Canning caramel

I have checked the archives and your canning book, but still wondering about canning caramel, not caramel sauce. My husband found a great deal just after the holidays ($2 for 5lbs, we ended up with 20lbs) and it has been fine in the plastic bags that it was sold in. However, just started thinking it might be good to cube it up, put in wide mouth pints and water bath it? Just wondering if you have ever done that, or what your thoughts are? I am thinking probably 10-15m for canning time. Also just finished using your recipes for canning blackberry preserves and hot packing cherries. Now I am on to corn, that I got for dozen/$1… not free, but still not bad deal. Thanks for all the great info, and the pork is still tasting delicious!

Lisa Basso
St Paul, Minnesota

If you keep your caramel in its original bags, placed in a dark, airtight container, it’ll keep well for decades. I have canned caramel sauce but never caramels. I’m afraid if you canned the caramels they would be a big solid blob in the jars that would be hard to get out. It sounds like you’ve been busy! So far I’ve only done blueberry jam but everything is coming on at once so I’ll soon be hopping! I’m glad you like the pork. We just had seven baby pigs so we’ll be having more, come winter! — Jackie

Blight on tomatoes

Do you have any suggestions to deal with blight on tomato plants. There are a few of us in WI dealing with this. Our friends have it so bad. Is there something they can do to the soil to prepare for next year? He had heard about spraying bleach on the soil this fall. So far I have been picking off the affected leaves.

I think the beavers need to rethink the weather lately. Yes it is dry but not extremely hot as it has been. They will probably laugh it off and build for the winter!

Cindy Hills
Wild Rose, Wisconsin

It sounds like you have early blight in your tomatoes which is not as horrible as late blight that turns your plants to black mush in short order. Early blight is easier to deal with and live with. First off, try to get as much air circulation through your plants as possible by either caging and staking them to get them off of the ground and/or pruning some branches on the lower part to help air flow through the plant. Often the spores of the fungus lay on the ground and when the garden is watered with a sprinkler or the rain, the spores bounce up onto the branches and leaves. Using a soaker or drip hose to water helps a lot. Also, a deep mulch under and around the tomatoes keeps rain from bouncing spores onto the plants. If you plant your tomatoes in one long row instead of a patch, air flow is increased. If you are not adverse to using chemicals in your garden as a last resort, spraying Ortho’s Garden Disease Control (Daconil) on your plants as soon as you notice spotted leaves often quickly cures the problem. In the fall, pull and burn all tomato and potato vines as they carry and winter over spores for a problem next year. I wouldn’t pour bleach on my garden.

We got pretty dry around here and it’s lucky the beavers raised their dam. Even so, the pond’s getting low. It IS cooler, thank God. But now it feels like fall! — Jackie

8 COMMENTS

  1. Jackie

    We have a couple of the the 5 gallon food grade buckets I can use. Also, the job of cutting the caramels and packing the jars are not high on my list, and the idea of using jars unnecessarily is less than appealing… especially since I have lots of apples coming for applesauce and apple butter! Thanks for the great info and have a wonderful Wed everyone!

  2. Lisa,

    Wow, 5 pound blocks! I’d still keep them in the original bag/wrapping and store in gasketed 5 gallon buckets. I get mine at the bakery at Super One for $1 each, with a lid.

  3. Linda,

    That’s why I mentioned storing the caramels in their original bag, IN an airtight, container. Yes, like your found out the hard way, bugs and rodents can and do get through plastic bags!!!

  4. Thanks Linda and Aislinn. I do have the food saver attachment, so I might do that. Unfortuately, these are 5lb blocks of caramel, so I usually just hack off the amount I need and then re-bag (I end up double bagging with ziploc just as a precaution. Maybe I will see if I can find a big tin or food grade bucket to use…otherwise that’s alot of chopping and filling of jars. I will have to think about this. Thanks for the info though.

  5. if you have a food saver or its equivalent you can get a jar attachment ant dry seal the carmels in a jar and they will keep well

  6. I am leary of storing things in original bags. One infestation and your investment is lost. Ask me how I know.I would put the caramels into glass canning jars with the canning lids and rings. I use glass to store everything. The plastic bag is permeable and air can get in over time. When I am using canning lids for just storing, used canning lids work fine. I just tighten them down very tight. If the caramels are wrapped, that is great. Unless you can put the caramels in gallon jugs, you will need to just take them all out of the bag to store.

    Mice, pantry moths, and ants can all get into plastic bags. They cannot get into glass jars. I even had a rat work on a plastic bag! It was the first rat in my house for over 30 years. The cats in the neighborhood must have been too well-fed.

  7. I’m a member of GardenWeb and there’s a forum discussion about the diluted bleach spray -1/2 cup to a gallon of water more or less. There aren’t any real specific proportions. The forum members said as a one time treatment to spray a light mist, not to the point of the solution dripping off the plants, and you have to spray stems and leaves and fruit if any. I wouldn’t do this spray on a hot day or in full sun. I wouldn’t think pouring bleach on the soil would do anything positive. My first question would be why you have such a problem this year – what are the climate and/or soil conditions that are causing it? Do you need to add compost or any other amendment to your soil? Did you plant any nightshade family plants nearby that you haven’t grown before or did you plant more of them? Nightshade family includes some medicinal herbs, food plants (potato, pepper, tomatillo, eggplant are a few) weeds and ornamental plants. Any of them can act as a host for the fungus so you have to remove or treat them also. And don’t handle or work with any of them and then go on to handle or walk through your tomato plants, because you can spread the spores. So can your pets. All plant parts from all of these plants have to be removed from your gardens, bagged and removed from your property – don’t compost them. Then think about your gardening practices. Even a thin film of water can activate the fungus so you need to not overhead water, and if the plants are damp or wet, don’t walk through them or handle them because you’ll spread the spores. Mulch is essential, at least a foot and maybe more, as is removing the lower leaves and shoots for 12 to 18 inches. Exept for the possible diluted bleach treatment, there’s no known way to get rid of early blight once your plants have it. Fungicides will control it, but not get rid of it. Prevention is the best treatment – you have to start spraying with a fungicide before you have symptoms. I’d start with your transplants. Then spray leaves, stems and fruits after every rainstorm and at least once a week. Good air circulation helps because it dries off the leaves and stems and fruit. If you can build a support system for your plants that will let you grow them vertically as in a greenhouse you’ll probably have fewer problems. Tomato cages restrict air circulation. There are other leaf sprays that have been reported: diluted milk, potassium bicarbonate solutions either home made or commercial, but these treatments control blight, they don’t seem to eliminate it. The best results seem to happen when you focus on prevention – spray early and often, spray any alternate host nightshade family plants you have, mulch, keep the plants dry, don’t handle wet plants, use more than one control if your plants get it and remove all nightshade family plant debris. Crop rotation is highly recommended, but because spores can be carried on the wind, on soil particles that blow around and by irrigation water and deposited anywhere, and because there are so many plants in the nightshade family that can act as a host, I’m not sure it is that effective. There’s been some success with planting mustard family cover crops and then tilling or digging them in. It doesn’t cost a lot in seeds and time, and would be a better alternative than pouring bleach on your soil. If you will improve your soil, be pro-active and ready to experiment with alternate treatments I think you can prevent or control blight and have a successful crop.

  8. I’ve heard of people spraying diluted bleach directly on the effected plants. The leaves with blight on them died, but the rest of the plant recovered and was cured.

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