canning

Bloody Mary Mix

Twenty pounds of tomatoes blended with peppers, carrots and spinach, simmered two hours, seasoned hard, and pressure-canned.

Canned Banana Peppers

Banana peppers packed into half-pint jars and covered with a boiling sweet vinegar brine seasoned with mustard and celery seed.

Cinnamon Pickles

Cucumber rings soaked in pickling lime, tinted red, then simmered in a cinnamon stick and red hot candy syrup over several days.

Crystal Pickles

Cucumbers brined two weeks, crisped overnight in alum water, then steeped four mornings in spiced vinegar syrup before sealing.

Dilly Beans

Whole green beans packed upright in pint jars with garlic and dill, covered in boiling vinegar brine and water-bath processed.

Microwave Apple Butter

Quartered apples softened in the microwave with juice, pureed, then cooked again with sugar and spices until thick. Makes four cups.

Rhubarb Jam

Rhubarb cooked down with sugar and blueberry pie filling, set with raspberry Jello and sealed in jars.

Rhubarb-Blueberry Jam

Chopped rhubarb stands with sugar and canned blueberry pie mix, boils ten minutes, then sets with raspberry Jello.

Russian Dill Pickles

Sliced cucumbers packed with onion and dill, covered with a sweet-sour boiling brine; makes six quarts.

“Sibyl layers the onion and dill in the jars.”

Salsa - Fresh

Tomatoes, onions and peppers cooked down with tomato sauce, thickened with cornstarch, and processed in jars; makes about seven pints.

Salty Dill Pickles

Cucumbers soaked in cold water, jarred with dill, garlic and alum, and covered with a heavily salted vinegar brine.

Sun Dills

Cucumbers covered in a raw brine of water, vinegar, pickling salt, garlic and dill, then left in the sun about three days.

“For a 2 quart jar I use 2 1/8 cups water, 1 heaping cup of vinegar, scant ¼ cup pickling salt, scant ¼ head of garlic, and a small sprig of dill.”

Sweet Gherkins

Small cucumbers worked through four days of boiling-water soaks and a sugar-vinegar syrup with turmeric, cinnamon and fennel, then canned.

“Have fun!”

Tomato Preserves

Diced tomatoes set with Sure-Jell and spiced with cinnamon, allspice and cloves, then sealed into jars.