CANNING THE OLD FASHIONED WAY

 It's a lovely 63 degrees in sunny California, soon to become exactly like my pot of stew ... boiling!

First however, it's garbage pickup day, meaning it's also gardener morning.  Having pruned this tree, I had chopped up some of the branches and stuck them in the bin, leaving enough room for the grass from the mowed lawn.  That's when he called to say he was not coming today.  I spent the morning frantically cutting up as many branches as I could and stuffing them into the bin that I hauled to the curb.  Kitters just watched after she completely missed the first jump into the tree.  

With that done, I was on to cooking.  I needed to use up some of the meat in the freezer, so beef stew it was.  However, stuffing an entire pot roast (cut up into pieces) into a small crock pot because I gave all my big ones away, was harder than I thought it would be.  Add mushrooms, onions, carrots and potatoes, and it was overflowing.  I stuck it in the pot and turned it on low before heading off to accounting work. 

Once back home, I began the next project ... JAM!  Remember these two bowls full of fruit?  I grabbed one of the nectarines on the right, only to have it squish completely in my hand.  OH YUCKY POO!!!  In three short days, instead of just getting ripe, they had rotted to the point of mold and mush.  The smell was more than I could handle.

That's why you only see peaches in this picture.  They are not exactly ripe at this point, but I'm not taking any chances.  I peeled them, put them through my food processor and dumped them in the pot.  Only four cups went into this very old pressure cooker.  I've learned over the years that this stuff, when boiling, will quadruple in size, so bigger is always better.

Next up, sterilize the jars the old fashioned way.  Wash, turn upside down and place in 1/2 an inch of water.  Place the pan on the burner and let it boil for a while.  By the way, these are new Azure glassware jars.  I have used Ball jars my entire life, until I figured out their seals don't seal very well.  These are actually cheaper than the Ball jars, but made oh-so-much better.

The lids are Superior lids.  Here's another reason to switch.  Ball has started putting much less rubber on the jar lids, so they often do not seal at all.  I noticed that on several jars the last time I made jam, so I have switched to Superior.  Same goes for the lids as the jars.  Put them in a pan, pour boiling water over and let them sit while you prepare the jam.

That's my huge pressure canner on the left, the one I've had for 36 years that has canned everything from veggies to tuna and salmon.  I'm using it today for a boiling water bath.  In the dinosaur days, we never did that.  Jars were filled with jam, capped and sealed, then left on the counter to cool.  I don't think we ever had a lid that did not seal.  Nowadays, they tell you not to can anything because you'll die from food poisoning.  As far as I know, no one in my small family ever died from eating our canned foods.

Here's the final product after boiling in the canner for 5 minutes ... no pressure involved.  The first lid pop on these jars was so loud it scared me half to death.  I ran into the kitchen, thinking one had exploded.  Nope ... just a nice LOUD tight seal.  Boy do I love these new jars and lids!!  Now for the taste test.  Boy oh boy this stuff is DELICIOUS!!  I'm sure it's made much better by the fact that these peaches were poached (but not by me) from the Dole peach orchard on the other side of town.

By this time, the stew wasn't stewing.  I turned it on high for the next five hours.  Will this stuff EVER get done?  So let's make some salad dressing.  Our Elks Lodge makes all their own dressings, and they are delicious!  I talked the Chef into giving me his recipe because salad dressing is expensive, and I never seem to like what I buy off the shelf.  

This could not be easier.  Mayo, Heinz chili sauce, pickle relish and garlic to taste.  No kidding .... it's like the Thousand Island dressing of old, and a whole lot cheaper.  

By now this stew has been cooking for almost 8 hours.  FINALLY the meat is tender.  That's what I was waiting for!  I have to say it's not Dan Chance's stew ... no one makes it better than he does ... but it was edible, except for that little weird after taste.  I think I finally figured out it is the one cup of canned beef broth taste that I don't like.  Too bad, so sad, it's too late to fix it.  It's edible, just not like what Dan whips up.  Next time I'm in Arizona, I'm secretly going to watch him make his famous recipe so I can make it too.

Toys toys everywhere.  If my kid wasn't sleeping, he was barking at me to play the steal-the-toy game.  This little lamb was his favorite.