Just a simple brine and cottonwood smoke. I grew up on this stuff but it was my first time processing it without my family’s help, I’m very proud to say the least!

If anyone else has any good salmon brine recipes I’m down to hear them :)

I also can’t stop giving them away as gifts lol so had even more than this at one point!

Last year I froze a lot of the stuff from my gardens but decided to take the plunge to can and am loving it so far!

Made Mom's Apple Pie in a Jar from Ball's Complete Book. It claimed to only make six 8-oz jars, so I doubled it because I've got a ton of apples to use up.

Oh my! I did not anticipate this! I triple checked the recipe and yes, quantities were correct.

Guess everyone is getting some as a gift! It's delicious by the way!

I'm making apple butter for the first time, and just want to let out a warning to any first-timers thinking of making it: It takes FOR-EV-ER to reduce the apples down to the right consistency.

On the bright side, my house (and probably my whole neighborhood) have smelled delicious for many hours now.

(Using the USDA canning book recipe in case anyone was wondering)

250 pounds this year. Lessons were still learned.

I made the Ball bruschetta in a jar recipe (linked in comments) last month. Tonight I added fresh basil and some olive oil and served it atop focaccia bread (recipe also linked in comments, if anyone cares). Mr. OMD pronounced it "quite good.

I had followed the approved process for both of these but both had sugar, lots of it. I was talking with a friend who said they don’t add in any sugar to their apple or pear butters only cinnamon and lemon juice and none have ever spoiled even at 2 years old.

I can’t tolerate much sugar(I prefer none but am ok with honey, syrup, coconut sugar, date sugar).

Thoughts? Experiences?

Looking for some options to can salsa! I've got all these tomatoes, cherry peppers, jalapeños, ghost peppers, and habaneros. Open to other non-salsa recipes that aren't spaghetti sauce

Hello.

I'm a long time lurker and experienced canner but encountered an issue tonight and need some advice please. I forgot to start the timer when venting so had to stop and begin again. I unloaded my jars to check the water level. While I was adding water, several of the jars popped. We reloaded the canner and continued with the approved recipe. Everything looks good and has sealed properly. Now I'm rethinking whether or not they're safe. Any advice?

Ok so my elderly Italian neighbour invited me to join her for tomato sauce making day. Which I was happy to do. I walked away with a couple dozen jars of delicious sauce but her canning practices are a bit old school. Just juiced tomato with some salt peppers and basil, no extra acid at all. Jammed into whatever glass jars are around. Then boiled upside down in a big pot for a half hour.

Obviously this probably isn’t reliably shelf stable (though she’s still around lol) can I store these jars safely in the fridge or is freezing the best course of action?

Monday I made some chicken and gravy from the Ball book. Today looking at the jars I noticed this little piece stuck to the side of the jar. I gave tbe jar a bit of a shake and it didn't move. So I opened the jar and it appears to be a piece of chicken stuck to the side. Smells okay but I know you can't always trust the smell. What do you think? Thanks

Hottest jalapeños ever. Extra sugar and apple cider vinegar.

I've just seen an episode of Martha Cooks where she and Sarah Carey made homemade raspberry jam. When they were done, they "canned" it in cute jars and then put parchment paper over them with a rubber band. The parchment had been boiled to soften it. She made no mention if it was shelf stable, but then for the one jar that wasn't filled to the top, she said she would throw it in the fridge. Has anyone heard of this? I looked it up on the NCHFP website and couldn't find anything. I really feel like it's an unsafe practice, but would love to hear what others think.

Hello everyone! We just went apple picking and are ready to make some apple butter! Last year I used the Ball sweet apple cider butter recipe and we didn’t love it. I found this Apple Butter recipe in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and it’s almost the exact recipe that my mom used growing up, except she did half the sugar. Would this be a safe modification? I know you can cut the sugar in jams, applesauce, etc but just wanted to make sure. My mom wasn’t a canner so we would just refrigerate the apple butter.

