If you think you can, you can

Besides canners, food dryers and
steamers are part of preserving

Canning season is upon us, and this year has already been a bumper crop for produce in Blanding.  The provident person will make sure they capitalize on the opportunity to not only eat and enjoy, but can and dry everything possible while the opportunity is here.  Often there is a late spring freeze and we are not blessed with so much fruit.

     One of the great pluses this season, is that Facebookers throughout the county have been very generous and timely in either selling or giving away extra produce.  The Farmers Market each Saturday is another outlet for produce if you don’t have your own garden. 

     Thanks to Will and Jessica McFarland for initiating this trend by setting up Blanding’s 24/7 garage sale.  It’s an extremely provident and kind way to pass along items a person no longer needs but may help someone else.  One person’s trash may be another’s treasure!  Since they started this about 5 months ago, Blanding Classifieds, and “Free” have also sprouted up.  What a great way to cut costs, for locals who are being hammered by the $3.98 per gallon gas prices.  Any way we can share is wise and frankly a fun challenge and it makes us better stewards of the good things God has given us, much more so than throwing them away. [Update. As of May 2016 this community site has over 8000 members!]

     My son, Nathan, would be so proud of me today. I actually emptied three dozen bottles of old fruit that had been canned in 1982 and 1989.  Being the frugal person that I am, I had used the discolored fruit when I made whole wheat bread, in place of applesauce.  But I finally had to admit, I’d never be able to make enough bread to use it all up and that our composter would appreciate it, more than my posterity.  It freed up lots of bottles and space so I can preserve more of this year's garden.  So while you’re canning-- clean, reshuffle, and organize your food storage. [Update 2016, now as I empty bottles I'm giving them to Silvia, who will soon have a bigger storage room than I do!]

     In the process I experimented with several other uses for the pear and apricot pulp—mainly using it as a replacement for zucchini in cupcakes.  Not one to follow a perfectly good recipe more than once, I’m all for experimenting and using up what is on hand.  I’m sure that’s how most recipes originate. In fact, half way through this process (which I was doing while also canning tomatoes and grapes) I discovered I had used half of one recipe, then shifted to the other page and finished up with a 2^nd recipe.  Carelessness, along with necessity, may be the mother of invention!  They turned out great, with the nuts coming from Autumn’s father-in-law in Logan.  He too, is a great one to pass-along the bounties of the garden.

   Yesterday while listening to Studio Five on KSL, I learned a few other new tricks in the kitchen: Pick pears while they are still green.  Put them into a shallow box to ripen and cover with a blanket.  Use as they turn yellow.  These are delicious dried, and don’t need anything added. They can be scalded just like peaches, which speeds up the peeling process.

2.  Spice up your pears when you can them, by dropping in an Atomic Fireball in bottom of each bottle to make them pink and give them a little taste of cinnamon.

3.  A simple way to cut corn off the cob for canning or freezing.  Pull out your Bundt pan, put the end of the cob in the open hole in the middle.  As you slice off the kernals, they fall into the pan.  What could be simpler!  If you have lots to do, use an electric knife.

When canning Thompson grapes or other light colored ones, 

you can add peach peelings, a plum or other bright fruit to 

give it a pink color.

4. From Marylynn Smith I learned if I want to color up my blah white grape juice coming out of the steamer, I can just toss in some peach peelings, a plum, or a few raspberries.

5.This last idea would not pass muster from my favorite county extension agent, but myself and  other multi-decade canners in my neighborhood reuse our canning lids!  I know Mason and Ball are throwing up their hands in dismay, but if you are careful when you remove the lids, they can be used 2-4 times.  Of course, you have to pay attention to whether they are flat, and not rusted.  If you can a lot, this really saves money. 

6.I also have an issue with the paranoia caused by expiration dates on packages.  These are really only guidelines to help you buy food at optimal freshness.  They should not be  considered as a dictatorial mandate, telling you to thrown away food!  They have nothing to do with whether the food is safe to use.  There is no standardization in packaging dates in the U.S.  So don’t be so quick to throw food away, just because a certain date is on it.   The bigger travesty is the amount of waste in our country caused by robotic cooks who waste perfectly good food because they don’t trust their own good sense, taste buds, and nose. The only items required by federal law to be labeled for expiration are infant formula and some baby foods; some states also mandate pulling dairy from store shelves on the expiration date.

7.     In celebration of the bumper crop of apples coming this year.  Here’s my favorite canning recipe for apples – Bottled Apple Pie Filling from the 2005 4^th ward cookbook submitted by Relva Bowring

4-5 quarts of apples peeled and sliced

4 ½ C. sugar

1 C. cornstarch

2-4 tsp cinnamon (depends on taste)

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

Mix and add 10 cups cold  water.  Cook until thick and bubbly.  Cold pack 20 minutes.  Fills about 6-7 quarts.  This is quick and easy to use if you need a pie in a hurry!