Hello jelly lovers!  Today I am excited to be able to say that my blog is number 7 on the top 15 canning blogs list at Feedspot and has 1000 followers! The post from feedspot is dated December 23, 2021 and I am very grateful to be on the list at all.  Last year I made it on the list and was number 13 out of 15 so it is great to know that I have climbed the ranks a little bit and I want to give thanks to you the readers for making it happen!   Thanks for being a reader and sharing and buying your specialty supplies from my shop! This has given me the encouragement I needed to decide I will begin regular posting here again starting slowly with at least one post each month, so stay tuned and I will see you again soon!  And let me show off an oldie but goodie for you honey farmers!  Buy it Here 

 Hello and welcome. Due to life circumstances out of my control... this blog is currently on hold.  I hope to have some new posts soon but can't make any promises.   Hopefully I have provided enough content to still be of interest to readers and if you would like to see what the Jelly Jar Shop on Zazzle has new and old to offer in the way of labels, aprons, and more, please visit me at the link below!  Visit the Jelly Jar Shop on Zazzle HERE Thanks for visiting and enjoy browsing my existing posts.  PS. If I were to get a sudden influx of visitors and shares I would know that I need to get back to posting on this blog ASAP.   So if you enjoy the content you could share this blog on your social media or Pinterest boards and/or leave me a comment here.  In any case I am going to try to get back in the swing again in the near future as life allows.  

 In my search for the perfect sourdough bread I found this amazing recipe for fluffy sourdough biscuits. This is a great recipe for people who are gluten intolerant like my husband seems to be. The reason is that you really don't work the dough much at all and the gluten doesn't have a chance to develop.  I am also exploring some no knead bread recipes that he might be able to eat. But for now I would like to share this great recipe I discovered with you because fresh hot jelly biscuits just can't be beat in the comfort food department!  I have tested it out now making 4 batches and every one is perfect.  It is not as hard as the recipe sounds. As long as you follow the directions every time you should get consistent results.  For me it is the first biscuit recipe I have ever had success with so I am thrilled! ( recipe source: NorthwestSourdough.com blog.) The trick for this recipe is to have everything ready in each bowl and be prepared to work quickly once you...

 Hey!  Sorry I missed the whole month of March without checking in here... I have a great excuse if you want to hear it.  I got sidetracked from my jelly making by a hunt for the perfect sourdough bread recipe... because without bread you have no need for jelly or jam.   So I am closing in on that perfect bread and should be back to the jelly making real soon!   I am also still adding new designs to my store for those of you who are looking for the perfect canning label, or maybe you need a new apron or a recipe binder?  Visit my store HERE Check out the cool new recipe spiral notebooks I have added recently with more to come!  and don't forget to share my blog with your friends or family who love to can jelly!  Buy it Here

Well last year about this time, I posted a red hot valentines jelly recipe for you sweethearts out there. This year I wanted to be different and I found this unusual strawberry jam recipe that features the hot sweet flavor combination of strawberries and chipotle chiles.  I bet you could substitute your favorite hot pepper and get similar results but this one calls for the adobo chipotles.  Serve your sweetie breakfast in bed with this hot sweet treat on their favorite bread for a great start to a Valentines day to remember. Make it now and be ready!  Hot Sweet Strawberry Jam Ingredients    * 6 cups strawberries    * 7 oz can chipotle chiles in adobo (use less for milder flavor * 6.5 cups sugar * 1/4 cup lemon juice   * 1 package powdered pectin   Directions 1. Pulse process the chiles and berries in a food processor  being careful not to over process, you want some pieces of berry 2. Pour the berry mix, lemon juice, and pecti...

As if we needed an excuse to eat jelly, January has offered up the perfect reason! Yep, I just found out that January is Wheat Bread Month, all month!  So you know what to do!   Break out the jars of summer goodness you canned and toast up some wheat bread!  Slather that puppy with butter and your favorite flavor of jam or jelly and celebrate the Wheat Bread!  The best part about this news is that each day in January is an excuse to have a new flavor! lol... What's that you say?  you don't have any jelly canned up?   Well here is your home remedy!  An easy apple jelly recipe to make so that you won't have to eat plain wheat bread this month. 😜    Easy Two Ingredient Apple Jelly Ingredients 4–6 cups apple juice (about 6 pounds of apples) 3 cups honey or 4–6 cups of sugar Instructions Juice your apples: Wash apples and remove the stems, any damaged areas and blossom ends.  Cut into quarters or slices with peels on.  (you n...

