Cooking/Food thread

[OKRuss]

A couple months back my daughter gave me two cucumber starts she’d grown so I planted them in one of my salad boxes. She later informed me they were pickling cucumbers so guess what? Took my first crack at canning some pickles and darn it they turned out really good. I nice crisp dill pickle which is my wife’s favorite.
View attachment 493506

Did you can them via a water bath? We used to do that but went to refrigerator dills. Easier but have to wait longer before eating.

 

[Firpo]

Did you can them via a water bath? We used to do that but went to refrigerator dills. Easier but have to wait longer before eating.

Yup, processed them for 15 minutes which is what the distractions called for being we’re over 1000 feet.

 

[OKRuss]

Yup, processed them for 15 minutes which is what the distractions called for being we’re over 1000 feet.

That's how Mom always did it when we were growing up. She switched methods probably 10 years ago and never looked back. If you were closer, I'd share some of our refrigerator dills and bread & butter ones. IMO, they stay crispy much longer. Some that are 2-3 yrs old still have that crunch but we generally jar only whole cucumbers instead of slices.

 

[Firpo]

If you were closer, I'd share some of our refrigerator dills and bread & butter ones.

And if I lived closer I’d eat’m. Question for you? Is it normal for them to darken after a few days? Here’s a picture maybe an hour after they came out of the pot.

 

[OKRuss]

And if I lived closer I’d eat’m. Question for you? Is it normal for them to darken after a few days? Here’s a picture maybe an hour after they came out of the pot.
View attachment 493531

Yeah, a little. With the hot water bath, you're boiling/cooking the cucumbers and soaking in the brine. Even the whole ones we put in fridge will discolor some. We add 'pickle crisp' to ours which I don't think we did when canning and I think it helps ours stay crunchy longer. You can likely use the same brine if want to jar up some carrots, jalapenos and onions. Mom even canned pickled asparagus.

I like your stainless top table in the kitchen!

 

[swampratt]

Blackberry jam. Straining and or crushing seeds. And sugar-pectin-juice amounts

I made a few batches lately with the berries I have picked.
Wife does not like all the seeds and some of these berries are small so that leaves less fruit juice and more seeds.

I used a food processor and blended all the berries and seeds.
I poured some into a wire strainer and took a hard spoon and began pushing the pulp and juice through the strainer.
45 minutes later i was finished with 4.5 cups of juice.

I needed 5 and had about 3/4 of a cup of seeds with some pulp attached.

Oh well lets do some math on the recipe on the Sure-Jell yellow box.

Cooked jam usually calls of 1 box Sure-Jell and 5 cups juice and 7 cups sugar.

Now I broke it all down and came up with 2.6 teaspoons Sure-Jell, 1.5 cups of sugar and 1 cup Juice.

Excellent jam.

Now the last 2 batches I wanted to use the seeds and not waste so much pulp.
I blended the berries in the food processor and then ran the liquefied berries through a grain mill.

Yea it took a bit and was noisy but it was 3x faster than the spoon strainer method.
My grain mill attaches to a kitchen aid mixer and is the same brand.

Seeds got pulverized and I do believe those seeds have added protein and pectin and other good things for you.

Something I found out pulverizing the seeds like that is the jam sets up much stiffer so you could back off the sugar.

Some say no pectin is needed for Blackberry jam just use some lemon juice.
I have not tried that.

My method is cold berry juice in the pot and add Sure-Jell and mix with wire wish and cook on medium heat until it is boiling while mixing and boil for 1 minute then add sugar and mix until it all boils again.
Reduce heat and small bubbly boil while mixing for 5 more minutes and then pour into jars and seal.

My jars are all cleaned and then stuck into a microwave and heated for 30 seconds at a time until you can pick them up but not hold them for very long.

Maybe 5 30 second runs and do this at the end when you need the hot jars.

My flat lids are simmered in a pot of water.
Water drained and paper towels are used to dry the lids before I place them on the hot Jam filled jars.

Never had any jam go bad with this method.
No water bath and no need to flip the jars upside down.

 

[OKRuss]

Blackberry jam. Straining and or crushing seeds. And sugar-pectin-juice amounts

I made a few batches lately with the berries I have picked.
Wife does not like all the seeds and some of these berries are small so that leaves less fruit juice and more seeds.

I used a food processor and blended all the berries and seeds.
I poured some into a wire strainer and took a hard spoon and began pushing the pulp and juice through the strainer.
45 minutes later i was finished with 4.5 cups of juice.

I needed 5 and had about 3/4 of a cup of seeds with some pulp attached.

Oh well lets do some math on the recipe on the Sure-Jell yellow box.

Cooked jam usually calls of 1 box Sure-Jell and 5 cups juice and 7 cups sugar.

Now I broke it all down and came up with 2.6 teaspoons Sure-Jell, 1.5 cups of sugar and 1 cup Juice.

Excellent jam.

Now the last 2 batches I wanted to use the seeds and not waste so much pulp.
I blended the berries in the food processor and then ran the liquefied berries through a grain mill.

Yea it took a bit and was noisy but it was 3x faster than the spoon strainer method.
My grain mill attaches to a kitchen aid mixer and is the same brand.

Seeds got pulverized and I do believe those seeds have added protein and pectin and other good things for you.

Something I found out pulverizing the seeds like that is the jam sets up much stiffer so you could back off the sugar.

Some say no pectin is needed for Blackberry jam just use some lemon juice.
I have not tried that.

My method is cold berry juice in the pot and add Sure-Jell and mix with wire wish and cook on medium heat until it is boiling while mixing and boil for 1 minute then add sugar and mix until it all boils again.
Reduce heat and small bubbly boil while mixing for 5 more minutes and then pour into jars and seal.

My jars are all cleaned and then stuck into a microwave and heated for 30 seconds at a time until you can pick them up but not hold them for very long.

Maybe 5 30 second runs and do this at the end when you need the hot jars.

My flat lids are simmered in a pot of water.
Water drained and paper towels are used to dry the lids before I place them on the hot Jam filled jars.

Never had any jam go bad with this method.
No water bath and no need to flip the jars upside down.

Sounds really good! Growing up, Mom would melt paraffin wax and pour about 1/2" of it on top of the jam/jelly. It would cool and contents set up fine. Had to break the wax in half or run a knife along the edge to get it off/out. Can't remember if she heated up the lids. We do when making the refrigerator pickles.

 

[OKRuss]

These are both a year old and been in fridge since last July. There is some discoloration but not bad.

 

[dennishoddy]

These are both a year old and been in fridge since last July. There is some discoloration but not bad. View attachment 493551View attachment 493552

Thats the way I like them. With a little heat.

 

[OKRuss]

Thats the way I like them. With a little heat.

We put a jalapeno and a Serrano in each qt of pickles too