You may recognize me from last summer, when I didn't move fast enough to
can my overabundance of tomatoes.

This year, I was ready. I bought the 22 qt Mirro pressure canner, and
tons of jars.

And it was a lousy year for tomatoes. And broccolli. And, well,
everything I have a jalapeno bush with a single pepper on it--and
it's not the least productive. The melons died entirely, the rasberry
bushes yielded no fruit at all, we were gone when the strawberries went
nuts . . . oh, and the neighbor told me that you had to pull the leaves
as he yanked out the cilantro plant, which didn't survive replanting.

Anyway, some salsa happened, but yesterday I did some brandied pears. I
sliced them rather than halving them, mostly from paranoia about the
heat getting all the way through.

I cooked the pieces in syrup for about 5 minutes in a single layer in a
frying pan, and had pint jars w/ 4oz of brandy waiting. The result was
that there wasn't much room for syrup, but I brought them to within
1/4in. (Oh, and as I sliced them, they went into jars with 2tablespoons
of lemon juice to a pint of water until tossed in the pan.

This morning, I tested them, and they all sealed. However, in some, the
liquid level is actually below the band undere the threading.

Will these be ok, or do I need to take them out, top off, and reboil.

oh, and it was a 20 minute boiling water bath due to altitude (20
minutes after water reached rolling boil. Water was boiling before the
jars went in, but took a while to get back to start the timer. 7 jars
in the lower layer, 5 on the top.)

thanks

hawk
--
Richard E. Hawkins, Asst. Prof. of Economics /"\ ASCII ribbon campaign
Smeal 178 (814) 375-4700 \ / against HTML mail
These opinions will not be those of X and postings.
Penn State until it pays my retainer. / \

"Dr. Richard E. Hawkins" wrote:

And it was a lousy year for tomatoes. And broccolli. And, well,
everything I have a jalapeno bush with a single pepper on it--and
it's not the least productive. The melons died entirely, the rasberry
bushes yielded no fruit at all, we were gone when the strawberries went
nuts . . . oh, and the neighbor told me that you had to pull the leaves
as he yanked out the cilantro plant, which didn't survive replanting.

:'(

David

Dr. Richard E. Hawkins wrote:
You may recognize me from last summer, when I didn't move fast enough to
can my overabundance of tomatoes.

This year, I was ready. I bought the 22 qt Mirro pressure canner, and
tons of jars.

And it was a lousy year for tomatoes. And broccolli. And, well,
everything I have a jalapeno bush with a single pepper on it--and
it's not the least productive. The melons died entirely, the rasberry
bushes yielded no fruit at all, we were gone when the strawberries went
nuts . . . oh, and the neighbor told me that you had to pull the leaves
as he yanked out the cilantro plant, which didn't survive replanting.

Anyway, some salsa happened, but yesterday I did some brandied pears. I
sliced them rather than halving them, mostly from paranoia about the
heat getting all the way through.

I cooked the pieces in syrup for about 5 minutes in a single layer in a
frying pan, and had pint jars w/ 4oz of brandy waiting. The result was
that there wasn't much room for syrup, but I brought them to within
1/4in. (Oh, and as I sliced them, they went into jars with 2tablespoons
of lemon juice to a pint of water until tossed in the pan.

This morning, I tested them, and they all sealed. However, in some, the
liquid level is actually below the band undere the threading.

Will these be ok, or do I need to take them out, top off, and reboil.

oh, and it was a 20 minute boiling water bath due to altitude (20
minutes after water reached rolling boil. Water was boiling before the
jars went in, but took a while to get back to start the timer. 7 jars
in the lower layer, 5 on the top.)

thanks
hawk

My garden sucked this year too. Too wet spring, followed by a drought
that got really bad the week we were out of town. The few tomatoes and
peppers and (cukes and squash and peas) that I got were mighty tasty,
but not nearly enough to put up. I need to strip the pepper plants and
the remaining tomato plant today cuz it's going to freeze hard tonight
and tomorrow night.

