Canning for the Modern Homemaker

Mmm, delicious, right? These are homemade sweet-and-sour pickles with dill and onions. And canning for the winter doesn’t have to be complicated!

Here is the new thread
Canning for the Modern Homemaker, Part 2. 

Hello, dear friends,

Since many hardworking homemakers are probably reading along here, today I have a related post with a practical angle. I also like trying out new things. And if I really like something, I’m happy to recommend it.

I have a garden where lots of fruit and vegetables grow. In times like these, you know, people put away more supplies than usual. So I decided to do a lot of canning this year. Freezing would work too, but then it uses electricity continuously.

I own one of those old-fashioned big brown canning pots with a tap for draining the water and a thermostat control. I always had to use this large canning pot outside. I never really liked that, because it was bulky and awkward. And far too big for my two-person household. Besides, I always had to carry everything from the kitchen outside, and so on and so forth.

My new discovery (for about 30 euros) is now a canning set from Tescoma.
The key part is basically a lid with a thermometer inside, which you place on a completely normal 24 cm saucepan on your completely normal stove. So, for example, you prepare your cucumbers as usual: clean twist-off jars + lids, onions, fresh dill, parsley, mustard seeds, a little garlic and horseradish (if you like), cucumber slices, and then you pour the strongly seasoned sweet-and-sour brine over them.

A supplied silicone trivet goes into the saucepan so the jars don’t stand on the hot bottom of the pot. Then add 1 liter of water (at the same temperature as the contents of the jars). Then place the jars in the saucepan. You could also put them in two layers, because the delivery also includes a sturdy ring that you could place on the saucepan.



Then put the lid on and turn on the stove as usual—the way you would quickly heat anything else.



The contents of the pot are not yet at canning temperature, but the red pointer is working its way toward the green canning range.



Then look at the thermometer: when the pointer is between 80 and 90 degrees, the canning temperature has been reached in the pot. This standard canning temperature applies to fruit and vegetables. You must not lift the lid under any circumstances, because then the steam would cool down again. But the transparent lid shows you what is happening in the pot. In this case, the droplets of steam are hanging on the inside of the lid.



I then set a timer for 20 minutes for my pickles. And then the whole thing cans away—in a completely normal saucepan on my stove. No awkward draining water outside and no inaccurate thermostat. Depending on the stove, you then have to adjust it so that the pointer stays in the range between 80 and 90 degrees. .

After that, take out the jars and be happy. Without the attachment, 4 jars (up to the height of the saucepan) fit in the pot; with the attachment there would be more, because you can stack them too. For my two-person household, I prefer to use smaller jars.



I always harvest cherries or cucumbers or something else in turn, which I then can. With this new method, canning fruit and vegetables for a small household is much easier and more convenient, I think. Today it was the cucumbers’ turn ... 8 jars will go into the cellar tomorrow—cooled and labeled.



So, enough storytelling. Maybe one or another of you has also gotten in the mood for preserving. In winter you’ll be glad you did ;-) Tomorrow it’s sweet cherries again. We can’t possibly eat that many cherries fresh, so into the jar they go. I preserve them in their own juice. First pit them, then add sugar and let them draw out their juice. Then into the jar and into the saucepan in the kitchen to be canned as described. 

Best wishes, and Ina wishes you a relaxing Sunday afternoon
Ina
PS. No, I’m not an advertising ambassador for the company Tescoma, just an enthusiastic user.

wow

I used to have a garden with my first husband too. That’s where I also canned 🍓 compote, which was stolen from us through the basement window (which was open = tilted).

Now my current husband and I don’t have a garden anymore. Available garden plots are a rarity here and cost quite a bit more.

Back then, I used to do my canning in the oven. I also know that some people used to do canning in the washing machine (WM66). It was only meant for washing.

Thanks for the tip—that sounds interesting.
Best regards, Marita 

Oh Ina, that’s such a great tip! Thank you so much for your valuable contribution.

What’s the diameter of your awesome lid? I have a large pot, so I could try that too. Instead of freezing, this is definitely a brilliant alternative. And yes, I’m really getting into it too.

Thanks for sharing this great idea,
even if it probably isn’t worth it for me 🤔

Thank you, Ina, for sharing your post about this new find. It sounds interesting and simple.
There are just the two of us, too, and this lid promises little effort and is easy to use. It’s crazy how technology changes.
I remember this from back in the day with my mom. That big gray pot with a hole in the lid and a thermometer inside. Ah, those were the days.

@alle
Thank you for your comments. The “good things” have to be shared.

@Gabi
If your preserves were even swiped through the open cellar window, they must have been good. But of course it’s still annoying that other people helped themselves to your delicious treats.

@Monika
The lid fits any cooking pot with a diameter of 24 cm. That’s a very common pot size; you’re sure to have one like that at home. The lid has a wide silicone rim all the way around, so it can compensate for a few millimeters. It really makes preserving wonderfully easy and uncomplicated.

@Susanne
Think it over again calmly and see whether it might be worth it after all. Especially now in summer, seasonal fruit or vegetables are usually much cheaper than if you had to buy them outside the harvest season. And the preserving lid doesn’t really take up any space. It makes the job quick.

@alle
Many supermarkets often offer their unsold fruit/vegetables in the evenings at half price. If there’s something suitable, you can preserve that too. The smart homemaker plans ahead ;-)

Today I preserved 20 small jars of sweet cherries in their own juice with a little lemon juice. In winter I can use them to bake cakes, or put them on pancakes or ice cream, or in muesli.

