If you are like most gardeners or canners, you will find that after making your recipe there is extra produce left. Not enough mind you for another batch, but too much to eat fresh before it goes bad. Here is a recipe to use up some of your extra summer fruit or to combine some of the fruit you have already preserved to come up with something a little different.
2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup spun cinnamon honey
6 cups peaches
3 cups pears
2 cups seedless grapes
1 cup drained maraschino cherries, halved
10 fresh chocolate mint sprigs
Before you begin, wash your canning jars, lids and rings. Be sure to dip them in boiling water to sterilize them.
Fill your cold pack canner with water and begin heating it up. You will want the water in the cold pack canner to be about ready to boil before you begin making the sauce.
Prepare a bowl of water and add in Fruit Fresh or another preservative meant to prevent browning of the fruit.
In the meantime, peel the peaches and pears. Cut the larger fruit into bite size chunks. Make sure you remove all the seeds and pits from the fruit.
As you cut up the fresh fruit, put it into the bowl filled with the fruit preservative.
When the water in your canner is about ready to boil, put the 2 cups of water, the sugar and the honey in a stainless steel sauce pan.
Bring this mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Be sure to keep it stirred so it does not burn.
Once the mixture is boiling and the sugar and honey are melted, add the peaches, pears and grapes to the pan.
Return the mixture to a boil, being sure to continue stirring.
Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.
Add the cherries.
Put two clean chocolate mint springs into each jar.
Using a ladle, add the fruit to the jar, then top the jar off with the liquid.
Leave 1/2 inch headspace. Be sure you use a knife to remove any trapped air bubbles from the jar.
Wipe the jars rim with a damp paper towel making sure to remove any spilled syrup.
Center the sterilized lid on the top of the canning jar.
Screw the band down so it is finger tight. You do not want to over tighten the band, just make it tight enough to hold the lid in place.
Place the jars in the canner filled with boiling water. The water should completely cover the top of the jar lids.
Put the lid on the canner and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the canner lid, wait for 5 minutes, then lift the jars from the canner.
Set them 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 Fruit, Food Preservation by on Jan 3rd, 2010. Comment. 
The first week of the year you should look for nuts. Look at the after Christmas sales. The nuts may be 50% or more off. The dry roasted ones store best, but you can freeze nuts as long as you put them into a freezer bag and keep them for a long time. Try to buy at least two pounds per person.
The second week of the year is the best time to look for cleaning supplies. An average is one gallon of bleach per person. The average person does 156 loads of laundry per year, so stock up on enough laundry soap to get by for the year. Also look for other types of cleansers at this time unless you make your own. If you do, take time this week to stock up on supplies you need to make your own cleansers for the upcoming year.
Week 3: This is a good time to stock up on needed supplies such as feminine products, Pepto Bismal, Vicks, cough drops and syrup, Tylenol, Calamine Lotion, Kaopectate, Ipecac, and sunscreen. Dispose of all outdated medications in your medicine chest. If you make any of your own salves, creams, etc. take this week to stock up on supplies you will need over the coming year.
Week 4: Is a good time to continue to stock the medicine chest with products such as Band-Aids, antibiotic ointments, Ace Bandages, steri-strips and other first aid needs.
Week 5: Is the time to stock up on personal products such as soap, deodorant, toilet paper, shampoo, lotion, hand soap, etc. An average on hand soap is fifteen bars per person. Again, if you make your own, use this week to stock up on supplies you will need.
Week 6: The only thing you need to stock up on this week is peanut butter. Buy ten pounds per person. Peanut butter has a long shelf life, so if you overbuy, it will keep.
Week 7: Stock up on oils, remember the FDA says 60 pounds per person per year. Solid shortening are less expensive than oils. Keep your oils and shortenings rotated so the ones that expire first are used first. These products have a long shelf life and will generally last several years especially if they are kept in a cool, dark place.
Week 8: This is a good time to look for 100% pure juice. Do not buy watered down versions. Go for the gold and get 100% pure lemon, orange, pineapple, whatever flavors you like. If you can your own juice, this may be a good week to look for canning supplies instead as fruit this time of year can be expensive. If you do find a good sale, by all means, stock up. You can juice fruit any time of the year.
Filed under Smart Shopping, Tips For Stocking Up by on Dec 27th, 2009. Comment.
Everyone eats different foods and different amounts of various foods. Knowing how much to store depends on many things including the space you have to store food in and what foods your family eats. Before stocking up consider how you will store the extra food you buy. Do you have plenty of freezer room and a back-up plan in case the electricity goes out? Will you be canning all the food you store? Maybe you will dehydrate your extra food or use a root cellar. Whatever method you choose, make sure it works for your situation. After all storing food is useless if you will not use the items you store.
There are some general guidelines from the FDA to help get you started, but the reality is you will have to do your homework. Some things you may not use at all and others you may use more of. Some things you will need to buy and some you can grow. Anyone can stock up, even if you live in an apartment.
There are different times of the year when it is best to stock up on certain things because they can be found on sale. Here are some yearly averages according to the FDA. These are based on one adult, so multiply this by the number of people in your family to get a better idea of what you will need.
Meat – 200 pounds per year per person.
Flour – 300 pounds per year per person.
Sugar, honey or other sweeteners – 60 pounds per year per person.
Fats or oils – 60 pounds per year per person.
Salt – 5 pounds per year per person.
Powdered milk – 75 pounds per year per person.
Water – 375 gallons per year per person.
Vegetables and fruits – 700 pounds per year per person.
While this is not an end all of what you need, it is a starting point. It is a way to get you thinking about what you may need and a way for you to save some green at the grocery store. How you ask? By buying in bulk when food is in season or by growing your own. Let’s say you grew 50 pounds of green beans this summer. Well, subtract 50 pounds from the estimated 700 pounds of fruits and vegetables if you canned them all. If you bought that 50 pounds of green beans canned you would have spent between $25 and $50 depending on the brand you bought.
While the initial investment to get set up preserving and storing your own food may seem like it doesn’t save anything, in the end, you will come out ahead and best of all, be prepared for almost any emergency that comes your way from being snowed in to being short on cash.
Filed under Food Storage Chart, Tips For Stocking Up by on Dec 27th, 2009. Comment.
It is possible to make your own yeast cakes at home. These yeast cakes can be used in place of store bought yeast. Making your own yeast not only saves money, but will insure you always have enough yeast on hand to keep your family in fresh baked bread.
To make a yeast cake, start with a loaf of freshly risen bread dough. Homemade bread dough is best but you can use frozen bread dough you have allowed to rise if necessary. Remove a piece of the bread dough that is equal to the size of your fist.
Put the dough into a dish. Add enough warm, not hot, water to produce a thin batter. Once you have a thin batter made, add enough flour to turn the batter into a very stiff dough. If you prefer, you can add in a mixture of flour, cornmeal or artisian flours such as rice or potato flour.
The approximate amount of dry ingredients will be close to fifty percent of the wet ingredients.
When the dough is stiff, use a rolling pin to make a flat dough that is approximately three-quarters of an inch thick. Immediately cut the dough into squares that are two and a half inches on all sides.
Place the squares in a dark place where they can dry. Once dry, the squares can be cut in half or you can cut them as you use them. Each two and a half inch square will make two loaves of bread. Simply use the bread squares in place of regular yeast in your recipe.
Filed under Homemade Baking Essentials by on Dec 26th, 2009. Comment.
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