I think your pears should be OK. IMHO, the alcohol in the brandy cause
the jars to pressurize when you processed them, and the liquid boiled
out. I don't really know of a way you could prevent this; maybe by
using a pressure canner at 5 pounds, without purging the air from the
canner? (I won't bore everyone with the details of my crazy theory why
this might work; it has to do with "partial pressures")

Your pears may darken where they are not submerged in liquid, but I
don't think they will spoil. You just may need to use them up faster
than you intended.

Best regards,
Bob

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins wrote:
garden woes

My garden sucked this year too. Too wet spring, followed by a drought
that got really bad the week we were out of town. The few tomatoes and
peppers and (cukes and squash and peas) that I got were mighty tasty,
but not nearly enough to put up. I need to strip the pepper plants and
the remaining tomato plant today cuz it's going to freeze hard tonight
and tomorrow night.

did *anyplace* have a good year???

I think your pears should be OK. IMHO, the alcohol in the brandy cause
the jars to pressurize when you processed them, and the liquid boiled
out. I don't really know of a way you could prevent this; maybe by
using a pressure canner at 5 pounds, without purging the air from the
canner? (I won't bore everyone with the details of my crazy theory why
this might work; it has to do with "partial pressures")

Oh, I remember those


Your pears may darken where they are not submerged in liquid, but I
don't think they will spoil. You just may need to use them up faster
than you intended.

If the brandy's strong enough, maybe we won't mind the darkening

hawk
--
Richard E. Hawkins, Asst. Prof. of Economics /"\ ASCII ribbon campaign
Smeal 178 (814) 375-4700 \ / against HTML mail
These opinions will not be those of X and postings.
Penn State until it pays my retainer. / \

In ,
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins took a deep breath, sighed and spoke
thusly:
In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins wrote:
garden woes

My garden sucked this year too. Too wet spring, followed by a
drought that got really bad the week we were out of town. The few
tomatoes and peppers and (cukes and squash and peas) that I got were
mighty tasty, but not nearly enough to put up. I need to strip the
pepper plants and the remaining tomato plant today cuz it's going to
freeze hard tonight and tomorrow night.

did *anyplace* have a good year???

::: raising hand::: We had an excellent year here in the garden. I'm in the Puget Sound
area of Washington state. My tomatoes have produced like crazy. I don't think they'll
all ripen before frost, so I'm going to pick them this weekend while green and let them
ripen up in the house. Peppers did good, so did the green beans. We had an unusually
hot, dry summer. Not like last summer when the tomatoes were disappointing.


--
Marilyn
-----------
"They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose"

Marilyn© wrote:
In ,
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins took a deep breath, sighed and spoke
thusly:

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Dr. Richard E. Hawkins wrote:

garden woes

My garden sucked this year too. Too wet spring, followed by a
drought that got really bad the week we were out of town. The few
tomatoes and peppers and (cukes and squash and peas) that I got were
mighty tasty, but not nearly enough to put up. I need to strip the
pepper plants and the remaining tomato plant today cuz it's going to
freeze hard tonight and tomorrow night.

did *anyplace* have a good year???


::: raising hand::: We had an excellent year here in the garden. I'm in the Puget Sound
area of Washington state. My tomatoes have produced like crazy. I don't think they'll
all ripen before frost, so I'm going to pick them this weekend while green and let them
ripen up in the house. Peppers did good, so did the green beans. We had an unusually
hot, dry summer. Not like last summer when the tomatoes were disappointing.



SW Louisiana chiming in. Garden was fairly good this year. Lots of
eggplant, last count was about 276 from 7 plants, fairly good amount of
tomatoes, fair amount of okra, goodly amount of green beans, small crop
of crowder peas, good crop of corn, and peppers are still producing.
About 8 gallons of hot and mild in the freezer in bags to make hot sauce
with in about another month.

Cabbage and broccoli plants were set out in mid-September but volunteer
canteloupe and some of Bob's squash have small squash on them now.

