What are you bottling, then?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by bella, Jan 17, 2006.

  1. billybuttongirl

    billybuttongirl Junior Member

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    hey all,
    RE lemon juice + tomatoes ... As a first timer to home bottling i've been scouring the net for advice etc. They do say that the natural acidity of tomatoes may not be enough to ward off the nasty botulism bugs. Maybe i am a bit paranoid and as a first timer wanting to follow the book a bit...

    I guess it depends on type of tomato, ripeness etc as to whether it is naturally acidic enough. It also says to add lemon juice to tomatoes (can add it to the top just before you put lids on) in the most recent Fowlers preserving book, along with amounts (usu 1 tablespoon, 2 for larger bottles, i can let anyone interested the amounts on Monday when i can bring the book to work).

    In terms of the taste, i love lemon juice in most things and its such a small amount that i'm not concerned about it altering the taste.

    Billybuttongirl
     
  2. billybuttongirl

    billybuttongirl Junior Member

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    I put the the following ad in the Buy, trade, swap section of the forum, but haven't had any response, so thought i'd put it here as well...


    Hi all,
    I picked up some boxes of FV jars the other day in an op shop and have just embarked on learning to preserve. Theres just 2 of us and i can't actually imagine using many of the no. 36 large jars. I'd prefer the no. 20s. Is anyone out there wanting to do a trade??? I have 6x 36s and ideally i would like 8x 20s in return..... i'm in the Dandenongs and would prefer someone in the Melbourne area but could consider going on a country outing depending on where you are...

    cheers,
    Billybuttongirl
     
  3. bella

    bella Junior Member

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    :lol: Billybuttongirl....

    I'd gladly swap as I have a zillion 20s and few of the bigger ones and there's 8 of us. But postage to and from would not warrant the cost of the jars. I'll keep searching locally and you do too. Perhaps if you offer your bigger jars on freecycle and place a wanted on freecycle it may just work in your favour?

    Pete, ta for that - 1991 - wow!

    I am totally jealous of the apricots and other yummies you guys have at hand. Mangoes are nice, but I do love and miss the 'real' stone fruits.

    The weekend is here, so if G doesn't work too long tomorrow I will be bottling more mangoes.

    Bel x
     
  4. aussiebottler

    aussiebottler Junior Member

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    Hello All,

    Well I am quite proud of myself tonight. I have made my second batch of Strawberry Jam and it is great even if I do say so myself. I still have more strawberries so maybe tommorrow I will have another go. I have had the offer of some free lemons I might try some Lemon Marmalade, Has anyone any other suggestions as what I might use Lemons for.

    Cheers for noe
    aussiebottler :D
     
  5. The Phoenix

    The Phoenix Junior Member

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    Hi all
    haven't been on for a while but have done some preserving. I haven't done any jam for 'ears 'n 'ears but last weekend found a wonderful tree laden with the tiny cherry plums. My trees arn't fruiting yet. So, got out the old 'Common sense cookery book' (which in my opinion is the very best for any info on cooking, baking preserving etc) and cooked up 18lb of plumb jam and also plumb sauce. It was indeed as someone said very time consuming picking out all the pips but well worth it. Both the jam and sauce are totally delicious. I put mine in ordinary glass jars that I keep from shop bought stuff. Cooking each batch of jam took about 4 hours. I just love plumb jam.
    A couple of months ago I bought 10kg tomatoes and made the best tomato relish and tomato chutney. They both used a small amount of brown vinegar to preserve them, and an absolute to have onion and garlic in them. Again recipe from the Common sense cookery book. My book has all the recipes in lbs not kg as that is how old it is but i have kitchen scales that have both metric and imperial measures on them and that works for me. Putting onion in what ever you preserve gives it the savoury taste that you need.
    I have some green mangoes from my mum's tree. Does anyone have a green mango chutney or what ever recipe?
    :)
    Cheers
     
  6. aussiebottler

    aussiebottler Junior Member

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    Hello Dawn,

    I found this recipe in the Womens Weekly Book of preserves, I have not made it.

