Canning 2024

[pepperhead212]

That makes me think of something I just saw on Amazon - a container of 365 antihistamine tablets for $197.10, the same thing I got for $9.99!!! I looked, out of curiosity, to see if it was one of those things going to (not coming from, which most are, anyway) Amazon in another country - I see this with food, sometimes (not sure how their software does this!). But it wasn't, and it wasn't a case, or something like that - just one package. I wonder how many orders they actually get for that.

And people wonder why those local drugstores are closing so many places up. Their local generic Zyrtec is probably $20 for 25 pills. I like to buy local, but some prices are just ridiculous.

As for canning, I've only done quick pickling, so far, to keep in the fridge to snack on. Started the dehydrating of the eggplants, and tomatoes might be next.

 

[blissful]

i'm working on 8 pints of greens. This batch is mixed purslane, kale mostly, bok choy, chard. pressure canned.
it takes 2 2-gallon buckets of leaves. For the plants i tear off any unhealthy or bug holed leaves and stems and leave piles of leaf litter, my husband says, 'everywhere'. if any weeds have taken hold near the roots i pull them now. now they need a spraying of BT, and water in a day or two.
i have a broken left shift key-due to swatting a fly-a new one coming soon.
i work in the sun mostly, avoiding the mosquitoes and i've read, the dengue disease.

 

[dragnlaw]

i work in the sun mostly, avoiding the mosquitoes and i've read, the dengue disease.

Have they spread from tropical and sub-tropical areas north to Wisconsin?

 

[blissful]

Increased risk of dengue virus infections in the US: CDC

Nearly 200 people have been infected with Dengue in the states of New York and New Jersey so far this year, the CDC said.

abcnews.go.com

i haven't seen a map for Dengue in Canada yet. @dragnlaw

 

[dragnlaw]

WOW, thank you. Got my info from WHO. Obviously outdated!
If New York has it - then Southern Ontario does. Plus I'm thinking even souther Quebec.

Funny but NOT funny. I once mentioned to my doctor I might have been bitten by a tick with Lymes. He said nope, not in Quebec yet. But less than 10 miles away in Ontario a friend in another doctor's office told me that doctor had treated 3 patients for Lymes.
I told my doctor (whom I also knew socially) to get his nose out of the stable and back to some medical journals for updates on diseases.

 

[blissful]

@dragnlaw i don't think it is a stretch that some of the Canadian provinces connected to higher disease rates in the states, will see, or miss or under-diagnose the dengue.

 

[dragnlaw]

Well, it is a stretch on my incredulity to believe that doctors should underestimate it. A border is only an imaginary line in the eyes of Governments.
the winds, bugs, animals and diseases cannot see those lines.

To take it a step further, many of those in those very departments, most with PhD's trained in both the States and Canada.
So can't quite agree with you on that one bliss, but if it's true - bless us all, (--- deleted ---)!

 

[Kathleen]

If I order that from Amazon.ca, it will cost me over $200. https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=Granite+Ware+Pressure+Canner

*sputters* I would look for a small canner at half that price and wait for Amazon Prime Days or search the marketplace!

Mosquitos - If I am in a room, I will be the only one devoured by them. For some reason, they will focus on me to the happiness of others around me.

 

[taxlady]

*sputters* I would look for a small canner at half that price and wait for Amazon Prime Days or search the marketplace!

Mosquitos - If I am in a room, I will be the only one devoured by them. For some reason, they will focus on me to the happiness of others around me.

I was like that with the skeeters until I got together with Stirling. They just considered him tastier. I mean, I used to have people ask to go for walks in a park or the woods with them, just so I would keep the skeeters away from them. I wonder if that status will come back now that Stirling is gone.

 

[blissful]

8 pints of mixed greens in the pressure canner. That will take me to 2 cases of 12 pints each.

 

[larry_stewart]

So far just a bunch of sauerkraut for me ( 2 batches).

 

[blissful]

19 1-cup jars of raspberry apple jam w/ some sugar. Done with raspberries for the year.

 

[Kathleen]

I am hoping to try to recreate my mother's 14 day pickles. Sadly, she just left a list of ingredients. When attempting to make them before, the result was a mushy mess. I may try pickling lime this time around....I want crispy pickles.

 

[blissful]

@Kathleen
There are sources on the internet on pickling lime, soaking them a certain number of hours, cold water, then soaking in plain water, cold water, repeat, the cold plain water (2-3 times).

Or, instead add calcium citrate chloride 'pickle crisp'...for crispier pickles.

 

[Kathleen]

I'm going to try the pickling lime because I have tried calcium citrate before. In that case of calcium citrate, the pickles turned out to have this really horrible taste that made me think of Aunt Bea's (on Andy Griffin) kerosine cucumbers. They were crisp but simply terrible. Sweet, but awful.

 

[pepperhead212]

Food grade calcium chloride is the thing to add to pickles for crisping. You can simply add 1/4 tsp to the bottom of a qt jar, when packing the pickles into it, add brine, and seal, then process. Amazing how much it keeps them crisp! I use this in refrigerator pickles, too, and it makes them very crispy. I bought a 1 lb bag of it from Amazon really cheap, I don't know how many years ago, and refilled an approximately 1 c jar twice, and still have some in a vacuum sealed bag!

 

[blissful]

@pepperhead212 I buy it that way too and keep it in glass jars labeled. (other uses, tomatoes, legumes)

When I pickle cucumbers I do cut the blossom end off, a thin slice.
The university extension groups did tests on what causes softening of pickles and removing the blossom end had more of a positive effect than most other methods-leaves with high tannin. I didn't find that article but this one talks about all the things a person might consider to get crispy pickles. https://extension.umn.edu/preserving-and-preparing/pickle-problems