Blueberries in Syrup

So, yesterday I took 4 dry pints of blueberries and mixed them with about 3/4 c of sugar. I let them sit for a couple of hours and then put them on the stove under gentle heat. I watched them very closely. I wanted the sugar to melt but not get them hot enough for the berries to pop. Once they were off the heat, I added a generous "glug" of Grand Marnier. They are very tasty. I ended up with 3 pints canned.

Sweet Icicle Pickles, the conclusion

Well, this is how they ended up. I am overall happy with them. They are very sweet, but yeah, they are "sweet" icicle pickles!! Anyway, for some unknown reason I didn't trim the blossom end and I think they are a bit limp due to that. Otherwise they are a bit sweet for my taste but still really good. I think they would pair well with something really spicy!

Dilled Green Tomato Pickles

Dilled Green Tomato Pickles
Ball Blue Book, page 54
yield about 6 pints

5 pounds small, firm green tomatoes
1/4 cup canning salt
3 1/2 cups vinegar
3 1/2 cips water
6 or 7 cloves garlic
6 or 7 heads fresh dill or 1/4 cup dill seeds
6 or 7 bay leaves

Wash tomatoes; drain. Core tomaotes; cut into halves or quarters. Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Pack tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Add 1 clove of garlic, 1 head of dill (or 2 teaspoons dill seeds) an 1 bay leaf to each jar. Ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

NOTES
--I used the dried dill
--I don't know how these taste yet as they need to sit for 6-8 weeks for the flavor to develop.

Peaches!

Well, that bushel of peaches finally got peeled and cut up last week. Most of it got cut up and put in bags of 4 cups for later preserving. Of course there were several 2 cup baggies that are the perfect size for homemade peach ice cream!

This is a shot of the peach preserves that I made the other day. I used the Old Fashioned Peach Preserves recipe from So Easy to Preserve. I looked away and let them boil over...uggh, but I still think they turned out well. I wish they had gotten a bit thicker. I think I might try making a batch with pectin and see what the difference is.

Sweet Icicle Pickles, part 2

Well, I completed the one week brine. Then made the pickling solution and have one more day of boiling the liquid and pouring it back over the pickles. They will be jarred up tomorrow so expect an update! I think they look pretty good so far...

Squash Pickles

Our dear friends Jim and Renee gave us a huge bag of squash the other day. A few of them were too large to cook so I thought I would make some squash pickles. I've never had them but from the samples I had, they are very tasty. I used the recipe in the BBB. The picture is before adding the liquid.

Blackberries in syrup

It was a long drive and a lot of great places to see, but now that I am home the canning has started. I wanted to get a start on some of the wonderful blackberries so I began with these blackberries in syrup. They are hot packed. I used the BBB recipe that calls for macerating the berries in sugar for 2 hours prior to hot packing.

Today's Haul!

Today was the dairy run, 600 miles roundtrip. Today was Tropical Storm Barry. My butt hurts from 13 hours in the car. In the end it was a wonderful day. I stopped at some of the most wonderful farms and roadside markets...more on that later...