Best wishes, Ina

With this giant pot, I also spent years preserving my “Kümmele” and fruit and vegetables.
“Kümmele” is a typical Franconian word :-) = sweet-and-sour gherkins. Since my daughters have all moved out, I don’t preserve anything anymore; at some point my oldest daughter took over the pot, and by now it’s broken too.

LG Inge

Yes, Inge, everything has its time, and in the end, we’re left with the memories. Back when we were still a big blended family, I also needed a large pot for canning. But today, my husband and I are a two-person household that doesn’t need quite as much anymore. But we love the good things nature has to offer—things we know are free of chemicals, both inside and out. And since we have a garden that generously provides us with this or that every year, we want to make the most of it for ourselves.

For example, when I buy a jar of pickles at the supermarket, they’re pretty expensive and contain tons of sugar. With my own jars, I know exactly what’s in them, and I get to decide the flavor. I always add plenty of dill :-) And I use the pickle brine in my potato salad.

Best wishes, Ina

Ina, I remember that too—the cooking liquid goes into the potato salad. My mom used to do it that way, and I’ve carried on the tradition. I can’t eat too much of that caraway anyway, since my stomach gets too acidic very quickly and then I get

severe heartburn. Love, Inge

I’d never even heard of the term “Kümmele.” Does it contain caraway, or where does the term come from? In any case, I don’t put any caraway in my pickles.

Best regards, Ina

No, that probably comes from the fact that these little gherkins have a similar curve to caraway seeds. I grew up with that expression, and we’ve had quite a few laughs about it, because one of my daughters moved to the Baden region almost 30 years ago, and at the beginning, when we were having a snack and I said to my son-in-law, “Please pass me the Kümmele,” the Franconian faction would grin from ear to ear until we finally put the poor man out of his misery :-) Every region has its own expressions for all sorts of everyday things.

Best regards, Inge

Oh, I see. Learned something new again. Thanks so much for the explanation.

Best regards, Ina

Ina, you’ve inspired me so much with that canning attachment that I can’t stop thinking about it. I actually still have a lot of larger jars sitting around and am already thinking about all the things I could can. This year, I’ve discovered my absolute love for gardening and self-sufficiency.

Yes, it’s true—everything in the stores is getting more and more expensive, and it doesn’t taste as good as homemade. We have a really good farmers’ market with lots of stalls selling their own vegetables. So I think I’ll go get one of those preserving attachments and start filling my jars.

A recipe for the brine for cucumbers would be great right now. Sweet and sour sounds good—I definitely won’t use refined sugar, probably birch sugar instead.

Ina, you’ve gotten me so excited about your canning set that I ordered one for myself, too. It arrived today. Now I have a few questions for you, since you’re already using it. The brief instructions just don’t give me enough information.

1st question:
How long do you can your cucumbers, for example?

2. Question:
In the pictures, it looks like the contents of the jars are sealed and preserved by steam, so to speak. I don’t see any water being added. Can you actually put fruit like pears in the jars without adding water? Or what’s the minimum amount of water that needs to go into each jar?

3. Question:
I’ve also seen jars filled with jam. Can you make jam that way, too—by just putting the chopped ingredients into the jars and then steaming them in a pot (for how long?)?

4. Question:
Would you share your cucumber recipe with us—or tell us what ingredients you add to the jars with the cucumbers? The ratio of vinegar (which kind?) to water would also be interesting.

I know… there are a lot of questions. But I’m so eager to try this out now, and I don’t want to make any mistakes. Making my own pickled cucumbers has been a dream of mine for a long time. It was just the traditional canning method that always held me back. Now it would be a piece of cake. Tomatoes should also preserve very well this way. Then I won’t have to buy canned tomatoes in the winter anymore.

I’m really looking forward to your answers and can’t wait to hear them. But there’s no rush—it doesn’t have to be right away.

Dear Monika,

Regarding 1.)
I can cucumbers for 25 minutes. 20 would be enough too, but I usually add 5 minutes. The canning time only starts once the red pointer on the thermometer is in the green temperature range (so between 80 and 90 degrees). Then set a kitchen timer for 25 minutes and make sure the pointer stays in the green canning range. You’ll need to adjust your stove up or down a bit for that.

Regarding 2.)
There has to be some liquid in every jar. You can’t can completely dry fruit. So I harvest my fruit, clean it, cut it into small pieces and then let it draw out juice. You probably know this from strawberries. Fruit has its own juice, but it is usually inside the fruit. By cutting it up (whatever size you like) and lightly sugaring it, the juice is released from the fruit. It comes out, and the fruit forms juice that way. The sugar is the “door opener” for the cells here. Without a minimum amount of sugar, this “juice-forming process” won’t start. Birch sugar alone probably won’t work. But ripe pears are actually juicy and sweet, so they will surely form juice on their own too. You just have to try it. It depends on your pears. You could also juice a few pears first and then add the pear juice.

If you preserve jars that don’t have enough juice in them, the upper half would probably become dry. I haven’t had that happen yet, because my ripe fruit has always produced enough fruit juice, or I’ve added a splash of water.

So I let my fruit stand lightly sugared for 1 or 2 hours and draw out juice, then I slowly bring it to a boil in the saucepan so it gets hot and is heated through once. Then it goes into the jars as hot as possible, screw the lids on, and can for 20 to 25 minutes.

Every fruit / vegetable has its own canning time. Some need more time, others less. Maybe you can get the book “Weck Einkochbuch”. It’s currently available in our swap exchange. It contains a lot of useful information on the topic. Including the canning times.

