I have been going to our local dry pack cannery for years. I am so grateful for all the oatmeal, flour and sugar we have burned through. I have even given cans of it to neighbors when they have called me because they were out of sugar. It's a great way to talk about the church with them because they wonder why you have giant cans or bags of sugar in your house all the time.
For a while, I did tons of dried apples. They are problematic here in the wet northwest because the minute you open them and snack on their dry crunchy goodness, they absorb huge amounts of moisture from the air and the next day, they are like rubber - even with the lid on. They aren't so good all rubbery.
So, you almost have to use the whole can at once to make pies or something else. My plan to put them in oatmeal sort of works - but sometimes they are hard to dig out of the can because they are a wad of rubber.
I wanted to make Apple Butter for Christmas gifts this year. I had to follow up my "Pomegranate Jelly" from two years ago. People at Mark's work are STILL talking about how great it was. It was so easy that it was pathetic. I made it out of pomegranate juice, sugar and pectin. It took all of 5 minutes in a water bath to seal the cute little jars. But, I forget that most of the rest of the world doesn't make ANYTHING home-made like that. It was a huge hit.
So, this year it will be apple-cranberry butter. I decided to try it with the dried apples that I needed to use and have tons of cans of. They worked GREAT! I put them in the crock pot with spices, salt and sugar (just one cup since the juice is sweet) and then spent all day pouring cranberry juice and water over them as they soaked up the liquid. When they started to turn transparent, I ran it all through my Cuisinart with a can of jellied cranberry sauce. YUM! It was thick and spicy and sweet and tart all at the same time.
Ten minutes in a water bath to seal my jars and I am again "Molly Mormon" who makes her own food... sort of...
The question is... what can I do with all the dried carrots I have, too? I doubt anyone would get excited about Carrot butter - ewwwww!
For a while, I did tons of dried apples. They are problematic here in the wet northwest because the minute you open them and snack on their dry crunchy goodness, they absorb huge amounts of moisture from the air and the next day, they are like rubber - even with the lid on. They aren't so good all rubbery.
So, you almost have to use the whole can at once to make pies or something else. My plan to put them in oatmeal sort of works - but sometimes they are hard to dig out of the can because they are a wad of rubber.
I wanted to make Apple Butter for Christmas gifts this year. I had to follow up my "Pomegranate Jelly" from two years ago. People at Mark's work are STILL talking about how great it was. It was so easy that it was pathetic. I made it out of pomegranate juice, sugar and pectin. It took all of 5 minutes in a water bath to seal the cute little jars. But, I forget that most of the rest of the world doesn't make ANYTHING home-made like that. It was a huge hit.
So, this year it will be apple-cranberry butter. I decided to try it with the dried apples that I needed to use and have tons of cans of. They worked GREAT! I put them in the crock pot with spices, salt and sugar (just one cup since the juice is sweet) and then spent all day pouring cranberry juice and water over them as they soaked up the liquid. When they started to turn transparent, I ran it all through my Cuisinart with a can of jellied cranberry sauce. YUM! It was thick and spicy and sweet and tart all at the same time.
Ten minutes in a water bath to seal my jars and I am again "Molly Mormon" who makes her own food... sort of...
The question is... what can I do with all the dried carrots I have, too? I doubt anyone would get excited about Carrot butter - ewwwww!
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1 comment:
If your carrots are shredded, why not mix them in a meatloaf to bulk it up, or soups, or stews, pot pies, or dare I say it Carrot Cake?
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