2017 Canning Critique

I've been meaning to get some canning notes down for awhile and now that my phone is toast and I can't take pictures for a couple of days this seems as good a time as any.  Here's what I canned in 2017 and what I want to remember about it this year.

Here's where I canned all this stuff

Pickled quail eggs!  The recipe and the "how-to's" are in the link above.  I LOVE these, they are so addicting and delicious.  The recipe posted is the one to keep making.  I also did a quart from a Jamie Oliver recipe that was mostly white wine vinegar; there weren't so good and won't be made again.  I want to remember that the chicken eggs I stuck in there got super rubbery - the quail eggs still taste amazing.  There are just a few left in the bottom of a jar - 8 months later and still good to eat.

Pickled garlic - another huge win.  This is a great way for us to store garlic and it's so handy to just open a jar when we need a couple of cloves.  The texture is soft (I use a cheese grater instead of mincing) and the garlic favor does mellow but this is still awesome.  Great long-term storage option if you grow garlic.

Pickled tomatoes - meh.  I only used one jar of these, poured it over a chicken I was roasting along with some grains and greens.  It was way too acidic for me but my husband really liked it.  I'll break open the other just and try again before calling this a loss.

Mixed berry jam.  Any kind of organic jam is welcome in this house and a great way to use a bit of this and that. 

Here's where I thought I messed up my tomatoes.

I don't know how many jars of tomatoes I ended up canning; a lot.  We haven't gone through as many of these as we have in previous years, they've mostly been going into stews and this Jamie Oliver meatloaf with white beans.  Still, they're always handy to have and I'll do more this year.

Leftover venison stew turned into pot pie.

Canned a bunch of apples which we've been using slowly.  The best thing I do with these is saute them with bacon and onions and put it over a bed of pierogie.  Sweet and savory winter food.

This is a really quick week-night favorite.  There are never any leftovers.

Bruchetta.  Recipe here.  We haven't used many of these but they are super handy when we do.  These little jars make an amazing dinner if you've only got one or two fish fillets - just poach them in this & butter, flake and serve the whole thing over noodles.  Really good.

Blueberry syrup  So very good over ice cream or pancakes (we eat a lot of pancakes around here).  I would really like to make this again, along with some syrups in other flavors (blackberry maybe).  The only catch is that the pectin in the fruit does cause it to set a bit as it sits but that's not a huge deal and you just need to shake the jar up a bit.  A nice treat for our house.

Well, I think that's it.  It doesn't seem like a lot but when you do a bit of this and that you end up with a respectable amount of home grown food put up by the end of the season.  Not sure what this year's going to bring but it will be interesting to find out.  Hopefully we'll find some new recipes to try.