3.)
Making jam is even easier. It doesn’t need to be canned at all. It is boiled hot in the pot with jam sugar. A...zon also has vegan jam sugar, though it is very expensive. So some form of jam sugar or gelling aid has to be added to the fruit, otherwise the fruit wouldn’t turn into jam. There are also instructions online for how to make your own jam sugar—without industrial sugar. Let it boil vigorously for 4 minutes. Then fill it hot into clean twist-off jars. Screw these shut and turn them upside down. When filling, leave a thumb’s width of space up to the rim. In this space, the hot steam creates a vacuum. The vacuum basically preserves your jam. It’s important that the jam goes into the jars HOT. If necessary, put it back on the stove and heat it up again.

4.)
I’ll write down my cucumber recipe separately soon. If the topic isn’t of general interest, we can also keep chatting by PM :-)

Best wishes, Ina

Wow, THANK YOU so much, Ina, for all this info. I’m going to get that book right away.

I figured there had to be a little water with the fruit. I’ll keep that in mind. I have a lot of experience with birch sugar—I use it to make jam, too. It can be used just like regular sugar but doesn’t have the negative effects on the body.

I make jam in the Thermomix—using a pectin mix. It works great! To extend the shelf life, I always add half a teaspoon of EM-X ceramic powder. It’s always worked great so far, and the jam has never gone bad.

I’m really curious about your cucumber canning recipe. I think this will be of interest to quite a few people.

Of course, I’ll also report back here on my results. I’m taking it slow and feeling my way through it. Another thing I’m going to try is preserving ready-made meals. I prefer this method of preservation to freezing.

EM-X ceramic powder—oh, I hadn’t heard of that before. I had to Google it first. It’s probably just for pros like you who are really into healthy eating. If you can make good jam with it and pectin, then it’s perfect for you.

I’m working on the pickle recipe; I’ll definitely send it to you this weekend.

You have to be careful with ready-made meals. They can’t just be preserved at 80 to 90 degrees. There are a few things to keep in mind. They have to be preserved in a pressure cooker on setting 2 at up to 120 degrees Celsius to ensure that any potentially harmful bacteria are killed. The food industry can do that with their high-tech equipment. For us regular consumers, the only option is a pressure cooker. And you have to make sure not to add any flour, milk, dairy products, or starch to the finished meal—otherwise, the preserved food will spoil later. That’s all due to the acids in the food. Ready-made meals consist of many components that react with each other. Some don’t react immediately, but over time the jar will bulge and the contents will spoil. So preserving ready-made meals is only for professionals who’ve already gained a lot of experience.

Personally, I prefer to freeze ready-made meals in individual portions and take them out when I need them. That way, my fruits and vegetables don’t take up space in the freezer, because I prefer to preserve them separately by type. And I actually do quite enjoy cooking a little bit. Besides, I still prefer the taste of freshly cooked lunches to preserved ones. And a goulash in my pressure cooker is also cooked quickly.

Best regards, Ina

Yes, you’re right, Ina. I’d better skip prepared dishes then. I rarely have leftovers anyway.

The EM-X powder is really easy to use. It’s the Effective Microorganisms that do the work. I’m always amazed myself that it really works. Experience has shown that. I get the pectin powder at the organic grocery store. There, you can add as much sweetener as you want. I always make jam with 1000 g of fruit and 500 g of birch sugar. It works great! I add 22 g of the jam powder. I’ve been doing it this way for many years.

I’ve ordered the book and I’m really looking forward to it. I had to spend 68 years on this earth before finally starting to preserve food—thanks to your great tip here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Oh, so that’s how it works with the ceramic powder. Check your inbox—the cucumber recipe is there for you. I hope you enjoy it.

Otherwise, I’d just like to add that there’s always the right time for everything. We just have to be patient until things come to us. That’s how it was for me with sewing. I always wanted to learn it, but I had to wait until I was 58 before I finally got started. For me, it was Inge’s creations that gave me the push I needed, along with the birth of my granddaughter Lisann. I wanted to learn it for her, so I could sew beautiful things for her. So everything really does happen in its own time. Let’s enjoy what we have right now and the things that inspire us. Anyone who can’t get excited about anything is missing out.

Warm regards, Ina

Hi Ina,
I’ve been reading along with great enthusiasm with both of you. You have some great ideas there. And it’s really made me want to try something again myself. Right now, we have a real glut of cucumbers in our greenhouse, and your pictures of your pickled cucumbers look absolutely delicious. I’d also be very happy to have your recipe. Would you share it with us?

Have a wonderful evening, and best regards, Susann

We used to have that huge canning pot, too, which meant we had to go outside. Now I just make my own jams in a regular pot—pour them hot into the jars, turn them upside down, and that’s it.
Since we don’t have a garden anymore, there’s nothing else to can anyway, but if we did, I’d definitely get one of those—it’s really practical.

Dear Susann,
Since no one else had chimed in here, I thought the topic wasn’t all that important. But of course I’m glad you’ve been quietly following along and are now curious about my cucumber recipe.

I know exactly what you mean by “a glut of cucumbers in the greenhouse.” When it stays warm for a few days in a row, that’s always the case for me, too. And you can’t eat or give away that many cucumbers—whether as cucumber salad or braised cucumbers. They’re practically begging to be preserved for the winter. That’s when you’ll be glad to have them.

I’d be happy to send you my recipe. I can’t post it here because I made it as instructions with pictures—it would be too long for this space. I’d be happy to send it to you as a PDF file. If anyone else is interested, feel free to send me a PM.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina, I’d like to thank you again here for the recipe. I’ll give it a try next week once I’ve gathered all the ingredients.

We don’t have a big vegetable garden, but we do have a great farmers’ market. Cucumbers are on sale there right now. I’m really looking forward to it. We do have some on the balcony, too, but they’re smaller. We’ll probably eat those right away once they’re ready.

