Heat the topping up to release the aroma of rich chocolate and fresh raspberries. To use the hot topping on ice cream, allow it to cool slightly – and don’t forget to add dessert candies for an elegant look.
The holidays are here – and while this is something you might can when raspberries are on the vine, there is no reason why you couldn’t use frozen raspberries or even store-bought raspberries to make this recipe.
Simply preserve the extra by canning it and you will have a delightful dessert topper you can pull from your pantry whenever guests arrive. Keep in mind that this particular recipe is more than just a sundae topper – it is an ideal topping for fruit, cheesecake and other desserts. Use your imagination and you will find numerous uses for this delicious recipe.
Jeffrey Rhoades found the raspberry-chocolate sundae topper very much to his liking. So much so – in fact – that he asked for seconds.
When making this recipe, keep in mind that canning anything that contains chocolate is tricky because you need to make sure the pH is right or the food will spoil. Chocolate is naturally low in acidity, so by combining a high-acid fruit with the chocolate, you alter the pH and thus make it safe to can. Here is the recipe – and the canning instructions.
A sealed jar of the raspberry-chocolate sundae topper fresh from the pantry.
Raspberry-Chocolate Sundae Topper
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 package powdered fruit pectin
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used a dark chocolate cocoa powder)
4 1/2 cups crushed raspberries
6 3/4 cups granulated cane sugar
1. Put the cocoa powder and pectin in a small bowl. Stir them until they are well-blended, then set the bowl aside.
2. Put the crushed raspberries and lemon juice into a stainless steel saucepan.
3. Whisk the fruit pectin mixture into the raspberry mixture.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat while continually stirring.
5. Add the sugar while continuing to stir.
6. Bring the contents of the pan to a hard boil and keep it there for one minute while continually stirring.
7. Remove the pan from the heat and skim off the foam.
8. Ladle the hot sundae topper in hot, sterilized pint-size canning jars.
9. Wipe the rim of each jar, put the lid on the jar and tighten the band until it is fingertip-tight.
10. Place the jars in a cold pack canner filled with boiling water. Process for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the water for an additional five minutes, then remove the jars.
11. Tighten the bands if necessary so they are fingertip-tight again. Allow the jars to sit overnight to cool, then check the lid by gently prying on it to make sure it is sealed. If it is sealed, label and store the jars in a cool, dry, dark place.
Jars that are not sealed need to be checked to make sure there are no cracks or chips across the top of the jar. Do not reuse the lids if they do not seal – instead put a big black X on them and use them for sealing jars filled with herbs or other dried goods. You can use a new lid and try to reseal the jar or put it into the fridge and use it up.
Make sure the water is about 1/4 of the way up the jar. I sat the jar in the pan of water, then turned the heat on to avoid taking the chance of the jar cracking or bursting.
If you like, you can gently heat this sundae topper up before serving it by either sitting the open canning jar into a pan filled with a bit of boiling water or by scooping the sundae topper out of the canning jar and putting it into a double boiler until it begins to melt just slightly.
Keep in mind that raspberries contain seeds – and those seeds – if they are not removed before you crush the raspberries – will end up in the topping. The seeds are edible, but some people do not like seeds in their topping.
Filed under Canning, Food Preservation by on Nov 28th, 2012. Comment. 
Jars of Orange-Cranberry Vinegar make a delightful holiday display - and are ideal for last minute gift giving.
Two of the main fruits one thinks of around the holidays are oranges and cranberries. These flavors – alone or combined – seem to compliment other foods that are generally on the holiday menu. Combined – the taste of oranges and cranberries – is a perfect marinade for turkey and chicken.
This vinegar is easy to make ahead of time – and I suggest you do – so the various ingredients that make up the vinegar have plenty of time to combine and mellow. Not only does this orange-cranberry vinegar offer the perfect way to spice up your holiday meats, but it makes an excellent gift that is pretty and practical. Keeping a variety of flavored vinegars on hand – along with squares of colorful fabric and ribbons – is an ideal way to make sure you have a gift for that unexpected guest that is sure to arrive over the holiday season.
Here is the recipe for the Orange-Cranberry Vinegar. Canning instructions are included. The marinade recipe follows this one.
