Small Batch Canning in an RV (a Couple of Tips)

I'm sort of ashamed to admit I did not do any canning this past summer.  Since living in the RV full time, the thought of getting out my big water bath canner, and probably having to use every burner on the stove to really heat that much water properly was a little daunting.  Not to mention, the idea of gas just flying out of my tank made me cringe a bit.

Yesterday, however, I made a pleasant discovery.  Small batch water bath processing was surprisingly a breeze.

Yes, you can can in an RV!

Did you see yesterday's post about crockpot apple butter? If not, you should go check it out.  That recipe and product is what I used for this canning project.

A couple of tips for water bath canning in an RV:

1.  Think deep instead of wide.  A tall stock pot works beautifully.  I have one in storage that measures 8 1/2 inches high (tall, deep) and 9 inches across.  I easily processed 4 half pint jars.  They were the tall slender jars, as opposed to the short fat jars.  I'm confident 3-4 whole pint jars would fit easily.

2.  A wash cloth in the bottom of the pot is enough to keep your jars from sliding about and / or clanking against each other.  No raised wire basket necessary!

This is the type of half-pint jar I was using.  The quilted jelly jar, I believe it's called.

Here you can see the small space, and how a more typical water bath canner would take up almost my entire stovetop!
Think deep instead of wide.

Hopefully use can see the wash cloth in the bottom of the pot.
It's thin enough to not take up too much space, yet does a fine job of keeping the jars stable.

All done! Four pings before I even got my camera ready.  Yes, you can can in an RV.

I'll save the big batches for the open fire outside, though.  I'll be attempting that next season (I hope).

Shared at Happiness is Homemade, Tasty Tuesdays, and Thrifty Thursday.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a very small commission if you click a link and buy something. This helps pay for the RV, supports our mountain homestead dream of owning land, as well as my blogging activities, and makes the dogs' tails wag.  Hopefully, the purchase benefits you, too!  The price you pay will be no different than if you arrived at the same destination through any other link. My opinions are my own, to be sure. If I link to a product and say I like it -- I truly like it! Thanks for reading, following, and supporting Stephlin's Mountain.

From my mountaintop cannery to yours!

Canning Cherries is a Cinch!

I adore cherries. They are sometimes called "nature's candy" (the sweet ones anyway), and they are scrumptious. But there's only a short window (about this time every year) that fresh cherries are available at a reasonable price. You might even be able to get them for a great price. My local store was having a four day sale, and sweet cherries that are regularly $6.99 per pound were going for $2.99 per pound. That's probably very close to the best price I'll see during the window, then it will be gone until next year.

I grabbed up six pounds of sweet cherries, and started the preservation process this morning. I plan to eat some straight from the bag (highly recommended), use some in a brownie recipe, make some freezer jam, dehydrate some, and can some. Today was canning day.

After washing the cherries and removing the stems, I set to pitting. This is the only part I don't like, but it's not difficult. If you have a cherry pitter, it's a breeze. But I don't have one. Still, as I said, it's not that difficult without one. I just use a small star cake decorating tip. You know the kind that go in icing bags? Just place the end of the cherry where the stem was over the top of the tip and press down. The cherry will separate and the pit will be pushed through.

It only took me about 45 minutes to pit all six pounds of cherries. And since I only do this once a year, I'm sure to be slow!

Incidentally, since a cherry pitter is something I probably wouldn't buy myself, and since Christmas is only six months away, if any family member out there is looking for an idea for something I might want to open in December...take a look at this.

Now on to the actual canning bit! Cherries can be preserved with the waterbath canning process. The absolute easiest way is to pack as many into a jar as will fit with a 1/2 inch headspace. Then pour boiling water over the cherries, also minding the headspace. Apply lid and ring, and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

If you want to add a sweetener, feel free. I pack my cherries in a light syrup. My goal is to have them as close to fresh as possible, since I don't always know what I'm going to be doing with them in the future. I just use a water / sugar ratio of 4 to 1. Today, for example, I combined 8 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. Brought it to a boil, and poured it over my jarred cherries. And since I love the combination of cherry and vanilla, I added a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to each of the jars.

Nothing could be simpler!  Six pounds of cherries with the 8 cup water / 2 cup sugar simple syrup gave me 8 pints of canned cherries.

There are other slight variations that can be made, as well. You can actually can cherries without pitting them. I've never done this, but I read you just need to poke the cherries with a pin so they won't burst. Also, if your are wanting softer cherries, cook them in the simple syrup of your choice for five minutes. Then ladle cherries and syrup into your canning jars for process.

Shared at Nifty Thrifty Sunday and some of these other fine hops.




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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a very small commission if you click the link and buy something. This helps support my mountain homestead dream as well as my blogging activities, and the price you pay will be no different than if you arrived at the same destination through any other link. My opinions are my own, to be sure. If I link to a product and say I like it -- I truly like it! :-) Thanks for reading and following Stephlin's Mountain.

Honey Peach Preserves (a Small Batch Canning Recipe)

I wasn't sure whether to call this batch of peachy-ness a jam or preserves. Since there are still visible bits of peaches in the finished product, I went with preserves. Honey is the only sweetener, so you want to use the ripest and sweetest peaches you can get your hands on. My 1/2 a peck came from the farmers market yesterday. Dickey Farms has been around since 1897, and their web address says it all -- gapeaches.com .

The only other ingredient in these peach preserves is vanilla. If you have vanilla beans hanging around, I would use one of them. While I didn't have beans, I did have my homemade pure vanilla extract. It blended in right nicely (that's very well in southern speak).

Honey Peach Preserves

Adapted from "Honey-Sweetened Peach Vanilla Jam" recipe at Food In Jars.

Ingredients

• 13 yellow peaches (average size)
• scant 12 oz. honey (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Prepare water bath canning equipment, jars, lids, and rings.
2. Peel, pit, and dice peaches.
3. Combine peaches, honey, and vanilla in a large dutch oven (mine was 5 quart). Let sit for about 15 minutes to get juices flowing.
4. Cook over medium high to high heat, stirring regularly, until peaches have broken down and the mixture becomes thick and jam-like.
5. Ladle / funnel preserves into prepared jars. Wipe rims and affix lids with rings.
6. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and let stand to cool. Check seal after several hours. Put any unsealed preserves into refrigerator. Canned preserves should last about a year.

Yield: 3 half pint jars

Shared at Simple Life Sunday, The Homesteaders Hop, Nifty Thrifty Sunday, and Simple Saturdays Blog Hop.



Shop Ball and Kerr Products

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a very small commission if you click the link and buy something. This helps support my mountain homestead dream as well as my blogging activities, and the price you pay will be no different than if you arrived at the same destination through any other link. My opinions are my own, to be sure. If I link to a product and say I like it -- I truly like it! :-) Thanks for reading and following Stephlin's Mountain.