Today I stuffed a 4.5 lb pork loin with about 80 cloves of garlic,
dusted with black pepper and then dusted with crushed rosemary. Served
with fried eggplant, crowder peas, and a nice little loaf of crusty
bread. Ate a good meal and then sliced and vac bagged about 3.5 lbs of
loin to freeze for later use. I do love it when the supermarket has meat
sales at 99 cents a lb.

George
George

George Shirley wrote:

snipped garden woes
SW Louisiana chiming in. Garden was fairly good this year. Lots of
eggplant, last count was about 276 from 7 plants, fairly good amount of
tomatoes, fair amount of okra, goodly amount of green beans, small crop
of crowder peas, good crop of corn, and peppers are still producing.
About 8 gallons of hot and mild in the freezer in bags to make hot sauce
with in about another month.
Cabbage and broccoli plants were set out in mid-September but volunteer
canteloupe and some of Bob's squash have small squash on them now.
Today I stuffed a 4.5 lb pork loin with about 80 cloves of garlic,
dusted with black pepper and then dusted with crushed rosemary. Served
with fried eggplant, crowder peas, and a nice little loaf of crusty
bread. Ate a good meal and then sliced and vac bagged about 3.5 lbs of
loin to freeze for later use. I do love it when the supermarket has meat
sales at 99 cents a lb.
George

80 Cloves of garlic? Whoooowee, can I pour that in my computer to combat the worms? I've
wanted to try putting by your moussaka George, but give a try to Caponata (or Frenchified
Taponad). Basically, same stuff, is kinda Italian salsa, good on polenta, pasta or for dipping
in bread. I saw Rachel Ray on Food Network make it "in under 30 minutes!!!!" It's actually
pretty good stuff and uses eggplant, yippee, and lots of other garden stuff. I froze up the
last batch for when I get a caponata craving. I like Pelonnaise (sp?) Pitted Kalamata Olives,
as my own olives haven't produced yet. I added anchovies to the last batch, but the taste got
drownded out. Could take or leave them I suppose. Do the raisins, they were optional
actually.
Edrena


Caponata and Herb Polenta Recipes courtesy Rachael Ray

Caponata:
2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cubanelle Italian long green pepper, seeded and diced
1 large sweet onion, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 cup large green olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata black olives, pitted and chopped
1 (3-ounce) jar capers, drained
1/2 cup (a couple of handfuls) golden raisins
1 medium firm eggplant, diced
Salt
1 (32-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Place the cutting board near the stovetop. Preheat a big, deep pot over medium heat. Add oil,
garlic, and crushed pepper. As you chop vegetables (peppers, onion, and celery), add them to
the pot. Once vegetables are in there, increase heat a bit. Stir in olives, capers, and
raisins. Salt the diced eggplant and stir into the pot. Add tomatoes, diced and crushed, to the
pot and stir caponata well to combine. Cover pot and cook caponata 15 to 20 minutes, until
vegetables are tender. Stir in parsley and remove pan from heat.

Polenta:
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup quick-cook polenta, found in Italian foods or specialty foods aisles
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmigiano
Salt and pepper

Bring 3 cups chicken broth to a boil. Add polenta and stir constantly until the cornmeal masses
together. Stir in herbs, butter, cheese, salt, and pepper. Spread polenta out over a serving
platter. Make a shallow well from the center out and fill with half of the prepared
caponata. Serving suggestion: Mixed greens tossed with fresh herbs, dressed with oil,
vinegar, salt, and pepper.

The Joneses wrote:
George Shirley wrote:


snipped garden woes

SW Louisiana chiming in. Garden was fairly good this year. Lots of
eggplant, last count was about 276 from 7 plants, fairly good amount of
tomatoes, fair amount of okra, goodly amount of green beans, small crop
of crowder peas, good crop of corn, and peppers are still producing.
About 8 gallons of hot and mild in the freezer in bags to make hot sauce
with in about another month.
Cabbage and broccoli plants were set out in mid-September but volunteer
canteloupe and some of Bob's squash have small squash on them now.
Today I stuffed a 4.5 lb pork loin with about 80 cloves of garlic,
dusted with black pepper and then dusted with crushed rosemary. Served
with fried eggplant, crowder peas, and a nice little loaf of crusty
bread. Ate a good meal and then sliced and vac bagged about 3.5 lbs of
loin to freeze for later use. I do love it when the supermarket has meat
sales at 99 cents a lb.
George


