Putting Up Food!

Well, I've been busy canning again. This time I canned 18 jars of Strawberry Jam and I'm currently working on Pickled Beets.

In between batches of Jam I put 4lbs of Pears in the dehydrator.  It really is easy to do.  Here is what I did....
1. I Washed Pears
2. I halved the Pears and then cored them.  I used a teaspoon measuring spoon to take the core out. Kind of like you would use a melon baller with melons.
3. I peeled the halves.
4. Then I slice the halves into 4 slices.  This gives you 8 slices per Pear.
5. I then put the slices into a solution of water and Fruit Fresh.
6. When I finished all the Pears I drained and place the slices on two drying trays.

It usually takes about 12 hours on my dehydrator. Yours may take less or more time.  I then put them in a ziploc bag. The 4lbs of Pears I dried made 1 quart ziploc bag full.  I was going to weigh them but...Oops!  I ate about 1/2 of tray before they made it to the bag.  I LOVE dried Pears!!! :)

Last week I canned Grape Juice.  It was soooo easy with my Steamer Juicer.

This Juicer is soooo worth the money!  I only spent $30 on it.  A couple years ago Hubby and I were in Fred Meyers and saw they had it on closeout.  Normally $145!!  I love finding deals like that. :)

I bought 30lbs of Concord Grapes and that gave me 16 quarts of Juice.  The grapes below are NOT what I juiced.  I didn't get a picture of the Concords. :(  But here is the wonderful juice it made...

I had Hubby taste test it to see if it needed sugar. His vote was no sugar needed.  I thought it could use a tiny bit but I then decided to can it with no sugar.  This makes it very versatile.  At a later date I can make jelly out of it. :)

Well, the beets should be cooled by now so I had better get going.

Hope everyone is having a great Fall. :)