Spent the past week making and trying new things. What seemed like a huge bag of apples made a quart and a half of apple butter. Same with the pears. The grapes made two and a half quarts of what appears to be chunky grape juice (I clearly did not cook it long enough, or add enough sure-jell pectin). I can easily open the jars and re-cook the grape jam, but I will need to refrigerate it as I cannot can it again using the same lids. And like an idiot, I did not pick up spares.
I'd never had apple or pear butter before, and it is quite tasty. It's a great spread on toast, and tonight I'm looking forward to putting it on pancakes. The fruit's true flavor really shines through.
I decided against canning the yellow squash, as I've used it in meals all week and will not have enough left to can. Plus the family doesn't really seem to care for it. However I am currently pressure-canning my carrots. I'm a little nervous, because I didn't pay much attention when my grandmother was pressure canning in my youth, and the equipment is slightly different.
Well, the timer just went off, and I have to wait for the pressure to release naturally (they say in the instructions that it's important to do this so that the residual heat finishes the germ-killing process) so we'll know tomorrow whether the jars sealed themselves properly.
In a yahoo group I belong to, I've heard women talking about canning *whole chickens* (completely deboned, of course) in quart jars in a pressure canner. I don't know if I'll ever be confident enough in my skills to try that, but I must say it sounds intriguing.
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