Storing beans

 From a survival standpoint, what do you recommend – dry beans or home canned beans?

 Karen Mallinger

Negaunee, Michigan

 Both. I store lots of both. The home canned beans are great for quick meals, emergency or not. The dry beans are sure to feed you for years, but will require some soaking and extensive cooking. I can up my older beans to rotate my storage. — Jackie

Christmas pickles

 I am trying to find a recipe for “Christmas Pickles”… I believe they are made with cucumbers and the juice from maraschino cherries. Do you have a recipe like this that you have made and are willing to share?

 Robert Bader

Rockwood, Maine

 Sorry, but I’ve never heard of pickles like that. Do any of you out there have a recipe for Robert? — Jackie

Taste of store-bought tomatoes

 Just read post about tomatoes in olive oil. I really love homegrown dried tomatoes. However I don’t have access to garden tomatoes any more. How can you really improve the taste of commercially bought tomatoes? They just don’t seem to have any flavor, even with extra herbs. Maybe you know something that would help their flavor?

 Linda Leach

Billings, Montana

 I wish I could; growing your own or buying them at a local grower’s place or farmers’ market is the only option. — Jackie

Dehydrating vegetables and using sour cream powder

 1) Have you ever dried Roma tomatoes? When you rehydrated them, how did you use them?

2) Have you dried zucchini? Did you seed them before slicing?

3) How often do you use your sour cream powder? How long is its shelf life? A #10 can is a lot.

 J from Missouri

 Yes, I have dehydrated Roma and other paste tomatoes. We love them on pizzas, but often soak them in olive oil, then drain them and add them to many recipes, in place of fresh or canned. I also often top thick slices of homemade bread with butter, garlic paste, rehydrated tomatoes, green peppers, basil, and thyme, then broil it.

 Yes, I’ve dehydrated zucchini. I use the very young squash that hardly have any seeds. I do remove the seeds from larger squash and dehydrate the meaty outside rings.

 I don’t use dehydrated sour cream real often. I use it to make dips, mixing it with mayonnaise, in such recipes as beef stroganoff, and mixed with cheese (powdered or grated) in casseroles. Rehydrated, it doesn’t really make a good, smooth sour cream, like you’d use on baked potatoes, but you can mix it with yogurt or fresh cream to make it more usable that way. It has a long shelf life, provided you keep it from getting moisture from the air. Save the little pack that comes in the can. — Jackie

 Pectin

 Not really a question but after reading about your frustration with the price of pectin I wanted to ask you if you have looked into Pamona’s Pectin. If not, check it out, it’s amazing stuff. You can make jelly with any sweetener or none at all.

 Beth

Diamond, Ohio

 Yes, I used to use it to make jelly for my late husband, Bob, who was a diabetic. But it cost quite a bit, per batch, even more than pectin, so I quit using it after he passed away. It is great for folks who need or want a low or no-sugar jelly or want to use sugar or some other sweetener. — Jackie

10 COMMENTS

  1. Lula Mae’s pickle recipe is what my mother-in-law called “Cinnamon Pickles,” and my children loved them. The recipe says to slice and remove the seeds in the center, but we just halved the cukes, scooped out the seeds and sliced them. Unless you told someone, they would swear they were eating spiced apples and not cucumbers. They are some kind of good. I’m glad someone asked about them, it puts me in a good mind to make a few gallons of them next year.
    My grandkids favorite pickles are the Candied Dill pickles their great-
    grandfather makes every year, that our cucumbers produce, that is. We have had two summers of over 100 degree days, this year almost 45 in a row were 103+. With our sandy soil base, it’s been difficult to keep the plants watered. We also seem to have a shortage of bees to help pollinate, too.

  2. I’ve tried several different catsup recipes from scratch and never found one that we liked. Then I tried Mrs. Wages Ketchup Tomato Mix (it comes in a pouch) and it was a hit. It calls for 5 pints of tomato juice, 1 cup vinegar, 1 six oz can tomato paste, 1 1/2 cups sugar and the pouch of ketchup mix.

    The directions have you combine the pouch of mix with the sugar so I add the pectin to this dry mixture and stir it very well. I use previously canned tomato juice and leave out the tomato paste it calls for. I cook down 4 qts of juice till it equals a little less than 5 pints, add the vinegar, and slowly add the dry mixture while stiring. Bring it to a boil and can in pint jars with 1/2 inch headspace for 40 min in boiling water bath.