Orange-Cranberry Vinegar
4 cups cranberries (fresh are best, but you can use dehydrated cranberries)
3 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 orange slices cut in quarters
2 4-inch cinnamon sticks broke into pieces
4 whole cloves
5 pint-size canning jars, bands and lids (washed and sterilized)
1. Use a square of cheesecloth to create a spice bag and fill it with the cinnamon sticks and cloves. Tie it well.
2. Place 3 1/2 cups of cranberries and 1/2 cup of water into a stainless steel pan. Bring to a boil while continually stirring.
3. Lightly crush cranberries with a potato masher.
4. Pour the cranberry liquid through a strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth and let drain. Do not squeeze the cheesecloth.
5. Once all the liquid has drained out of the cheesecloth, discard (or compost) the cranberry residue. The cheesecloth can be washed out and reused.
6. Pour cranberry juice back into a stainless steel pan, add the sugar and the spice bag. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring continually until the sugar is dissolved.
7. Add the remaining cranberries and the white wine vinegar.
8. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan to make sure the cranberries do not start to burst.
9. Remove the spice bag and discard (or compost).
10. Divide the orange slices equally between the jars.
11. Ladle the hot vinegar into the hot, sterilized jars.
12. Wipe the rim, put the lid on the jar and tighten the band until it is fingertip-tight.
13. Place the jars in a cold pack canner filled with boiling water. Process for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the water for an additional five minutes, then remove the jars.
14. Tighten the bands if necessary so they are fingertip-tight again. Allow the jars to sit overnight to cool, then check the lid by gently prying on it to make sure it is sealed. If it is sealed, label and store the jars in a cool, dry, dark place.
Jars that are not sealed need to be checked to make sure there are no cracks or chips across the top of the jar. Do not reuse the lids if they do not seal – instead put a big black X on them and use them for sealing jars filled with herbs or other dried goods. You can use a new lid and try to reseal the jar or put it into the fridge and use it up.
Orange-Cranberry Marinade
3/4 cup Orange-Cranberry Vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons honey
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Combine the ingredients and marinate a bone-in chicken or turkey in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours before cooking.
Filed under Canning, Flavored Vinegars, Food Preservation by on Nov 17th, 2012. Comment.
Blueberries are easy to can because all you do is wash them and put them in the jar. There is no need to cover them with a syrup.
Late spring and early summer brings an abundance of fresh berries and cool weather produce such as broccoli. Knowing how to use the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables while they are in season is one way to take advantage of them, another way – perhaps one that works better for some people – is to learn how to preserve the bounty so the fruits and vegetables are available throughout the year. This is a great way to save money on groceries – and while you will spend a good amount of time washing and preserving, all that work will pay off in the end especially when you are eating or baking with your own blueberries in the middle of winter.
Blueberries – in my opinion – are one of the easiest fruits to can. You simply wash them and put them into sterilized canning jars, put the lid and band on and cold pack process them for 15 minutes. You can opt to use a sugar syrup to cover them, but there is no need to. The blueberries will make their own juice during the canning process. I have canned blueberries in a light syrup in the past, but why add all that extra sugar when there is no need to do so?
I found the recipe for canning broccoli in an old Ball book I found at a local thrift shop.
Finding a recipe to can broccoli proved a bit more challenging. I prefer using the Ball books for my canning recipes – although sometimes I use other canning books. The Ball books I had said it was best to freeze broccoli, so in the past, that was the method I used to preserve it. I don’t like freezing produce for a number of reasons including the fact that if the electricity was to go out for a long enough period of time the items could spoil. When I think about all the work involved in growing, picking and preserving produce, it just makes better sense to me to use a method – such as canning – that I feel is a little less dependent on someone else providing a service – such as electricity – to keep it preserved.
So, here is how I canned my broccoli this year. The Ball book did say the broccoli would discolor, but hey, as long as it tastes ok, who cares.
First I washed the broccoli, then cut the broccoli heads into two inch long pieces and put the remainder of the stem into the compost bucket. You could can the stem pieces as well, but we only did the tops of the broccoli with some short stems attached.
Once all the broccoli was cut up, we boiled it for 3 minutes. We then packed the hot broccoli into hot, sterilized jars. We covered the broccoli with the hot water it was boiled in filling each jar so there was just an inch head space at the top. Then we added one teaspoon canning salt to each jar and put the sterilized bands and lids on.
