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In article , Melba's
Jammin' at wrote on 1/14/05 11:50:

<snip>
>
>> I see enough insults flung about on a couple of other non-food
>> newsgroups I read, so I have no reason to insult anyone.
>
> I was joking, Dieter. Forgot to include the smiley at the end. Unlike
> rec.food.cooking, you'll find that the folks on r.f.preserving are
> pretty civilized. We don't have too many ****ing contests here. I've
> known George Shirley and zxcvbob and Ellen for rather a long time here.
> And Bob Pastorio. We poke at each other (not so much Ellen -- she's
> got too much dignity to get involved "-)) in good fun. I'd eat
> home-canned green beans put up by any of those folks. Some of the
> others. . . . maybe, maybe not. You'll find that Edrena Jones has her
> own brand of humor -- and I'm loving it. St. Vinaigrette, indeed!!
>
>> However, because I'm a "canning virgin," I'm open to trying different
>> ways, such as with and without pection, for example.
>
> Sure. I'm a slug. I make all but crabapple jelly with additional
> pectin (and sometimes I use pectin there, too). Using the additional
> pectin makes for a faster cook on the stove with generally good success
> if you pay attention to the directions.

Crabapple jelly? Interesting.

>> I'm interested in doing it chiefly for personal growth
>> reasons...besides, it would be an interesting alternative to flowers
>> and chocolate on a date.
>
> Only if you're planning to smear it on her and lick it off once you
> have. IMNSHO. "-) (Oh, I'm teasing, for Pete's sake!) At holiday
> time, my gifts to friends and neighbors are usually a couple 4-oz jars
> of homemade stuff accompanied by a small loaf of homemade bread. They
> stack very nicely in the tall gift bags made for presenting a bottle of
> booze or wine. Or if no bread, a few jars stack nicely.

That was cute...but I think you knew what I meant. :-) Rather than present
my date with flowers, imagine the impact a jar of jam I made would have on
her? "You MADE this? How sweet!"

<snip>

>> I could probably borrow some of the needed tools from my mother, who
>> lives about an hour away. However, if I do it more often, I'd want to
>> invest in quality equipment for myself, and not deprive dear ol' mom
>> ("I NOT old!") from her own.
>
> Sure. After a wonderful story about me in the MN Women's Press this
> summer after my Fair coup, I was contacted by a woman who wanted a
> lesson in jammin'. I would say that the two things that couldn't be
> faked from an otherwise moderately-well equipped kitchen were the jar
> lifter (the canning tongs) and the wide-opening canning funnel.

When my mother made her plum jam, she used a pair of metal tongs to extract
the sterilized jars from their bath, and used the improvised canning funnel
I described in an earlier post.

<snip>

>> High heels and pearls? I would look a bit strange wearing those...I'm
>> a guy,
>
> Not at all, Dear. If you're going to pretend to be June Cleaver, you
> have to dress the part. :-) Here's a quote from one of George's posts
> on June 30, 2004:
> "My wife does most of the gardening but I figure out what to plant, get
> to run the tiller, and do most of the harvesting and preserving. I still
> can't get her to let me wear her pearls and high heels in the kitchen
> though. B-)"
>
> Did I not mention that George is, um, different?

That's...putting it mildly. (And I thought I was different.)

<snip>

>
>> Wow...you certainly provided a lot.
>
> Helpful, I hope.

Heaps.

>> I've been saving almost all the posts in this thread so I can refer
>> to them when I actually set to undertaking such an endeavor.
>> Dieter
>
> Don't forget about the Google groups archives. Here's a link to their
> advanced search page (It's where I found George's post, using pearls as
> the word to look for, rec.food.preserving as the group, and George
> Shirley as the author. I narrowed the date to May 2004 to current date.
> Sometimes it takes some fiddling to find what I know is there somewhere!
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search>
>
> I think others have mentioned this, too, but I'll chime in: Get
> yourself a good paper text to have at hand. The USDA Guide is available
> bound and in electronic bits on various websites; my personal favorite
> is the Ball Blue Book; others gotta have Putting Food By by Hertzberg
> (?) and Greene. The BBB gets updated every other year - last year was
> one such edition. And the NCHFP site is a must -- the University of
> Georgia is the only place currently doing research and testing for the
> USDA according to my local university food science weenie. Brian Nummer
> at NCHFP sometimes lurks here and usually straightens us out if someone
> posts bad info that another of us doesn't catch. And the folks at NCHFP
> have been very generous in answering emails, too, IME.

Since money is tight, I'll continue to give my library card a workout :-)
I'll also keep in mind those resources everyone's suggested.

> Looking forward to having you join us on r.f.p., Dieter. Welcome.
> -Barb, in Minnesota (southern Canada to SOME smartyboots) where the temp
> is currently -12 degrees and it's sunny and bright.
> "We love it here, we love it here, we love it here."

"Smartyboots"? Interesting term.

Dieter Zakas