We do have plenty of tomatoes, though. I’ll preserve those as well, so I’ll have them for pizza in the winter.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Monika

Hi Ina,
I tried your great recipe right away over the weekend, and it worked wonderfully. Now it just needs to be tasted. And thanks again for these really detailed instructions—you really put a lot of work into them. 5***** from me ;)
Best, Susann

Dear Monika,
yes, tomatoes are also great for canning ... for pizza or tomato sauce or goulash. You can also make a ready-made tomato sauce (e.g. with bell pepper in it and seasoned as well). But don't add any flour or starch to thicken it. You can add that later, when you open the jar and heat up the contents. You can also make ketchup from the tomatoes and preserve it. So many possibilities :-)

Dear Susann,
I'm glad to hear that. I hope you can manage to wait at least 2 to 3 weeks. The cucumbers need time to infuse first. And always use a clean fork to take some out of the jar. Don't lick the fork and then put it back into the jar.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina, today I bought the ingredients, including the cucumbers. However, I just noticed that the vinegar is actually flavored. Darn!

Can I still use it, or should I get some new vinegar instead? I still have some vinegar essence (organic) on hand that can be diluted. Would that work in a pinch?

And what’s the approximate ratio of vinegar to water?

Hi Monika, I’ve also used vinegar essence. It works great. The mixing ratio is 1:3—that is, 1 part essence to 3 parts water. That gives you a 5% vinegar solution. I hope it turns out well for you ;)

Hi Monika, yes, Susann answered that correctly. We need the acid from the vinegar. With essence, we just have to add less to the pot of water.

  The ready-made herb vinegars contain a lot of chemicals, flavorings, flavor enhancers, thickeners, carrageenan, etc. We don’t want that in our food.

The flavor in our pickles comes from real herbs and spices that we put in the jar.

Best regards, Ina

Thanks, Susann and Ina—I understand that, of course. Now I just need to know how much vinegar I should put in there. A tablespoon at a time, or a good amount?

Dear Monika, why not start with a tablespoon at a time and then taste it after each one? You’ll know when it’s spicy enough and has the right sweet-and-sour balance.

If you’ve added too much vinegar, you can always add a splash of water and/or a little sugar. You can’t really go wrong here, and everyone has different tastes.

Best regards, Ina 

Dear Ina and everyone reading this,

today my pickled cucumbers are making their debut! I did it—yay!
I used larger jars and packed them pretty full. I followed your instructions to the letter. It was really fun. And now, unfortunately, I have to wait… which isn’t exactly easy for me. I think I’ll open the first jar in two weeks at the latest.

As for the vinegar, I just poured it in little by little and tasted it as I went. There’s some cucumber brine left over—I’ll put that in the fridge. We ate the rest of the cucumbers in a salad tonight.

With the large jars, I had to use the extension ring on the pot, and that worked great too. I’ll post a photo tomorrow.

Here’s a photo of the gelling powder I use to make jam. It’s called Konfitura. You can decide the sweetness yourself, including how much of it to use.

Here’s a photo of my pickles. The pot is already set up—the next batch of jars will go in soon. What really impresses me is that after 10 minutes, I was able to finish the process on just setting 2 on the stove. The temperature held up great.

They’re just very large jars, and I really packed them full.

Great! I knew you’d enjoy this. And every jar ends up tasting a little different. After tasting them, you’ll know if your mixture had the right sweet-and-sour balance. If needed, you can adjust it next time. That’s just part of the learning process.

Thanks also for the picture of the gelling powder. I’ll definitely pick some up.

Best regards, Ina

Yes, Ina, I thought so too—experience shows that’s how it tastes best. I’ll probably preserve zucchini this way, too. It should be seasoned similarly to the cucumbers.

Dear Monika,
that’s exactly right. Once you know how it works, you can vary everything: the flavor and the contents. I’m already looking forward to the bell peppers from my plants. Last year, I preserved a few jars of sweet-and-sour peppers with garlic and olive oil—they were sooo delicious. I’m going to make those again this year. But the peppers still need to ripen.

Today it was time for cucumbers again, since my cucumber plants in the greenhouse are growing like crazy. To keep things interesting, I made diced cucumbers this time. I have one of those cutting gadgets with a grid blade. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scrape out the soft core with a teaspoon (we feed that to the chickens). The rest—basically the skin with the firm cucumber flesh attached—is then quickly cut into small cubes by my little helper. I always use these cubes later for potato salad. That way, I don’t have to chop cucumbers anymore because they’re just the right size. And of course, the brine goes into the salad too.

I wish all readers a lovely summer evening.
Best regards, Ina

P.S. Here are two snapshots of my cucumbers—before canning. That’s why they’re still so beautifully green.

Ina, that’s a great idea. I’m going to do that, too. That way, a lot more cucumbers fit into the jar.

How did you handle the olive oil? Do you add water to it as well? Now you’ve got me curious again.

Dear Monika,
when the time comes, I’ll be happy to share my recipe for preserved bell peppers with you. Yes, you also add water to the jar. Until then, you’ll have to be patient. Since I only use my own homegrown organic vegetables, I have to wait until the fruits are ripe. In the meantime, you should start collecting jars with twist-off lids. If you have the choice between a can or a jar for a product at the supermarket, always go for the jar :-)

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina, that’s lovely. I’m practicing patience—and I’m actually happy to do so. You’re lucky to have such a big garden with all those treasures. Those are the real treasures.

