|
| Author |
Message |
hattie
Member
|
# Posted: 30 Sep 2014 04:38pm
Reply
Does anyone do canning to store in their cold room? Do you have a favourite recipe you would like to share for canned fruit, meat, veggies, jams, pickles, etc.? If so, please post them here.
|
|
bldginsp
Member
|
# Posted: 30 Sep 2014 06:14pm
Reply
Though I live in the city I started canning a few years ago to take advantage of the cheap fruit at peak of season in the farmer's markets. I've canned up raspberries, blackberries, apricots and peaches. I just preserve the fruit, no jams or jellies.
But I was worried about eating too much sugar, so I tried using xylitol and erythritol instead, or combined with honey. Xylitol and erythritol are natural fruit sugars that occur in peaches, melons and other fruit along with the sucrose, fructose etc., but they do not raise your blood sugar level and so do not cause diabetes. They are expensive, though, about $7 a lb.
They work fine as sweeteners, but I don't know if they would work with pectin for jams. I think I heard that pectin must be used with sucrose to thicken properly. Anybody know about this?
|
|
hattie
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Oct 2014 01:32pm
Reply
Thanks for the information about xylitol and erythritol. I have never heard of them. I think I will need to do some research. 
|
|
bldginsp
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Oct 2014 04:53pm
Reply
Right now they are expensive because there are no large scale operations extracting these sugars from fruit. But with all the attention to the health effects of sugar these days, I think some companies are investing in the refineries necessary. So the hope is that they get cheaper. I wonder how the canning community will respond to them. Hard to give up the old reliable and cheap sugar, sucrose. But it's bad for you if you eat a lot, and you use a lot in canning.
|
|
naturelover66
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Oct 2014 05:50pm
Reply
Xylitol is in gum... And very toxic to dogs. I've always wanted to try canning.... its on my list of things to learn. Nice pantry Hattie!!
|
|
cabingal3
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Oct 2014 07:20pm
Reply
u can put juice in yur canned fruit instead of sugar.
i am gonna dry my stuff the first summer we are out the cabin.
i think gar will be building me some kind of shed to store our canned goods.
hattie.will jars freeze and burst if it gets too cold?
|
|
hattie
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Oct 2014 11:22pm
Reply
Quoting: naturelover66 Nice pantry Hattie!!
Thanks naturelover66
Quoting: cabingal3 will jars freeze and burst if it gets too cold?
Yes. If you don't leave room for the item in the jar to expand, the jar can burst.
When you can fruit, you have good control over how much sugar to use. Some people use honey and you can probably use juice like cabingal3 says. You can even use no sugar. It is all a matter of taste.
When you make jams, you need to follow the recipes exactly regarding sugar so that the jam will set properly, but with canned fruit, I believe it is all a matter of personal preference how much sugar you use. The important thing is to process the cans for the correct amount of time and you must take into consideration if you are at a high elevation (longer processing times).
|
|
Don_P
Member
|
# Posted: 2 Oct 2014 07:39am
Reply
Going from shaky memory, the little packet that comes with low sugar pectin I believe contains calcium to help with setting at lower sugar concentration. No clue as to whether other forms of sugar will gel. We finished off the black raspberry jar yesterday and had blueberry this morning, she picked red raspberries yesterday, there's also wineberry stocked and a little tooty fruity... I do like berries .
|
|
|
bldginsp
Member
|
# Posted: 2 Oct 2014 08:45am
Reply
I'm a berry fan too- as a kid in summers in North Idaho we picked or bought wild huckleberries- different from the blueberries you get in the store. I plan to try to grow huckleberries, but I'm told they don't domesticate well.
Nothing better than huckleberry pancakes on a chilly morning.
Never heard of wineberry, Don. What's that?
|
|
cabingal3
Member
|
# Posted: 2 Oct 2014 09:43am
Reply
thanks hattie for all your tips on canning.
i have canned alot but never in higher altitudes.thank u for this info.
and that is good info about leaving room in the jar for expansion.thank u.
|
|
|
