18 Ways I Use Vinegar at My House

My husband teases me whenever we go grocery shopping because I usually buy more gallons of vinegar than gallons of milk.  I tell him that someday, when the zombie apocalypse finally happens, we will be the envy of the neighborhood because of our stockpile of vinegar. It'll be a hot commodity, I tell you (we'll have to guard our stash with a double-barrel shotgun), because it's useful in so many ways.

Here a few of the ways I use vinegar at my house...

1. All-purpose cleaner.  This is the #1 reason I think that vinegar is a great thing to have on hand (zombie apocalypse or no):  vinegar (straight 5% solution -- the kind sold at supermarkets) kills 99% percent of bacteria, 82% of mold, and 80% of viruses. Because of this, I use vinegar to clean just about everything in my house. To make an all-purpose cleaner,  mix equal parts white vinegar vinegar and water in a clean spray bottle. That's it (though sometimes I add a few drops of orange, lemon, or tea tree essential oil). I use this cleaner in my kitchen, bathrooms, everywhere. Best of all, this all-purpose cleaner is way cheaper than a store-bought all-purpose cleaner. I also love it because it's just vinegar -- no funky chemicals to worry about. (One word of warning -- don't use vinegar on marble or granite surfaces.) Your home won't smell like vinegar once it dries, I promise.

2. Dishwasher rinse aid. Fill up the rinse aid dispenser in your dishwasher with straight white vinegar instead. Totally works for me, even with my hard water.

3. Garbage disposal cleaner.  A great way to combat stinky kitchen drains is to freeze white vinegar in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop a few vinegar cubes into the disposal and turn it on. It not only gets rid of the stink but it also helps sharpen the blades of the garbage disposal, too.

4. Stain remover. I use vinegar in the laundry room a lot, especially since white vinegar works well for getting rid of stains.  I think it works particularly well with food stains. Here's a link to the stain fighting chart I have in my laundry room, courtesy of Martha Stewart.

5. Fabric softener.  Did you know that vinegar is a natural fabric softener? I pour around 1/4 - 1/2 cup of white vinegar into the middle of the agitator (that's where my machine's fabric softener dispenser is) and it gets released into the rinse cycle.   The vinegar keeps our clothes static free when I use the dryer - I haven't purchased dryer sheets in over two years. Vinegar is also helpful for the clothes that I dry outside on the clothesline -- it makes them less stiff.  And don't worry about your clothes smelling like vinegar -- once they're dry, the vinegar smell disappears.

6. Eliminating boy bathroom smell. I grew up with three younger brothers. I have a six-year-old boy now. I am well acquainted with "boy bathroom smell". (Is it really that hard to aim? Really?) What's the best way to clean the floor around the toilet? With vinegar! Not only does it neutralize the smell and kill germs, but it's also a safer way to clean. Mixing bleach with anything with ammonia in it (read: urine) can create a dangerous toxic gas. True story. Anyway, I splash vinegar around the base, let it soak for a while, then mop it up.

7. Toilet bowl cleaner. I've been cleaning the toilets in my house with only vinegar for years. When I clean a bathroom, the first thing I do is flush the toilet, add about a cup of vinegar while the bowl is refilling with water, and close the lid. I clean the rest of the bathroom (with spray bottle filled with vinegar) while I let the vinegar in the toilet do its work. Once I've finished cleaning everything in the bathroom, I'll scrub out the bowl with the toilet brush and all stains come right off. Flush and the dirty work is done.

8. Cleaning up vomit. I've mostly have experience with this from my (recently departed...sniff) cat. Let's just say he had a sensitive system and grazed on grass as if he were half-cow. Anyway, vinegar is good for cleaning up vomit because it has a more neutral acidity level than stomach acid, which helps neutralize that horrible vomit smell. I usually attack those stinky spots with a mixture of water and white vinegar (about a 2:1 ratio) and the smell goes away pretty quickly.

9. Glass cleaner. I'm a big fan of the "Alvin Corn" glass cleaner recipe I found on Pinterest. To make it, you only need vinegar, rubbing alcohol, cornstarch, and water. It's inexpensive and it works really well.

10. Pickling. I used so much vinegar canning this fall. Pickled peppers, dill pickles, sweet pickles -- delish.  You certainly can't pickle without vinegar.

11. Salad dressing. Vinegar goes great with salad. I like splashing some red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar straight onto my salad and eating that way. You can also make your own Italian dressing with vinegar -- for the super-easy recipe, go here.

12. Coleslaw. My husband served an LDS mission in the southern United States. After spending two years in the South, he come home with a love for slaw (especially when it is piled up on a hot dog with some chili. I thought it was weird until I tried it. YUM.). Lucky for him, I've been making it pretty often since I discovered Paula Deen's recipe (so easy, so good!). Without vinegar, coleslaw is just cabbage and carrots; vinegar is what makes it work.

