tengrits

Things to do with Apples

Apples are delicious when they are farm grown, but you get so many; what to do with them? Here's what you do with them...

Apple Cider, Jack and Canned Baked Apples

Usually you use an apple press for this, but you can make cider on a smaller scale.

1. Wash, peel and core your apples.
2. Slice them into smaller chunks.
3. Buy about 4-6 gallons of dstilled water.
4. Place them in a very large stock pot and cover them with your distilled water. (keep the jugs and lids. Preferably the srew down type.)
5. Put your pot of apples on high heat, with a lid on, to boil until the apples are soft, about 45 minutes -hour.
6. Take your pot of apples of the heat and allow to cool down to a reasonable working temperature.
7. Place a funnel in the opening of one of your water jugs, and place a piece of fine cotton cloth in the funnel to catch sediment. Sediment can be tossed back into your pot, as you want to save the apple bits.
8. Screw down the caps on your bottles immediately. Cider may be refridgerated, but does not need to be. If you like a slightly alcoholic cider, you can continue further and make Apple Jack, which is an apple beer.

Apple Jack

1. Follow directions 1-6 above for apple cider, then place a collander in another large pot with a fine cotton cloth to catch apple sediment. Por your liquid through the cotton lined collader. Sediment can be tossed back into your pot, as you want to save the apple bits.
2. When the juice is room temp, add 1 cup of sugar per gallon of juice and 1 package of bakers yeast per batch of Apple jack. Stir well.
3. Place a funnel in the opening of one of your water jugs and fill the jugs with the juice.
4. Place a large rubber party ballon on the tops of your jugs and rest the jugs in a warm area of your house for a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
5. When you see the ballons start to inflate, let them do this for a little while, just until the balloons are starting to deflate a little. You can drink the Apple Jack at this point as a beer or let the ballons completely deflate and drink the Jack as a wine like drink.

The apples that you have left over from your cider can be canned as Baked apples.

Baked Apples

1. Take the cooked apples you have left over from your juice, and place them back on the stove, on a medium setting. Add 1/4 cup of water per quart of apples, 2 TBSP of lemon juice, 1/3 cup sugar per quart of apples and 2 tsp of cinnamon per batch of apples. Stir gentley until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Fill your sterilized quart canning jars with the baked apples, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Use a wooden spoon to pack down the apples and release any air bubbles in the jars.
3. Wipe the rims clean and place your lids on the jars.
4. Place your jars in a large stock pot with a folded dish cloth in the botom, and enough water to cover the jars, or in a water bath canner.
5. Put your pot on high heat until boiling, and allow to boil for 45 minutes.
6. After 45 minutes, carefully remove your jars with a jar grabber, and place your jars on a countertop to cool.
7. Check your jars for a sealed lid befor labeling and placing on the shelf.

Dehydrated Apple Chips

1. Clean, skin and core your apples. Cut them into 1/2 inch thick or less slices.
2. Place the slices on a cookie sheet close together and place in a 150 degree or warm oven for about 6-10 hours, until dry and slightly crisp. If you have a dehydrator, use it instead.
3. After your apples have cooled off, place them in an air tight container. They make for good snack foods or additions to baked goods and cereals. They store for up to 1 year after they are dried.


All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Canned Brussel Sprouts

1.Clean your sprouts and place them into a stock pot covered in water.
2.Cook on high heat until just boiling, and then immediately remove from the heat.
3.Pack your sprouts into sterilized canning jars, placing 1 vegetable bullion cube, crumbled up into each jar. Wipe the rims and place your lids on.

Pressure can your sprouts at 10 lbs of pressure for 30 minutes for pints, and 35 minutes for quarts.



All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Muscadines and Scupernong Grapes

Juice

Wash and stem grapes. Place in a pot with enough water to cover he cleaned grapes. Simmer until the skin is soft. Strain through a Fine cotton cloth. Add the juice to another clean pot and heat to warm, adding just enough sugar to taste. Allow to cook to a boil and remove from heat immediately.
Fill your sterilized Quart jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Place your lids on the jars and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes after a rolling boil.

If you have a sediment settle to the bottom of your juice, this is tartaric acid (cream of tartar) and completely normal. You can eliminate this by filtering your juice a second time through a coffee filter, before you can it. We do not worry about it and just shake it up with the juice before we drink it.

Canning Whole Grapes

1.Stem, wash, and drain grapes.
2.Make a syrup of 1 cup sugar, 2 cups clear juice, and 2 cups water. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
3.Pour the warm syrup over your grapes, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Place on your lids and process for 20 minutes in a water bath canner, after a rapid boil.

Grapes are delicious canned together with other fruits, and made into a homemade cocktail.


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Here is what to do with bannanas next time you find them on sale, besides freezing them or drying them;
Canning Bannanas

•Boil,peel, and chunk the ripe bananas.
•Prepare syrup of two parts sugar and one part water.(example: for every 2 cups sugar use 1 cup water)
•Cook bananas in syrup for 2 minutes.
•Pack bananas in Sterilized canning jars.
•Fill with the syrup. Remove air bubbles.Leave 1 inch of head space in the jars, and place your lids on.

