Preparedness for when

machasraven

Getting back to prepping I am going to try jam making again this year:eek: The last attempts have been pathetic either rubber or not set enough so there may be some screaming foot stamping and wanting to throw pieces of rubber out the window :rotfl:

maryb

I really recommend a digital thermometer - takes all the guesswork out of when you have reached the setting point. My marmalade always used to either be syrup or go dark and bitter before I got one. And I swear by one of those little 'right way' paperbacks that you see on the bottom shelf of the cookbooks stand in Smiths - the Right Way to Make Jams by Cyril Grange

mardatha

I only trued jam once and it turned out perfect - must have been a fluke so I'm scared to try it again lol. It does seem to be one of those hit or miss things. I got the book that cappella had mentioned and am lost in a fabulous world of lamb hotpot, sherry trifle, and apple charlotte. O god my diet....

mrs-moneypenny

Goldiegirl wrote: »

If the result had been remain, I doubt if we'd have found ourselves in the current position of needing a new PM, the Labour Party imploding and the financial markets in turmoil.

In one short week after the result, that seems a whole lot of uncertainty, which appears to have been created by the Leave vote

Not in the short term perhaps but who knows what the future would have held, none of us will now but it may not have been all that rosy. The financial markets are picking up if not all ready back to their previous levels and the parties are picking new leaders the dust will settle and all will move on.

Friends?

[Deleted User]

Over the past week I've dehydrated 10lbs of rhubarb from the allotment, it's gone into one large jar! if you have limited space to store produce then a dehydrator is a very useful tool for the prepper.

C_J

I have bought myself a dehydrator and plan to use it extensively for this year's harvests. Could I please ask you Mrs LW what sort of storage jars you use? I have a number of the 2 litre clip top Ikea glass jars but am worried that they won't keep the dehydrated fruit/veg dry enough. Would I be better with screw top Kilners?

I have also just acquired a second hand bottling system (essentially a large electric tub where you can sterilise and seal several jars of bottled goods in one go). I have been quite excited by this and have downloaded some good (American) instructions, but am now scared by all the caveats I've seen about how you can poison yourself with bottled vegetables. Any comments/advise/experience with this method of preserving, anyone? Thanks!

[Deleted User]

I use an assortment of jars CJ, mostly ones with a good screw cap that I can get on really tightly. I've just rediscovered a couple of jars of dehydrated beans I did a couple of years ago at the back of a shelf and they've been in jars with cork stoppers and they are as crisp and sound as the day I put them up into the store room. I use anything I've got jar wise really and I've never had anything go off except when I've hurried the process of drying and haven't got the produce dry enough to begin with, that can let things grow mould!

maryb

CJ the problems arise with bottling vegetables because they are low acid compared with fruit and can harbour botulism spores even when sealed in vacuum packed jars. You need to process them in a pressure canner (basically a very large pressure cooker) which raises the heat above boiling point and keep it there long enough to kill any botulism spores.

This link has some useful information - you may have already seen it because I see you say you have downloaded some American info.
http://www.pickyourown.org/canningpubs.htm

Americans do a lot of preserving like this whereas the old Ministry of Agriculture decided back in the 1940s that bottling vegetables wasn't practical for us Brits - probably because the necessary equipment wasn't available at the time - so basically told us don't do it, and that advice has never been updated.

mrs-moneypenny

I always wondered why Americans seem to talk about canning where it's rarely mentioned here (outside this thread) I suppose we tend to go down the frozen route along with jamming and pickling. Obviously the freezer route hits problems in the event of power cuts or appliance breakdowns.

C_J

I think it's a pressure canner that I have bought. It's like a giant electric pressure cooker with two shelves in it so you can fit about a dozen jars at a time - I bought it a while back (second hand from Gumtree) but haven't tried it out yet, because I was too nervous when I read the botulism warnings. I wish I could remember the make - for some reason I seem to think it may have come from Aldi or Lidl originally. I will dig it out of the larder when I get home tonight.

Hopefully if it heats everything to a high enough temp then Mister CJ and I won't die from botulism poisoning. If I am absent from the forum for any length of time come the winter, please phone for an ambulance!

I really do want to try bottling French beans - it looks as though I will get a good harvest of those this year and anything which takes the strain off the full-to-bursting freezer seems like a good idea.