13. Turning milk to buttermilk. Real, cultured buttermilk is always best in recipes, but sometimes I don't have it on hand. In those instances, I make do by mixing a little bit of vinegar with milk. To make a subsitute for 1 cup of buttermilk, mix 1 Tbsp. of vinegar with a cup of milk. Let it stand for about 10 minutes -- this will give it time to curdle the milk and thicken. Only use this method if you'll be cooking or baking -- it's not meant for recipes where you would use buttermilk raw, like in a salad dressing.

14.  Health drink. Drinking a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water a few times a day is supposed to be really good for you. My husband used to drink it every day when he was in high school and said it helped him with colds and such. I've been trying to drink it regularly, but the stuff is strong. I'm trying to get used to it. I'll let you know if any of those health benefits start kicking in. I've also mixed a little bit of ACV with my chickens' water because it's supposed to be beneficial for them, too.

15. Hair detangler. Believe it or not, you can actually use apple cider vinegar as you would conditioner. I used apple cider vinegar in place of conditioner for a while back in 2010. It totally softened and detangled my hair. I don't use ACV conditioner as often anymore, but I do use it whenever I'm in a pinch. To make vinegar conditioner, simply mix 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to a quart of water (I just kept a quart-sized Mason jar in my bathroom); pour over your hair (I usually just focused on the ends). Let your hair absorb the vinegar-water mixture for a minute or so, then rinse. I promise your hair won't smell like a pickle.

16. Dyeing Easter eggs.  Never buy egg-dyeing kits again. Making your own Easter egg dye is ridiculously simple. For the how-to, go here.

17. Cleaning the chicken coop. I decided to give the ladies' housing a good scrub-down last month following the instructions from this helpful post about naturally disinfecting chicken coops with vinegar.

18.  Baking soda + vinegar = cheap entertainment.  Kids love seeing vinegar and baking soda combine. Who am I kidding? I still think it's fun to mix the two.  My husband helped Max build a little volcano out cardboard last year. Then, he put a shot glass in the middle (the souvenir one that he got as a joke for me after a business trip to Austin. It says, "Don't Mess with Texas" ). Add some vinegar, food coloring, and baking soda and Max thought it was the coolest thing ever. We've also done the fun activity with the pan of baking soda and the colored vinegar in a dropper (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here). Who knew a chemical reaction could be entertaining?

Oh, vinegar. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Frugal Fridays, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

My Fall 2012 Canning Recipe Round-Up

It's that time of year when my kitchen always gets a little overrun with jars, lids, and rings. The canner is always on my stovetop  whether it is in use or not. There are apple peels, tomato tops, peach skins, cucumber ends, and other scraps in bowls headed to the compost heap or to the chickens. The countertops are covered in sticky patches of juice and sugar syrup. My kitchen gets hot, I sometimes burn my fingers, and the pile of pots and bowls in my sink stacks up. Most nights I feel too tired to cook because I feel like I've been in the kitchen all day (pizza, anyone?). Even so, when I see the jars lined up in my cupboard, all the mess and work reaffirms my love for fall canning (though it would be nice to have prettier labels on them. For now, masking tape and a Sharpie will have to do).  Plus, I love canning with my mom -- we get to spend a lot of time chatting and being productive all at once.

Anyway, I thought I'd do a recipe round-up on here, a list of links to the recipes I used this canning season.

1. Jam
The first thing I made this fall was jam. Homemade jam turned me into a jam snob.

This year, I made raspberry, blackberry, and peach jam. My raspberries didn't produce as much this year, so I only got a couple pints of it (so, so sad -- raspberry is my favorite!). We got lots of blackberries, though. For my blackberry and raspberry jams, I simply used the recipe from the pectin label. Nothing but fruit, sugar, and pectin.  For the peach jam, I used the recipe from Food in Jars -- I love it because it has this very warm, fall-like taste to it with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Yum.

2. Salsa
Again, nothing on the shelf at the store even comes close to being as delicious as homemade salsa.  We made two kinds this year.

The first is roasted tomato salsa. This recipe is THE best canned salsa recipe I've tried, period. It's from the blog Doris and Jilly Cook. I would make gallons of it if I had enough tomatoes. I love it because it has no vinegar in it. Now anyone who has read this blog for a while knows of my deep love for vinegar, but whenever I've made other salsa recipes, there's usually vinegar in it and it overpowers all the other flavors. This recipe uses lime juice instead. Another thing I love about this salsa is that tastes fresh, even months after it has been canned and sealed. I reminds me of the salsa you'd get at good Mexican restaurant.

And the recipe couldn't be simpler -- just tomatoes, a few dried peppers (boiled until they're pliable), a big onion, cilantro, garlic,  salt, and lime juice. Broil the tomatoes for a few minutes. Put the tomatoes and all the other ingredients into a food processor. Puree. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for ten minutes. Pour into hot jars. Remove air bubbles. Adjust lids and bands. Process. Easy.  Mom and I have made three double-batches this year and we'll probably do at least one more (*crossing my fingers that all those green tomatoes I have turn red*). What more can I say? This recipe rocks.