Process in a pressure canner for 55 minutes at 10 LBS for quarts.

Canned Bannana Butter

3 cups of mashed banana. Three cups is approximately equal to somewhere around a dozen bananas
1/2 of a cup of minced maraschino cherry
1/2 cup dried blueberries or raisins
1/4 of a cup of bottled lemon juice
5cups of sugar
6 ounces of pectin
1 cup of finely chopped pecans

1. Measure the three cups of freshly mashed bananas in a saucepan.

2. Mix together the lemon juice, maraschino cherries and the sugar

3. Bring the mixture to a boil for 2 minutes, while stirring continuously.

4. Remove from pan from the heat and stir the pectin into the mixture and mix very thuroughly for about 5 minutes.

5. Ladle the completed butter into sterile hot jars and immediately seal

6. Process the jars in your boiling water bath at least for ten minutes per pints at 5 LBS.

Canning pureed bananas

1.Break ripe bananas into chunks and throw them in a stock pot with 3/4 cup of water for each quart of fruit and 2 TBSP of lime juice.
2.Once the fruit is softened (about 10-15 minutes of cooking), pour the bannana gunk into a food processor, mill, or blender and blend it up until smooth and creamy.
3.Pour the bannana puree into jars and allow about one inch headroom. Wipe the rim clean and place your lids on.
Process in a pressure canner: your pint jars for 10 minutes at 10 lbs or quarts for 35 minutes at 10lbs

When bannanas are canned, they turn a pretty salmon pink color, but this is nothing to be worried about.


All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Canned bacon (mmmm....) nothing like it. It's the candy of the meat world. Unfortunately, if you don't have a fridge or know how to cure and dry meat, then you can be left feeling quite out of the bacon loop. There is a cure for your bacon blues though...canned bacon!
It cans up nice and easy, and cooks up crisp in minutes right from the jar. We just finished our batches for this year. Here's how to do it:

Canned Bacon

1. Sterilize enough jars and lids for a couple of canner batches. (Wide mouth ones work the best for this project)
2. Roll out a 10 inch piece of brown postal wrapping paper, fold in half length wise and cut the paper in half so that you have 2, 10 inch pieces.
3. Lay your pieces of raw bacon on the paper in rows next to each other.
When the paper is full of bacon, fold the filled sheets in half width wise so that the bacon is touching and only the paper is exposed.
4. Roll the bacon filled sheets of paper up like a danish and stuff into a clean jar.
5. Do NOT fill the jars with water! Just screw on the lids. The bacon will seal in its own juices.
6. Place the filled jars in your pressure canner and process the bacon for: 90 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure.
7. When the bacon is done canning, unload the canner according to the manufactures instructions and allow to cool completely before labeling the jars and putting them on the shelf.


All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Canned Mushrooms

1.Clean and sterilize your jars and lids.
2.Clean and trim mushrooms. Soak wild ones in salt water to remove any bugs.
3.Place enough butter in the bottom of a large pot to coat the bottom. Add 1/4 tsp Accent(MSG), 1/4tsp perpper, 1/2tsp garlic, 1/4tsp salt, and then add your mushrooms. Now pour in 4 cups of water and cover the pot with a lid. Cook on high heat for 15 minutes.
3.Remove the pan from the heat. Immediately pack the mushrooms hot into the clean jars, and fill with the mushroom broth;leaving 1/2 inch of head space.
5.Wipe the jar lids and seal the jars.
6.Place the jars in the pressure canner and follow your canners instructions. Can your mushrooms at 10 pounds of pressure for 45 minutes for pints, 60 minutes for quarts.
7.Remove the canner from the heat and follow the canners instructions for removing jar from the canner.
8.Allow the jars to cool completely. Check to see that the lids are sealed before putting the on the shelf.


All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Canned Nut Meats

1.Shell nuts.
2.Place the nut meats on a cookie sheet, spead out in a single layer.
3.Place in a 250 degree oven, stiring around occasionally, until the meats are nice and dry, but not browned.
4.Pak the nut meats, hot, into clean and sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space.
5.Wipe the jar lids and seal the jars.

You can water bath can pints for 35 minutes,quarts for 45 minutes.
Or you can Pressure can at 10 pounds of pressure for 10 minutes for pints, and 20 minutes for quarts.

Remove your jars from the canner acording to your canners instructions, and allow to cool. When the jars are cool, make sure they are sealed before you place them on the shelf.


All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Canned Butter and Milk

I know that the National Center for Home Food Preservation says NOT to can dairy foods, because:"We have no kind of database in the home canning/food processing arena to know what the microbiological concerns would be in a butter stored at room temperature in a sealed jar. In the absence of that, given that it is low-acid and that fats can protect spores from heat if they are in the product during a canning process, we cannot recommend storing butter produced by these methods under vacuum sealed conditions at room temperature."
That is their disclaimer for the method of canning butter and milk by just pouring it hot into jars and letting it vaccum seal or by water bath canning method, which I agree is not safe, but you do see the instructions on the internet.
I leave the decision up to you, to choose if you want to can your dairy and butter. I figure if it was concidered safe in the 60's and 70's by the FDA and you can safely can oily fish and fatty meat, by means of pressure canning, then pressure canning butter shouldn't be any different, but I have to leave you with an informed decision, and up to your responsibility if you try this method on your own. I am not resposible for your decisions about how or what you can though.
The truth is, you can get botulism from foods that are comercially canned too, if they are not done properly, so, make sure you can properly, sterily, and don't eat anything that you question the safety of. And don't take my word for ANYTHING.

