Last year’s JIUJ (Jar It Up January) was awesome. There were five channels participating. This is back and bigger. JIUJ started as the brainchild of Leisa and Heather. Even though Leisa did do the organizing because Heather has two young kids she homeschools. My hats off to her for that. I haven’t the patience or sanity for that. Each channel has a wonderful host that is very knowledgeable.
2020 Jar It Up January Participants
Freedom Homestead
Whippoorwill Hollar
2LeeLou
Moore2Life
Prepper Potpourri
Angie's Pantry
Pauls Rule of Thumb
Mouse Toes
The Kneady Homesteader
The Purposeful Pantry https://tinyurl.com/y35ty4cb
Wednesday 1-1
Week 1
Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie
Leisa Sutton
Her first video was Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie. If you are new to canning Leisa is a great teacher. She's always very thorough about the process she is using. Leisa is always a very thorough canner. This would be the perfect first pie filling to make because you don’t need Clear Gel. (Clear Gel is a modified starch used to thicken pies instead of using corn starch which isn’t safe for canning, Clear Gel is designed for canning. I usually don’t recommend anything that is modified in any way except with pie fillings.)
Leisa showed how to set a sheet pan to roast the pecans on along with the time and temp. Then Leisa went into the reason for chopping up the pecans. Pecans don't have to be fancy. Just chopped. In her pot, Leisa placed the sugars, pecans, vanilla, and maple syrup. Leisa boiled the mixture for one minute. As Leisa poured the Bourbon in you could almost smell the brown sugar, maple and bourbon mixing together with the roast pecans. Oh my goodness! I wanted to be the lucky recipient of the pie that she made. Below will be a link to the video.
Link to Leisa’s Esty.com Store
( You can also access all of the other channels participating in this years JIUJ.)
Thursday 1-2
Freedom Homestead
Minestrone Soup
Tangie did the Minestrone soup out of the Amish Canning Cookbook by Georgia Varozza. I have done this soup myself and it is awesome. Tangie walks you through the process of cutting the veggies. Pay special attention to the process of cutting the potatoes. Nobody wants a grey potato. So putting them in water with lemon juice will help prevent the oxidizing which causes the greyness.
Tangie takes you through the process of filling the jars and placing them in a pressure canner. (Remember, you can cook in a pressure canner, but you can’t can in a regular pressure cooker.) Tangie takes you through the process of your canner venting which is essential. I do feel like Tangie explained in very clear terms why the canner needs to vent. Along with the importance of letting the canner depressurize naturally. This part of the process can’t be rushed. You risk breaking the jars inside the canner if you try to rush the depressurizing process. Go over and watch Tangie.
She has a link to the Amish Canning Cookbook. It is so worth the money.
Friday 1-3
Canning Winter Squash Soup
Whippoorwill Hollar
Lori Diane Brown has Whipperwill Hollar channel. If you like good old Southern cooking, you will love Lori. Lori and her husband are from the other side of Arkansas were as I grew up in the Northeastern corner about two and a half hours from Memphis TN. Mrs. Brown has many years under her belt canning.
Her video was Winter Squash Soup. Yum! I have had Butternut Squash Soup before. It was okay. Remember, try to cut your chunks of squash as uniform as possible that they all cook at the same time. Mrs. Brown used leaks and showed how to process them. Leaks are a cousin of onions and garlic in that it also has Allium ampeloprasum. They have a taste that is reflective of those two items.
Mrs. Brown takes you through the process of cleaning jars and making the soup. I wish I had smell-a-vision. Emeril LaGrasse uses to talk about that on his shows back when he was on Food Network. Now I get it. Mrs. Brown did say you don’t have to use Granny Smith Apple if you don’t have it. Use what you have not what you want. Mrs. Brown does have the list of ingredients in the description box below her video.
Saturday 1-4
Canning Salmon
2LeeLou
2Leelou canned salmon. For a long time, I didn’t think I liked salmon. Until last Tuesday. I made salmon for Antonia and myself. It was so good I had to stop myself from eating it all. This fish is packed with nutrition and flavor. Delicious! 2Lee worked with salmon already cut up. Unlike Linda from Linda’s Pantry, if you see didn’t how she broke down the tuna, I will include that video below. 2Lee’s son caught the salmon. She makes it clear that you must pressure can salmon and any other fish or meat. Beans also must be pressure canned.
2Lee showed how to cut the salmon down so it would fit into a small pint jar. She called it Squatty Pint. I had no idea these jars existed. 2Lee goes through the whole process of canning salmon. 2Lee shows how to set up the canner with the jars and gives the reason to use a trivet between layers in her canner. I can’t wait to see how she uses it. Pay close attention to how she determines how much time and weight to use according to her sea level.
