Saturday, September 13, 2008

I think I Did it...

As you could see from the previous post, my inexperience in canning may have lead to the complete waste of something like 11 lbs of apples.

First, my apple butter was a little runny. I'm a great recipe ad-libber, and seem to have miscalculated how many apples I had, and how much sugar I should have added. Plus, the recipe I used was for peach butter, so I improvised. After the recommended hour cook time, I removed it from the heat (which you are apparently not supposed to do in canning) and it thickened up a little. Phew.

Then, because I have never canned before, and was bent on trying all by myself first, I didn't have any of the right tools to finish the job. Thankfully, my mother-in-law came over to help with another project, and made many suggestions and told me how she does things which was way simpler than my cookbook said. And then she brought over Errol's grandma's canning stuff, which I get to keep for the next time. Silly stubborn Ang.... should've just asked in the first place.

All said and done, I think I did alright. 5 of the 6 jars sealed. It is still a little runny (more apple sauce than apple butter consistency), but it tastes great, and my house smells all warm and fall-y.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

lol! what? Ang, stubborn?? but I'm glad Errol's mom was around to help - she really is great at teaching the cool country kitchen tricks to helpless city-folks like myself!

glad it worked out! :)

Anonymous said...

You have no idea how pumped I am that you are writing your farm-wife adventures up. Good job with the canning, Ang! I'm terribly impressed.

Anonymous said...

Good for you. I expect Darlene can teach you much more than I can. Also consider grandma as a source. I vaguely remember doing canning and making jellies etc. I guess I've just gotten too citified, everything is too handy. Keep up the domestics.

Mom