We processed the broccoli in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure. Pints require 30 minutes processing time and quarts require 35 minutes processing time.
Canning during the summer is a hot and sweaty job, so if possible, can outdoors or have an air conditioner going in your kitchen. It is also a good idea to eat before you start processing food because the wonderful smell of food being canned makes you want to open the jars and eat as soon as they are done being processed.
Filed under Canning, Canning Fruit, Canning Vegetables, Food Preservation by on Jul 11th, 2012. Comment.
Always put hot food in hot, sterilized jars for safety's sake!
There’s a lot of talk today about the safety of canning food at home – something I am sure our ancestors did not fret over. Why? Because the art of canning was handed down from generation to generation making it possible for one to understand the art of canning on a much higher level than what many do today.
Wash all fresh fruits and vegetables before canning them, even if they were organically grown.
Cleanliness is one of the most important aspects when it comes to food safety. Anyone who has ever taken a home economics class can tell you that. In addition to clean pans, clean lids, clean caps and clean jars, the food must be cleaned too. Pesticides and other chemicals cling to the skins of fruits and vegetables. These must be washed off for safety’s sake. In addition to making sure all of your utensils are clean, the caps, lids and jars need to be sterilized. Do not skip over this step, even if you wash everything in a dishwasher. It only takes a second to dip the caps, lids and jars into the boiling water to sterilize them – and best of all, it means you do not need to heat the jars up because the sterilization process gives you “hot jars” to put “hot food” into.
Another important step is proper inspection of the jars. A tiny chip on the jars rim – one that might not be obvious to the naked eye – is enough to keep the jar from properly sealing. The best way to take care of these kinds of problems is to carefully run your finger over the top of the clean jar before filling it with food. If you feel something that doesn’t feel right, do a further inspection to make sure it is not missed food particles or rubber from a previous jar lid that was not removed when the jar was washed. If it is indeed a crack or chip, dispose of the jar. There are many recycling centers that accept clean glass jars.
Periodically check sealed jars in your pantry to make sure they remain sealed.
Finally, do not reuse the lids. The lids are the flat parts that seal the jar and contain a rubber ring. The reason for this is that the lids were manufactured to be used once and once only. Although the jar may seem ok at first if you use these lids again, later on the seal can break and that will cause your food to spoil. It is ok to use the caps, which screw down over the top of the jar over and over until they become too rusty to continue to use.
By following these simple safety tips when canning at home, you are sure to have a good experience both during the canning process and for months afterwards as you eat up the bounty you preserved.
More resources and inspiration can be found at culinary arts degree.org.
Filed under Canning by on Nov 1st, 2011. Comment.
Canning jars being filled with lime juice in preparation for canning.
It is possible to make a variety of juice concentrates at home. This is ideal for people who have a bumper crop of fresh fruit and are looking for a new way to use it or for those who drink a lot of fruit juice throughout the year.
First you must remove the juice from the pulp. This is done either by squeezing the juice out by hand, using a juicer or a steamer.
Once you have separated the juice from the pulp, put the juice into a freezer-proof bottle with a narrow neck. Leave enough empty space in the top of the bottle for the liquid to expand as the juice turns to ice.
Once the bottle is filled, sit the bottle in a freezer bag just in case it bursts or the liquid overflows as it freezes and then place it in the freezer.
Once the liquid is completely frozen, turn the bottle upside down and place the neck of the jar with the frozen liquid inside a larger jar and let the liquid thaw.
You will notice that the frozen sugary, colored sugars will drip out first. When all you see is a white mass of ice, remove the bottle. The remaining ice can be set in a refrigerator while it finishes thawing and once it is in a liquid form again, drank.
Repeat the freeze, thaw, freeze process three times.
The liquid that is left after the third time should resemble store bought juice concentrates. Bring this liquid to a boil and ladle into pint size canning jars.
Another way to do this if you prefer not to freeze your juice is bring the liquid to a boil, then simmer it until it is reduced by two-thirds, then ladle it into canning jars.
Wipe jar rims, put lids and bands on making sure they are fingertip tight. Process for twenty minutes in a cold pack canner, remove and tighten lids.
Allow to cool, then check the lids to make sure they sealed.
Filed under Canning by on Oct 25th, 2011. Comment.
Red hot spiced apples and apples in syrup in sealed canning jars.
