Pie and Cobbler

As we mentioned in the "Introductions" post, we love to can. Cupcake says we would can air and water if we could, and I'd be OK with that. This year we've had a bounty crop of pie makings. It started when the sweet red cherry tree in the back yard produced, we would pick a hand full every evening while we watched the newly hatched chickens play under the tree. By the weekend, we had enough to can a batch. Then Pop's blackheart cherry tree came in. We made a couple trips over to his house and picked a few at a time. Next came strawberries, rhubarb, then black raspberries. Each as they came, we would grab a little at a time during the week and make a canning on the weekend.

Canning your own pie filling can sound daunting, but trust us, it's easy as pie (pie joke). A small batch at a time adds up over a few weeks, next thing you know, we're adding shelves. We thought we would walk you through our last pie making can that we made last night.

First off, add four cups of sugar and two cups of water to a pot, bring it to a boil.

After it starts boiling, add 3/4 cups of clear jell and four tablespoons of lemon juice to the mix, and bring back to a boil

Last night we had a medley of fruit, just because the fruit season is about over. We had a mix of blackberries (which are just starting to turn) red raspberries (which are bout gone) and blueberries, we've been getting blueberries for a couple weeks now a couple at a time. Blueberries you can just drop into a sandwich bag and freeze as you go until you have a batch. Anywho, we had a small amount of all the above, so we washed em up and prepped them for pie making.

After your mix returns to a boil, we take the pot off the heat and add the fruit, mix well then ladle in to fresh washed Mason jars.

Wipe the mouth of the jar with a wet towel, then place your lid and ring on the jar. We soak our lids and rings in hot water prior to sealing, it's just the right thing to do. Tighten the rings finger tight, then place your jars into a large pot of rolling boiling water for 15 minutes. That's all there is to it. Remove the jars from the water bath and they will "Pop" after a few minutes, letting you know you have a good seal. You can also check by pushing down on the center of the top, if it has any flex to it, you know the jar is not sealed. No flex, good to go.

The jars add up after a while. We have 54 in the basement right now, not counting the ones we have gifted, or used in cobblers for a neighbor.

Cupcake can do her "snow dance" now, we are ready with dessert all winter long.  While we had the canning stuff out last night, I had about a gallon of leftover bourbon BBQ sauce I made. It is tradition for us to smoke a pork shoulder and provide lunch for the Total Car Care boys on vehicle inspection day. I poured the leftover sauce in to a couple half gallon jars, and put them into the pressure canner. Ten pounds of pressure for thirty minutes, and I got sauce for the next pig to meet the "Oklahoma Joe" wood fired smoker. 

There will be plenty of smoker posts to follow, but for now we hope we have inspired at least one person to try and preserve fruit for pies. We will have posts to come showing how we preserve tomatoes, beans, and with any luck, deer meat, come October.
K&K