December is always a super busy time for me being married to a successful hunter in deer season, but I didn't want to let the month go by without a post.  I process all the meat myself whether grinding or canning and that leaves precious little time for jelly making. So no jelly recipe this time, only a couple of photos of my big canning project that has become a Christmas tradition.   Last week I canned deer chili and today I canned venison stew.  It is a snowy day here in Oklahoma so actually perfect weather for canning day!  Anyway I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and I will post again  with new jelly and jam recipes in the new year.   Yummy Deer Stew!  The view out my back door Buy this lable HERE

Christmas is right around the corner and with that in mind I wanted to help you with your gift giving ideas for the home canning enthusiast in your life!  Check out some of the cool gifts to choose from at my shop The Jelly Jar.   Many of the cool products you see below can be personalized at no extra charge to you so that your gift will stand out and be cherished for years. Happy shopping!      Cool Aprons Choose your favorite and customize it HERE    Cool kitchen accessories Choose your favorite and customize it HERE

I know this is pumpkin spice and cranberry season, but since you'll probably be drinking pumpkin spice coffee, tea and cocoa and eating pumpkin pie, cranberry flavored ice cream, pumpkin cake and cranberry muffins... do you really want pumpkin jam or cranberry jelly on your toast or biscuits too? Yeah, me either!  What I was thinking was is that now would be a great time to can up small jars of preserves to give as gifts for Christmas this year.  So I searched out this Christmas Marmalade recipe that really sounds colorful and tasty.  It calls for candied cherries (maraschinos) which add a beautiful red speckled touch.  You could substitute half of the red cherries for the green colored ones to make it even more festive!  Think how lovely these little jars will look with the lids wrapped with pretty paper and ribbon and how special this tasty gift will be for those you give to knowing that it is homemade with love by you!    So what are you waiting for...

With the long history of preserving food in jars, it was inevitable that many of the methods and practices would change over the years as new knowledge came to light and better supplies became available. But, with the trend of returning to the old ways that many homesteaders and preppers have adopted, unfortunately some of the gains in safety made in recent times have been rolled back.  I don't want you to get me wrong. I am all for getting back to the lost ways of the past when life was simpler and people were more self reliant. But, when it comes to canning safety and avoiding food borne illness, the old ways are not always the best ways.  Take for instance the return to the practice of inversion canning to seal jars. I addressed this in detail in another post, here and the reasons why this is not a safe practice no matter what your Grandma said.  Another old practice I have seen some new canning enthusiasts make reference to is using flour or cornstarch to thicken a r...

This month I wanted to share either a persimmon recipe or a quince recipe.  Well, after much thought and research on recipes for persimmon jelly here is what I learned. If you don't happen to have a persimmon tree in your yard or the woods nearby, they are not readily available.  If and when you can find them for sale, they are also expensive. Another thing I learned is that persimmons are persnickety and only taste good if you find them fully ripened, but if not ripe they can have a strong pucker power. Yikes! So with all this in mind and the fact that I like to share recipes with you that you can actually make and enjoy, I opted for the quince jelly recipe.   Here is what I learned about quinces. They are much easier to find at the local produce market. They look somewhat like a pear but have a texture like a hard apple. You can't eat them raw but they make a lovely pink jelly that has a delicate flavor with hints of apple and rose because they are related to both....

So here is your October canning plan list of seasonal fruits and the good news is that it is not as short a list as you might expect.  I was actually surprised by how many fruits are in season in the month of October.  apples (make apple butter !) beets (okay, not a fruit but check out this jam recipe !) blackberries (Check out my cool label for blackberry jam ! ) crabapples cranberries pears persimmons plums peppers pumpkin quince   I can see from this list that I will have plenty of new recipe ideas to be posting for you during the coming winter months!  But for my next October recipe I think I will be looking for something out of the ordinary like persimmon or quince jelly.   Stay tuned for that coming soon!   But in the meantime, here is a great cranberry chutney recipe to hold you over. This stuff will add the perfect finishing touch to your upcoming turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day!   This recipe has lots of ingredients and it certainl...

Today I wanted to add to the fun facts about canning history with this topic. Why are mason jars made of glass?  You may not have ever thought about it but sometimes odd questions like that come to me and I wonder why are mason jars not made out of clay like pottery or crocks? I also find it amazing that since canning was invented we still use the same basic design of glass jar. The only thing that has really changed about them is the method of sealing.   As I mentioned in a previous post, Nicolas Appert was the inventor of heat processing food preservation that he developed by placing cooked food in glass jars, removing as much air as possible and sealing the jars with corks that were wired in place then processed in a water bath.  He used glass because he believed that it was air that caused food spoilage and glass is not easily penetrated by air.  I also briefly documented the story of the inventor of the mason jar here.   Even though it wasn't known at...

So it is September and harvest season is winding down, but there are still plenty of options for canning this month. Many of the items on the list have been on previous lists as well, such as apples and peaches, but now it is late season varieties that are ready instead of the early ones.  There are also classic late summer/early fall goodies like pumpkin, pears and carrots. Carrots? you say... Yes carrots!  If you plug carrots into the search box above you will find the carrot marmalade recipe I posted back in February only I bet it tastes so much better with garden fresh carrots!  So here's a list of 10 fruits for September canning.  Apples Blackberries Carrots Peaches Pears Peppers Pumpkin Raspberry Squash Tomatoes Since I have always made an effort to share unusual recipes on this blog, for the bonus recipe this month I want to add squash jelly to the list. You may not have been aware that you could make jelly out of squash so make sure to add it as another tool ...