The other salsa we made this year was tomatillo salsa. The recipe we used is from Food in Jars. This salsa verde is delicious -- it was tangy and sweet and just a little spicy. I just picked all of my tomatillos and my mom has buckets full of them, so we're going to be making a bunch of this salsa over the next week or so. So good. Plus, it's great for a Halloween appetizer -- I often serve salsa verde and guacamole with dark blue corn tortilla chips at our annual Halloween party (Martha gets the credit for that idea).

3. Pickles
Some aspects of my garden this year were disappointing (what happened, green beans?) and frustrating (curse you, blossom-end rot), but there was one aspect that was awesome this year: my cucumbers produced so well! At one point, I had around 15 cucumbers in my fridge -- and they just kept coming. We ate a lot of them in salads and on sandwiches, but we also pickled a lot of them.

We did two different types of pickles. First, we made sweet pickle chips -- Mom and I made them for the first time last summer, sort of as an experiment, and we ended up loving them. They were great on their own, but also worked well in potato salad and macaroni salad (I used them in Pioneer Woman's recipe for macaroni salad. Now I'm craving it.)

Last year, we canned dill pickles and they were tasty, but they definitely weren't the crisp kind of dill pickles I love. Then I came across this recipe for refrigerator pickles (so, technically, they weren't canned, but I'm including them because it's a sort of preservation). They were so, so easy to make. It took probably 20 minutes at the very most (maybe less -- I wasn't really timing myself) to make them. As indicated in the recipe, I let them sit in the fridge for two days. Then we tried them. To quote my husband, "This is the best pickle I've ever had."  Delicious! What makes them even better? When you run out of the pickles, you just slice up more cucumbers, add them to the brine, let them sit a couple days, and -- voilà! --  more pickles!  The name of the recipe says it all: "The Very Easy and Neverending Jar of Pickles".

4. Peppers
Just check out the post before this one to read all about the sweet pickled peppers. No need to be redundant, right?

5. Applesauce

In my effort to eat less refined sugar, I've been cooking some foods with applesauce as the sweetener (like these waffles. Yum.). Since I try to only buy organic apples (they're #1 on the dirty dozen list this year, after all), I've been getting organic applesauce at the store. It's pricey, though. Imagine how excited I got when my in-laws said we could pick all the apples we wanted from their unsprayed apple trees! Organic apples for free! Some of them were blemished and had some nibbles from worms on them, but we picked them anyway.  Then, my mom and dad went on a trip to Zion National Park and found a u-pick organic apple orchard and picked 40-lbs of apples (for both applesauce and all the juicing my parents do) at a remarkably low price (we're talking like under a dollar a pound -- a steal compared to the organic apples at the grocery store). No more pricey, store-bought organic applesauce for us!

Applesauce is so, so easy to make: you cook the apples until they're soft and then puree. I like to use the food mill pictured above because it eliminates the need for peeling or coring the apples. But you don't need a food mill to make applesauce -- I've used a food processor, too. For the step-by-step of how I make applesauce, check out this link.

It's been a busy season and there's still more I want and wish I could do. Sometimes I overestimate my time, my kids' patience, and my endurance. That said, I love canning not just for the self-satisfaction of seeing those jars in my cupboard, but because it's an exercise in gratitude. It's an extension to the awe I feel about growing food and seeing how others grow it. Everything about canning is lovely. Well, except cleaning up.

What have you been canning this fall? 

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

{This post is linked up to Little House Friday, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Farm Girl Blog Fest.} 

Pack a Peck (or at least a few pints) of Sweet Pickled Peppers

My husband loves pickled peppers. He eats them on hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, salad, and sandwiches. Since he loves them so much and since they're so easy to make and since my mom had a bit of a surplus from her garden to share, she and I canned a few jars of them.

This recipe (adapted from this one) is so simple. You can make just a few pint-sized jars or go gung-ho and pickle a peck of peppers (which, incidentally, would yield about two gallons worth!).  There's still plenty of fresh produce at the farm stands and coming from the garden (unless you forgot to cover your plants like I did last night. So sad.), you could put up a few jars of sweet pickled peppers in less than an hour.

To make sweet pickled peppers (this recipe yields 4 pint-size jars), you'll need: 

around 1 lb. peppers {I used mostly banana peppers but you could use other mild varieties, like Anaheim or Hungarian.}

4 cups of white vinegar
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. whole mustard seeds
1 tsp. celery seed

1. Wash and sterilize four pint-size jars (or whatever size you want to use -- half-pint sized jars would be good, too.).

2.  Slice the peppers crosswise, so you end up with a pile of pepper rings.

3. Put the pepper rings into the sterilized jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. (As you can see, my 18-month-old is a burgeoning canner. He was "helping" me put the peppers into the jars. And don't worry -- these were really mild peppers so his cute, chubby hands were fine.)

4. Next, mix the the vinegar, sugar, mustard, and celery seed and bring to a boil.

5. Pour the hot mixture over the peppers, being sure to leave 1/2" headspace. Run a knife or rubber spatula around the inside of the jar to remove the air bubbles.