I have more than enough jars with these lids; I was actually planning to give some away. Of course, I won’t be doing that now. Cans are out of the question for me. And I don’t buy jars either. I always save every jar, and now I finally know why. :-)

We have a great farmer just around the corner. Anything I don’t grow myself in the garden—including plants—I buy from him. It’s such a great feeling to harvest your own vegetables. But we only have limited space in the garden and on the balcony. Today we ate our first homegrown cucumber. It tastes worlds better than the ones we buy.

Dear Monika,
I can totally understand that. If you only ever eat store-bought cucumbers, you end up thinking that’s how they’re supposed to taste. But no—an organic cucumber, and maybe even one you’ve grown yourself, tastes “just like it used to.” The whole room smells like fresh cucumbers. They’re crisp and juicy, not rubbery, and you can eat the skin too because they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides. And the taste is far superior as well. But most people don’t even know what the original taste is like anymore.

At least you have a farmer right around the corner who keeps everything ready for you. We used to grow our vegetables in garden beds. Since the kids moved out, we’ve turned the space for the vegetable beds into a play area for the grandchildren and a large pond to enjoy. Fruit trees are scattered throughout, and berry bushes line the edges.

Today, we grow only the vegetables that my husband and I like: cucumbers in the greenhouse, tomatoes and herbs in pots on the patio, and bell pepper plants—also in pots—standing on the wide front steps leading to the house. That way, we can keep an eye on everything, and watering is more targeted. I’ll take a photo of them when the bell peppers turn red.

Best regards, Ina

How’s the canning going?

The next thing I’m going to preserve is beans. They’re available at the market now, so we’ll have a supply for the winter. I’m still looking for recipes.

Ina, your tip about the preserving lid is really great. I would never have thought of that otherwise. In a few days, we’ll open the first jar of pickles and give them a try. I’m really looking forward to it.

A huge thank you for your tip, dear Ina!!!

Since my husband had “disposed of” my canning pot, he’s now given me the Tescoma set.

I’ve already been hard at work—even in this current heat—but homemade is just homemade. I learned that from my grandma.

My jars from yesterday



I hope I managed to make them just like “back in the day.”

Best regards
Marlies

Wow, Marlies, that looks delicious. You’ve already preserved quite a variety. Yeah, homemade just tastes so much better than store-bought. :)

Dear Marlies, that looks absolutely great—just like in a deli. And that was just the “haul” from one canning session. The contents are bound to taste great because they’re homemade with lots of love and fresh ingredients. You know exactly what’s in them—no flavor enhancers, no artificial colors, no E numbers, and no excessive amounts of sugar. You’ll enjoy them this fall and winter. It’s a good thing your husband got rid of the old canning pot—the new one is so much easier to handle.

Mine will be back in action soon, too. My bell peppers are ripening now. But first, the hot Turkish spice peppers and the peperoni are ready.



I dry them and use them to make chili powder and spice blends . For the spice blends, I gradually harvest the herbs from my garden (rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil...) and dry them. In the fall, once they’ve all been dried separately by variety in jars, I grind them and mix them together. It’s a world of difference from the spice blends you find at the supermarket.

The other peppers—for sweet-and-sour pickling and for lunch—still need a little more time. It’s a good thing I have different varieties and they don’t all ripen at the same time.

And now we’re eating tomatoes every day. When there are too many, we simmer them down into a chunky tomato sauce with basil, garlic, and onions. But right now, we still like them best fresh. I also love tomato salad. We have that quite often in the summer.



Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina,
there are also dried chili peppers in the pickle jars. An acquaintance once said, “Your pickles really pack a punch twice over”…

The tomatoes are ripening like crazy. I’ve already given some away. Now I’ve pickled two jars. Let’s see how they taste. I’ve also been thinking about tomato sauce. That’ll probably be next on the list.

Harvest from July 28, 31, and August 2.



    

Wow, you two have a great harvest! It looks just like something out of a picture book. Unfortunately, we don’t have that many, since we have limited space. We always eat everything right away.

I bought a big pickling cucumber at the weekly market. 2.5 kg.

     

My shelf is slowly filling up.

Wow, Marlies, that looks delicious. You’ve already built up quite a good supply. That cucumber is huge!

When we get back from our short trip, I want to can some beans.

Hello everyone,

yes, Marlies’s pantry shelf already looks fantastic. It gives you something delicious to look forward to all winter long. I think mustard pickles are great, too. My grandma used to preserve them, and now I do it as well,

The peppers in my garden are ready now. They’re those little snack peppers that taste really good plain, but also in a jar pickled sweet and sour with garlic and olive oil .



We like them with all kinds of savory dishes. Just yesterday we had herb pancakes (with eggs from our chickens, grated cheese, and lots of herbs from the garden) with homemade quark dip—and these pickled peppers on the side. Absolutely wonderful, I’m telling you.

Since there was interest in the recipe further up in the post, I wrote it down for you. Anyone who would like it can send me a message. It’s a PDF file, so that’s the way to share it.

I wish all readers a lovely harvest summer.

Best wishes from Ina

P.S. Depending on their size, you can pickle them in halves or strips.

Oh Ina, what a great idea! We have those little bell peppers too, but not that many. We prefer to eat them fresh. But next year I could plant more of them, and then this recipe would be perfect.

This would surely also work with regular bell peppers cut into strips, right?

Yes, sure, Monika—you can do that with any kind of pepper. We just always have these small, rather sweet snack peppers because of the grandkids; they eat them straight off the plant.

Next year I’ll grow more thick-fleshed varieties. They’re better for canning.

Best regards, Ina

That looks great, Ina! Unfortunately, we didn’t have any bell peppers or cucumbers this year.
The last tomatoes are ripening in the greenhouse, and the leeks are doing really well there, too. So I can take my time harvesting them.
Best regards
Marlies

“Electricity prices are going to rise, and our freezer is old ...” — that’s what my other half said the other day.