As promised in my last post the recipe for this month is a combo of two of the most tasty fruits of the month of August!  It is not a hard recipe so that even gardeners who are pretty busy this time of year might have the time to make a small batch. If you have a rhubarb patch and need new ideas to go with your rhubarb pie recipes, why not try this one and see if it becomes a family favorite?   Pineapple Rhubarb Jam   Ingredients: Two 8 oz cans crushed pineapple in juice, do not drain! Four cups prepared fruit of rhubarb (about 2 lb. fully ripe rhubarb) One tsp. fresh lemon juice One box Fruit Pectin  1/2 tsp. butter or margarine Six cups sugar  A few drops red food coloring (optional)    Directions:  Drain pineapple and reserve the juice.  Add enough water to reserved juice to measure one cup.  Finely chop unpeeled rhubarb; place in large saucepan.  Stir in pineapple juice.  Bring to boil then reduce the...

August is the thick of harvest and canning season. Gardeners who can are usually quite busy in August  just trying to keep up with the tomatoes, green beans and okra among other veggies. Most will not even consider taking the time to include jelly or jam unless they have a strawberry patch and they have to. But for those of you who don't have a garden taking up all your canning energy, here is a list of fruits that are ripening in the month of August for you to can up a bit of late summer flavor and enjoy it this coming winter. I noticed so many citrus fruits on the list that an obvious choice would be to make some kind of marmalade. Or with two kinds of apples, apple butter is a great choice and perfect for holiday gift giving. The two on the list that grabbed my interest were pineapple and rhubarb. I think for my recipe of the month I will search for a jelly or jam recipe that uses one or both of them. Stay tuned! Here is the full list for you to choose from, kiwifruit is another...

This post is all about summer in a jar!  Now is the time to capture the taste of summer and keep it in a jar until some damp and dreary winter day when you need a lift in your spirits. Then you can open a jar of this beautiful summer flavor and spread it on some toast or a biscuit and feel like you can make it another day!  Wow, how dramatic but it seriously does help. So go grab some watermelon while it is in season and make a batch of jelly.  Note: There is controversy as to whether it is safe to water bath can watermelon. Women have been doing it for decades and the acidifying is the same for this recipe as it would be for watermelon pickles so I feel it is safe, but if you are not confident about it then you can store your batch in the refrigerator even after canning just to have peace of mind. Watermelon Jelly Yield: 5 half pint jars This jelly can take up to a week to gel... patience is needed.  You might also need a food thermometer. ...

So you can can, but the question is what can you can and when can you can it?  And how much can you can while you are canning?  You need a canning planner!  LOL. Okay seriously though I want to start making an effort to post lists of what fruits are in season each month to help you with your home canning plan calendar. Since this blog focuses mainly on jelly, jam and fruit preserves I will try to stick to fruits and veggies that are used for these purposes. But remember, if I post something that seems weird to you as a jelly ingredient like corn or tomatoes... I have probably posted an oddball jelly, jam or chutney recipe that calls for that very fruit or vegetable because part of my goal is to collect unusual recipe ideas for us to try. So with that here is my first list of what to can in July. July is actually the beginning of canning boom time so this list is pretty long and depending on where you live, you may not have access to all of the items on it.  But hopef...

So you planted some tomatoes but you just can't wait for them to ripen. Here is a recipe to help you enjoy some garden fresh tomato flavor while you wait for the red.  This recipe is also perfect in the fall when you know that first frost is coming but you still have green tomatoes on the vine. It will add some variety to your green tomato menu along side of your bread and butter green cherry tomato pickles and your fried green tomatoes. Green Tomato Marmalade Yield: 6-7 half pint jars 2 oranges 1 lemon 1 cup water 4 pounds (about 9 cups) green tomatoes, cut into small pieces 5 cups sugar 1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger Instructions  Remove the top layer of rind from the oranges and lemon with a vegetable peeler, being careful not to remove any of the bitter, white pith. Sliver the rind and set it aside while you segment the oranges and lemons.   Boil the slivered rind in 1 cup water for 5 minutes in a small saucepan. Drain and rinse. Core ...

Well from May to August is cherry season and seems a great reason to share this exciting recipe for honey cherry chutney! It is easy to make and will add some cherry zing to your table. If you have the jelly blues, chutney is great way to use fresh fruit and keep it interesting. It is like a spicy, savory cross between tart relish and sweet jam that you can use as a condiment at any meal not just breakfast. Cherry chutney goes well with pork, turkey and chicken and little half pint jars make great gifts! So here is how to make it... Spiced Honey Cherry Chutney yield 4-5 pints or 9-10 half pints Ingredients 4 lbs cherries pitted and halved 1 1/2- C onion chopped 1 to 1 1/2- C honey to taste 1 3/4- C apple cider vinegar 1 C raisins chopped 3 large cloves garlic minced 1 lemon or lime zested and juiced 2 T freshly grated ginger or 1 T dry ginger 1 T dry mustard 2 t to 1 T salt start with the 2 tsp. and taste test at end of cooking 1/2 to 2 tsp red pepper flakes t...