    Green Mango Chutney:

    6 Medium (1.5 kg) green Mangoes, peeled and chopped
    1 tablespoon coarse cooking salt
    1 3/4 cups sugar
    2 1/2 cups brown vinegar
    3/4 cup chopped dates
    3/4 chopped raisins
    2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
    2 cloves garlic crushed
    1 teaspoon chilli powder
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1 teaspoon ground cummin

    Place Mangoes into a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, barely cover with cold water, cover and stand overnight.
    Drain mangoes, discard salt water. Combine sugar and vinegar in large saucepan, stir over heat without boiling, until sugar is dissolved.
    Stir in mangoes and remaining ingredients, bring to boil, simmer, uncovered, stirring occaisionally for about 45 minutes or until mixture is thick.
    Pour into hot sterilised jars: Seal when cold.
    Makes about 8 cups

    Hope this helps

    Cheers
    :)
     
  7. spritegal

    spritegal Junior Member

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    I use a similar recipe but use ripe mangoes.

    With mango chutney it does need a few "tastes" to adjust the vinegar/sugar mix, it can be a bit out of whack depending on how ripe your mangoes are prior to cooking.

    I've never bothered to steep them in water overnight.
     
  8. christopher

    christopher Junior Member

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    We jar up mangos, too, as jams and chutneys, regular fruit, etc. We have about 4000 pineapples planted out, now, so last year I canned up a bunch, and this year some of those will fruit for the first time, so will make jams with them, too.

    We make our own vinegars from mango and pineapple, and then chutneys. We have a fuit here called "golden plum" (.spondia dulcis) that makes a lovely chutney if harvested green.

    We also make hot sauces using our vinegar that will peel the paint off of a car, and bottle them in little bottles, and sell them. Very hot stuff!

    What is Fowler Vacola? Is it a pressure pot? I have heard of them so often here, but... um... wasn't sure what they actually were...
     
  9. Rob6014

    Rob6014 Junior Member

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    With tomatoes or any type of bottling and botulism - if the jars become contamintaed, then the gas produced will pop the lids, so its not as if you wouldn't know. I have bottled tomatoes (plain, no added lemon juice) for 20 yeasr and have never had a problem, in fact I have never had any bottle go off. If in doubt, sniff it - your nose will tell you! And just how clean do you think the canning factories are? Not very... Test the lids when the bottles are cold - if they pull of you didn't get a good seal. If they stick fast, then they're fine.

    You can make lemon spread/lemon curd/lemon butter with lemons, but it doesn't keep for very long. I usually zest extra lemons into a container and freeze it, and make lemon ice blocks and freeze them - very handy when you need a bit of lemon (and who could do without them?).

    Robyn
     
  10. Franceyne

    Franceyne Junior Member

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  11. The Phoenix

    The Phoenix Junior Member

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    thanks for the recipe Aussiebottler, will give it a try
    :D
     
  12. billybuttongirl

    billybuttongirl Junior Member

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    Just briefly back to the tomatoes and botulism thing.... its been known in the US that it can be a little dangerous to can (bottle) tomatoes, the following was put out in the 80s:
    https://www.motherearthnews.com/library/ ... Carefully_

    Also, our own CSIRO have a brief note about it:
    https://www.foodscience.afisc.csiro.au/oilvine.htm

    The following website encourages adding citric acid to tomatoes during bottling:
    https://www.foodsafety.asn.au/publicatio ... ri2249.cfm

    Sorry, i hope i am not offending those of you who have been bottling for years without doing any of this. I have read that it might not always be possible to tell whether a bottle has gone 'off' as the botulinum toxin is colourless, odourless, tasteless and invisible to the naked eye.... I guess because i am new to bottling that i am trying to gather as much info as i possibly can!

    Dawn, i'm going to make a batch of plum jam tonight - you inspired me with your post!

    cheers,
    Billybuttongirl
     
  13. Franceyne

    Franceyne Junior Member

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    They are good links Billybuttongirl. It is better to be safe than sorry. I plan of doing things a little differently when I next bottle tomatoes.

    Thanks,
    Fran.
     
  14. billybuttongirl

    billybuttongirl Junior Member

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    Thanks Fran. I guess its unnerving that you may not be able to tell if your preserves are infected with botulism. But if the right method is followed you are safe. I've also read that the bug might not always 'blow' the lids... Thats said, cases of poisoning from botulism in Australia seem to be rare, but you said it, 'better safe than sorry'. I guess we have been preserving things for years, but as with all things, methods change and become a but more up to date, thanks often to science....

