It started when Randy's brother, Cody (aka Uncle Buck), sent him some messages on Facebook – he wanted to make jam. There were two recipes he wanted to try: spiced blueberry and apple. I was all for it, although I will admit to some hesitation when I realized the two of them would make the jam while I was at work.

Boys in the kitchen. Unsupervised. With alcohol. And boiling sugar. Yikes!

On the other hand, jam is pretty easy and foolproof. Also, it worked out well for us in that Cody was providing everything but the jars and the pectin. Randy was providing the “experience” and the kitchen.

Needless to say, I left work as quickly as possible that day so I could see how they did/assess the damage. When I got home, they were working on the second batch – the blueberry spice. Their commentary went something like this:

Cody: Ok, now we add the sugar and boil for five minutes

Randy: Huh. I added sugar a long time ago.

Cody: Oh. Uh...then I guess we add the stuff and call it good?

I'm pretty sure that was how the first batch went as well; wasn't there for most of it, as I said, but they took pictures, so I'll provide a pictorial essay.

First step: set up the all-important directions.  Use your wife's laptop in case  of industrial accidents...

Get the canning kettle going. Uncle Buck demonstrates how to use a lid!

Put some sugar and other spices in a pot.

Chop up some apples.  Be sure to have all the ingredients out on the counter

Are you two sure you used a big enough pot?  That's a lot of apples.

The toddler was right - pot upgrade initiated!

Apple jam in the jars and ready to seal - looking pretty good.

Hot.  HOT!  Someone should have used a potholder...

ANOTHER batch? Are you sure?

Start over, measuring out the blueberries

Every surface of the kitchen was covered in jam-making paraphernalia, and Zoey was on a huge sugar high, since her Uncle Buck kept feeding her cookies, but it all turned out well - each batch made six or seven jars, and they all sealed well.

I like it when Uncle Buck comes over!  Cookies for everyone!

The end result was pretty tasty, although the blueberry jam has anise in it, which I'm not a huge fan of (I have a lifetime supply, though, because Cody left his jar here and he only used a little of it!)

Recipes: 

Apple Jam from this instructable

1.2 kilo apples
1 kilo sugar
1 packet of pectin
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 Big bowl of water with the juice of 1 lemon squeezed into it.

*Quarter the apples, peel and core them, then chuck every apple quarter into the bowl with water and lemon juice.  (This will keep the apples white/ green/ yellow (so they don't get brown and horrible )).
*Once you have cored and peeled and quartered all the apples , stage 2 is getting all the apple quarters thinly sliced, then in thinly cubed.Think 1 x 1 mm !
*Chuck the tiny cubes all in the big pan, add the sugar, the of pectin ( don't breathe in, it will make you cough ) the vanilla sugar, and the cinnamon.
*Stir the whole thing through- ( this can be a bit heavy going ) till you have a thick gloop.

* Put it on a medium heat and cook for at least half an hour, stirring frequently.  Don't go and do something else and leave it bubbling away.
*Test if the apple is "done " ( = soft )- this can take quite a bit of time.( so say make it at least 40 minutes).

*WHILE waiting for the apples to cook: Let the jars you intend to use for your jam run through a dishwasher cycle, till they are clean and warm, or clean them with boiling water.  Put the lids in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Turn off the heat, and let lids sit in the water.
*Fill your canning kettle 3/4 with water and bring to a boil

*Fill the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headroom

*Wipe the rims clean, then put on a lid, screwing the ring on tightly

*Fully submerge in the boiling water for approximately 10 minutes.  

*Remove and let cool - you will hear a popping sound as the lids seal.

Spiced Blueberry Jam from this instructable

1 1/2 lbs . Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
3 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Water
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
5 Tablespoons (2 1/2 oz) Cider Vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Star Anise (finely ground)
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
10 - 20 grinds fresh Nutmeg (1/4 teaspoon pre-ground)
1 Packet of Pectin

*Run all jars through a cycle of the dishwasher or boil for 10 minutes.  Put the lids in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, then turn off heat, leaving lids in pan.

*You need to grind up the spices, especially the star anise. Put them in the coffee grinder until finely ground.

*Place blueberries in the saucepan over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with the pectin, followed by the cider vinegar, spice mixture, and lemon juice.

*Once liquid starts to gather in the bottom of the saucepan, bring the heat up to high, and bring to a boil.
*After reaching a boil, lower the heat slightly and boil gently for 5 minutes, mashing it occasionally.

*Mash in the sugar, and add the water. Return to a boil for 1 minute. 

*Fill your stockpot 3/4 of the way full with water, and put your dish towel/canning rack into the bottom.  Bring to a boil.

