Q and A: watering in hoop houses, blackberry syrup, and oven canning

Watering in hoop houses and blackberry syrup

Since we’ve had two summers of extremely hot, dry weather, I think the hoop houses might be the new wave of garden success for us. How do you water the crops in your hoop houses?

Despite our drought we’ve had a great crop of blackberries. I have a recipe for blackberry syrup: berries, sugar, corn syrup, and cornstarch. I’d like to can it in half-pint jars. Pressure or water bath? For how long?

J from Missouri

We water our hoop houses with a simple square spray-type sprinkler. You could certainly use drip lines too. You’d think with the heat the plants in the hoop house would wither and die. Ours are thriving!

It’s recommended that you use Clear Jel instead of cornstarch as its formulated for use in canning where they say cornstarch is not. You would be water bathing your syrup for 30 minutes. Be sure to use boiling hot syrup ladled into hot jars. — Jackie

Oven canning

I read in another magazine that someone was canning food in an oven. I always thought that was unsafe. Is that correct?

Lorraine
Floyd, Iowa

“Canning” food in an oven, as seen in Countryside Magazine, is fine for dry foods such as rice, flour, noodles, etc. It is not meant for canning fruits, vegetables, or meat products. All the oven “canning” does is heat and seal the jars to prevent insects from damaging the food and to prevent it from getting rancid during long-term storage. — Jackie

Can you oven can cereals with raisins and/or other fruit in it?

Jean Williams
Rush Springs, Oklahoma

This is probably okay as dehydrated fruits stay good nearly forever with halfway decent plain storage. But as oven “canning” is not an approved procedure, I can’t recommend it for fear of getting lynched by “experts.” — Jackie