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As for the rings, I don't worry as much about them unless they are really rusted. If nothing else, I can take rings off jars I canned earlier in the summer and use them on my new jars. There is no reason for the rings as long as the jars have sealed.
I take the rings off, too, but I only have so many that aren't so badly rusted that they're unusable. The stuff I canned yesterday afternoon can't be de-ringed (is that a word? LOL) until today, so I had to stop canning.
And it seems that the rings rust a lot faster than they used to. Sometimes I can scrape the rust off, but it's harder to do that on the inside, where it matters the most.
Earlier today I checked Lehman's online, and you can buy rings only, in bulk. I think I may do that.
Rings are OK to use with a little rust but I feel your pain they do rust a lot quicker than they use to. Ball had to get us canners buying supplies since less folks do actual canning these days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81
Great idea! My problem is getting all the ends and peelings in the pot at the same time before they get moldy or rancid or ... worse.
But your scraps into a separate container in the freezer once it gets full then cook it down for you broth.
But your scraps into a separate container in the freezer once it gets full then cook it down for you broth.
Now why didn't I think of that. D'oh!
Making more salsa tonight -- peach and tomato -- and blueberry peach jam. Those poor blueberries have been languishing in the fridge forever. Good thing they're so hardy.
To those dealing with rusted rings, have you tried "seasoning" them? I've noticed the cheapness of the rings these days also, but what I do is remove them from the jars, wash in hot soapy water, then toss them on a cookie sheet in the warm oven to dry....every time. I also will keep a wad of paper towels, saturated with vegetable oil, and wipe down any that are getting rusty, then bake them at about 325" for 20-30 min, at the end of the day. It really holds the rust at bay.
I love the idea of using the veggie scraps to make vegetable broth! Great idea! Generally, they just head out to the chicken yard to eventually become compost for the garden. LOL
DD & I have been picking blackberries, as they become ripe, in a patch nearby. They've been really slow ripening this year, so it took 3 pickings just to get about 3 pints, but we've just tossed them, as we get them, into a gallon size bag in the freezer. We picked on Monday evening though, and ended up with enough for a batch of jam, by themselves. OMG...yum! Since we were doing jam, I also pulled the combo bag out of the freezer. It contained a few boysenberries, plus the blackberries. We didn't have enough for 5 cups of mashed berries, so I made up the difference with some strawberries I had in the refrigerator. The BEST jam ever!! LOL
We also picked through our Romas and got enough ripe ones for 7 pints of diced ones. We're waiting on the peaches and pears to ripen and are going to busy ourselves today canning some apple pie filling up. Seriously, that's one that we simply can't get enough jars of. We use it on everything, throughout the year. Now that my daughter has a little one of her own, she has been feeling terribly guilty about not doing canning. When she was little, I used to can SO many things. She grew up with a huge pantry full of goodies, just as I did. She has inspired me to amp it up a bit, of course it's so much easier to do, now that I actually have another ADULT to help me. LOL
Bless her heart, she now has so much compassion and wonder in her voice, as she says, "This is NOTHING, Mom, OMG...when I see how long it takes, how much work this is, I just can't believe you were able to work full time, grow the garden on your own, take care of us kids, keep up the house, AND put away so many hundreds of jars. Mom, I COULDN'T do what you did. I just couldn't!" Honestly, I look back now and wonder how in the world I had so much energy. I'll tell you what....I sure don't have it all now! LOL
Ohio...so how IS that peach/blueberry jam? I've seen the recipe, but I've never tried it! I've got a whole mess of blueberries in the freezer (fresh) and I'm going to make some peach jam, but I'm kind of leary about the COLOR of that combo as well. LOL
so how IS that peach/blueberry jam? I've seen the recipe, but I've never tried it! I've got a whole mess of blueberries in the freezer (fresh) and I'm going to make some peach jam, but I'm kind of leary about the COLOR of that combo as well. LOL
LOL! The color comes out as a dark violet blue, darker the more blueberries you use in proportion to the peaches. I use the recipe off the insert from the Ball no-sugar pectin box. I don't have the cooking instructions memorized, but these are the ingredients you'll need:
4 C prepared fruit
1 C apple or grape juice
1 T fresh lemon juice
box of no-sugar pectin
as much sugar or sweetener as you want
I don't use more than a cup of sugar, and no less than 1/4 cup, just to keep the fruits' color brighter.
LOL! The color comes out as a dark violet blue, darker the more blueberries you use in proportion to the peaches. I use the recipe off the insert from the Ball no-sugar pectin box. I don't have the cooking instructions memorized, but these are the ingredients you'll need:
4 C prepared fruit
1 C apple or grape juice
1 T fresh lemon juice
box of no-sugar pectin
as much sugar or sweetener as you want
I don't use more than a cup of sugar, and no less than 1/4 cup, just to keep the fruits' color brighter.
Okay dang it! I'm gonna have to try out that recipe. LOL Thank you for the color clarification. Hehe.... You see, I mix paints and food dyes to color frostings and fondants, so....mixing orange and blue together, generally yields a nasty brown color. LOL Hence....my hesitation on combining those fruits. So can you use frozen grape juice, or does it have to be fresh?
Since harvest time is here, I went back through just a few of the posts on here and noticed that there were a lot of complaints with the cookdown time for apple butter. Years ago, I came up with a method of speeding up the process with apples AND tomato products. I get them started in the cookdown, then shove a colander down in the middle of the pot. Those cone shaped colanders (used for jelly making) work great for this. You push the colander down in the middle and it "fills up" with juice. Dip the juice out and put it in another container. Repeat several times and your cookdown time is cut down to about 1/4!
You push the colander down in the middle and it "fills up" with juice. Dip the juice out and put it in another container. Repeat several times and your cookdown time is cut down to about 1/4!
Okay, so I'm an impatient canner.
That is a cool tip thanks! I just gave up and use my crockpot to cook them down without scorching I'm going to write that in my Ball book to try next year.
That is a cool tip thanks! I just gave up and use my crockpot to cook them down without scorching I'm going to write that in my Ball book to try next year.
Jaxson, it was out of sheer desperation, that I came up with this idea, (decades ago!). I had little kids to watch, a limited amount of time to can (due to work and the garden), boxes upon boxes upon boxes of fruit, tomatoes, peppers, melons to can and freeze. There just wasn't enough time to WAIT for things to cook down....so a lightbulb came on and I thought...."what IF?". Sure enough! OMG! LOL I was able to almost immediately process that stuff up! It went from soup to paste, INSTANTLY!! I was hooked and will never do it any other way. It's just too easy! Season and can up the liquid as juice!
lol I love the time it takes to make Apple Butter, makes the whole House smell good !
the Amish store here sells rings by the BOX full ...... I always pick some up ......
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Cheap ass Ball products these days 
So can you use frozen grape juice, or does it have to be fresh?