There are many recipes for canning apples and I think I have tried them all, however, a friend said to me one day that canning apples in a plain syrup was the best way because they can be used for anything. I thought about this and decided she was right. Once you can apples for a specific purpose they may have an ingredient in them that makes them unsuitable for another use, so now I can all my apples using a light syrup. Here is my recipe.
2 1/4 cups cane sugar
5 cups of water
Combine sugar and water in a stainless steel pan.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Once the sugar is dissolved, reduce the heat to low so the syrup remains warm.
Fill clean, sterilized canning jars with apple quarters. Be sure to run your fingers around the tops of the jars before using them to check for tiny nicks. If you find any, those jars are no longer useful for canning.
Cover the apples with the water and sugar syrup you just made. Leave 1/2 inch air space at the top of the jar.
Wipe the top and edges of the jar with a clean, damp cloth.
Put a clean, sterilized, new lid on the jar, add the band and screw it down until it is fingertip tight.
Place the jars in a cold pack canner filled with boiling water.
Process both pints and quarts for 20 minutes.
Turn the heat off under the canning pot once the 20 minutes is up.
Remove the lid, but allow the jars to sit under the water for 5 minutes longer.
Carefully remove the jars. Set them aside and allow them to cool overnight.
Remove the bands and check the seals by gently prying them with your fingertips.
If the jars are sealed, replace the bands, label and store in a cool, dark, dry place.
If the jars are not sealed you can either select a new lid and attempt to seal the jars again or put the food into your refrigerator and use it up.
Filed under Canning, Canning Fruit, Food Preservation by on Oct 13th, 2011. Comment.
That's a lot of limes! 460 pounds worth!
Last week I went to the local Mission Mart to do some shopping. They were giving away limes. This was the second year in a row for this to happen. The lady behind the counter said to take what I wanted because most people did not know what to do with limes and if no one took them, they would get tossed.
Whole limes in the freezer.
By this time I had filled about six grocery bags with limes and answered several people’s questions about what to do with limes. It was wonderful to see people begin to fill bags with limes once they knew they could freeze them and use them as they needed to. I took several bags of limes to others who were not able to get out, then I headed home.
Once I returned home, the first batch of limes went into the freezer since that was the fastest way to deal with them and I was busy that day. My friend Shirley told me last year all you have to do is put them in a freezer bag and freeze this. This is true for any of the citrus fruits. No washing, no peeling, no juicing! Nothing could be easier! Best of all, when you are ready to juice them, just let them thaw at room temperature and you will get a lot more juice than you would if you juiced them when they were fresh.
Of course, if you are like most people, you have limited room in your freezer for limes. That was my next problem when I went back and the limes were still there. I wanted to take more to keep them from being thrown away, but what on earth was I going to do with them?
Fresh limes being juiced.
Lime juice certainly takes up a lot less room in the freezer than whole limes, but you have to divide it out into small portions to prevent thawing too much at once. That is very time consuming. Trust me, I did that last year.
Fresh-squeezed lime juice being canned.
So, I went in search of a recipe for canning. Jerry was the one who actually came across one. Lucky for me! I went to my Ball books first and there was no mention of canning lime juice in them. So we began juicing – and are still juicing limes! Canning lime juice is easy. Here in Indiana we cold pack the pints for 5 minutes and the quarts for 10 minutes.
The left over lime peels ready for me to freeze until I am ready to use them.
After you juice the limes, you are going to end up with a ton of highly fragrant lime peels. Be sure to save them. You can candy them, distill them, zest them or use them in a variety of crafts such as potpourri once the peels are dry. I put my peels in freezer bags and freeze them until I have time to put them in the dehydrator, in the still or use them in a recipe.
In the end, I ended up with 460 pounds of limes – and there were still a ton left. I’m not sure if people finally started taking what was left or where they ended up. I hope someone took them. I hate seeing food wasted.
Filed under Canning, Dehydrating, Food Preservation, Freezing by on Oct 12th, 2011. Comment.
Filed under Canning, Food Preservation, Handling And Preparing Fresh Produce by on Sep 7th, 2011. Comment.
There is nothing that tastes quite as good as something you make from scratch in your own kitchen. This is true rather it is special meal, a dessert or something as simple as homemade ketchup.
This recipe, which can be canned for use throughout the winter months, is simply outstanding. Once you have a taste of this, you will never go back to store bought ketchup again!