6. Make sure the rims of the jar are clean and adjust the lids and bands. Process the jars in a boiling-water canner for ten minutes (be sure to adjust for altitude; I ended up processing mine for 20 minutes).

Not only are these peppers delicious, but they're pretty, too. Maybe it seems silly to tout this recipe partly because the end result looks so nice, but, to me, there are few things more satisfying than seeing rows of brightly colored food packed away and preserved in glass jars. Definitely one of those simple joys of life. They almost look too pretty to eat -- almost.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, Simple Lives Thursday, Farm Girl Blog Fest, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Cookbook Review: Food in Jars

Can you feel it in the air? Canning season is upon us!

Sure, you can put food in jars year-round, but there's just something about canning in August and September. This time of year puts me in this sort of content yet industrious mood.  Plus, there are few things more satisfying than seeing jars full of delicious and fresh food in the pantry and thinking, "I did that!". I'm telling you, canning is good for the soul!  (Watch this to see what I mean.)

For a while, it seemed like canning was going out of style and becoming a lost art (I used to have older women gawk in line at me at the store, in my early-20s and with a shopping cart full of jars. Often they would say, "I didn't think anyone still did that."). Now there seems to be a resurgence and interest in canning (I went to the same store last week and found the canning supply shelves looking pretty empty). It isn't just for people with huge families, people with massive gardens, or people with tons of time (are there people with tons of time?) -- anyone can do it. Which leads me to one of my latest cookbook acquisitions:  Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan.

For years, my go-to (and only) canning cookbook has been the classic Ball Blue Book of Preserving and it's a classic for a reason. That said, I'm really enjoying this new book. Here are a few of the reasons:

1. The emphasis on small-batches.
I think a lot of people write canning off because they think that it's super time-consuming and that it isn't practical unless you have a big family and tons of room for food storage. I can see why they'd think that. Canning twelve quarts of peaches doesn't make sense if you're single.  A couple isn't likely to go through dozens of jars of homemade jam in a year.  Problem is, so many traditional canning recipes call for lots and lots of produce. I think that's one thing that turns people off from canning.

I went to the store to buy some pectin a couple weeks ago and saw that Ball has sort of ditched their boxes of pectin and have gone with a container (pictured below) instead.

I think this represents a shift in how canning is approached. Instead of using the pre-packaged amount of pectin, you can measure it out according to your needs -- you can make twenty jars of jam or just two. And that's what I love about Food in Jars -- the title says it all: preserving in small batches. This makes canning less overwhelming, especially for new canners. That said, experienced canners, those who want quarts of canned tomato sauce and twenty jars of jam, can enjoy this book as well. You can make as much or as little as you want.

2. Small batches mean more variety.

This book has all sorts of recipes, ranging from the basics (like strawberry jam, salsa, dilly beans) to more unique recipes (like blackberry and sage jam, blood orange marmalade, lemony pickled cauliflower). Instead of limiting yourself to month after month of a certain kind of jam (that was our case when I made, not exaggerating, 30+ jars of pluot jam a few years ago), you can have a variety in your pantry. Plus, with smaller batches, it doesn't feel nearly as risky to try new things. Take her recipe for cantaloupe jam with vanilla -- it sounds kind of odd but intriguing. I haven't made it yet but I want to. What if I make it and it's not what I hoped it would be? It only took 2 1/2 cups of cantaloupe, a packet of liquid pectin, and some sugar (enough to make around 3 cups of jam), so my losses aren't so bad. Say I made some other kind jam with bushels of fruit and pounds of sugar and didn't like it? We'd be eating it whether we liked it or not -- it'd be too much to waste.  This isn't to say I'm against big-batch canning (I would make gallons upon gallons of this salsa if I could), but small-batch canning does mix things up a bit and make eating more interesting

3.  All the recipes can be processed without a pressure canner. 
No expensive gear needed for these recipes -- just a pot to cook your food in, a bunch of jars and lids, a canning funnel, some ladles and tongs, and your boiling water canner. I have yet to learn how to use a pressure canner (I'm not going to lie -- I find it pretty intimidating), so I was glad to flip through the pages of this book and know that I could make every.single.thing. in there if I wanted to.

4. So far, all the recipes I've tried from it are good!

My mom brought a gallon-sized bucket of tomatillos from her garden to my house last week (Mom and I have fun canning together this time of year), so we decided to try out the recipe from this book for tomatillo salsa. It was yummy! Sweet and tangy and little bit spicy -- it's a really nice salsa verde. Another recipe I've liked out of the book is the peach jam -- her recipe has cinnamon, nutmeg, a little lemon juice, and lemon zest in it. The result is a peach jam that has a warm, almost fall-like taste to it. After I'd put it in jars, me and my little baby (18 months old this month! Where does the time go?!) kept scraping the extra in the pot onto pieces of toast. So tasty!

