Barbm

I made 18 quarts and 2 pints of bread & butter pickles today. Have a few cukes left, trying to decide if I should amke a partial batch or wait a few days and make a full batch again (10 qts.) Have a bunch of zucchini to shred and freeze- will save that for early tmorrow morning to make noise and get everyone up. Also some green peppers that I'm going to add onions to and can by themselves. Don't have any tomatoes yet- we got our garden in late and it has rained sooo much. People were saying they had a blight, but we didn't experience one.

Watermelons are growing great- can't wait to make pickles from the rinds of them. Oh- green beans tomorrow too.

I love canning season!

butterflywing

do you make and freeze zucchini bread? omg, i haven't done that in years!

i also used to make zucchini quiche. delicious! (can't keep up with that stuff, can you?)

Barbm

I have a choclate zucchini cake that I love! I put cool whip on top since I don't like icing.

I also make pina colada zucchini bread- has shredded pineapple and coconut and rum flavorings. yummy! I freeze them too- nothing like pulling out some in the winter and bringing back thoughts of summer.

Moonpi

I used to dry herbs, process into paste in the food processor and freeze in ice cube trays (each cube is the same as one tbl fresh), and make vinegars.

My favorite vinegar is chive blossom - you put the flowers in a jar, cover with cider vinegar, and let sit until it turns pink - a week or so, before using. It is THE best for potato salad!

butterflywing

i want that recipe...gimmeeee, gimeee!

the one with rum. yum![img]http://www.pic4ever.com/images/s050.gif[/img]

vicki reno

We had an apple tree in our front yard in Raleigh and I would make several cases of apple butter every year. We also froze a lot of peeled and sliced apples and I use them in cake recipes.

MissMermaid

My birthday is in september, and my family would go apple picking every year at one of the local orchards, and then mom would do preserving stuff. We're not much for pie people (don't tell the future hus-beast. he'll be devastated that i will NEVER make him apple pie like mom does, but i digress.)

What we did for apples was cook them down, quartered, with just a little bit of water at the bottom of the cook pot so the bottom wouldnt burn, with the lid on, so the apples were steamed. after a while when theyre nice and mushy, put them all through a food mill (we used an "old school" hand crank one that looked like a heavy grain sieve made pointy...i'm sure yall know what im talking about) to get the peels/cores/seeds out.

then, put all of your applesauce in a big crockpot, on low heat, with a fair bit of brown sugar, splash of lemon juice (for freshness), and then general apple pie type spices--these days when i make it i use cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger if im feeling like it (but i love ginger) once everything is mixed, stir the sauce every few hours, and let it cook down overnight (we let it go about 24 hours) until its a dark auburn-y brown, and thicker than jam (but not as thick as peanut butter) and viola! you have miss amy's apple butter. (miss amy would be my mother) eat it spread thin on toast, or instead of jam/jelly with PB for a sandwich.

the other thing we did when i was a kid, was mom would use one of those apple corer-slicer-peeler do-jobs (i hate them, but most approach this tool as a godsend i have found) crank the apple through the apple CSP and then cut the apple, which has been sliced, in half so all of your slices get separated. put them in a food dehydrator till theyre nice and crispy (iirc anywhere from 4-8 hours) and you have dried apple chips.

butterflywing

my daughter grows Bartlett-type pears. she hand-pollinates them and then counts the days until picking time. they're always perfect-ripe.

we put a little wine in the bottom of a pan . stand the pears up in that and poach the pears, covered, 'til cooked. she drizzles a home-made pear sauce over it and serves with ice cream.

if you ask me, you can skip the dinner.

Feathers

MissTreated:
I wanted to make Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie filling this year but couldn't find a recipe. Would you share your Rhubarb Pie Filling recipe with us and I'll add some strawberries to it. Thank you.

Feathers

Julie:
I've made canned apple pie filling for years and it's WONDERFUL! The recipe I use I got off the Internet site for University of Georgia Canning guide. There are also pie filling recipes in the University of Georgia food preserving BIBLE ...the book is "So EASY TO PRESERVE." It costs $18.00 if you buy it directly from the University but sometimes the local County Extension Offices use this book as a training tool and buy them in bulk so you can get them from the EXT. Office for about $15.00.

I took a Master Food Preserver class through our local Ext. Office and after graduation they asked each student to teach different segments of the food preserving curriculum to the next class. One of the things that was taught by one of my classmates was canning apples. They turn out beautiful and good and can be used like any canned fruit or you can use it in upside down apple cake, apple/Johnson Brotwust sausage and saurkraut hot dish, etc. Don't be afraid to can all those apples your uncle has for you. You'll love the convenience of a quick, easy and tasty meal, dessert or whatever.

CANNED APPLES
select juicy, crisp apples.
HOT PACK: Make a very light syrup of water and sugar. I use 3/4 cup of sugar to 5 Cups of Water. Bring to boil and pour the light syrup over the sliced apples in the jar. YOU CAN ALSO CAN THE APPLES IN WATER ONLY...NO SUGAR ADDED. Place flat canning lids in warm water to soften the rubber while you cook the apples.

HOW TO:
Wash, peel, core and slice apples into 1/2 inch wedges. To prevent darkening put apple slices in about 1 cup of water to which about 1 TBLS. of Fruit Fresh has been added. Let the apples sit in the Fruit Fresh solution until all apples are peeled and sliced. DRAIN apples well and place in a large saucepan with about 2 cups of the LIGHT SYRUP or Water . Bring the syrup and apples to a boil and boil 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Fill jars with hot apple slices and hot syrup or water leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubles by inserting a knife between the sides of the jar and the apples. Add more syrup/water as needed to 1/2 inch headspace. WIPE jar rims, place a warmed FLAT canning lid on the jar, adjust the jar lid ring and process in BOILING WATER BATH for 20 minutes for quarts and Pints.