To make a really thick ketchup you need to remove the tomato juice from the tomato paste. The easiest way to do this is to use a steamer juicer such as the Mehu-Liisa.
When the steamer is finished extracting the juice, bottle it and can it. This is tomato juice in its purest form.
The tomatoes that are left in the top of the steamer juicer are what you want to use. You can remove the seeds or simply blend the mixture until it is smooth, whichever you prefer.
Begin with 24 pounds of whole tomatoes. If you do not have that many, simply put the tomatoes you have on a scale to find out how many pounds you do have, then do the math to change the rest of the ingredients in the recipe.
While the tomatoes are juicing add three cups cider vinegar to a large saucepan. Cut a piece of cheesecloth and put 3 tablespoon celery seed, 4 teaspoons whole cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks into it and then tie it up. Put the spice bag into the pan with the vinegar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and cover. Allow this to sit for 25 minutes then remove the spice bag.
Place tomatoes into the spiced vinegar, add one teaspoon of cayenne pepper and boil. Reduce the heat once the mixture begins to boil and cook for thirty minutes. The mixture should begin to thicken. Add ¼ cup canning salt and 1 ½ cups sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for about 45 minutes. The mixture will reduce by half and be about the consistency of store bought ketchup. While it is cooking, add garlic powder, chili powder and black pepper to taste.
To preserve, ladle into hot, sterilized pint jars leaving ½ inch headspace. Wipe jar rim, place sterilized lids and bands on making sure they are snug. Process in a cold pack canner for fifteen minutes, remove canner lid, let the jars sit for five minutes, then remove them.
When the jars are completely cooled, check to make sure they are sealed. If not, use immediately or put on a new lid and reseal.
When you open a jar, be sure to keep it refrigerated. The open jars will last quite a while kept in this fashion.
Filed under Canning, Canning Condiments, Food Preservation by on Jan 16th, 2010. 1 Comment.
When picking plants from the wild be sure you have the identity correct. Many plants look so much alike that you may think you are harvesting one plant when in fact you are getting something totally different. Take for example the common Queen Anne’s Lace or wild carrot. Daucus carota resembles the poisonous water hemlock which is deadly if ingested. If in doubt, take the plant to a local botanist or your local extension agent for a positive ID before eating it.
Once you are sure you have the true Queen Anne’s Lace, here is a recipe for jelly.
Fill a glass jar full of clean flower heads. You can use straight Queen Anne’s Lace flowers or use a combination of edible flowers such as violet, lilac, roses, carnation, peony or elderberry.
Once the jar is full, pour boiling water over the flowers making sure to cover all of them. Put a non-metallic lid on the jar and sit aside for up to 24 hours. The infusion should be allowed to sit for at least five hours minimum.
When you are ready to proceed, prepare a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Pour the water through the strainer making sure to remove all the flowers from the first jar. Squeeze the water out of the flowers in the cheesecloth. Then measure the amount of water you have.
You will need a minimum of 2 ½ cups flower water for one recipe. Put the flower water into a stainless steel pan, add the juice of one lemon and one package of pectin. Bring this mixture to a boil then add three cups of sugar. Stir and continue boiling until the sugar has dissolved.
If you prefer using honey in place of the sugar, remove the mixture from the heat and add 1 ½ cups honey. Stir just until the honey is dissolved.
Remove the foam scum that forms on top of the jelly, then pour the jelly into sterilized canning jars. The smaller 4 ounce or half pint jars work well.
Wipe jar rims, put lids and bands on making sure they are fingertip tight. Process for ten minutes in a cold pack canner, remove and tighten lids.
Set the hot jars on a secure surface. I lay an old towel on top of my table and set the canning jars on it. Remember these jars are hot so use hot pads and jar lifters.
Tighten the bands as tight as possible.
Allow the jars to cool overnight. When the jars are completely cool, remove the bands and check the lids to make sure they are sealed.
To check the lids, simply try to lift them up with your fingers. If they come off, set the food in the refrigerator and eat it within a week. If they do not come off, the cans are sealed. Replace the band and store in a cool, dark place.
Be sure to label the jars with the name of the food in them and the date.
Filed under Canning, Canning Jams & Jellies, Food Preservation by on Jan 15th, 2010. Comment.
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