I don't know what I am doing. I didn't grow up in a house that preserved food. I didn't stand in the kitchen for hours with my mom over a steaming canner. I don't have recipes passed down from my grandma. I have never even made a pie for goodness sake! I don't have experience preserving food...but I really want to learn.
I have been spending countless hours at the computer the last couple months researching canning. I am taking a class on food preservation next month, and have been checking out books from the library. I read and reread my Ball Blue Book of Canning. But whats frustrating me is the hundreds of different ways that things can be done. Everything I read contradicts another, and it gets so mind boggling to me that I get overwhelmed and shut down and start to wonder if this is even worth it.
Thankfully I have Matthew, who is the most supportive husband out there. He calms me down, assures me that it will indeed be okay, and helps to remind me that while successes are great - we learn from failure. And boy...have I been learning!
We got all those apples the other day, and my plan was to make applesauce with most of them. I made applesauce last year, and its pretty much a no brainer. Cook the apples till you can smash them, heat them up and stick them in jars. But this year, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get it right! My apples took forever to cook down, and when they did? They were as thick as mashed potatoes! Plus, they have a really grainy texture to them, none of that smoothness that you think of when you think of applesauce. Last year I didn't use any special equipment, other than a potato masher. This year, I went out and bought a food mill, only to have it break the first time I tried it. So I tried mashing by hand, but these apples just would not break down. I added water. I added sugar. I cooked at a lower temp, for longer. I tried everything I could think of, and in the end I did get applesauce. But its still thick, and tastes watered down. So frustrating!
Everywhere I read says that Gravensteins are the perfect apple for baking and for sauces. I'm not sure, but I think I may have discovered part of the problem. When we went picking, all the apples were green. I thought that's the color they were supposed to be (the farm said so!), and we happily picked away. In googling, I see that Gravenstein apples are actually more reddish when ripe. The farms web site says "Apples can be processed without further ripening". Key word? CAN BE. Not SHOULD BE. Even the apple picture on their website shows red apples! So maybe, just maybe, this wasn't my fault at all! Either way, I am done trying for a good applesauce and have moved on to freezing slices for pies, making apple butter, and maybe some spiced apple rings. And I am saving some apples for a fresh apple pie. I am going to make it with my kids, so that we can learn together. I may have a long way to go, but I am going to get there sooner rather than later. I just wont give up!
I have been spending countless hours at the computer the last couple months researching canning. I am taking a class on food preservation next month, and have been checking out books from the library. I read and reread my Ball Blue Book of Canning. But whats frustrating me is the hundreds of different ways that things can be done. Everything I read contradicts another, and it gets so mind boggling to me that I get overwhelmed and shut down and start to wonder if this is even worth it.
Thankfully I have Matthew, who is the most supportive husband out there. He calms me down, assures me that it will indeed be okay, and helps to remind me that while successes are great - we learn from failure. And boy...have I been learning!
We got all those apples the other day, and my plan was to make applesauce with most of them. I made applesauce last year, and its pretty much a no brainer. Cook the apples till you can smash them, heat them up and stick them in jars. But this year, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get it right! My apples took forever to cook down, and when they did? They were as thick as mashed potatoes! Plus, they have a really grainy texture to them, none of that smoothness that you think of when you think of applesauce. Last year I didn't use any special equipment, other than a potato masher. This year, I went out and bought a food mill, only to have it break the first time I tried it. So I tried mashing by hand, but these apples just would not break down. I added water. I added sugar. I cooked at a lower temp, for longer. I tried everything I could think of, and in the end I did get applesauce. But its still thick, and tastes watered down. So frustrating!
Everywhere I read says that Gravensteins are the perfect apple for baking and for sauces. I'm not sure, but I think I may have discovered part of the problem. When we went picking, all the apples were green. I thought that's the color they were supposed to be (the farm said so!), and we happily picked away. In googling, I see that Gravenstein apples are actually more reddish when ripe. The farms web site says "Apples can be processed without further ripening". Key word? CAN BE. Not SHOULD BE. Even the apple picture on their website shows red apples! So maybe, just maybe, this wasn't my fault at all! Either way, I am done trying for a good applesauce and have moved on to freezing slices for pies, making apple butter, and maybe some spiced apple rings. And I am saving some apples for a fresh apple pie. I am going to make it with my kids, so that we can learn together. I may have a long way to go, but I am going to get there sooner rather than later. I just wont give up!