Linda’s Pantry
Sunday 1-5
Beef in Wine Sauce
Moore2Life
Mandy Moore
I have been watching Mandy for a couple of years now. She has many years under her belt of canning. Mandy emphasized the difference between Bernardine and Ball. Here is the crazy thing, they are the same company. So why does Bernardine say it’s okay to use corn starch and Ball just across Lake Erie say otherwise, I don’t know. After doing some research, I won’t be using cornstarch in canning.
Mandy pointed out that the jars should be hot and the food should be hot. This will prevent thermal shock. This happens when there is a huge difference in temps between jars and food. Debubble! Especially with thick foods like stew. Watch your headspace. There should be an inch of headspace with a product like stew. When she says fingertip tight, that is so the pressure canner can remove air from the jar which will reduce food spoilage and that can lead to other problems.
The jars looked beautiful.
Monday 1-6
Maple Orange Sweet Potato Mash
Prepper Potpourri
Prepper Potpourri has many years of canning under her belt. She divided a recipe up so she would have a manageable amount of a product until you know how often it will be used. Last spring I got two boxes of bags of sweet potatoes given to me. I went nuts canning them. It took me six days of cutting, filling jars, and canning them. Plus one jar was broken and I didn’t know it. I just seen water on the floor where it was sitting. Seriously! Okay, you are probably wondering how dumb do you have to be not to notice a leaking jar. I had been cutting and filling to six days and canning in between. So I was running on fumes by then. Almost a year later, we still have an abundance of canned sweet potatoes.
Prepper peeled the potatoes before she canned them. Continued to cut them as uniformly as possible. This is a time when you want to use actual maple syrup. Sometimes you just gotta go all out. A quality maple syrup will last you some time if you use it sparingly. Prepper pulled the potatoes out of the water she parboiled the potatoes in with her hands. Talk about hardcore. Then she made the syrup to go into the jars. Of course, she went into detail about how to run her canner.
Lastly, she showed how to use her product. It’s always nice to see a canner actually use their product of their work. The sweet potatoes looked so delicious.
Tuesday 1-7
Pressure Canning No Soak Chili Mix
Angie’s Pantry
I have been watching Angie from the beginning of my canning journey. She is absolutely wonderful to watch. I also use the no soak method usually. Occasionally I will soak beans. Having a daughter who is part Mexican, having home-canned beans comes in handy. And you don’t have to worry about recalls.
Angie is always very thorough with her videos. She gives clear directions with the whole process. Which is why I recommend her for someone to watch can. Yes! The beans will swell up and absorb the liquid. So use enough liquid. Also remember, Angie is making these beans the way she and her husband likes them. When you home can your food you have control over how much salt is used and/or how much seasonings are used.
Angie made a point of mentioning that she shut her windows because it was cold and windy the day she did the canning project. Being careful of thermo shock with the jars.
Wednesday 1-8
Mongolian Beef
Paul’s Rule of Thumb
I started watching Paul last year during the 2019 JIUJ. He is very knowledgeable about canning. The dish he did was Mongolian Beef. I have seen this on Pinterest and I keep thinking “I need to make this”. Paul canned because he knew that he and his husband love the dish when they eat Chinese out. It was a no brainer.
Paul used meat for Carne Asada. Excellent choice. If you don’t know what that is, your in for a treat. Mexican ladies will use it to make tacos, burritos, and whatever else they need pre-cut beef. There you go, it’s pre-cut beef. No extra seasonings. The main thing is to can up what you know you and your family already like.
Paul takes you through the process with details. Paul is very good about going through the process step by step. In the end, the jars looked beautiful.
Thursday 1-9
Beef Stroganoff
Mouse Toes
Mouse is a good ol’ Southern Girl. Mouse is very thorough in her videos. She doesn’t use complicated terms. Mouse is far more relatable than any tv celebrity chef. She takes an assembly line approach to fill jars. Using her poky joe she debubbles each jar after filling with beef broth.
Mouse makes it clear that canning is for anyone who can read. I strongly recommend taking the time to watch her channel. You will laugh and learn at the same time.
If you are new to canning here is a tutorial Mouse did on the Presto is what I also use.
Friday 1-10
The Kneady Homesteader
White Balsamic Rosemary and Thyme Jelly
Heather has been such an inspiration to me over the last two years I have been watching her. I have been returning to my cooking roots because if her. If you want to either learn or relearn how to cook from scratch, Heather is a great teacher.
Heather gives a great tip right off the bat. Yeah! The mixing powdered pectin with sugar works great. I won't mix powdered pectin in jelly or jam any other way. She uses butter to reduce the foam and I can say it works great. I have the book.
This jelly has so many savory possible uses. I am thinking of roast chicken. Oh yeah! I am going to find a similar recipe and make it. The side jar is great to minimize your mess. I am a beautiful disaster in the kitchen anyway. The more I try to keep my kitchen as I go the bigger the mess I make.
Gorgeous! This jelly is a must make..
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