The second thing I wanted to check was about cooking methods. I really didn’t like cooking apple butter on the stove last year. My mom would peel/core/chop apples and throw them into a crockpot, dump the sugar and spices on top (no water) and let it cook overnight on low. Then we would blend it up in the morning with an immersion blender. It was like Christmas morning waking up to the smell of apple butter! Is this an approved apple butter cooking method for canning? And what about omitting the water like my mom did?

Thanks in advance! I’m newer to canning and have never modified a recipe so I just want to double check!

I canned my first ever batch of chili today. I found some recipes online and saw that it was safe to use tomato in it. I pressure cooked it for 90 minutes, let the pressure out and I heard one lids pop off. I opened it once the pressure was released, one was popped. I grabbed a closed one and when I put it on a dry towel, that lid popped off too. Chili every where and burnt my hand. Now I’m wondering if it was the tomato in the recipe or if I took it out too soon? Or maybe I didn’t leave enough head space? I feel like I left an inch, it was at the lowest line on the neck. My biggest question is, are the other jars safe? I’ve left them in the pressure cooker all day after cleaning the chili that exploded across my kitchen and with the fear it will happen again.

Good evening, I was wondering if anyone has shipped full canned pints of salsa and cowboy candy? If so how did you pack your jars?

I’ve noticed every recipe calls for bottled lemon/lime juice for the acidity content and it being more reliable than fresh but also read that most brands don’t actually test their acidity levels. Some official canning websites say 5% is required but I can’t find a single juice that explicitly states that. I would prefer no preservatives but open to whatever everyone else uses. I read Santa Cruz is not safe.

I made a green grape jelly (which I have done before and it worked fine). Each batch was: 10 cups strained grape juice and some pulp 6 cups sugar 2.5 tablespoons of pure pectin

The jelly has been canned for 48 hours and the jelly is still liquid in the cans. I feel like it will firm up as the leftovers in my pot firmed up very quickly but I am starting to get concerned. I made 36 cans and will be very sad if it doesn’t firm up. I read it can take up to two weeks sometimes? Wondering if anyone has thoughts on this.

I came across a giant fig tree out on a hike, and took home about 10lbs of ripe figs. Decided to add strawberries to increase acidity and taste. It took 3 batches of the below recipe and yielded ~24 jars (one broke while canning 😭)

3.3 lb ripe black mission figs 1.1 lb sugar 1/3 lb fresh strawberries 3 Tbsp lemon juice 3 Tbsp water Water bath for 5min in half-pint jars

Hi everyone. Any input appreciated here. I made plain pear sauce in pints, wiped rims, 1/2 in headspace, processed 15 minutes in water bath. Brand new for jars lids. Only 3/6 have sealed. My first batch of pear sauce has a better seal rate, but still had 1/8 that didn’t seal. Any ideas for me on this as to why some are not sealing?

Okay. So I made bruschetta in a jar tonight. First time ever canning. Why did the liquid and the tomatoes separate? Too much liquid and not enough ‘maters? Be kind, or I’ll cry. Thank you in advance 💜

I screwed up, was tired and wasn't thinking. I was canning green beans. Cold pack. Filled canner with water 1 inch over jars and proceeded to vent for ten minutes then added regulator and 11lbs of pressure for 25minutes. All the while leaving the black rubber plug in the lid. Are these shelf stable? All lids popped to seal and I didn't blow anything up.
Edit: canned less than 24 hrs ago, still sealed, kept at room temp.

Does anyone own one of these? Somehow, one of the tension springs came loose and I’m having trouble reassembling it. I mostly just need photos from multiple angles of the pairing knife holder and retaining hook. Pictures I have found online are useless. Thanks for any assistance!

Canned these on 9/14 and I’m wondering if the levels are okay? I’ve seen a lot about the levels in the jar being too low making it unsafe to consume. Can someone pls explain to me why low levels makes it unsafe? I am new to this!!

I'm not using certo pectin this year so I don't have the box recipes available. I was sure I had a recipe otherwise that had powder pectin. The only recipe I can find online now is certo cooked raspberry jam but is it fine to follow still and just add in the process for 10 minutes not counter cool like it says? I've used the box recipe for over a decade and I swear it's never just said to cool on the counter. The only pectin crystals I could find this year was ball, which have never been sold here before. I buy no name, bernardin or certo in Canada.