Preservation Notes - San Joaquin Master Food Preservers

I found a particular delight in tomatillos in my journey of cultivating a sustainable lifestyle through gardening and home food preserving. These vibrant green gems have become a favorite among the many fruits and vegetables I grow and preserve.

We all want to make tasty and safe home-canned foods. Read the label to be sure and use only vinegar with a 5% acidity level for canning purposes. Sometimes the label indicates 50 grain, which means it has 5% acidity. Read the label on the vinegar bottle and make sure the label indicates 5%.

What is Too Hot? What is too hot for home canning and storing canned foods? With the temperatures we have seen here in California's Central Valley recently, that is an excellent question! Seasonal produce is abundant and canning season is now in full production.

Our local produce stand happened to have these beautiful apricots yesterday. I love apricot jam! I have just completed the Master Food Preserver training. I hadn't made this jam before, so I thought I'd give making some a try.

When I was growing up, when we ran out of Welch's grape jelly for our breakfast toast next in line was a jar of my mother's homemade apple butter. Besides apple butter which was a staple in many homes in the 50s and 60s, there are now recipes for making a variety of fruit butters beyond apple.