    Whats next on your bottling agenda after all those apricots??

    cheers,
    Billybuttongirl
     
  15. Franceyne

    Franceyne Junior Member

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    It's always a good think to keep your mind open to learning new things :D

    My agenda...I've still got some plums to get through...I want to make some plum sauce but it has been too hot to work in the kitchen :lol:

    I'd like to have a go at making nectarine jam too...just got to find some cheap nectarines...

    Then the tomatoes should be ready to start bottling and drying, and maybe some cucumbers. I grew little white ones because I thought that they would be good to pickle.

    Cheers,
    Fran.
     
  16. mariet

    mariet Junior Member

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    bottling

    Hi Bel, I'm a beginner bottler too! I just had my first go last week. Got hold of my Mum's Fowler's kit and started with plums. I am very proud of what I have done. I also did a couple of bottles of the white peach, wanted to do more but we ate them all. I'm not sure if it's worth trying to do zucchinis? We've made heaps of pickled zucchini already and that's magnificent. Many years ago I made some really good mango chutney, can't remember the recipe. I made it very hot, brilliant as a marinade for duck, rabbit, etc. I am going to bottle pears, a friend has excess, and when our grapes are ready I will do the spares too. I will do the clingstone peaches and I guess some tomatoes. I have accumulated an enormous number of bottles now from searching the op shops and reading the ads in the paper. I feel like I'm getting real value with such great secondhand items. Good luck, Marie
     
  17. mariet

    mariet Junior Member

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    bottling using "plonk"

    When you bottle with alcohol does it become non-alcoholic and just have the flavour as the heat usually kills the alcohol? I have only tried using water and add some sugar if needed. Marie
     
  18. bella

    bella Junior Member

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    Good on you, Marie.

    I am so jealous of the excess cold-climate fruits!

    We lost the last of our mango crop when the rain started. Overnight they were all split and bug-infested on the ground. Should have picked earlier and let them ripen inside. Ah, well, have a dozen jars of jam and a few BIG bottles of mango. Might ask MIL and a friend if they still have excesses - they both have old, old trees and picked truckloads this year.

    I'm afraid there's nothing else around at the moment. Maybe make some carambola jam if I can find the recipe. I see some self-sown rosellas have fruit on, but not sure if it's enough for a batch of jam. I hope so, it's the yummiest jam there is.

    Waiting, waiting for tomato season....
    Bel
     
  19. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    I'm jealous of everyone's trees! Mine either get eaten by the cow, the goats, or the bugs. Can't bloody win!
     
  20. billybuttongirl

    billybuttongirl Junior Member

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    He, he - i'm jealous of everyones trees too! We only put ours in in spring, so a few years off any fruit. So far we've got a jonathon apple, a 3-way grafted apple, greengage, angelina plum, quince, persimmon, cumquat, 2 diff lemons, orange, lime, cherry guava. and also some smaller berry bushes (gooseberry, blackcurrant, red currant, raspberries). wish we had more space, but we've only got 1/2 acre. We inherited a triffid-like kiwi vine which i have just netted against currawongs (lesson from last year). So i'll be keen to try some bottling or drying of the fruit - anyone bottle kiwi??

    I went blueberry picking in the Olinda yesterday and ended up with kilos of fruit! i have frozen most of it, but freezer space is at a premium so i may try bottling. Apparently blueberries are a bit of a cure-all in Poland and Russia.

    In the last few days i've bottled more tomatoes (not to labour the point over tomatoes but the woman in the fowlers office said that pasta sauce for bottling should have only tomato in it, if you put onion or garlic in it, it has to be dried stuff....). Also found some tiny, mini pears at the market which look just so fantastic bottled - eventually i will use them in a whole pear cake.

    On the secondhand preserving gear, i agree with Marie - what great value. I cannot believe a lady in at Fowlers a few weeks ago was shelling out $500 for the whole kit, even brand new jars! Why wouldn't you use secondhand jars??? At times a bit hard to find, but so much cheaper!
     

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