Homemade peach, corn, and pineapple salsa - canned

One of the hardest parts of making homemade salsa is understanding that tomatoes are on the border of PH between fruits and veggies which makes it very important to follow recipes to the letter. From reading other people's blogs, this is why it's important to add lemon or lime juice to your salsa and make sure that you aren't throwing in so many different things that you change PH levels. For this reason I strongly recommend following tried and true salsa recipes (or using a mix) when making your own homemade canned salsa. That said, I like to experiment and have created my own recipes for salsa, one of which I'm posting here. This one I threw in a bit too much canned corn. So my word of advice is, go light on the corn, maybe 1/2 a can or less!

Peach & Pineapple Salsa (with corn) 1 tsp. black pepper or to taste, 1 tsp. red pepper 5-10 tomatoes 1/2 cup peaches at least 2 tblsps. lemon juice (this is for 5 tomatoes) 4 small onions 1/2 tsp. minced garlic 1/2 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. salt 1/2 to 3/4 can pineapple (small pieces) 1/2 can corn (max) Cook until boiling. Place in jars and process for 25 minutes in water bath.

Peaches - Peach Jam & Peach Butter

Tonight I made Peach Jam and Peach Butter. I just discovered yesterday they now make individual size pectin packages so you can make a very small jam batch. It's enough for 2 half pint jars but I made my jam to fit into just one full sized pint jar. I had 1 1/3 cups peaches, mashed them up in sauce pan. Then I added 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 1/3 cups sugar. Cook together first the lemon juice and peaches to a full boil, then add the sugar all at once and cook at full boil for one minute (directions from back of package. Then can for 10 minutes in hot water bath.

I actually started my Peach Butter yesterday by removing the skins and cutting up the peaches. I left them in the crockpot overnight with the lemon juice and put it in the fridge. The next day in my crockpot, I mashed down about 2 cups peaches, 2 cups sugar, and 1/4 cup lemon juice. I also put in about 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and let it cook for 4-8 hours on low. When it was cooked down brown and bubbly I canned it up into two pint jars. (Canned in hot water bath for 30 minutes)

Cherries - Cherry Cupcakes

When I created my maraschino cherries I ended up with one jar leftover of cherry juice. I plan to use this juice (that smells wonderful, just like maraschino cherry juice only more like straight up cherries than alcohol since I only used a small amount of almond extract)for different cooking uses. So far I have used the juice for making cupcakes: I added about 1/4 a cup of the juice to a regular white cupcake mix, cooking as directed on the box, and made the yummiest cherry cupcakes I have ever had!

Peaches - Canned Peaches

I always forget how messy Peaches are! I let the peaches I picked ripen on the counter for about three days (I picked them hard) and they were soft to the touch when I decided to can them - I probably could have done them a day or so earlier so the fruit would be firmer in the jars but I was too busy and time slipped away.. So, I decided to can most of my peaches, about 6 pint jars worth. I also always forget how much of a process peaches are so it's good to do a bunch all at once. Oh yeah, and don't forget to put your cutting board and three bowls close together while you are removing the skins, dunking them in lemon juice so the color doesn't change in the peaches, and then dumping the pits in your compost bowl.. I had mine all in different places along the counter on both sides of my stove which resulted in a sticky floor and lots of mess! I will need to wash my floor again tonight! This was a fun blog for getting ideas about different uses for peaches: http://shannandesh.blogspot.com/2010/09/peaches-peach-sauce-peach-butter.html The ideas for vanilla peach sauce and freezing peaches make me want to go back and pick more peaches real soon! Basically the process I went through with my peaches was as follows: Blanch the peaches: Dunk them in boiling water for a minute, throw them in ice water immediately afterward, then remove the skins, they should slide off easily. Cut the peaches up and put in jars. Pour boiling sugar water (6 cups water, 2 cups sugar, I did a "light" syrup) over the fruit in the jars, put lids on and water bath can for 25 minutes.

Cherries - Homemade Canned Maraschino Cherries

Next up, making homemade canned maraschino cherries! I had no idea what a process it was to make Maraschino cherries. I've been going off the recipe at http://homecooking.about.com/od/fruitrecipes/r/blfruit23.htm Day one: using 1 quart of water and 1 tablespoon pickling salt (notice I halved the water but not the pickling salt - I'm making a smaller batch about 2 small jars and figured the salt was important) bring to a boil, let cool, then pour over the halved & pitted cherries. Cover and let sit for 12 hours. Day 2: drain off the pickling brine (do not save). Set aside cherries in bowl. 2 cups water 3 cups sugar 1/3 cup lemon juice 4-6 drops red food coloring or until you've reached desire shade of red Mix all together, bring to a boil and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Pour over cherries in bowl. Cover (I put a plastic lid in the bowl to hold the cherries down in the water)and let sit for 24 hours. Day 3: Next, drain the juice and heat it in a pan on the stove to boiling. Mix in 1 tablespoon almond extract. Put the cherries in a jar and put the juice back in over the cherries and immediately waterbath can. My original two small jars turned into one small jar after my cherries all shrunk - I think I should have let cool the juice the first time around instead of pouring it hot on the cherries since that was when they shrank.

Cherries - Homemade Canned Cherry Pie Filling

Looking at what was left of my cherries, I decided to try my hand at making canned cherry pie filling. I will be making two jars worth since that is the equivalent of filling for one small pie. I went off the recipe at this site: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/homemade-cherry-pie-filling-recipe/ Since I was making a smaller batch I reduced the recipe to the following: I used about 3 cups cherries, (halved & pitted) 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of almond extract (not ideal but it was all I had on hand!). I followed the directions, mix all together, bring to a boil, immediately reduce heat to low, and stir until all cooked together. Then I poured into my jars and placed in my water bath canner. The type of cherries I am using are the "Royal Ann" variety from Detering Orchards. Sweet with a little bit of tartness.