80 Cloves of garlic? Whoooowee, can I pour that in my computer to combat the worms? I've
wanted to try putting by your moussaka George, but give a try to Caponata (or Frenchified
Taponad). Basically, same stuff, is kinda Italian salsa, good on polenta, pasta or for dipping
in bread. I saw Rachel Ray on Food Network make it "in under 30 minutes!!!!" It's actually
pretty good stuff and uses eggplant, yippee, and lots of other garden stuff. I froze up the
last batch for when I get a caponata craving. I like Pelonnaise (sp?) Pitted Kalamata Olives,
as my own olives haven't produced yet. I added anchovies to the last batch, but the taste got
drownded out. Could take or leave them I suppose. Do the raisins, they were optional
actually.
Edrena


Caponata and Herb Polenta Recipes courtesy Rachael Ray

Caponata:
2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cubanelle Italian long green pepper, seeded and diced
1 large sweet onion, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 cup large green olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata black olives, pitted and chopped
1 (3-ounce) jar capers, drained
1/2 cup (a couple of handfuls) golden raisins
1 medium firm eggplant, diced
Salt
1 (32-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Place the cutting board near the stovetop. Preheat a big, deep pot over medium heat. Add oil,
garlic, and crushed pepper. As you chop vegetables (peppers, onion, and celery), add them to
the pot. Once vegetables are in there, increase heat a bit. Stir in olives, capers, and
raisins. Salt the diced eggplant and stir into the pot. Add tomatoes, diced and crushed, to the
pot and stir caponata well to combine. Cover pot and cook caponata 15 to 20 minutes, until
vegetables are tender. Stir in parsley and remove pan from heat.

Polenta:
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup quick-cook polenta, found in Italian foods or specialty foods aisles
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmigiano
Salt and pepper

Bring 3 cups chicken broth to a boil. Add polenta and stir constantly until the cornmeal masses
together. Stir in herbs, butter, cheese, salt, and pepper. Spread polenta out over a serving
platter. Make a shallow well from the center out and fill with half of the prepared
caponata. Serving suggestion: Mixed greens tossed with fresh herbs, dressed with oil,
vinegar, salt, and pepper.



Your caponata recipe is fairly close to mine but I use only fresh
tomatoes and never, ever, do I cook with raisins. I just do not like the
taste of them cooked. I normally freeze the caponata in flat plastic
quart containers and, when frozen, remove them and vac bag them for
longer storage. We eat it both cold and hot, as a side dish, as a dip, etc.

Can't eat much of anything made with cornmeal, my blood glucose goes
straight up for about four hours after such a meal. I do love anything
made with cornmeal though.

George

In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 03 Oct 2003 11:22:50 -0400,
wrote:


Place: Pennsylvania's Northern Tier in the Appalachian
Mountains


Whoops! Wrong newsgroup - sorry, folks.

Pat


It's ok, I nearly answered you here.

George Shirley wrote:

(snipped recipe)
Your caponata recipe is fairly close to mine but I use only fresh
tomatoes and never, ever, do I cook with raisins. I just do not like the
taste of them cooked. I normally freeze the caponata in flat plastic
quart containers and, when frozen, remove them and vac bag them for
longer storage. We eat it both cold and hot, as a side dish, as a dip, etc.
Can't eat much of anything made with cornmeal, my blood glucose goes
straight up for about four hours after such a meal. I do love anything
made with cornmeal though.