Today I looked at books on how to preserve food and came across canning. My mother used to have a big pot for that and Weck jars; the fruit and pickled gherkins were delicious. I don’t want to buy a canning machine, so this post by Ina came back to mind.



Dear Ina, thank you for this post and all the many tips. And now I’ve read everything from top to bottom and I’m happy that Marlies and Monika are having success with canning. That makes me very optimistic that I can do it too. I have a suitable pot in the right size. And there’s an abundance of fruit and vegetables at the moment. Monika’s tip about gelling without sugar is great too — often the fruit is sweet enough anyway. I’ve already read up on it online and I’m delighted. 

Dear Petra,
I’m glad my post inspired you. That’s how it should be. You read so much, and then it comes back to you at the right moment.

Our mothers or grandmothers may have preserved food for different reasons. But the result was still the same: they had food supplies for the whole year. I think that’s pretty clever. Back then, there were no freezers or supermarkets, and you couldn’t get fruit and vegetables all year round.

Today, those old techniques are totally back in style. My shelves in the basement are already well-stocked. I’m still harvesting bell peppers, which I’m preserving in a sweet-and-sour sauce. The other day I canned tomato-bell pepper sauce because we had so many ripe tomatoes. Very tasty. The internet is full of recipes and inspiration.

Next on my list is red cabbage . It’s harvested now in the fall and tastes nice and fresh—not like something that’s been sitting in storage. I’ll cook up a huge potful (I’ll add a few fresh apples from the garden in a moment) and then can it in jars. That way, it tastes exactly the way we like it. I don’t have to buy the more expensive kind at the store, which usually has too much sugar, vinegar, food coloring, or additives. I only have to do the cooking once, but I end up with at least 6 jars—that’s 6 ready-to-serve red cabbage side dishes for lunch.

The big Weck preserving pots from back in the day were certainly not bad. But people also had larger quantities to process. My grandma had one of those, too. For my two-person household, I find my Tescoma set—which mainly consists of a lid with a thermometer—ideal.

My tip: Start collecting twist-off jars right away—you’ll need them. Or you can use Weck jars. Those are the ones with glass lids, rubber rings, and clips. They’re a bit more of a hassle, but they work too.

I wish you a great start and delicious results. Maybe you’ll share your experience here sometime.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina,

Red cabbage—I’ve thought about that, too. We get it as a gift from a friend’s garden.

My question is: Do you fill the jars with the finished red cabbage just as it is? Or do you add water to it? Do you then place the jars in the Weck canning pot filled with water and simply boil them for another 15 minutes?

I’m very interested in this.

Thanks in advance, and best regards to all you preserving enthusiasts.

Monika

Hi Monika,

I buy a large head of red cabbage and prepare it all the way through, as if I were going to cook it right away for lunch. I’ll send you a link to a recipe I always use. It’s important that you don’t add any flour or starch to the cooked red cabbage. The finished red cabbage is then preserved in our pot with a temperature-controlled lid for 45 minutes at 90 degrees.

When you’re ready to use it for lunch, open a jar and thicken it as needed with a little starch mixed with liquid. Just let everything simmer through once, and it’s ready. It’s full of flavor and already fully cooked.

Best regards, Ina

Oh great, Ina, that really helps me out. I’ll try that next.

Now I’m standing in the kitchen with a huge pile of green beans from the market… and I don’t know what to do next. I haven’t found any information online about how long, for example, the beans need to cook with the Tescoma set. 100 minutes seems a bit long to me.

All I know so far is that I have to parboil them for 10 minutes.

One option would be to cook them all the way through right in the pot in salted water with a little vinegar added. Then, so to speak, fill the jars with them while they’re still hot and preserve them. In that case, 45 minutes at 60 degrees should be enough, right? What do you or everyone else think?

Maybe someone reading this right now has some advice.

Thanks in advance, and best regards from Monika

Of course, I meant 90 degrees...

According to my old notes (based on Grandma’s recipes), green beans were preserved for 2 hours at 100 °.
In the new Weck preserving book, string beans are listed as 120 minutes at 100 °, princess beans the same, and sweet-and-sour green beans 60 minutes at 100 °.
I hope this helps you, dear Monika.
Best regards, Narlies

Dear Marlies,

thanks for your help. I have this special lid, and with it, you only preserve at up to 90 degrees. The instructions state a maximum time of 110 minutes.

I’ve now preserved them at 90 degrees for just under 1.5 hours and assume that’s fine. They’re in a jar with salt-vinegar-water brine and were cooked beforehand until al dente. That should be enough—at least I hope so.

Best regards from Monika

So, now I’ve got the beans all ready in jars. It was a new and wonderful experience.

• I’d bought 2 kg at the market.
• I washed them thoroughly, trimmed the ends, and cut them into small pieces. Wherever there were brown spots on the beans, I removed those parts!
  
• Then I parboiled them in a large pot for 10 minutes with 3 liters of water, 5 teaspoons of salt, and about 1/4 liter of wine vinegar. The beans were cooked through but still nice and crisp. I poured them into the boiling water.
  
• In the meantime, I rinsed the 4 jars with boiling water and set them aside.
• I added some well-washed savory to the jars.
• Then I filled the jars with the small pieces of beans up to 2 cm below the rim.
• After that, I poured the salt-and-vinegar water into the jars, also stopping 2 cm below the rim, so that the beans were covered.
• Now it was time to use the large pot with the Tescoma lid. I placed the Tescoma base inside and added a good liter of boiling water.
• Then I placed the 4 hot jars inside, making sure they didn’t touch each other.
  