5. Not all food in jars is fruit and/or vegetables. 
Though there are plenty of recipes for canned and processed produce, there are also recipes for things you can store in jars without any processing. McClellan includes lots of other kinds of recipes -- bread mixes, nut butters, chicken stock, vanilla, and more.

6.  It's pretty.
Maybe this seems superfluous, but for me, a pretty cookbook goes a long way. When a cookbook is laid out well, has lovely photography, and an appealing look to the text, I'm more prone to cook from it.

7.  It's not just recipes. 
I read cookbooks like I read novels. I love them. I especially love cookbooks that aren't just cookbooks. I like it when they're wordy, when recipes have a sort of preamble. I like to read about how the recipes came about, what thoughts the author had as he/she was making them, what the recipes remind them of, the memories associated with their food, that sort of stuff. It makes me feel like I'm right there cooking (or in this instance, canning) with them, like I know the author personally. (A perfect example of a cookbook author who does this well is Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman -- if I saw her in person, I'd probably just start a conversation with her like she was one of my neighbors, completely forgetting that she had no idea who I was.). Food in Jars has just the amount of wordiness I like.

8.  The book conveys a sense of confidence, energy, and fun.
So many people think that canning is scary, that one risks killing the people you love with a botulism-tainted jar of fruit. I would like to state for the record: canning does not need to be scary. Other people think they can't make it work in the space they have-- the author is proof that anyone can do it, no matter the size of your home or kitchen (here's a picture of her kitchen).  Marisa McClellan makes canning not only seem completely do-able, but fun. Her book, like her blog, has this feeling like she's right there with you, helpful and attentive (speaking of helpful, she pretty much answered any question a person left about her book in the reviews section on Amazon. Awesome.).

I recommend this book to both experienced and novice canners. Pick up a copy and start putting up all the great summer produce. 'Tis the season, after all.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, Homestead Barn Hop, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}, 

Canning Cucumbers, Part Two: Dill Pickle Spears

I may not be too fond of sweet pickles, but I love a good dill pickle. There are a variety of ways to make dill pickles -- fresh pack, brined, cooked, canned, refrigerated, lacto-fermented. For my foray into pickle making, I decided to try a simple fresh pack recipe.

Although this recipe doesn't produce the crisp dill pickles I like most (I'm determined to make this recipe next year), they are still delicious and work well in a variety of recipes and on a hamburger or in a sandwich.

Fresh Pack Dill Pickles - from The Ball Blue Book of Preserving

Yield: about 7 pints or 3 quarts

8 lbs. 4- to 6-inch cucumbers, cut lengthwise into halves (we cut ours into quarters)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canning salt (can be found in the canning section in your local grocery store)
1 quart vinegar
1 quart water
3 tablespoons mixed pickling spices (also can be found in the canning section)
Green or dry dill (1 head per jar)
Cheesecloth and kitchen string or a store bought spice bag (For instructions on how to make a spice bag, check out this link -- it's really easy.)

Wash cucumbers; drain. Combine sugar, salt, vinegar, and water in a large saucepot. Tie spices in a spice bag; add spice bag to vinegar mixture. Simmer for 15 minutes. Pack cucumbers into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Put one head of dill in each jar.

For those who are wondering what a head of dill looks like, there it is. The head is made of up the flower at the top of the plant, the part with several stems and little buds at the ends. These heads of dill came from my mom's garden, but you can also buy it in the produce section, by the packaged fresh herbs). You can also use dried heads of dill. (After a little research, I've learned that you can can substitute 1 Tablespoon of dried dill seed for 1 head of fresh dill.)

Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles by running a rubber spatula around the inside of the jar, between the cucumbers and the glass. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes (be sure to adjust for altitude, if necessary) in a boiling-water canner. 

Allow 4-6 weeks for these pickles to cure and develop the best flavor.

Have you ever made pickles? What's your favorite kind -- to eat and/or make?  Any recipes/links I should know about?

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

Canning Cucumbers, Part 1: Sweet Pickle Chips

Yet another reason why I love this time of year: people sharing the bounty from their gardens. I mean, isn't that such a nice gesture? We joke about people unloading all their extra zucchinis on neighbors, but I think it's nice.  Like the lady in my mom's neighborhood who gave her eight pounds (eight!) of pickling cucumbers a few days ago. Free homegrown produce? Sweet!

Until this latest endeavor, Mom and I had never canned pickles. Never. But seeing as we had to do something with all those cucumbers, we decided to give it a go. Hooray for learning and trying new things, right? So, I took the kids up to my parents' house (hence the different setting for all the photos in the pickle posts -- I even used my dad's camera) for the day and we canned a bunch of cucumbers  I'm happy to report that pickle-making isn't too difficult. So, for the next couple posts, I'm going to share the recipes and techniques we used to make pickles.

Pickle Post #1: Sweet Pickle Chips

I'll be totally honest: I'm not a huge fan of sweet pickles. I don't hate them, but I definitely don't seek them out. But my mom likes them. Plus, she has this childhood memory of eating homemade sweet pickles with a neighborhood friend when she was a kid and she's always wanted to try making her own. My motivation for me to make these: they are an ingredient in my grandma's potato salad recipe (ridiculously good).

