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Images sent to Amish Stories from reader Lissa Holder of California who ordered a home canning kit not long ago and seems to be well on her way to successfully canning her very own fruits and vegetables. I will be now trying to post some pictures from my readers who have something that i think would be of interest to everyone, so if anyone makes something like a quilt for example or if your a guy who loves working in your wood shop and making something with your hands ill consider posting that on Amish Stories. Thank you Lissa and please keep us posted on your progress. Richard
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| Some canning history : In 1795 Napoleon offered money to anyone who could find a way to preserve foods for his troops. Nicholas Appert of France found a way to preserve food in jars sterilized and sealed with pitch, and had a vacuum-packing plant by 1804. This process was a military "secret," but by 1810, Peter Durand of England had a patent for tin-plated iron to use in "canning." Canned rations were on the field at the Battle of Waterloo. In 1812, a small plant in New York produced hermetically sealed oysters, meats, fruits and vegetables in cans. Durand introduced his can top America in 1818. Henry Evans patented a machine that made the tin cans, increasing production from 5-6 cans to 50-60 cans per hour. In 1858, American John Mason invented the now famous glass jar for home canning. By the 1860's, the process time had dropped from six hours to 30 minutes, making canned foods commonplace. In the heating process, the sterilization destroys bacteria and enzymes that can cause spoiling, and the seal prevents new air or other organisms from entering. Published with permission from Amish country news. Richard from Amish Stories |
Apple Butter and Jelly From Jean  |
In either of the following recipes Jean recommends the following apples: Cortland, Jonathan, McIntosh, York Imperial, Beacon, Rhode Island Greening or Rome Beauty. These recipes have been cut down from her original recipes as they were much larger.
Apple Butter
4 quarts sweet apple cider (Jean makes her own, but you can buy it grocery stores)
3 quarts pared and quartered cooking apples (about 4 pounds)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Heat cider to boiling in 5-quart Dutch oven. Boil uncovered until cider measures 2 quarts, about 1 1/4 hours. Add apples. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, until apples are soft and can be broken up with a spoon, about 1 hour. Press apples through sieve or food mill to smooth the apple butter.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, until no liquid separates from pulp, about 2 hours. Heat to boiling. Pour into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rims of jars. Seal and process in boiling water bath 10 minutes. Makes about 3 1/2 pints.
Apple Jelly
Heat 4 pounds apples (about 18), cut into fourths, and 5 cups water in boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Strain but do not press pulp through strainer. Strain juice through 2 thicknesses of cheesecloth.
Mix three cups apple juice and 3 cups sugar in Dutch oven. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Cook until candy or jelly thermometer registers 220 degrees; remove from heat. Quickly skim off the foam. Immediately pour jelly into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe rims of jars. Seal jars. Makes about 4 half-pints jelly
Jeans says:
When I do it-first we make the cider. Then I have kettles outside in a wood, cobblestone building that David's Dad added on to one of the barns where it was Outlawed to have fires in the open (except barbeque). Usually my mother, David's Mother , sometimes the grandmother's and Martha get together. The apples come in the back of wagons. Most of them are from our apples, others are what we purchased from other farmers. I have kettles for cooking and for straining. Also I have a stove and sink where we can sterilize the jars. We start cooking in early morning and go on until dinner time. One of us breaks to make lunch . We take a lunch break and then get back cooking. We stop when it is time to go home and cook dinner. This goes on every day except Sunday for a week and a half or two weeks. We make over 1000 jars when we get done. At the bake sale people buy both the butter and the jelly. We give some to the sick or housebound. Also, we give them as gifts at Christmas-and of course many are for our houses. Most of them are sold though.
If we get around to building another house David would make this building separate from the barn. Neither his father or himself were firemen when that building was built. They didn't think of what would happen if that building ever caught fire. It never has, but it would be better by itself.
Hope you enjoy the recipes. Jean
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