I froze mine in pint jars. Actually, I never made the polenta altho it sounds nice - I have to avoid
the Carbs too. I like to use fresh tomatoes also and I throw in a nugget of frozen basil too.
People who don't like raisins are probably from mars tho, which way to your antennae wobble? (g)
Edrena, Raisin lover and friend of the Grape

The Joneses wrote:

George Shirley wrote:


(snipped recipe)
Your caponata recipe is fairly close to mine but I use only fresh
tomatoes and never, ever, do I cook with raisins. I just do not like the
taste of them cooked. I normally freeze the caponata in flat plastic
quart containers and, when frozen, remove them and vac bag them for
longer storage. We eat it both cold and hot, as a side dish, as a dip, etc.
Can't eat much of anything made with cornmeal, my blood glucose goes
straight up for about four hours after such a meal. I do love anything
made with cornmeal though.


I froze mine in pint jars. Actually, I never made the polenta altho it sounds nice - I have to avoid
the Carbs too. I like to use fresh tomatoes also and I throw in a nugget of frozen basil too.
People who don't like raisins are probably from mars tho, which way to your antennae wobble? (g)
Edrena, Raisin lover and friend of the Grape



I like raisins, just not cooked. I can eat 15 grapes at one sitting on
my diabetic diet so I eat 15 a day when I can get good ones. I also like
dried prunes, excuse me dried plums is what all the containers now say.
Must be trying to get away from the connection to old people and
constipation. We've always eaten prunes as a dessert or a snack and I
even like them when they're stewed. I'm old but don't need the prunes
for anything except food. VBG

George

In article 1065144433.357510@yasure,
Marilyn© wrote:
In ,
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins took a deep breath,
sighed and spoke
thusly:


did *anyplace* have a good year???

::: raising hand::: We had an excellent year here in the garden. I'm
in the Puget Sound
area of Washington state.

*Washington* had more sun this summer than we had here???

I have *got* to get back home and away from this place of misery.

My tomatoes have produced like crazy. I
don't think they'll
all ripen before frost, so I'm going to pick them this weekend while
green and let them
ripen up in the house.

Lots of leaves, as it rained all summer, with little sun until late
august. Couple of tomato plants had two or three total . . .

Peppers did good, so did the green beans. We
had an unusually
hot, dry summer. Not like last summer when the tomatoes were disappointing.

I actually had jalapeno plants without a single pepper. One chile plant
went nuts, and one jalapeno had a bunch, though all small. And I think
a total of three habanero between two bushes.



hawk

--
Richard E. Hawkins, Asst. Prof. of Economics /"\ ASCII ribbon campaign
Smeal 178 (814) 375-4700 \ / against HTML mail
These opinions will not be those of X and postings.
Penn State until it pays my retainer. / \

In ,
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins took a deep breath, sighed and spoke
thusly:
In article 1065144433.357510@yasure,
Marilyn© wrote:
In ,
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins took a deep
breath, sighed and spoke
thusly:


did *anyplace* have a good year???

raising hand::: We had an excellent year here in the garden. I'm
in the Puget Sound
area of Washington state.

*Washington* had more sun this summer than we had here???

I have *got* to get back home and away from this place of misery.

My tomatoes have produced like crazy. I
don't think they'll
all ripen before frost, so I'm going to pick them this weekend while
green and let them
ripen up in the house.

Lots of leaves, as it rained all summer, with little sun until late
august. Couple of tomato plants had two or three total . . .


Bummer. Last year I had the worst tomatoes ever. But this year I planted only Early
Girls, which grew nice and plump. See, the weather was a total reverse of normal years.
I can remember one year where I was replanting everything in July with bedding plants
because the plants that had grown from seeds loving planted in April had rotten due to
rain, rain, rain all June.

Peppers did good, so did the green beans. We
had an unusually
hot, dry summer. Not like last summer when the tomatoes were
disappointing.

I actually had jalapeno plants without a single pepper. One chile
plant went nuts, and one jalapeno had a bunch, though all small. And
I think
a total of three habanero between two bushes.



hawk

I feel for you. I did have one pepper or two pepper plants that didn't produce well this
year. I think the tomato plants may have overshadowed them and cut off the sun. The
garden got a little bit wild.

On top for preserving, though, I just canned 7 quarts of tomatoes today and picked a bunch
more to finish ripening on the kitchen counter.




--
Marilyn
-----------
"They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose"