Canning stuffed grape leaves
I would like to can stuffed grape leaves, (Greek Dolmades). These have lamb, beef, or turkey mixed with rice, onions, pine nuts, and spices rolled into a grape leaf. I normally cook these in the oven with a bath of water, olive oil, and lemon juice and slices. If I pressure can these, what size jar would you recommend and at what temperature and time?
Jamie
Las Vegas, Nevada
You can put these up but I would recommend not adding too much olive oil to your “broth” as it tends to blow out during processing and possibly cause seal failures when it sticks between the lid rubber and the jar rim. You should process them at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes and you should probably put these up in pints, not quarts. (If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude.) — Jackie
Poultry diet
Can you tell us what your chickens’ (poultry) diet consists of?
V. Ginger Borgeson
Johnstown, Colorado
We feed our chickens 18% poultry feed which is basically scratch feed with a little added protein. In the summer we often switch them to scratch feed as they pick up plenty of added protein because they free range in our acre orchard, eating lots of insects as well as greens. Besides this, we supply them with grit in the winter when they can’t scratch for natural grit and year-around oyster shell to supplement their calcium for strong egg shells. Of course, we also give them plenty of kitchen scraps and crushed egg shells, all year. — Jackie
