Appetizers

Apple Butter

Ingredients:

4 lbs apples

Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Macintosh

use an assortment of apples

(about 18 peeled and cored and chopped)
4 cups sugar

2 tablespoons apple pie spice

(add more to taste)
1 cup apple juice

1 bottle of apple sauce

(about 16 oz)

Spiced Peaches

2-3 pounds of large peaches or 8 pounds of small peaches

3 1/4 cups sugar

5 cups water

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp vanilla extract

Wash the peaches. Peel by dipping them in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, then plunging them into ice water to cool quickly. Slip off the peel, halve the fruit, or slices, then pit and scrape the cavity to remove the red fibers, if desired (these fibers tend to turn brown during storage).

As the peaches are halved, prevent darkening by placing the fruit directly into an anti-darkening solution

Hot Giardiniera

1/2 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced to 1/8-inch thickness
1/2 lb. celery, sliced into 1/4-inch thickness
2 red bell peppers, medium dice
1/2 lb. cauliflower florets, about 3/4-inch in size
1/2 lb. green olives, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 lb. hot peppers of your choice (I did half jalapeño and half serrano)
1 cup pickling salt
4 quarts water
2 cups white vinegar
2 tbsps pickling spice (purchase or easily make your own)
1 1/2 cup sugar

Mandarin Oranges

1. Clean your jars, rings and lids. A dishwasher works great for this. I usually put them in a pot of boiling water and then place them in the oven on the lowest temperature while I prepare my fruit.
2. Peel your mandarins. Remove as much of the white pith as possible. These little Kishu Mandarins took no work at all to remove the pith, but their smaller than golf ball size did involve a lot of peeling.

Grandma's Dill Pickles

Ingredients

  • 11 cups water
  • 5 cups white vinegar
  • 1 cup canning salt
  • 12 pounds pickling cucumbers, quartered or halved lengthwise
  • 9 dill sprigs or heads
  • 18 garlic cloves
  • 18 dried hot chilies

Directions

In a stockpot, bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil; boil 10 minutes. Pack cucumbers into nine hot quart jars within 1/2 in. of top. Place one dill head, two garlic cloves and two peppers in each jar.

Peach Salsa

Ingredients
For the Salsa
  • about 10 to 12 large peaches
  • Juice from two limes or ½ cup 5% vinegar
  • ½ cup honey
  • 1 large and 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (use more if you like hot and spicy)
  • 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped

Applesauce Fruit Blends

To prepare for canning, I heat 5 pint/500 ml mason jars in boiling water and left them in the hot water until ready to be filled. The sealing discs and ring bands were also warmed in a small pot of boiling water and left in the hot water until ready to use.

Peaches in Vanilla Syrup

Makes about 10 pint jars or 4 quart jars

1 teaspoon ascorbic acid mix, or 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
8 pounds peaches, freestone preferably because your life will be easier : )
4 cups sugar (This seemed like a lot to me, so I cut it down to 3 cups)
2 vanilla beans, split, each piece cut into inch-size pieces

 

Prepare the peaches…
Fill a large bowl with cold water and stir in the ascorbic acid mix/lemon/vinegar.

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