Sweet and spicy pickles

What I would like is a recipe for sweet and spicy pickles. My husband and I were at a flea market in Abilene, Texas and bought a jar from a vendor. They were crisp and not too spicy. They have just a small amount of jalapeños in them. I have searched but can’t find a recipe that looks like it would work. So, I was hoping you might be able to help me out. My family really liked them and I hope to have enough cucumbers this year to make some.

Ken and Jackie Smith
Tuscola, Texas

What I do is make Bread and Butter pickles and add a few slices of jalapeño or other hot pepper. (Will likes Hungarian Wax.) This gives you a crispy sweet, yet spicy pepper. Try it and I think you’ll like them. (You can vary the amount of hotness with your likes. We like only a few slices where you may prefer more.) — Jackie

Planting potatoes

I would like to try potatoes in my garden for the first time next year. Do I have to buy special seed potatoes or can I plant some store bought if they develop eyes? We really like the small dutch yellow (Holland?) type. They roast really well with a little oil and seasoning.

Michael Lowery
Dekalb, Illinois

Yes, it’s a better idea to buy seed potatoes. Most store potatoes have been treated to prevent sprouting. Even when they do sprout, this spray sometimes interferes with those potatoes producing decent crops. Buy good seed potatoes, then save your own to use as seed potatoes the following years. You’ll be happier in the end. — Jackie

Planting fruit bushes

I want to add some more fruit bushes to my property without spending much. I’ve looked at some online nurseries for plants such as blueberries, raspberries, bush cherries, gooseberries, and grapes. I’ve seen on eBay people selling the seeds for those, and it’s much cheaper, and it would seem you’d get more plants out of it.

Have you ever grown these plants from seeds, and did you have good success? Or would it be better in the long run to just spend the extra money and get fewer plants from a nursery?

Donnie McIlwain
Lowman, New York

You’d be much better to buy a few of each one each year than to start them from seeds. In reality, it usually takes about 4 years before you get any fruit from your seedling berries. Ask around; maybe there’s a friend or neighbor who has raspberries or grapes you could get starts from. — Jackie

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Yesterday, I became a grandma again. My oldest son, Bill and his wife, Kelly, had an adorable tiny baby girl. She was named Ava Marie, weighing 4 pounds 15 ounces. Coming into this world three weeks early, she was a bit of a surprise to us all. But she’s hungry, happy, and doing fine. I made a quick trip today to Duluth to see the new baby yesterday, and was glad that Ava came yesterday, with temperatures around 45 and the sun out. Will has a bad cold (getting better today) and didn’t want to be around a tiny newborn with it, so I drove down alone.

Today it’s snowing, blowing, and cold, with the temperature steadily falling. It’ll be below zero tomorrow night and on into the week. Oh well, January is still unbelievably warm! — Jackie

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Hopi Pale Grey squash

In previous issues of the magazine it was stated that Hopi Pale Grey Squash Heirloom Seeds are difficult to find. I just received my Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog and to my surprise on page 102 Item# SQ202 are the seeds. They are listed at $3.00/pkt. I hope this helps others who would like to try these large squash.

William Luke
Clovis, California

Thanks for telling readers, William. This IS a great squash and about the longest keeper I know of. I have one right now that weighs 16 pounds and is not from this past fall’s harvest, but the one before that! And it’s still solid and wonderful. — Jackie

Growing and Canning Your Own Food

I purchased your 2 newest books recently (Growing and Canning Your Own Food and Jackie Clay’s Pantry Cookbook) — I love them — just wondering if there are any corrections that I should make for any of the canning/cooking recipes in either of the books. I know sometimes there can be printing errors.

Cindy Dobbs
Prairie Grove, Arkansas

Yep there are a couple, but none too serious. The Amish Relish on page 95 needs to have 2 qts of vinegar. The tomato soup recipe on page 196 says to set aside 1 quart of the juice but doesn’t say what to do with it. You should rehydrate the parsley leaves in it, then pour it into your big batch of juice/puree and continue. Also the mustard bean pickle recipe doesn’t say how much salt or what to do with it. You use 1 tsp. salt to add to the water you pre-cook the beans in to make them tender. So far, that’s it. — Jackie

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Canning ham

Can you “can” store bought hams? If so how much time should you process it

Connie Gann
Rogersville, Missouri

Yes, definitely. I have one in my fridge right now to can up! You will process pints and half pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary. (Or buy my canning book, Growing and Canning Your Own Food, it has directions on canning store ham and tons and tons of other recipes that are not found in other canning books!) — Jackie

Storing meat

Just wondering if you can your pig that was processed or where you keep it. You don’t have a freezer right? Next question, I want to raise chickens in the spring for the first time. Layers and fryers. From what I’ve been told the fryers are all ready in 6 weeks. Is that the process you go thru and then can them all up or do you just butcher as you need them. If so-what breed do you use, because they can get to big right? As always you are amazing, and I thank you so much

Jacqueline Wieser
Sidney, Nebraska

I will be canning some of our pork. But we DO have a freezer, just purchased two months ago in order to have space to store our beef through most of the winter so I can can up that a little at a time. It is a small, upright freezer with Energy Star ratings and we have it on our unheated enclosed back porch to further save energy. So far, it’s working out just fine.