• I put the lid on and turned the stove up to full heat until the temperature gauge read between 80 and 90 degrees.
• Then I had to keep readjusting the temperature for about 20 minutes, keeping it at 90 degrees. I was able to do that on the lowest setting.
• In total—from the moment the thermometer read 85 degrees—I let the beans cook at 90 degrees for 70 minutes. Less time would probably have been enough. Then I turned off the stove and let everything continue to heat through until 1.5 hours had passed.
• Then I took the jars out and placed them on a thick towel.

I let the remaining beans that didn’t fit in the jars (about 500 g) cool and then froze them. Those will be used for soup. I’ll make bean salad with the jars.

Of course, I tasted the beans, and they taste delicious in this broth. They’ll be even better in the jars, since the savory is added there as well.

I actually found a taller pot in the basement, so I didn’t need the riser this time. The jars reached all the way to the top, and the lid fits perfectly.

Here’s the result:

Ah, so that’s how you conquered your mountain of beans. I haven’t preserved green beans yet because we prefer them fresh. So I wouldn’t have been able to share any experience. You’ve surely read up online about what to keep in mind. All I know is that green beans are high in protein and therefore require more careful preservation. But I haven’t looked into that in detail.

Best regards, Ina

Yes, Ina, of course I did my research beforehand, so I know they have to be cooked first. Otherwise, I find canning beans pretty easy.

I just described it in a bit more detail in case anyone else feels like giving it a try.

I prefer them fresh, too, but in the winter we just have to rely on our pantry supplies. And since we love beans so much, I decided to give this a try. I’ll definitely let you know as soon as we eat a bean salad from the jars.

Best regards, Monika

Dear Monika,
thank you very much for writing down your recipe for green beans here.

I had to think of it yesterday, because my neighbor told me that all her preserved beans had “gone bad.” She had only blanched them beforehand (so probably not cooked them) and then preserved them plain, without salt or vinegar. And with nothing else added, it went wrong.
What a shame about the vegetables and all the work. In my opinion, green beans are little divas.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina,

oh dear—just blanching them only works if they’re going to be frozen afterward. When preserving, they need to be cooked first. And you absolutely can’t do it without at least some salt. I used salt and vinegar, partly for the flavor. One teaspoon of salt per jar!

Now, of course, I’m hoping everything turns out well. They’re definitely sealed tight.

I definitely won’t wait long to try the first bean salad, because I’m curious to see how it tastes.

Best regards, Monika

Just to be safe, you can also boil them for 15–20 minutes once they’re in the boiling water. That’s pretty much what happened for me, since the water stopped boiling at first. Then I only started counting once it was boiling again. So that was already a total of 20 minutes.

That sounds interesting, and the beans in the jar look delicious. Today my lid is supposed to arrive.

We received some beans as a gift. And I’d like to can them.

Monika, is that the “salt-and-vinegar water” from pre-cooking the beans?

And didn’t you put the beans in ice water after cooking them? So you put the hot beans right into the jar, poured the hot salt-and-vinegar water over them, and then canned them right away?

A few days ago, I collected rose hips in and around the woods and spread them out to dry. 

Gabi, what are you going to do with it? 

Petra,

yes, I poured the salt-and-vinegar water from the pre-cooking process into the jars.

I put the beans directly into the jars while they were still hot after cooking, then poured the hot salt-and-vinegar water over them. Then I placed the jars in the boiling water in the pot. That way, everything was at the same temperature, which is important when canning.

The beans should be added to boiling water. But the 15 minutes only start counting once the water is boiling again.

Anything that doesn’t fit in the jars, you can let cool and then freeze. That works perfectly, too. I’m already looking forward to my first bean salad.

Monika, thank you. My lid arrived today, so now I’m going to try it out with applesauce. 

Yum, applesauce. Petra, you can let us know how you made it.

Change of plans—I started with a plum fruit spread. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention to the ripeness of the fruit when I bought it, so I had to add sugar after all. 

Oh, that looks delicious, Petra. Tell me, how did you preserve it with the preserving lid? I always make plum butter right in the pot and then just pour it hot into jars.

I also preserved it, since I use very little sugar. Without gelling sugar, it only keeps for a short time.

Then today I also prepared some zucchini. Pickled sweet and sour



And later, after making pizza, I’ll pop the rest of the dough for rolls into the oven. They’ll keep for about 6 months

Petra is also quite creative when it comes to food. I’ve never heard of bread rolls in a jar before. But autumn and winter are still long, so there’s still plenty to try out.

Best wishes, Ina

Oh wow, I’ve never heard of that either. Sounds interesting. At our house, we always bake fresh rolls; we freeze some and bake them one by one in the morning.

I’m currently working on pickling fresh olives. I ordered some from Mallorca and started today. There were instructions included, and I also looked up a few pages online.

Now they’re washed, each olive has been lightly scored or cut, and they have to sit in clean water for 8–10 days so the bitterness can leach out. The water has to be changed at least once a day. After that, they go into brine. But I’m not there yet.

I’m already looking forward to it, even if it takes some patience for now. After all, they’ll have to sit in brine for at least another 3–4 weeks.

In any case, this saves a lot of money. 1.4 kilos is really a lot. That’ll last us quite a while.

Monika, that sounds exciting. Pickling olives yourself. 😊

I want to stop relying on the freezer, so now I’m putting the bread in jars. So far, I’ve always baked using 500 grams of flour + 150 lievito madre = 2 small loaves. We eat one and freeze the other.

Now I’m going to put part of the dough in jars. Same goes for 🍰 cakes. That way, we’ll have a supply that doesn’t depend on electricity, etc. 

