I haven't forgotten about the blog. I've just been a bit busy. First it was a well paying, temporary job that sapped most of my strength, time, and energy. Then it was making use of the bounty of funds to provide for other things needed in and around our home. And lately it's been the bounty of food that need to be preserved to be available for later times.
About 5 years ago, I canned caramelized onions. They turned out well but in the intervening time frame, with the demands of the job I had taken on then, I just didn't have time to do it again. And then surprise, surprise, a recipe was released for canning onions that basically verified the recipe I had already been using. And I had an abundance of sweet onions on hand. So I did two batches of caramelized onions and one of French Onion soup.
This is where you get to take a moment and laugh at me. I misread the instructions originally so the caramelized onions were pressure canned for 70 minutes @ 10 psi. Doesn't seem to have hurt them any but I laughed at myself for it.
Anyways, I have a really simple way of doing caramelized onions when I want to do them in bulk. I slice onions on the mandolin until my crockpot is full. I use a 6 quart crockpot. It takes 4 to 5 lbs of sliced onions. I add a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and about half a tablespoon of garlic juice. Then I turn the crockpot on low and walk away for 8 to 12 hours. That's it. When I come back to the crockpot, first I pull the onions and fill the jars to a 1" headspace. Then I fill with the onion juice from the bottom of the crockpot, up to the 1" headspace. Since some onions don't provide enough natural juices, I go evenly between the jars and then top off with stock or water if needed. This year there was plenty of natural juices and no need for extra fluids. I get approximately a dozen jelly jars full from each batch.
After that, it's into the pressure canner at 10 psi for 60 minutes. Yes, I know, there is an approved recipe that says 40 minutes but I'm being cautious since this is more like French Onion soup than just plain 1 inch onions. And since 70 minutes didn't mess up the yummy flavor, I doubt 60 minutes will either.
By the way, the first time I did these I used 4 oz jars. I quickly realized that I needed to do larger jars. So this time I used 8 oz jars. I did put the French Onion Soup batch into pints. (And I also canned up all the extra broth from that recipe.)
Anyways, now on to bell peppers. Yeah, there's a tested recipe for bell peppers. And I love it.
Those of us that have been canning for a long time tend to not get the new Ball books when they come out. In the past there really weren't many changes between books and someone would give a heads up on what recipes were new. If you wanted the new recipes, you bought the new book. Well, somehow I missed the updates on the newest books that were released after Ball sold the canning division off. And those newest books have some recipes that many of us have wanted for years.
Now, when I went looking the physical books were thin on the ground and expensive, even online. So I got the Kindle versions. I'll get the physical books when the prices come back down into the reasonable range. The links for the Kindle version, and the print version, of the books are below so that you know which ones I'm talking about because there have been quite a few released in the past few years. There are some interesting and fun recipes in them that I will definitely be trying, and probably adding to my list of pantry shelf stock for each year.
And a sincere thank you to those who are watching out for my son and I, and guiding the blessings of bounty our way. They are truly appreciated.
I hope you enjoy the new recipes as much as I do. And happy canning.
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