This recipe we used was one of the simplest we found (we found it on cooks.com). Many recipes for sweet pickles call for a ton of spices and seasonings. While this one had only a few ingredients, the results were quite tasty.  Mom says they're as good as the ones her neighbor made all those years ago.

Sweet Pickle Chips
- yield: 6 pint-sized jars -

4 lbs. pickling cucumbers - washed, blemishes removed, stems and blossom ends removed

Brining solution:
1 quart distilled white vinegar
3 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
1/2 cup sugar

Canning Syrup
1 2/3 cup of distilled white vinegar
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp. whole allspice
2 1/4 tsp. celery seed

{Note:  I don't know if we reduced ours too much during the cooking process or what, but we ended up having to make extra canning syrup. This may or may not be the case for you, but I think it'd be a good idea to have enough of the ingredients on hand to make another batch, if necessary.}

Once your cucumbers are washed and the ends have been trimmed off, cut the cucumbers across into 1/4 inch slices.

In a large pot, mix together the ingredients of the brining solution. Add the cucumbers and stir.  Cover the pot and let the cucumbers simmer in the brining mixture for about 5-7 minutes, until the cucumbers lose their bright color and look more dull. 

While the cucumbers are cooking, make the canning syrup by combining the vinegar, sugar, whole allspice, and celery seed. Heat mixture in a saucepot until the syrup comes to a boil.

Once the cucumbers are done cooking, drain. Pack the cucumbers into the hot pint-size canning jars (again, we ended up using 6 pint-size jars).  Cover the cucumbers with the hot syrup, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove the air bubbles by running a rubber spatula around the inside of the jar, between the cucumbers and the jar, moving the spatula up and down. Adjust lids and bands and process for 15 minutes (be sure to adjust for altitude and add on extra minutes, if necessary).

Product Review: Tattler Resuable Canning Lids

I first learned about Tattler reusable lids last fall, right after I finished canning numerous quarts of pears, apple pie filling, salsa, and peaches. I remember reading about the lids on a blog and thinking, "Now you tell me!"

In all my years of canning, I only knew about the metal ones that came with the jars. I had no idea there even was an alternative. That said, I always wondered why lids could only be used once. Wasn't there any way around that? That's where Tattler reusable lids come into play.

Tattler reusuable lids are just that -- reusable. The lids are made of a washable, heat-resistant plastic. When used with a rubber ring (which come with the plastic lids) and the regular metal canning rings, Tattler lids can help you preserve your food year after year.  The best part is that once you buy them, you never have to buy canning lids again. Even the rubber rings are reusable, so long as there are no signs of damage or wear on them (you can buy replacement rubber rings for a couple bucks). The company says that if the lids ever wear out, they'll replace them for free -- and according to the website and the pamphlet that came with the lids I bought, they've never had to replace a single lid. That's pretty awesome.

These lids are a guaranteed money saver. There is some initial investment (three dozen wide mouth lids for $23.95; $20.95 for three dozen regular mouth lids), but even that isn't much. It usually costs about $4-5 for a box of 12 of the one-use metal dome lids. If you do a lot of canning, the price for lids can really add up. Plus, once they're used, they're trash. With the reusable lids, you get years of use and they eventually pay for themselves. It goes almost without saying that Tattler lids are a much smarter choice. Plus, the lids contain no BPA like the metal dome lids do. Even more reason to use them!

So this is my first canning season with Tattler lids -- I ordered mine about a month ago and couldn't wait to try them out. I only bought the wide mouth ones, but I'm going to place an order for some the regular size ones soon. I've used them with both salsa and jam so far and I can definitely say I won't go back to the old lids for the majority of my canning (I'll still buy a few of the metal lids now and then so I can share jars of my canned foods. No way am I giving away my reusable lids!).

The lids took a little getting used to for me since I've learned with and have been using the metal dome lids for so long. You can't fill the jars as much as you would with the metal lids -- you need about an inch headspace in each jar so that the lids can seal. After a few jars, though, I got the hang of the Tattler lids. You heat the lids and rubber rings like you would with the metal ones. Once heated, you put rubber ring and lid combination on the jar, screw the metal rings (as I said previously, you reuse your metal rings with the Tattler lids) on loosely to keep the lid in place, and then process the jars as you normally would. Once the jars are done processing, you have to tighten the rings on the jars immediately.

My only complaint: I like the way you can tell that the metal dome lids are sealed. When the jars cool, you just have to tap the metal lids to make sure they're sealed. Plus, I love that popping sound of the metal lid sealing into place. With the Tattler lids, you have to unscrew the metal rings (once the jars have cooled, of course) and lift gently on each lid to see if they sealed. It's not a huge bother, but it takes more time. Still, that's not enough to make me even consider going to back to the dome lids.

