Monthly Canning Group - Salsa, Blueberry Pie Filling, and much more!

We had another successful afternoon of canning with our group. We had four of us and we put together 35 jars with an assortment of both water bath and pressure canning recipes. I hope that the ladies know how much fun it is for me to host the gatherings at my house and spend the time chatting and learning more about what we love about canning. I also had the opportunity to teach them a few things that I learned at the Master Food Preserver class that I took the end of April. It was also the first time we had been together since the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo where four of us won a combination of 26 ribbons for our jars in the Preserved Food Division. 

Our recipes were all really yummy before they went into jars and we enjoyed being able to do fresh vegetable in the pressure canner this time. Here are the recipes. 

Fresh Vegetables:

White corn
10 ears of white corn

4 cups boiling water

Green Beans and Corn

Husk corn, remove silk, and wash. Blanch 3 minutes in boiling water. Cut corn from cob about 3/4 the depth of the kernel. Sterilize 4 pint jars and add corn kernels into the jar leaving 1" headspace in the jar. Add boiling water and remove air bubbles using a plastic spatula. Fill the jars back up to 1" headspace. Process pints in pressure canner for 55 minutes at 11 lbs of pressure. Remember to follow the specified instruction for your pressure canner for cooling and removing jars after pressure has returned to zero.

Green Beans

2 lbs green beans

4 cups boiling water

1 tsp kosher salt per pint size jar

Wash beans and trim ends. Cut into 1 inch pieces. Sterilize 5 pint jars and add cut green beans leaving 1" headspace. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt per pint size jar and cover with boiling water to 1" headspace. Remove air bubbles and fill if necessary to headspace. Process pints in pressure canner for 20 minutes at 11 lbs of pressure. Remember to follow the specified instruction for your pressure canner for cooling and removing jars after pressure has returned to zero. 

 

We had left over corn processed them in half pint jars in the pressure canner. Here is the mexican corn recipe we used to finish up the corn that we took off the cob. 

Mexican corn

Mexican corn before water added

2 1/2 cups corn from cob

2 T. diced red onion

2 T. jalapeno peppers

2 T. diced red peppers

1 T. diced cilantro 

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Sterilize 3 half pint jars and fill jars to 1 inch headspace with corn mixture. Add boiling water to fill to headspace. Remove air bubbles and fill with more boiling water if necessary. Process half pints in pressure canner for 30 minutes at 11 lbs of pressure. Remember to follow the specified instruction for your pressure canner for cooling and removing jars after pressure has returned to zero. 

Because I didn't have a lot of blueberries on hand we decided to do one quart size jar of pie filling and that we would save the jar at my house and at our meeting in June we would use the filling to make a pie to serve to the group. It was a great idea for everyone. It was more of a teaching recipe since so many fruits will be coming soon and having shown them the process they will be ready to master quarts themselves. I needed to explain the important use of Clear Jel and that it is a modified cornstarch which after time will not breakdown in the jar causing clumping of the thickening agent. Here is the one quart recipe.

Blueberry Pie Filling

1 Quart Recipe:

3 ½ cups thawed blueberries

¾ cups sugar

¼ cup Clear Jel

1 cup cold water

3 T. bottled lemon juice

Procedure: Wash and drain blueberries. If fresh blanch berries in 1 gallon of boiling water for one minute then drain. In a dutch oven combine sugar and Clear Jel. Stir. Add water. Cook on medium high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute stirring constantly. Fold in drained berries immediately and fill hot jars with mixture without delay, leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars and add lids and process immediately in a water bath for 30 minutes at a full boil.

Rose, who is one of the ladies in the group wanted to show us a recipe for the filling without using the Clear jel but for just canning the fruit to make the pie later. This smelled incredible!

Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie Filling without Clear Jel

2 1/2 cups diced Rhubarb

2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

1 cup sugar

2 cups apple juice (she used organic unfiltered)

Strawberries and Rhubarb without apple juice added

Combine diced rhubarb and sliced strawberries with sugar and maserate for two hours. Put fruit mix into three sterilized quart size jars. Heat apple juice in small pot and add to jars leaving 1" headspace.  Add lids and rings and process in water bath for 30 minutes at a full boil. 

To make the pie later; pour contents of jar into a medium size sauce pan and add 1/4 cup of cornstarch stirring till mixture thickens and boils, about 15 minutes. Pour into pie crust and cook as directed for fruit pie.

We also had green beans left over and decided a pickled green bean was in order since the water bath was hot and ready!

Pickled Green Beans

Green Beans cut to one inch lengths. Brine not added yet.

3 1/2 cups green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" length

3 cups cider vinegar

1 cup water

1 T. tumeric

2 T. mustard seeds
1/4 t. dill seed

Sterilize 3 pint jars and raw pack the beans into the jars. In a small saucepan on medium high heat mix vinegar, water, tumeric, and mustard seeds. Cook mixture for about two minutes and then pour over beans filling to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and fill with additional liquid if needed to maintain 1/2 inch headspace. Process in water bath at a full boil for 15 minutes.

Last on our list is the now infamous Tomato Salsa which has been on my website for the last few days. I was very excited to teach the group about tomatoes and prove once and for all that adding the required lemon juice to this recipe will not destroy or make the salsa taste bad. In fact they all loved it and each were anxious to try it on their own. With tomato season knocking at our door I am hoping this becomes a staple for all of them.  Here it is once more with the final product in our jars. Note: We doubled the recipe.

Tomato Salsa

7 cups peeled, cored, chopped Roma tomatoes    

2 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles

2 1/2 cups chopped onion

1/4 cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cups bottled lemon or lime juice

1 tablespoons salt

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoons greek oregano

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

The jalapeño peppers do not need to be peeled. The skin of long green chiles may be tough and can be removed by heating the peppers. Usually when peppers are finely chopped, they do not need to be peeled. If you choose to peel chilies, slit each pepper along the side to allow steam to escape.

Super yummy Tomato Salsa!

Combine all ingredients except oregano and cilantro in a dutch oven and heat, stirring frequently, until mixture boils. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add spices and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into clean, 10 hot pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

IMPORTANT:
The only change you can safely make in this salsa recipe is to change the amount of spices and herbs. Do not alter the proportions of vegetables to acid and tomatoes because it might make the salsa unsafe. Do not substitute vinegar for the lemon juice.

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