Salsa, Relish and Pickles

My First attempt at pickles.  These are bread and butter, they were so easy.  I used a Ball packet of spices and I'm going to compare that to the recipe my mom made when I was a kid.  Pickles have to sit a few weeks.... to pickle. 

 

 

Then I tried Salsa.  Salsa is a bit tricky to do in a water bath (NOT attempting a pressure cooker my first year) !A water bath canner can be used for high acid (tomatoes and pickles) and high sugar (Jams and Fruit)

 Salsa needs more acid to be able to be safely canned because of the onions and peppers, so you add ALOT of vinegar.

I ended up with PICKLED AWFUL salsa.  I canned a few jars and then added more than a pound of brown sugar to the mix to try to cut the vinegar.  I've ended up with a sweet/spicy mix that we are now calling "relish".  I guess relish can be what ever you want it to be.  I can see this working well on Chicken.  I think I saved it.

Note:  My neighbor explained to me that you often put vinegar on collard greens and he thinks the vinegar salsa might work really well on greens.  I'll gladly give it ALL to him.

I really don't have time for this ... but apples are coming and I've got to get them done before I go on vacation!

How Crazy Daisy spends her days....

 

A love-bite for her foster brother.

A little chewing exercise

 

Bringing her foster Dad his shoes

 

Basking in the pool

(Yes, I mowed today)

On the butterfly chase

My prince?

I stepped outside last night (barefoot) and about stepped on this guy.

He scared the crap out of me!   He's the size of a small dog!

I screamed like a girl

For my boy, blackbery jam

When Spenser found out I made Peach jam, he asked for blackberry.

When he found out I made Strawberry, he was a little louder about where the blackberry was.

So blackberry jam I finally tried.  I come from a place where blackberry's grow along side the road.  And now they want me to pay 4 dollars/quart!?!  This is 20 dollars worth of blackberry's!  That is absurd!

AND .. these blackberry's were not sweet - they were very tart.  I had to add lots of sugar, and in turn lots of pectin.  Turns out, my pectin didn't dissolve well, and a couple are lumpy ... another lesson learned.

At this cost, they are going in these little 4oz jars!

Strawberry Preserves

This was super easy, and I must say...

They turned out so good ... I might not share!  Yum!

Roger and I visit Luray Caverns

http://www.luraycaverns.com

 

Discovered in 1878

 

This is an actual reflection

 

It is estimated that it took 4 million years to make.

Peach and Tomato canning

Well, I started out with grand plans of jars and jars of peaches.

Turns out, peaches are difficult to make look pretty. We ended up with some peaches, but lots of jam.  We (Roger helped) made Vanilla Peach jam and Cinnamon Peach Jam.

 

White and yellow peaches

 

Jam making

 

We then moved on to tomatoes.  They were MUCH easier.

End result!

All jars "pinged" and are sealed ... so I think we did it.
It was alot of work, and I made a sticky mess - but I kinda liked it.