I definitely recommend Tattler reusable lids. To me, they're one of those frugal no-brainers.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

The Return of Canning Season: Some Recipes, Reasons, and How Canning is Sexy

I've said it before and I'll say it again: one of the main reasons I love late summer-early autumn is canning. I love canning. It's not easy and it can make a big mess, but I love it. It's just so satisfying to rows of beautiful glass jars full of delicious summer produce in the pantry. And opening a jar of some of that in the winter? Lovely. 

For the next couple weeks or so, it's all about canning here. Before we get started, though, I thought I'd share a few links to past posts of mine, along with other blog posts about canning that I've enjoyed.

To Get You Started:

Yes You Can! -- My motivations for canning and why I love it.

All You Really Need -- A list of supplies to get you started.

The Fruits of My Labor:
Apples -- Applesauce and Pie Filling
Jam (Pluot jam!)
Peaches
Pears
Peppers

Other Helpful Sources and Inspiration:

Roasted Tomato Salsa -- Doris and Jilly Cook {Mom and I just canned a batch of this. It is the BEST!}

9 Good Reasons to Can Your Own Food -- Simple Bites

Preserving Summer: A Round-Up of Inspiration -- Simple Bites

Preserve! - SouleMama {My favorite blog}

And if you still haven't caught the canning bug, watch the video below. If you're a big canning geek like me, watch the video below. It made me kind of giddy. Classie Parker tells you why you should can. After all, as she says in the video, "Canning is sexy, baby!"


The Canning Queen of the Desert from Etsy on Vimeo.

The Pepper Surplus

I'm just going to go on the record now and say that my garden was mostly a disappointment this year. I don't know exactly what happened. Granted, my peas, my raspberries, green beans, tomatillos, and some of my early spinach and lettuce weren't too shabby, but the rest was . . . well . . . crappy.  My pumpkins didn't nearly produce like they did last year (just two measly pumpkins!), my strawberries were hit and miss, and I only got a handful of carrots. Worst of all, my tomatoes weren't nearly as awesome as they were last year.  I wait all year for the homegrown tomatoes and, although I got some, my harvest wasn't nearly what I've been used to.  Last year was awesome, this year was...meh. What did I do wrong? Did I lose my touch? It's all causing a lot of introspection and soul-searching, as you can imagine.

However, my mom's garden (surprise, surprise) was amazing and productive, as always (though her pumpkins bombed, too, this year. We used the same packet of seeds -- we're blaming that for the poor crop).  And more than anything else, my mom got a HUGE harvest of peppers, ranging from mild ones to the spicy jalapeños.  Mom's been trying to use them all up, but we finally decided that we needed to can them. So, I thought I'd share a couple of the things we did with Mom's pepper surplus.

Surplus Solution #1 -- Salsa
No doubt you probably guessed that I made salsa from the first picture. Making salsa is always messy, but so, so worth it. Garden tomatoes and peppers in the winter months? Heaven. I seem to use a different recipe for salsa every year. This year, since we had so many peppers, we used a recipe that called for a fairly high pepper to tomato ratio. It's called "Zesty Salsa" and it's definitely zesty. Yum!

Zesty Salsa from The Ball Blue Book of Preserving
10 cups chopped, seeded, peeled, cored tomatoes (about six pounds)
5 cups chopped and seeded long green peppers, (about two pounds) {My mom's were red and yellow ones - both mild varieties. Worked very well and made it really colorful.}
5 cups of chopped onions (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 1/2 cups of chopped and seeded hot peppers (about 1 pound)
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons cilantro (I added more. Loooove cilantro.)
1 1/4 cup of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce -- optional (We skipped it.)

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepot. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust lids and bands. Process 15 minutes in boiling-water or steam canner (Don't forget to adjust the time, according to your altitude). 

Now, the recipe I followed says that the yield is 6 pints. Both times I've done it, I've gotten 8 pints. Go figure. Maybe it'll be different for you.  We kept eating this salsa as it cooked over the stove -- it's really, really good.

Surplus Solution #2 - Jalapeño Jelly
After all that salsa, my mom still had a bunch of jalapeños left, so she wanted to make jalapeño jelly. I've never even tasted jalapeño jelly, let alone made it, so it was definitely a new endeavor. My mom didn't have time to make it, so I took it upon myself to make it solo since she'd shared all of her garden's bounty with me for the salsa (enter the crappy garden-induced depression).  Even though it was my first time, making this jelly was a cinch.

One note worth mentioning -- see those rubber gloves in the background? You should definitely wear gloves when you cut up hot peppers like jalapeños. Take it from someone who didn't wear them one time, who thought she had washed her hands thoroughly, and who, later that night, removed her contacts with those same hands. Yeowch!

Jalapeño Jelly from The Ball Blue Book of Preserving {again!}

3/4 pound of jalapeño peppers (This is a kind of confusing measurement. The recipe that came with the pectin, that had all the same ingredients and amounts, called for 12 peppers. That seems about what I used. Once I removed the stems, seeded them, and cut them into strips, it measured about 2 1/2 cups) 

2 cups of cider vinegar

6 cups of sugar (Mmmm....healthy.)