Canned butter

1.Clean and sterilize your jars and lids. Allow to dry thuroughly.
2.Next melt the butter slowly until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.
3.Then pour the melted butter into the hot jars, useing a ladle. Make sure you keep the butter stirred so that it doesn't separate.
4.Wipe the tops of the jars with a clean cloth and put on the lids and rings. Tighten securely. Leave about one half of an inch space at the top of the jars.
5.Place the jars on the rackin your pressure canner and follow the instructions for how to use your pressure canner.
6.Process the butter for 60 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure
7.Remove the canner from the heat source and follow your canners directions for cooling and removing the jars.
8.As the jars start to cool you will need to shake them several times. It isn't a necessary step but it makes the butter look better.
9.Once cooled make sure that the lids of the jars have all sealed.

Place them in a nice cool dark place for storage. They should keep like all the rest of your canned goods.
When you pressure can butter, the sugar in the butter lightly carmelizes, giving it a slightly sweet taste, but all in all, it is good.

Canned Milk

1.Clean and sterilize your jars and lids. Allow to dry thuroughly.
2.Fill, lid and band each jar until you have enough to process one batch in your canner.
3.Place the jars on the rack in your pressure canner and follow the instructions for how to use your pressure canner.
4.Process the milk for 30 minutes for qurts and 25 minutes for pints, at 10 pounds of pressure.
5.Remove the canner from the heat source and follow your canners directions for cooling and removing the jars.
6. Once the jars have cooled, make sure that the lids have all sealed.

Canned milk should be used within one year of being canned. Because it has a caramel color and cooked taste, it is not usually appealing to drink, but it is great to cook with. You can not use it to make yogurt or cheese though, because the bacteria is killed in the canning process.

All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

The summer heat takes everything from you, especially the vital electrolytes we need. As we get older or spend more time in the sun, we lose lots of electrolytes, which leads to dehydration. I have problems with electrolyte loss in the summer because I am so active. Here is a recipe for electrolyte drink; to help you replace those that you lose from sweating.

1 ½ cups of white or turbanado (raw) sugar
1 ½ cups of granular fructose (can be obtained in the diet or diabetic foods or you can substitute 12TBSP of corn syrup)
1TBSP table salt (Sodium Chloride)
1 ½ tsp salt substitute or non-salt (Potassium Chloride)
1 ½ tsp crushed vitamin C

6 packages of Kool-Aid® or Flavorade® unflavored drink powder

Mix ingredients together well and store in a sealed container. This recipe makes 3 Gallons.
To mix:
1 quart =1/4 cup of powder and 1 quart water
2 quarts =1/2 cup of powder and 2 quarts water
1 Gallon =1 cup of powder and 1 gallon water

If you would like a more natural approach without the artificial colors:

1 cup of sugar
2 cans of frozen juice concentrate
1TBSP table salt (Sodium Chloride)
1 ½ tsp salt substitute or non-salt (Potassium Chloride)
1 ½ tsp crushed vitamin C

Heat the liquid ingredients just enough to dissolve the powdered ingredients. Store the syrup in a sealed jar in your refrigerator. This recipe makes 3 gallons.

To mix:
1 quart =1/4 cup of syrup and 1 quart water
2 quarts =1/2 cup of syrup and 2 quarts water
1 Gallon =1 cup of syrup and 1 gallon water

If you would like a less sugar approach:

1 cup of Splenda® for baking
2 cans of frozen juice concentrate
1TBSP table salt (Sodium Chloride)
1 ½ tsp salt substitute or non-salt (Potassium Chloride)
1 ½ tsp crushed vitamin C

1 quart =1/4 cup of syrup and 1 quart water
2 quarts =1/2 cup of syrup and 2 quarts water
1 Gallon =1 cup of syrup and 1 gallon water



All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump

Raspberry Syrup

3 cups raspberries or blackberries
5 cups brown sugar
5 cups white sugar

Clean your berries, and then mash them well in a large bowl with your hands. Strain the pulp through a fine cloth and capture your juice in another clean bowl. You will need 2 cups of berry juice. If you don't have enough, add enough water to your juice to make the full 2 cups. Save your pulp, you can make preserves or fruit roll-ups with it.
Add your sugar to the berry juice in a medium sauce pan. Allow the mixture to boil on medium-high heat for exactly 7 minutes. When the boil time is finished, poor the syrup into clean pint sized canning jars, to 1/2 an inch from the top. Place your lids on the jars and allow the syrup to cool undisturbed. Your lids should pop and seal the jars. If any of the jar lids do not pop, use that syrup immediately.
Raspberry syrup is delicious on home made pancakes.


All Rights Reserved/Copyright, Lilliput Dragon Press & Nichole Gump