Canning Mandarin Oranges (aka Tangerines)

[Junie]

I got a good deal on tangerines last week, so I thought I'd can some of them, since all of the canned mandarin oranges I've found were from China (I try not to buy anything from China). They were surprisingly easy to can.

First, sterilize your jars and lids. While waiting for the jars to boil, peel and section your tangerines (I used seedless, but if yours aren't seedless, you can seed the sections or not, as you choose). You will need about 2 tangerines per jelly glass (1 cup)

Once your tangerines are ready, make a light syrup of equal parts sugar and water, with a little splash of lemon juice to keep it from getting sugary. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to keep it at a simmer.

Now, fill your jars with tangerine sections, fill to within half an inch with syrup, wipe rim, adjust lids, and hot water bath for 10 minutes. Cool away from draft.

That's all there is to it. Easy, eh?

[goodwifefarm]

What a dork I am..........we eat mandarine oranges all the time (from Aldi) and I had no clue that they were tangerines! :-[ Teehee!

Sounds good! I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on them! Thanks! ;D

[Junie]

Aw, don't feel like a dork! I didn't know they were mandarin oranges either, until I was trying to find mandarin orange trees to grow indoors.

BTW, I used Clementines for canning, since they're mostly seedless. I have 2 more boxes to put up. I need to get more jars. I did way more canning this past summer and used up all of my jars, including the 9 new cases.

[goodwifefarm]

I know how that is! You can NEVER have enough jars. I try to convince my husband of this but...........

;D sarah

[CanNerd]

Just an added hint, you no longer have to sterilize jars before filling them if the processing time is at least 10 minutes. They just need to be clean.

The food scientists learned that sterilization of the jars will occur during processing if it goes 10 minutes or more.

[Junie]

CanNerd, that's good to know! While I was stuffing those sections in the jars, I was wondering what good it did to sterilize them anyway, since my hands and the food wasn't sterile.

[goodwifefarm]

I've never sterilized jars..........hehe.........glad to know that it's "ok" now! ;) I just put them in my sink full of hot water to make sure that they don't bust when I put boiling water in them or when I put them in the canner! Thanks CanNerd!

sarah

[Junie]

Sarah, that's how my mother did it, too. I'm too nervous about canning to experiment much, unless somebody tells me it's ok. You'd think, after canning for nearly 35 years, I'd be more comfortable with it, but I'm not.

[CanNerd]

You might like to take the free Food Preserving course offered by the Univ. of Georgia through the National Center for Home Food Preservation (http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html).

You might feel more confident after passing the course and you even get a Certificate of Completion. It doesn't take that long to complete the course online. It just has 4 parts to it.

[goodwifefarm]

Hi Junie, ;D

I guess I just try not to think about it too much! lol
I'm a cook at a high school and I had to take the Illinois food handlers safety course.........let me tell you.......they will try and scare the heck outta you with that one. But the thing is, with common sense and a modicum of cleanliness.....the average person isn't going to pass on a deadly disease!
I know what you mean about canning though. They will try and scare you with botulism and such. The teacher in my food safety course said she would never ever can ANYTHING and she would never eat anything that was home canned. It thought that was hilarious because I'm much more afraid to eat store bought stuff!

Have a great day and I hope it is warm where you are!

sarah

[FloridaWyld]

You might like to take the free Food Preserving course offered by the Univ. of Georgia through the National Center for Home Food Preservation (http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html).

You might feel more confident after passing the course and you even get a Certificate of Completion. *It doesn't take that long to complete the course online. *It just has 4 parts to it.


Thanks for sharing that link!