This is where I start my canning. I purchase the very best products. These really do make a difference in how your end product tastes. That is the reason I can. Because I like my food better than anything I can buy.I'm going to demonstrate here Pickled red cabbage. It actually is more a sweet and sour red cabbage. Right now you can buy red cabbage for practically a song, especially at the local farmers markets. Or try www.localharvest.org and look for a farm in your area.
Last night I thinly sliced 5 quarts of red cabbage and put all in a large stainless steel bowl with 2 1/2 quarts of water and 1/2 cup of kosher salt (pickling salt-NEVER iodized salt). I let that soak overnight.
Today I washed 8 pint jars and put them in the oven at 250 degrees to sterilize them until I needed them.
.The lids I put into boiling water and then turned it off.
I then proceeded to make my syrup of 2 1/2 quarts of vinegar, 2 1/2 cups of organic cane sugar, and 5 tablespoon of pickling spices (4 broken cinnamon sticks, 2 Tbl. mustard seed, 4 tsp. peppercorns, 2 tsp cloves, 2 tsp whole allspice, 2 tsp dill seed, 4 bay leaves) that I put in a small muslin bag. (You can also wrap it all in cheesecloth or tulle or whate
ver)in a stainless steel container. NEVER use aluminum.
I brought that to a boil for 10 minutes. While that was boiling I filled my jars.
Never pack too tightly nor too lightly. Too tight and air gets trapped. Too lightly and you use too much syrup and there is 2 inches of juice on the bottom.
Next I turned off the syrup and quickly filled the jars with syrup within
1/4 inch of the top.
Working quickly to prevent the jars from cooling off I wiped the rims, put on the hot lids, and sealed with the rings tightly.
Now I will cool them overnight and check in the morning to see if all the lids have compressed in the middle. If they haven't I would pour it into a pan and bring it to a boil, resterilize my jar and a NEW lid and put it all back into the jar again, cap it, and see if it works that time. Tomorrow I will label them and put them in a dark, cool, dry place for 4-6 weeks. That will give them the time they need to pickle. Yummy!
I then proceeded to make my syrup of 2 1/2 quarts of vinegar, 2 1/2 cups of organic cane sugar, and 5 tablespoon of pickling spices (4 broken cinnamon sticks, 2 Tbl. mustard seed, 4 tsp. peppercorns, 2 tsp cloves, 2 tsp whole allspice, 2 tsp dill seed, 4 bay leaves) that I put in a small muslin bag. (You can also wrap it all in cheesecloth or tulle or whate
ver)in a stainless steel container. NEVER use aluminum.
I brought that to a boil for 10 minutes. While that was boiling I filled my jars.
Never pack too tightly nor too lightly. Too tight and air gets trapped. Too lightly and you use too much syrup and there is 2 inches of juice on the bottom.
Next I turned off the syrup and quickly filled the jars with syrup within
1/4 inch of the top.
Working quickly to prevent the jars from cooling off I wiped the rims, put on the hot lids, and sealed with the rings tightly.
Now I will cool them overnight and check in the morning to see if all the lids have compressed in the middle. If they haven't I would pour it into a pan and bring it to a boil, resterilize my jar and a NEW lid and put it all back into the jar again, cap it, and see if it works that time. Tomorrow I will label them and put them in a dark, cool, dry place for 4-6 weeks. That will give them the time they need to pickle. Yummy!
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