Got the first run of peaches done today and another run of kraut. Gonna get the next run of peaches done on Tuesday. Had an entire cask of kraut go bad on me this year. Opened it up and 2-3 times the normal mold, and when I lifted the weights and then the cheesecloth, it just did not smell right, was mushy, and had a snotty like viscosity. I just chucked it all in the compost bin. No point taking any chances.
Canning Update
by John Cole| 38 Comments
This post is in: John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House"
zhena gogolia
Okay, I was about to have dinner, but maybe I’ll wait a bit . . .
WaterGirl
The usual mold?
randy khan
It should be pretty good compost, though.
MagdaInBlack
Those peaches are gonna be so good in January. I’m just a bit envious
Eta: chickens would eat that bad kraut. You need chickens ?
JPL
The pictures reminded me what a good job you did on the kitchen. It’s a nice workspace, for cooking, and canning.
tinare
@WaterGirl: That was my reaction as well. Should I be rethinking eating Saurkraut?
RepubAnon
They have some fancy crocks with one-way valves to let fermentation gasses out, and keep out unwanted microscopic visitors … this avoids the “usual mold” problem. Check the home beer brewer sites… “bubbler airlock” or “fermentation airlock” should yield results.
Poe Larity
Why are the bands still on
NotMax
Music to pit peaches by?
;)
Mike in NC
We have some neighbors who like to make their own pickles, so right now we have three jars of Bread & Butter chips.
Spanky
@zhena gogolia: I had my mouth full of broccoli, getting a bit mushy as my jaws stopped.
steppy
The peaches look real good. I’ve had kraut failure too. It’s nasty but it happens. Most times it works like a charm and is 1. Ridiculously easy and 2. Vastly superior to any other kraut.
We did our first batch of crushed Roma tomatoes. Got 9 pints from 16 pounds of maters. Also 5 pints of pickled okra and 2 pints of pickled green beans.
I wanted to put this in the garden update but was a bit busy.
steppy
@Poe Larity: We don’t take the rings off until 24 hours. I don’t know that that is the answer, but it might.
NotMax
This one’s a real stumper when it comes to finding the frog.
;)
frosty
@NotMax: The frog is too close to the kraut!!
CaseyL
Those jars look glorious: as much art as food.
I can’t remember how quickly you went through your summer canning over last winter. How long did it last? Did you run out of winter before you ran out of canned tomatoes, fruit, etc.?
No one in my family has ever done any canning or jamming. Wonderful cooks in my family (I am not among them) but no home-preservation stuff. I sometimes wish we had, and then I think about how many more pots and gadgets I’d need, how tiny my kitchen is, and decide I’m better off as I am.
Dorothy A. Winsor
The peaches look tasty
Danielx
A childhood friend remarked to my mother regarding botulism as she considered a compromised can: There’s no cure for it, Mrs. X.
John Revolta
I remember long ago reading a Playboy Interview with Marlon Brando……….at one point for some reason they asked him “Is there anything that really freaks you out or disgusts you?” He answered (quoting from memory): “Did you ever notice when you’re talking to somebody, and there’s a little string of spit that goes from their tongue to the roof of their mouth? The viscosity (emphasis his) of some people’s saliva is really amazing”.
Well, it’s kinda on topic!
Another Scott
Nice peaches. Get a better crock (or a better techniques)?
Relatedly, …
Eyes on the prizes.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
TMI on the kraut gone bad. :)
In other news, ?Millions of peaches, peaches for Cole, millions of peaches, peaches in jars, LOOK OUT!?
Gin & Tonic
I’ve been finding lids are still hard to get. Not as bad as last year, but not like in the before times.
Irishweaver
@NotMax:
The best?
glc
We bought some peaches and made peach tart. So we’re happy for now, I mean for the rest of the day. We’ll just have to eat something else come winter.
There are a few things trying to grow in the yard. And a small rabbit who thought the bean plants were nice, but may have to move on to other things. He comes and goes, we’re hoping when he’s fatter he won’t be able to get through the fence. I hadn’t realized the openings were larger than a young rabbit. That still doesn’t look right but he moves through the fence like he doesn’t realize it’s there.
JoyceH
A man who knows how to “put food by”! Cole has made the list for my post apocalyptic survival colony. We’ll rebuild civilization before you know it!
Kattails
Cole, if you have a means of de-seeding berries that doesn’t leave you in an apoplectic fury, do up some raspberries to add to the peaches. Dame Nellie Melba knew a thing or two about desserts.
rikyrah
The peaches look?????
Matt Smith
You inspire me, John Cole.
John Cole
@Kattails: I am adding cherries to the next batch
Narya
I had the same thing happen to a jar of kraut (I don’t come close to your efforts—a couple of mason jars per year unless I know I’ll get to see my parents, because I always bring some for them when I visit). It got this weird layer on top, which I decided was Kahm yeast, and it was mushy and not tasty, so I tossed it.
BobinPDX
Good call on the bad kraut. There can be fine line between fermented and rotten.
Xavier
If memory serves, I once heard a food scientist claim that no one had ever been poisoned by fermented vegetables.
eclare
Have you ever thought of getting a deep freezer and freezing fruit? My parents never canned but froze a ton of fruit every year.
Another Scott
MakeSauerkraut.com:
That looks like a good site with lots of good tips for lots of “my fermented stuff has X, what’s wrong”.
(I suspect, though, since you’ve been doing this a while, that you already know these things.)
Cheers,
Scott.
dww44
@eclare: I freeze peaches and blueberries a lot. Just to add to cereal year round. Works and is definitely cheaper than the frozen fruits in the store.
sab
I am in awe of successful canners. My family doesn’t do that. Our motto is ” botulism is not your friend.”
HinTN
Not that I’m superstitious or anything but I do adhere to that old adage, “Not the bowels and not the feet, the head’s the best” when it comes to preparing cabbage for the crock.
Al y’all whinging about a little mold or rot on top of a crock of kraut just need to get beyond your vinegar version and try some real salt cured product. (Ever looked at the mold on the side of a salt cured ham?) That is all.
J R in WV
Very late to the thread, but I first learned about canning from my grandma, the same one who taught me how to shoot her .22 rifle, which she used to protect her garden.
Many years later I worked as a camera operator for a WV Public TV station as we produced a TV show about food preservation with some Dept of Ag Home Ec experts. Each show was a straight through 30 minute deal, but it took us hours to get ready as the ladies worked to have each stage of today’s food preservation ready.
Late in the afternoon we would start recording video, and they would show preparing the food, boiling jars and lids, packing jars, actually canning, opening the canner and lifting jars out,. Boiling water bath, pressure canning, drying jerky and fruit, freezing meats and veges. Then we got to take preserved or prepared foods home !! The best TV work I ever did!