Yes, Petra, that’s definitely a good idea—to become independent of the freezer. I didn’t know until now that dough can also be preserved. After all, water and flour don’t require a freezer either. I don’t quite see the point with the dough right now.

The olive thing is really exciting and basically very simple if you keep a few things in mind. I’m definitely looking forward to trying it out, since we love eating olives. Today is day 2 of the soaking process.

Since we’ve been collecting our preserving ideas here so nicely, I’d like to add a new post to the thread today. Yesterday I preserved 10 jars of red cabbage . To do this, I cooked 2 heads of red cabbage (inexpensive because it’s harvest season and they’re organic) in a large pot. I cooked them with lard, onions, and apples (also from the garden) and berry jam (also from the garden), along with spices in a spice ball (bay leaf, juniper berries, allspice, cloves). Once the red cabbage was done, I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Then I transferred it to twist-off jars and processed it for 45 minutes at 90 degrees.

It’s important to note that you shouldn’t add any flour or starch to the red cabbage. You only thicken the red cabbage when you open the jar and reheat it for lunch.

It tastes absolutely delicious and is nothing like store-bought red cabbage. There’s a world of difference. Too bad you can’t try some. Now I’m just wondering how long the 8 jars will last? Maybe I’ll have to make another batch. After all, fall still has a while to go…

We’ve already tasted the 2 jars missing from the picture—or set them aside for our next lunch.

Best regards, Ina

Wow, Ina, I can practically smell and taste that from here. It’s making me hungry just thinking about it. I definitely have to try that too. How big are your jars? I assume you had them all in the pot at once.

Dear Monika, all the jars have a capacity of 680 ml. These are the large red cabbage jars from Kühne that you find at the supermarket. I’ve been collecting the oval jars specifically over the past year. They’re easier for me to handle.

Four jars fit in my pot, so I had to do two batches. Two medium-sized heads of red cabbage yield 10 jars of 680 ml each. I left about 2 cm of space from the rim at the top.

Best regards, Ina

Oh wow, Ina, the jars look pretty small in the picture. Well, I’ll see what I have. So you managed to fit 5 jars into one canning session. Sounds good. Thanks for the update.

Best regards, Monika

Dear Monika,
this jar size is actually too big for a two-person household. But when we have guests, we need more. For my husband and me, I probably would have chosen smaller jars, but there are simply almost none left. Just a few left for jam, which I keep making from my frozen fruit.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina, you don’t know how big our appetites are. I usually cook enough for two days, especially when we’re having red cabbage. We always need a large jar for that. I still have a few left. Otherwise, I only have small ones for jam, which I also make from frozen fruit. Next, I’ll be filling the slightly smaller jars with spreads—bell pepper and eggplant spreads. We love both of them very much, and they’re quick to make in the Thermomix.

Best regards
Monika

Since I still had some vegetables left over from the garden, I took the plunge and fermented my first batch of vegetables. It’s supposed to be super healthy. My first jar is currently in the basement for secondary fermentation. We’ll be able to taste it in 3 weeks. Until then, it’ll continue to ferment a bit more. The beautiful color comes from the red cabbage leaf I used to cover everything on top.

Maybe some of you are familiar with kimchi? Or at least sauerkraut the old-fashioned way. Exactly—that’s why the vegetables are fermented. Lactic acid fermentation kills the bad bacteria and allows the good ones to multiply. So it just keeps getting healthier.

Best regards, Ina

Dear Ina,
my husband still raves about the sauerkraut and pickles his mother used to make. I canned the tomatoes for him this year. Let’s see if he likes them.
Best regards, Marlies

Hmmmm, making my own sauerkraut—that might be an idea. I know it tastes incomparable. I’ll look into it a bit.

Monika, how are your olives coming along?

I forgot to take bread out of the freezer for lunch this morning.

So I had the pumpkin soup I canned last week and an apple cake. 

Great, Petra! It’s so nice not having to cook anything extra. Everything’s already ready—just heat it up. Apple cake in a jar is still on my wish list, too. We still have so many apples in the garden. We eat them fresh every day, but I’d also enjoy them as a cake later on.

Best regards, Ina

Yes, I was really happy. 

Of course, that motivates me to make the next dish: potato soup.

And the apple cake is all gone now too, so there will be more soon. 

Petra, my olives still need at least two weeks to rest; then I’ll take a look at them.

Since the weekend, the flu has kept me in bed—it feels like it’s been decades since I’ve been sick like this. Today is the first day I’ve had any interest in the internet again. I still need a few more days to recover.

Canning prepared meals is a good idea.

Oh dear, the flu. I hope you get well soon and that you’ll soon find joy in your needles again. 

Thanks, Petra! That’s sweet of you and really means a lot.
To this day, I still haven’t felt like touching yarn or knitting needles, and that tells me a lot. I’ve just done the bare minimum on the computer.

I wish you all good health and joy in what you do!

See you soon, and warm regards
Monika

Dear Monika, what did you write to me the other day… your body needs a break. Then everything will be fine.

Exactly. That’s how it is. The rest is doing me good. And the energy for my crafts is coming back, too. Just take it easy.

Best regards, Ina

Oh dear Ina, that’s exactly how it is for me, too. I don’t slow down of my own accord. I had to think of you when it really knocked me out on Sunday.

I’ll take as much time as I need. The joy of crafting will come back—that’s the best sign for me.

Unfortunately, I have to do some urgent work on the computer right now, but then I’ll be back at peace. :)

Warm regards—see you soon
from Monika

Here’s the new thread:
Preserving for the Modern Housewife, Part 2.