    I use about 1/4 as much pectin for the ketchup as you would use if you were making jelly which works out to about 1 tsp of pectin.

    The ingredients listed on the Mrs. Wages mix is as follows (in order listed): salt, corn starch, evaporated cane sugar, beet, onion, natural flavor, xanthan gum. citric acid, paprika, spice, garlic.

    I washed out one of those plastic sqeeze bottles that ranch dressing came in put my ketchup in it. This recipe is so thick that it doesn’t pour very well so when it comes time to fill our ketchup bottle I upend the pint jar of ketchup into a funnel sitting in the squeeze bottle and prop it up against the wall at the back of the counter and leave it overnight. By morning it is all drained into the bottle.

  3. Everyone,

    Thanks so much for the recipes. I know I’ll give ’em a try. I’m always looking for new…and great recipes!

    Jackie

  4. Maggie,

    I will use Pamona’s pectin again. How do you use it in your catsup? I’m interested!

    Yes, I’ve made goat milk soap. It is great! Don’t tell Lace, though!

    Jackie

  5. Karen, I don’t know what I did wrong but I ruined a batch using pickle crisp last year. It was probably operator error but I went back to the lime.
    They are good.

  6. Time consuming as the ‘Christmas Pickles’ are the Amish recipe I use is almost identical to the above. I’m not one for sweet pickles buy man oh man these are worth every minute of work. Instead of the lime you can use 2 pouches of pickle crisp if need be. I water bathed mine for 10 min.

  9. Hi Jackie, I am a devoted follower. I am subscribed to your daily post via RSS. I don’t want to miss a one!

    Regarding your post of 8-27 on Pectin. I use Pomonas pectin exclusively for all my jams and jellies and even my catsup that I make(way less sugar than store bought but still VERY good).

    If you haven’t priced Pomona’s pectin lately you need to look again. I buy it in the 1 lb bulk and it works out to about 15 cents per cup of jam. (and I use about 1/4 as much sugar-even more savings).

    Regular pectin in bulk runs about 22 cents per cup of jam and you need to use 1 cup sugar.

    So I figure it cost me about half to use Pomona’s with less sugar as it does to use regular pectin with too much sugar.

    My favorite jam recipe uses 1/3 pureed blueberries, 1/3 pureed strawberries, and 1/3 blackberry juice(thornless blackberries run thru my Victorio strainer), about 1/4 c sugar per cup of combined puree and Pomona’s pectin.

    Congrats to you and Will, Lace sounds so sweet-enjoy all the milk and cheese- have you made goat’s milk soap?

  10. The Christmas Pickle recipe we use here in Southern Indiana is a Mauck Apple Ring. It is made with the little cinnamon red hots and not maraschino cherries.
    From the Recipe Joint
    Soak:
    9 large Cucumbers
    2 cup Pickling Lime
    2 gallon Water

    BOILING SOLUTION
    1 cup Vinegar
    1 Bottle Red Food Coloring
    1 Tablespoon Alum

    SYRUP
    2 cup Vinegar
    10 cup Sugar (5 pounds)
    2 cup Water
    14 oz Red hots
    8 Cinnamon sticks, l per jar
    2 teaspoon Salt
    8 pint Canning jars

    Method of cooking “Christmas Pickles”

    Peel and remove seeds from 8 to 10 large cucumbers. Seeds can be removed with an apple corer. Slice into 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide rings. Soak overnight in lime and water in a porcelain container (use non-aluminum). Wash, drain; soak in clear water and covered with ice cubes for 3 hours. Drain. Put in large pot. Cover with water and other ingredients for the boiling solution. Boil for 1 hour; then drain. Make syrup and bring to boil to dissolve sugar. Use one cinnamon stick for each jar you think you will have. Pour syrup over cucumbers and let stand overnight. Drain syrup from cucumbers into separate pan and bring to a boil. Pour back over cucumbers. After cool, cover with Saran wrap. Repeat step 5 for 3 days. On the fourth morning, heat syrup again. While heating, pack cucumbers in sterilized pint jars (larger jars can be used) with cinnamon stick. Pour heated juice into jars to fill up almost to top. If you don’t have enough, make more juice of water and red food coloring.

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