Lynn's Kitchen Adventures » Preserving Food

Pickled Green Beans

Lynn — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:02:58 +0000

Last week I tried something new. I have been picking a lot of green beans from our garden. I was not sure what to do with all of them. After hearing several people talk about pickled or dilly beans, I decided to give them a try. I hope we like them because I now have 10 pints.

Blackberry Syrup

Lynn — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Last week when I posted about using my frozen blackberries to make jelly and syrup, I received a couple of comments wondering how I made my blackberry syrup. I know I have posted several times about blackberries recently, but I thought the best way to answer these comments would be in a post.

I am pretty simple when it comes to jellies and jams. I know that there are a lot of recipes out there for unique and gourmet jams and jellies. But we like our jellies and jams simple, so that is the kind I make.

I just follow the directions on the package of pectin that I buy at the grocery store. It really is a simple recipe and it works, so that is what I use. No fancy jellies and jams for us.

For the syrup it really is just as easy. Growing up we ate a lot of berry syrups on our pancakes. Sometimes my mom meant to make them and sometimes she didn’t. There were times, for what ever reason, that her jelly would not set up, so we ate it as syrup. Now, to be honest my mom doesn’t always follow a recipe well, which is probably why her jelly did not always set up(Sorry mom). If you follow the jelly recipe it should work fine.

But how do you make syrup on purpose? It really is easy. Just follow the recipe for jelly that comes with the box of pectin, for everything, but the berry juice. For the juice part you want to use 2 extra cups of juice. So, if the recipe for jelly calls for 3 cups of a berry juice, use 5 cups of juice to get syrup. Just follow all the steps the same, except for the amount of juice. I also process the jars of syrup by following the directions for processing jelly. If worked really well with the blackberries and we have been enjoying wonderful blackberry syrup.

Has anyone else made berry syrups before? How do you make them?

Blackberries

Lynn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:51:00 +0000

I love blackberries. I grew up eating and picking wild blackberries. They grew all over the road we lived on. We spent hours picking them so that my mom could make jams, jellies, pies, and cobblers.

Several years ago we planted a few blackberry plants. They are doing well. They are putting off some berries, but not a lot. Last summer we got quite a few over the course of a month or so. However, we did not get a lot at any one time.

I never had enough in one picking to make a pie or cobbler with. I decided to freeze the berries and make something with them later when I had enough. I ended up with several large ziplock bags full of them. Well, they sat in my freezer all winter and I only used a few of them to make a cobbler. I really wanted/needed to do something with them before this years crop comes in.

When my mom was here last week she said she would help me make jam or jelly out of them. I was so glad she offered to help. Making jam or jelly is not hard, but it is easier with two people.

When I was growing up my mom not only made jam and jelly, she made fruit syrups out of berries. We ate this all the time on our pancakes. I thought some blackberry syrup sounded very good. I also thought my kids and husband would like it on their pancakes and waffles.

So my mom and I made blackberry jelly and blackberry syrup. It is so good. I only got a few jars of each, but it was so worth it. Homemade jam and jelly is so much better than what you buy in the store. Plus I know what is in it, because I made it.

I can’t wait for this year’s berry season to start.