Canning recipes, food preservation and food sales

[TheGrey]

It's a bit late but for future reference, apples will last for weeks or even months if stored in a cool, dry dark place. Do NOT store them in plastic, they need to breathe.

Always good advice! I'm searching for a dark, cool area in my house and I'm inclined to believe that it simply doesn't exist yet. Keep apples well away from potatoes; they're a bad influence on each other and will release ethylene gas, which causes faster ripening/rotting.

[rbeau30]

Tan. My froze/quartered/peeled/canned maters all float to the top of the jars. I follow Ball's Blue Book recipe. Am I doing something wrong?

[TheGrey]

Nope. Mine float as well. Before you use them, give them a shake. As long as the seals on your jars are good, and there's no sour smell when you open the jars, it's all good.

The tomatoes float because the fruit has oxygen bubbles inside. Did you raw pack them, or hot pack? Water process or pressure can?

[rbeau30]

Nope. Mine float as well. Before you use them, give them a shake. As long as the seals on your jars are good, and there's no sour smell when you open the jars, it's all good.

The tomatoes float because the fruit has oxygen bubbles inside. Did you raw pack them, or hot pack? Water process or pressure can?

I froze em all. Dipped them in boiling water for 2-3 seconds, skins came right off. Quartered them, simmered for 5 minutes and packed em in jars with lemon juice/salt. Processed in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.

[TheGrey]

I froze em all. Dipped them in boiling water for 2-3 seconds, skins came right off. Quartered them, simmered for 5 minutes and packed em in jars with lemon juice/salt. Processed in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.

I froze mine, too, and skinned and cored them. I cut some in half, otherwise packed them whole in jars with vinegar and water. Used a pressure canner. They not only float, but look a little like red brains (the whole tomatoes do.)
Here's a mistake I made: after dipping into boiling water, I tried to skin too many at once and left them sitting in cool water. Tomatoes absorb water like nobody's business, and layers began sluicing off of them when I tried squeezing some of it out. Don't do what I did. Skin them in small batches.

[crays]

Chicken today as well.

I think I killed my foodsaver. Time to shop for #4.

[Dave]

Chicken today as well.

I think I killed my foodsaver. Time to shop for #4.

I think we killed ours after two cases of zaycon chicken breasts last night....

[TheGrey]

Kohls may have some decent sales on Foodsavers, especially if you have a Kohls card.

[crays]

Yeah, I meant to get there before father's day, as I had a 30% off mailer but I procrastinated too long. I'll be heading there soon.
Thanks for the heads up though.

I'll check all the packages after they freeze, to see if any need to be marked for first use. I only had to redo 4 this morning.

[Hummer]

FWIW, apples store best at 32-34F degrees. Large apple distributors store them in a darkened oxygen-free nitrogen gas environment for up to three years. Apples from USA that you buy in summer are last years Sept-Oct crop, and possibly from two years ago. The big distributors dump their old stock at cheap prices just as CO apple growers try to market their fresh crop. They fuck the farmers at the expense of the consumer. The old stored fruit goes bad quickly, lacks flavor, sugars and crispness which discourages people from buying apples. But, you can't beat the quality of a fresh Colorado apple in season.