Questions Answered to Peach Salsa Recipe Post

Southerner wanted recipes for canning grenn beans and PEPH Pink eyed purple hulled peas).

I love the Ball Blue Book. I get 75% of my recipes from there. You can buy it at Wal-Mart for less than $7.00! I bought mine over 10 years ago.

Now, both vegetables mentioned above are low acid and they must be canned in a pressure canner not water bath, to preserve them and keep bacteria out.

I will post the recipes separately. (Later today)


Mrs. Darling asked (I am paraphrasing)

Why do you can 300 quarts of green beans a year? when I was growing up we had 11 in our family and we canned 400 for a family of 11.

Do you eat 300 quarts a year? That's almost one a day.For my family of four I can about 40 quarts a year. I'm very curious as to why all the green beans?Or is this for more than a year?

I guess the same thing goes for the thousand jars of salsa and such. Am I missing something? LOL Is this all for you and your hubby and two toddlers?

I can and freeze about 500 quarts of stuff a year for a family of 4. So what am I not getting here?

ANSWER:

Thanks for your questions Mrs. Darling!
I do not can 300 quarts of green beans a year. I said I have that many. I actually canned more than that last year and still had some left from 2007. We swap other veggies and fruits with my uncle for the green beans (he grows those). Last year he just kept bringing the beans because noone wanted them. They keep much longer canned than fresh! LOL! I hate to see things wasted, so I canned them.

We also eat a lot of green beans each year. My hubby is a city boy and was not taught that you have to eat what is put in front of you. He eats a select few vegetables, although I am working on this and he is dooing better! We probably eat 3 or 4 jars a week on average. I also take 3 quarts cooked to each family function on each side several times a year. I am kind of known for my green beans.

If I have green beans left over the next year, I use those first as each case (of 12) is labeled

Living on a farm we see lots of things that noone would buy. Most people want the #1 produce, not the culls or seconds. I cut out the bad and use it. We have little waste in our fields compared to most. We also have lots of variety (different types of fruits and veggies grown) so I get to can all types of things and do a lot of experimenting.

My hubs has a large family and I give them baskets of goodies usually for Christmas and sometimes for birthdays. I also give a basket of jams/jellies and fresh breads to neighbors (for Christmas) and new parents (sometimes a soup basket for them too). I also exchange many gifts with my side of the family. They mostly get baskets as well.

I usually have about 70 entries in the county fair each year. I have won over 200 ribbons in the last 5 years.

My parents grow and shell out the cash to grow the fruits and veggies. We all work at gathering and selling it. I do most of the canning and freezing and my parents eat from it as well, so that brings up the family size to six. Not a lot, but I am trying to be thorough.

Now, I am going to list the different things I can each year, so you get the gest of it. When you can so many differnet things, there may not be a lot of each one (but sometimes there is).

• Green Beans
• PEPH peas
• October beans
• Crowder Peas
• Okra and tomato mixture
• Tomatoes
• Taco sauce
• spaghetti sauce
• bbq sauce
• jalapeno salsa
• peach salsa
• hot salsa
• regualr salsa
• peach pie filling
• apple pie filling
• peach butter
• strawberry butter
• apple butter
• pear butter
• apple and tomato chutney
• tomato soup
• vegetable soup
• applesauce
• canned apples
• canned peaches
• pear juice
• grape juice
• tomato juice
• peach jam
• blackberry jam
• peach and pineapple jam
• pear honey
• blueberry jam
• blueberry lime jam
• fig jam
• strawberry jam
• strawberry fig jam
• apple jelly
• cranberry pepper jelly
• pineapple jelly
• crabapple jelly
• pepper jelly
• grape jelly
• plum jelly
• muscadine jelly
• scuppernong jelly
• pear preserves
• apple preserves
• peach preserves
• okra pickles
• green tomato pickles
• end of the garden pickles
• peach pickles
• crabapple pickles
• cauliflower pickles
• beet pickles
• squash pickles
• chow chow
• pepper relish
• pear relish
• squash relish
• apple relish
• sweet cucumber relish
• corn relish
• zucchini relish
• pepper sauce
• blueberry syrup

This is just what I can, not what I freeze. Also, I can these things when I run out or if there is excess needed to be used. As I am sure you know you need to prepare for the future and some crops do not make each year or are very slack years.

I hope this helps you understand Mrs. Darling. Please feel free to ask anything else. Blessings!!!!