Canning today (again)

Yesterday I cut up tomatoes, peppers and onions for salsa. I made it up today.

Recent lessons learned:

1. Just because something looks like a canning jar doesn't mean it really is! So if I buy them at garage sales again, I will look for "Mason" or "Ball" on the jar!

Why was this lesson learned?  Well, I noticed bits of vegetables floating in the water where I was processing the 2 pints of salsa I made. (More on only getting 2 pts. next.) At first I thought I just spilled some on the side and didn't notice.
 
Then I spot more and more...so I lifted up the jars. One jar was fine. But the other?

The WHOLE FLIPPING BOTTOM BROKE OFF! We're talking jars hot from the dishwasher, with hot salsa (it's a cooked recipe), so it isn't like there was a quick temperature change. Needless to say, that whole pint had to be trashed. Fortunately, the other jar is completely intact, so it  wasn't a total lost cause.

2. Five or six big tomatoes make very little salsa. Which would be okay if I hadn't lost half my batch. However, (and this is really the lesson), I need to find tomatoes that don't cost 3.99 a pound. And that's from a farm stand! I guess it is time for Mike and I to take a ride out on Long Island to visit farm stands more east of us. As for my own garden, I got a big 4 tomatoes so far. Wow. At least they tasted good.

Right now I have grape jelly processing (thanks for the pectin, Maryann!) and so far, so good. It's an easy recipe with just grape juice, sugar and pectin. I've never made it before. I hope it comes out good.

 When I was a kid, my mother made the best grape jelly from grapes that grew in the corner of our backyard. I have never tasted anything like that again in all my life!

Jam

 Top photo is freezer jam. Bottom photo is pantry jam.

Mike and I went out on the Island today, as he had a job site to do. We hit some farmstands on the way back. Alas, farmstands are few and far between here on Long Island these days. But I did bring home four quarts of lovely strawberries, locally grown. It was a pick-your-own place. And no, I didn't pick my own. I'm not capable of that with my back problems. I'm willing to pay an extra 50 cents a quart to let someone else do the work, LOL!

So I bring them home and start making jam. I was prepared for this 'cause I picked up some fruit pectin yesterday. Fruit pectin is almost as hard to find as farmstands. Nobody on LI cans, I guess. (Either that, or they do and they took it all.) Anyhoo, so I have this magazine from BH&G about canning (full of beautiful recipes) and I look up strawberry jam.

And I cut up 12 cups of strawberries.

 

Only to find the fruit pectin I have is meant for 'small batch' and I only needed about a cup and half of strawberries. (The mag recipe is for a big batch.) Can you imagine, it was the ONLY envelope of the stuff the store had?

But I had also bought some freezer jam packets. So I'm able to make both processed/pantry jam and freezer jam with all those strawberries.
 

The small batch only made 4 of the tiniest jars, like maybe 2 cups' worth. But now I know how much a packet makes and it will be a good way to experiment with some other things. Meantime, with all the strawberies I have left I might make some Strawberry Rhubarb Salsa, which does not require pectin. 

I'm worn out. Gonna go relax with my NOOK. My mother cans 60+ jars of this or that at a time. Me, I'm tired after maybe 8 jars.