Food Preservation

Audio Farm Girl @ Heart

One of the many lost arts of yesteryear is the art of food preservation. It is making a comeback and I hope to share my experience with you. Food preservation helps you to be prepared when a disaster strikes, an illness is in the family or there is a shortage. To prepare is to be prepared when needed.

A few of the things that I have done lately are to can corn, apple sauce, and apple butter. I have canned in the past raw chicken (which cooks as it is being canned), and chicken soup. Below are the recipes that I use to do my apple sauce and apple butter.

Apple Sauce

Using an apple peeler and corer, do so to about 10 to 12 apples. Place in a large pot. Add a little water to keep from sticking. Cook down to a mush; either very fine or chunky, whichever you prefer. Remove from heat and add lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; these are all added to your taste level.

Using sterilized canning jars, fill the jars with the applesauce and wipe tops of jars and seal. Place in water canner, add enough water to cover jars, bring water to boil, and can for 20 minutes. You can do this with either quarts or pints. Turn off burner and wait till water stops boiling. Remove jars and set them on a towel to cool. Listen for a pop. If no pop comes then place jar in refrigerator when cool. They must seal properly in order to store them.

Apple Butter

Do the same to about 10 - 15 apples as in above recipe. Place apples in crockpot. Add a couple of cups of water to crockpot to keep apples from sticking. Add your cinnamon, lemon juice, nutmeg and brown sugar to taste. Turn crockpot to low temp and cook for 10- 12 hours. When done to thickness, place in sterilized jars. Clean tops of jars and seal. Place jars in water canner and can for 20 minutes for quarts and pints. When done canning, remove jars and place on towel to cool and complete the sealing process.

You can use the cores and peelings to make apple cider vinegar. Using clean jars, place apple cores and peels in jar. Fill jar to top and over the apple peels and cores. Top off the jars with cheesecloth and place in dark place such as a cabinet or closet. Leave for 3 weeks then strain and leave again in a clean jar for another 2 weeks.