2 pouches liquid pectin
Green food coloring (optional)

Wash peppers. Remove stems and seeds (I also cut them into strips. Not necessary, but it made for easier measuring.). Purée peppers and one cup of the vinegar in a food processor or blender. In a large saucepot, combine the purée, the remaining cup of vinegar, and the sugar.  Bring to a boil; boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly (clears the sinuses, for sure!). Stir in the liquid pectin. Return to a rolling boil (as in, a boil that can't be stirred down) and boil hard for a minute, still stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam, if necessary. Stir in a few drops of food coloring. (Note: As much as I try to avoid artificial coloring, there are some cases where I give in. This is one. If you don't add the coloring, the jelly looks like a brownish-green swamp sludge. I only added about five drops. This made it nicely, not neon, green.)

Ladle hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust lids and bands. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water or steam canner. Again, don't forget to adjust your processing time according to your altitude.  The recipe says that the yield is about five half-pints. That's exactly what I got.

So how do you use jalapeño jelly? My mom puts it in a bowl with some cream cheese and serves it as a dip with crackers or sliced bell peppers. I also found this recipe for cheese coins with jalapeño jelly on Martha Stewart's site. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Guess what. After all of that, after the salsa and the jelly....we still have extra! We're considering pickling them (again, a totally new endeavor).  I'll let you know how it plays out.

Yet Another Canning Post: Pears

This canning season has been all about firsts so far. I did peaches for the first time last week and yesterday I did pears for the first time. It's been tiring and time consuming, but it's totally worth it.  What made canning even better yesterday is that I got my husband to help out while the boy napped. Is it possible that peeling and coring pears is romantic? Because I was definitely feeling the love for my awesome husband - he made the process go by a lot faster. 

Canning pears is quite similar to canning peaches, but there a few differences, hence this post. Plus, I discovered a new, must-have tool for canning fruit. Excited, aren't you?

I got an awesome deal on pears - I split a 36-lb. box of them with a friend, so I got 18 lbs. of pears for $12. I believe they are Barlett pears, US Grade extra fancy, straight from Oregon. So delicous and super-ripe. I can to get to work right away. My kitchen smelled heavenly just from the box sitting on my countertop! When picking pears to can, you want ones that are ripe but not soft.

For each quart, plan on using 2-3 pounds per quart.  I ended up with nine quarts and one pint.

 Anyway, here's how to can pears...

1. Wash, peel, and core pears.
Pears are a little more time consuming that peaches in that you have to peel and core them. And ripe pears are really slippery when you're peeling them. Once you've peeled the pears, cut the pear in half and remove the core. Here's where the new must-have gadget comes in: On Sunday, I told my friend at church that I was going to be canning pears soon and she told me, "You have to borrow my pear corer. Come to my house and get it."  The next day, she demonstrated how to use it and I could already see how it would be a big time-saver.  Instead of cutting around the core, you simply slide the loop down the middle and the core peels right out.  It's amazing! I'm definitely buying a pear corer for myself for next year!

2. Treat to prevent darkening.
Like with the peaches, you can buy ascorbic acid or vitamin c powder. I just soaked my cut pears in some water and squeezed a lemon into the water. Worked just fine.

3. Make a light syrup and keep it hot.
I used the same syrup I used for my peaches, the light syrup directions in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving: 2 1/4 cups of sugar to 5 1/4 cup of water, making 6 1/2 cups of syrup.

4. Use the hot pack method and cook the pears.
This is the main difference between canning the peaches and pears.  With the raw pack, you just put the cut-up fruit in the jars and pour the hot syrup over them. For the hot pack method, you have to cook the pears. To do this, cook the pears one layer at a time (meaning, they don't overlap in the pot) until hot throughout. This doesn't take long at all, just a few minutes. Be careful not to overcook your pears or they'll get mushy. When the syrup is boiling, gently put the pears into the syrup and let them cook until the syrup starts boiling again. Using the hot pack method for pears, from what I've read, is great for the flavor of the pears.

5. Pack the pears into hot jars.
Pack the hot pear halves into hot jars. The book says to leave a 1/2 inch of headspace.

6. Remove air bubbles.
To do this, use a plastic spatula or butter knife and insert it along the inside of the jar, between the fruit and the jar. Do this all around the inside, moving the spatula or knife up and down. I skipped this step and my jars boiled over and I had to re-do them. Total pain and a waste of lids.

7.  Adjust lids & bands and process in canner.
Process pints for 20 minutes, quarts for 25. Also, don't forget to adjust for your altitude, if necessary.

With the help of my obliging husband, the peeling, coring, cooking, and packing took about an hour and half. The processing took over an hour to finish all the jars. So, really, canning isn't an all-day process. That is, unless you're feeling ambitious and you want it to be. Believe me, I've had those days (pluot jam, anyone?) and as exhausting as they are, you feel so proud of yourself after.

Today I'm canning apple pie filling and applesauce. I see salsa in my near future, as well.  What are you canning this season?