Well, we were very close to blowing this challenge off. Very!
We live in a condo with no garden, so don't have anything we get to pick ourselves to consume, let alone have to worry about storing. We live in a condo with not enormous amounts of storage space, so don't go out of our way to prepare things to be stored (whether frozen, canned or otherwise) unless we have leftovers which may end up in the freezer, but usually for just a week or so.
Ultimately, the skills we learn here won't get used again until our living arrangements change. But, we did give it a go, seeing it only cost a few bucks for a couple of jars and a box of gadgets to help with the process. Although, had we not already been in possession of a crazy big soup pot we would not have purchased one for this challenge and therefore would have been stumped...
Apple Butter
The recipe itself is easy enough to follow. We opted for the canning option for storing, seeing we're pretty good at jamming stuff in the freezer already. Using the magnetic lid grabber was fun. We'll have to work on our filling skills. We got the jars nicely filled up with out any fuss, but did a poor job of getting the funnel thing out of the jar without making a mess.
Result
No idea!
We have two jars sitting in the pantry. They appear to be sealed correctly and we followed all the steps as instructed so we believe them to be safe. We'll pop one of the lids in 6 months or so and report back - unless we notice something odd going on inside them before then. Licking the pot gave us something tasty so all being well, we'll have the same tastiness in March.
Although, it was so easy to make that if we really felt we needed some, we'd just make a smaller batch and enjoy it right then and there. We do appreciate that if we had an apple tree going nuts this would limit the need to make so many apple pies.
Bruschetta in a Jar
Again, a simple enough recipe to follow.
Reading through other people's efforts we learned that our steamer basket is a great option to a dish towel in the bottom of our canning pot. Our towel did work for the Apple Butter, but the steamer basket worked much better.
We also did a better job of filling up the jars, so it looks like we did learn from our mistakes.
Result
Again, no idea!
We have two more jars almost ready to go into the pantry (they're still in the do not touch stage as this is typed up). Hopefully they're sealed up correctly. We'll aim to open one up around March and report back.
Sticking our fingers in the left over 'sauce' we found it very tart. We're hoping the magic of the canning process and time will settle it down a bit, but look forward to seeing what eventually comes out.
Recipes & Destructions Instructions
Conclusion
A bit more finicky and less wiggle room in the 'not quite following the directions' area than what we normally work with. A skill it probably doesn't hurt to have, but currently won't be benefiting us much, if at all.
No regrets giving it a go, but as already mentioned, unlikely we'll give it another go until our living arrangements change.
Stay JOLLY!
D&S
The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John from Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.