As for the chickens, we have white rock, cuckoo marans, white laced red cornish, and cochins. We crossed white rock roosters with our cornish hens and got our own home-hatched meat birds. The cochins, we hope, will hatch this year’s batch for us so we don’t have to use the incubator, as they are setting fools. Our meat birds could have been butchered at 6 weeks, but we prefer to wait until the weather is cooler and do a few at a time. Now we have the freezer, we can do several at a time instead of the three that was my limit for cooling in the fridge overnight and canning up the next day. Our first generation crosses aren’t as fast growing or quite as wide in the breast as commercial crosses, but they are plenty good enough for us. Regular cornish rock broilers DO get big fast and need to be butchered between 6-9 weeks because they start having health issues (bad legs and heart attacks) after that age. Plain old dual-purpose breeds like buff orpington or white rock are good for both meat and eggs. They don’t get as big as fast or have as much breast meat as do the cornish rock broilers, but they are pretty good eating and live a long, productive life as layers. — Jackie

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Old cast iron kettle

I bought a very used cast iron kettle for $2. It was a great buy I think. Put it in a hot fire to burn the gunk off, then scrubbed, then coated with lard and slowly baked it in a low oven. It looks pretty good except it has some rather deep pits inside on the bottom. Is it safe to use with the pits or is it a loss?

Gail Erman
Palisade, Colorado

It is safe to use, but you may have trouble with food sticking in the pits. Sometimes you can use an angle grinder to grind those pits out, making the surface flat and smooth again. Use a rather coarse grinder at first and finish with a fine grinder, then sandpaper. Re-season the pan and you should be good to go. — Jackie

Canning olives

I buy olives by the gallon because I want the jars. We like olives but have a hard time using them up as it is just the two of us now. Can I re-can them in pint jars and how do I do that?

Nancy Foster
Dallas City, Illinois

I re-canned many #10 cans and gallon jars of olives, finally finding directions on a California University website. Basically, drain off the liquid, then bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, pack the olives in your pint (I used half-pint) jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Pour the boiling liquid over the olives, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Process pint and half-pint jars at 10 pounds pressure for 90 minutes. If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude. The olives do not get mushy. — Jackie

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Chicken stock

I’ve been canning for years and just ran across something that I’m not sure about. I just opened some quart jars of chicken stock to make soup and found on the underside of the lids a small patch of black liquid. I found it in three different jars — not all from the same batch or year. The contents smelled ok, but I dumped them out anyway. Any idea what this is? Were the contents safe to use?

Jennifer Grahovac
Wooster, Ohio

I think what you found was simply a chemical reaction between the chicken stock and the metal lid. This happens from time to time. It will not happen when you use plastic Tattler reusable canning lids. It does not affect the food in any way. But, as with any canned food, do the smell test, then if it smells okay, be sure to bring it to boiling temperature for at least 10-15 minutes before eating –just to be safe. — Jackie

Tomatoes and garlic in olive oil

I have a recipe that calls for the following items. Sun dried tomatoes, garlic (I buy from the store already crushed in the jar) basil ( I use fresh ) salt. You are to layer them in a jar and cover them with olive oil. One recipe I have says to keep refrigerated, the other one say I don’t have to. Which one is correct?

Teresa Roh
New Freedom, Pennsylvania

Keep it refrigerated. There have been cases of foods like this causing botulism after sitting out at room temperature. Rare, but possible, so refrigerate just to be safe. — Jackie

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Where to get chickens

I was wondering where you got your white laced cornish chickens from. I have looked on-line and all I can find are the dark cornish. Also, do you know anything about feeding fodder to livestock? I have found several systems on-line that make growing your own feed seem easy. Is it too good to be true? John and I cannot wait to meet you guys in May!

Mia Sodaro
Frazier Park, California

We bought white laced RED cornish from Welp Hatchery. We wanted the white laced reds as they are a prettier bird with a whiter skin than the dark cornish. Yes, we have grown up feeding fodder to livestock, primarily corn stalks with ears matured and on the dried stalks. This works well for horses and cattle. Let me know if you have specific questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them! We’re excited about meeting you at the seminar, too! — Jackie

Canning ham

I have a lot of left over ham. I was wanting to can it instead of freezing it. Is it safe to can at home? Is it done the same as other meats or would the prolonged canning time make it turn to mush as it is already precooked? I can’t seem to find information on canning ham anywhere!

Jennifer Gall
Roseburg, Oregon

That’s one reason you should have my book, Growing and Canning Your Own Food! (This is the most complete canning book out there, with lots of recipes to can, including ham. – BHM Staff) Yes, basically, you can ham like other meats. Only, because it’s pre-cooked, you only have to slice or dice it up, fill the jars, and pour boiling broth or water over the meat, leaving 1 inch of headspace. It must be processed for 75 minutes (pints and half-pints) and 90 minutes for quarts, at 10 pounds pressure. If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary. Ham is wonderful, canned like this. I do it every year! — Jackie

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Obviously, we can’t use an electric stock tank heater. Propane heaters are expensive to buy — and to run! Will remembered his dad telling him about his chore, as a kid, of having to fill his grandpa’s wood-fired stock tank heater every day and that got Will to thinking. We have two big tanks for the horses that we fill with hoses, chopping ice out in-between. But, sooner or later, the ice gets thicker and thicker until there’s only a five-gallon basin left unfrozen in the top. Will looked online at some wood-fired heaters and thought he could manufacture one. A trip to the dump brought back a couple of small hot water heaters, which he dismantled for the tank inside. Then he welded an air vent pipe on (square one in photo), cutting a hole in the lower side and putting a chimney on top to vent the smoke. Then he added a piece of 8-inch pipe, welded on top to load the wood, with a flat swinging cap to close after the fire is going.

He tried it yesterday, first in the cow’s tank, which was also frozen pretty badly. By evening, the tank was half unthawed! So this morning, he took it down to the horse pasture and set it in a chopped basin on top of the ice, and fired it up. Now, two hours later, there is a wide basin of water around the heater and all the afternoon to go. (And because it’s forty degrees today, that should help a lot!)

It’s amazing what can be done with very little money to make homesteading on a shoestring much more enjoyable! Thank you, Will! — Jackie

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