*Fill jars, leaving 1/2" head room.  With a clean towel, wipe any spills from the rim

*Place the lids on the jars, screwing the rings on as tightly as you can.

*Place jars into stockpot and boil for approximately 10 minutes. 

*Remove jars and put on a towel or rack on the counter to cool.  You will hear a pop as each jar seals.

Next week's post will probably be on Parker's birth and mostly include a zillion baby pictures.  If it's not...well, he's late to the show!

Beans, beans, the musical fruit

Beans are a wonderful staple – healthy, versatile, and cheap. However, they can be a pain in the butt to use when bought in their cheapest state: dried.

Black beans and red beans canned & ready!

You have to soak them for a while, then cook them for hours more. how long each of these steps takes depends on who you listen to and what technique you use, but it never fails to take several hours for me to fully cook beans. Sometimes, this isn't a problem – I've planned ahead for chili or bean soup, etc. and leave myself plenty of time to cook. However, more often, I'm looking for ideas for dinner and want to use some beans in burritos or red beans and rice, etc. At this point, I have to rely on canned beans

To buy canned beans, it costs around a $1/can. That sounds pretty cheap until you realize that beans cost between $0.50-$1.75/lb, depending on the type, and a pound of dried beans yields between four and five times as many cooked beans as a can provides. That's a pretty significant savings, not to mention letting you control the sodium content (which can be ridiculous in any canned goods).

Therefore, we decided we'd can our own beans. I grew up watching my mom can various things, and have done quite a bit of canning on my own, although most of my canning has been of the jams/dessert type. A few years ago, Randy got me a pressure canner, and that opened up a world of new options, since there are many foods – beans included – that require a pressure canner rather than just a water bath.

We started with a big bag of red beans from the bulk bin. I didn't weigh it, but I'd estimate it was between two and three pounds. In looking up how to can beans, I found alternating theories. Some people said to soak the beans for 8-12 hours, some said to use the 'fast soak' method (bring to a boil, turn off and let sit for an hour), and some said just put the dried beans in a jar and cover with water.

So...at some point, put beans in jar, then can. Helpful. I have canned black beans before, using both the slow and fast soaking methods. While they came out pretty well, there were always a few that ended up smushed at the bottom of the jar.

For this batch, decided to experiment. While at least partially cooking the beans before canning makes sense, fully cooking them seems like a bad idea, since they cook more in the canner. We set one cup of dried beans aside, and used the fast-soak method on the rest. We put most of the beans in pint jars, except the cup of dried beans, which went in a half-pint, and one half-pint of the soaked beans so we could do a comparison that night at dinner.

We canned them all at once and almost couldn't fit them all in. We had a dozen or so jars and ended up having to lay a couple on their sides on top to get them in.

Doesn't it just make you want to dig right in?

The result: I'm not sure WHY I thought the dried beans would come out the same as the soaked beans. Wishful thinking and my fondness of shortcuts, I suppose. This might work if you only filled the jar 1/3-1/2 full of beans and then added water, but otherwise...no. Just no. I'm glad we only did this with one half-pint jar.

A noticeable difference, even in the jar

The beans we canned using the fast-soak method, on the other hand, turned out wonderfully. Only a few beans burst – much fewer than black beans. I think they turned out better because red beans are a bit more durable and we were sure to not let them soak too long because we really didn't want them to overcook in the canner. They turned out so well, in fact, that – using our vast stores of logic – we immediately opened three jars so    we could make burritos to freeze for lunches.

Even more noticeable on a plate

The method that worked:

*Throw all the beans in a large pot and cover in a couple inches of water.

*Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat.

*Let the beans soak for one hour.

*Put in jars and cover with the soaking water (or other hot/boiling water), leaving 1/2” headroom.

*Wipe the rims, get rid of air bubbles, etc. and put the lids/rings on.

*Process in a pressure cooker at 11-15 lbs of pressure for 75 minutes (pints) or 90 minutes (quarts).     The time for this step doesn't start until the pressure reaches 11 pounds.

*Wait impatiently for the pressure cooker to cool so you can take the jars out.

*Put the jars on the counter to finish cooling

*Listen to the satisfying sound of lids popping as they seal :)

This is almost as dramatic as the face she makes

Unfortunately, Zoey hates red beans. This surprised us, because a) she'll eat about anything and b) she loves black beans. Give her a red bean, however, and she tastes it, screws up her face, and flings the offending bean across the room. She's subtle like that. 

We've got a bag of garbanzos we also want to can, which we'll probably do next week. I'll probably put those in half-pint jars, though, since I don't use them nearly as often or in as large of quantities as I do red or black beans (although lately, I've been stumbling across lots of recipes for dried chickpeas and chickpea/kale salad and hummus, so maybe a few larger jars might not be a bad idea...)