{"id":4198,"date":"2014-08-14T03:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T07:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=4198"},"modified":"2014-08-14T03:00:53","modified_gmt":"2014-08-14T07:00:53","slug":"q-and-a-growing-cucumbers-and-thickening-tomato-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2014\/08\/14\/q-and-a-growing-cucumbers-and-thickening-tomato-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Q and A: growing cucumbers and thickening tomato sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing cucumbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why do the edges of the leaves on my cucumber plants turn yellow?<\/em><\/p>\n

Loretta Howard<\/em>
\nPlymouth, Indiana<\/em><\/p>\n

Usually when that happens, either the plants aren’t getting enough water during hot spells or you are watering with an overhead sprinkler which some cukes don’t like. Soaking the ground around the plants with a soaker hose, drip irrigation, or even a hand-held nozzle often helps. Mulching around the young plants with about 8 inches of good weed-free straw or immature hay will help next year. — Jackie<\/p>\n

Thickening tomato sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m looking for a way to stretch my tomato sauce. I cook it down and it gets good and thick, but there are only a few jars. I would like to make some sauce that makes a big recipe and is also thick. I have a friend who says she thickens her tomato sauce with cornstarch. Then I found a recipe for homemade Ragu sauce that is thickened with Clear Jel, there is no instructions on how to can it. I’m not sure if it can be canned. Is it ok to thicken sauces with Clear Jel? How much would you use? Here is the recipe that I found in a local paper.<\/em>
\nHomemade Ragu Sauce<\/em>
\n8 onions<\/em>
\n4 bell peppers<\/em>
\nCook in a little water. Drain and blend well.<\/em>
\n10 quarts tomato juice<\/em>
\n2 tablespoons garlic powder<\/em>
\n3 cups sugar<\/em>
\n1\/2 cup salt<\/em>
\n5 Tbsp. oregano<\/em>
\n3 Tbsp. basil<\/em>
\n48 ounces tomato paste<\/em>
\n1 pint vegetable oil<\/em>
\nIn a large kettle, bring everything to a boil.<\/em>
\n10 Tbsp. of Clear Jel or Therm-Flo <\/em>
\ncold water to dissolve Clear Jel <\/em><\/p>\n

Add thickening to boiling kettle. Bring back to a boil.<\/em><\/p>\n

The recipe says it can be canned, but make sure to research and use up to date canning methods and times. Do you think this will achieve my goal of a thick sauce and a large volume? And if so how long should I can it? Would I use a water-bath method?<\/em><\/p>\n

Nicole Bramm<\/em>
\nNarvon, Pennsylvania<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m sure this could probably be canned but I have no researched information. Clear Jel is used successfully in canning pie fillings and I have Amish friends who can a recipe similar to yours in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes. But I cannot, advise you to can it as there are really no guidelines for safety. Better skip this one. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing cucumbers Why do the edges of the leaves on my cucumber plants turn yellow? Loretta Howard Plymouth, Indiana Usually when that happens, either the plants aren’t getting enough water during hot spells or you are watering with an overhead sprinkler which some cukes don’t like. Soaking the ground around the plants with a soaker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}