch of headspace. Keep your rims clean! Place your snap lid on the jar and screw the band on until finger tight. Boil filled jam jars for 10 minutes. Pull out and let sit for 24 hours (do not move them).
Traditionally, items canned like this last for about a year (not exactly long-term food storage) but I’ve used them after the year has come and gone.
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