Ingredients:
For this recipe you will need 4 pint jars, lids, and rings. You can double, triple or enlarge this recipe to make more as long as you keep the proportions the same.
2 lbs. small tender Schilter Family Farm green beans- stem end trimmed off
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 cloves fresh peeled cloves of garlic
4 large heads of fresh dill
2 cups of water
1/4 cup of salt
2 cups of cider vinegar 5% acidity- (you can use white vinegar as well for brighter color, but a little less flavor)
Directions:
Clean and sterilize your canning jars and lids. This can be done in a dish washer of place the jars upside down in a hot water bath in a pan. Pull out and place on your work space.
Rinse and stem your green beans.
Pack uniformly in hot, sterilized jars. Pack them in as tight as you can.
To each pint, add 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, 1 clove whole fresh peeled garlic, and 1 head of fresh dill.
Heat together water, salt and vinegar. Bring to a boil; Pour over beans.
Put lids and rings on jars and place jars in a pot of hot water. Bring to a slight boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer 10 minutes.
All finished! Label the tops of your jars with the date so you know later when you made them.
Makes 4 pints
Allow the beans to sit in jars for at least 6 weeks to absorb flavor before eating. Enjoy!
Berries are not only one of the tastiest treats, they are extremely versatile for cooking and freezing. Here are a few tips for putting up some berries for those winter months when nothing local is available.
Tip #1:
Lay berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet or pat and place in the freezer for an hour or so. (If freezing strawberries, hull the stems off first before placing on tray) After they have frozen through, pour the berries into a labeled Ziploc bag. This will help keep the berries from clumping into one big mass in the freezer.
Tip #2:
Always label your containers. We write the type of berry on the Ziploc freezer bags and the date that we froze them. It is amazing how different types of berries can look similar after freezing them. Labeling and dating helps you keep your freezer organized so you know what you have, and which berries to use first. Also, Ziplocs are easy to stack on top of each other. We usually put 4 cups of berries per bag.
Tip#3:
Use frozen,unsweetened berries to make jam in the winter. There are many times I don’t have a day to make jam when the fruit is fresh and ripe. Berries freeze great and it is a quick and easy solution to not having the time right then to make the jam. Frozen local berries make just as good of jam as the fresh. Just pull them out when it is convenient, let thaw and follow your recipe. This also works if you want to combine fruit types but they are not in season at the same time. You can pull the earlier variety out of the freezer and add it to the in season fruit.
Hope these tips help. So start freezing your favorite summer berries! You will be very happy when you can make a smoothie or berry pie in the middle of winter!
Freeze some fresh berries for later!
We are often asked,” What do you like better, freezer or cooked jam?” and the answer is both are better for different reasons. Here are the pros and cons of both:
Pros of Freezer Jam:
1.Very easy to make with little or no cooking involved depending on the type of pectin used.
2.The jam will taste much more like fresh berries or fruit.
3.The color or the jam is more like the true color of the fruit used to make the jam.
4. Not a lot of time involved.
5.Uses less sugar since it isn’t needed as a preservative, just as a sweetener.
6.Can use other types of stackable containers rather than just glass jars, and the containers don’t need to “seal”.
Cons of Freezer Jam:
1. Takes up room in your limited freezer space and at risk if you lose power for an extended period of time.
2. Difficult to give as gifts or ship since it requires refrigeration.
3.Can make a mess in your freezer if you over fill your jars or containers since the jam expands a little during the freezing process.
4.Sometimes it doesn’t set up quite as well as cooked jam.
5.Need to make sure you completely dissolve the sugar during the jam preparation so it is not gritty in your jam.
Pros of Cooked Jam:
1.Will keep in your pantry or cupboards for a long time without refrigeration.
2.Sets up very well, and often has a thicker and more jam like consistency.
3.Some fruit jam tastes better once cooked. I prefer a raspberry cooked jam to a raspberry freezer jam.
4.Nice as gifts and easily shipped to friends or loved ones.
Cons of Cooked Jam:
1.More time consuming than making freezer jam.
2.Need to be very careful during the process so that your jars seal properly, otherwise the jam will not keep.
(hint for proper sealing: Make sure jars are clean, especially the rims. Once you fill the jars with hot jam, wipe off the rim then place the lid and ring on snugly. Turn the jar upside down. In about 15 minutes or so turn it back over and check the jar. It should have “sucked” the lid down and be sealed. If you press in the center of the lid and it still pops up and down it hasn’t sealed yet. Turn over and try again. Usually I have one jar or so that doesn’t for whatever reason so we just put it in the fridge and eat it first.)
3.Requires more sugar than a freezer jam.
4.Less natural fruit taste than a freezer jam.
To sum it up, we like and make some of both for our family. That way our freezer doesn’t get over taken with jam, and we have some jam we can share with others who might not have a lot of freezer space. Which ever you choose to make, follow the directions carefully, but don’t worry! Jam is not hard to make. With a little work, you will be enjoying a wonderful treat all year long!
