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Hey everybody so glad to see all of YOU!!! Beany~ Yes I’m still at it have 85 pounds of tomatoes already dried and in the jars and have another 6 racks in the dehydrator with 2 racks of purple potatoes… Trying another experiment, haven’t had potatoe chips since earily 80’s and thought I would see what would happen if I dried and then sprayed hemp oil and a little seasalt on top… Also got my little hands on 25 pounds of beets that are going into the “D” as soon as these racks are available… The tops were already cut off so I’m afraid to try to hill them in over the winter… What do you think???
Dont know the symptoms of a weakened jar. One thing I remember is that it said, not to use old canning jars in pressure canners. Read this information about 12 years ago.
Your right to not hill up the beets. They would rot from the cut. Sounds like your getting ready for a long winter.
Got a book through Azure,called, “Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning.” So right now am preserving cucs.(dill pickles) and French yellow beans by Lactic Fermentation. Hope they turn out.
Wow beany how interesting!!! Wish I had read that one, who is the author??? Never heard of Azure except as a paint color, used if often when I was doing oils… A whole lifetime ago… LOL
Waterbaby and Beany—WOW!!! Preserving without canning. I just HAD to research that one, and what do you know . . . found it on Amazon.com as a download for 49 cents. You two are such treasures of information. I always enjoy reading your posts.
Emtpdmom~ Aren’t you the resourceful one!!! LOL I’m heading to Amazon in a minute, but have just reread your profile… I have a cousin that is a church going pianio playing school teacher in Georgia and you guys might know one another… Interesting!!! Could be a small world… If you like, email me at gmail.com
eeek! Where did I get the canning jar information! Hum I may have it in one of my books, or about 10 years ago I sold a lot of my, will never use again, lol, books.
Glad I could help with the book idea….49cents!!!!! Was this by, ” The gardeners & farmers of Terre Vivante”?
O.K. I have to get my brain going on down loading books and gmail. Oh yes, and putting on an avatar.
Back to vacuum sealing. In case you dont know, I just read in, “How to Dry Foods” Deanna Delong, that dried foods will keep 3 times longer vacuum sealed.
OK Beany~ What about vacuun sealed dehyrated fruits & veges stored in caning jars???
Beany—the book is by “The Gardners and Farmers of Terre Vivante.” It’s an Amazon Shorts, 24 pages long, with several recipes. They have a print version for about $16.00. From comments in the reviews it’s obvious that the print version has a lot more detail. When I retire and move back home (hopefully in a year) where I have room for a real garden and a house instead of this tiny apartment, I’ll be looking into this more seriously.
I tried to research weakened canning jars. Found a warning to not use pre World War I jars (DUH!). Another said with careful handling they could be used many times and had an average canning life of 13 years. Everything I’ve found so far refers to chips and cracks and applying heat. If we’re just pressurizing instead of heating, shouldn’t they last much longer?
Waterbaby—I don’t know about being resourceful. I’m just not very patient. I don’t like waiting for an answer if there is a way I can find it. With the search options on this site and Google, I find that most questions can be answered fairly quickly. I don’t know how to contact you through gmail – don’t have a gmail account. But I live in LaGrange, about halfway between Atlanta and Montgomery AL.
On page 14 paragraph 1, of same book. “The oxygen in air robs stored food of freshness and nutritional value through oxidation.” Paragraph 5, “Vacuum packers for home use vacuum seal foods in flexible plastic or tempered glass jars.” Then they go on to say what they would put into plastic bags and what in tempered glass. Since they talk about both plastic and glass, and the oxygen is taken out of both, I would assume the storage times would be the same for both.
By the way I was wrong about 3 time longer. It is 3-4 times longer. Nice.
My glass jars were 25+ years old. Dont know about pressurizing and age with canning jars. Tho I would be careful with older jars. The company would probably know.???
waterbaby, just saw your get in touch with me under Tupperware. I don’t have gmail. Sorry.
Hi all,
I just got done drying green peppers and zukes and squash. Never done that before. Love it!! I could eat it like candy. At Whole Foods they had a mix of peppers, squash and corn and peas..I think… anyway it looked good. I can make my own mix. I’m looking forward to trying those tomato leathers. I’m done drying my tomatoes as just tomatoes..I think. Anyway, I did vacuum seal in some new Ball jars. The bags, I think, won’t seal because the tomatoes have sharp edges and cut the plastic. I did put in a paper towel like they suggested and it worked on all but one. Not sure I want a paper towel in with my food. What do you think?
Lyndalou~ It would depend on the paper towel… Haven’t researched this but I have been told the reason you get streaks cleaning windows with paper towels is… Are you ready??? They are made with petroleum, but the cheaper ones are not… Nice right??? OMG, how they poison us!!!
Beany~ You don’t have to have a gmail account to email me… Type in my user name at gmail.com and I will get it…
By the way, the beets dried wonderfully am going to try pears next…
Lyndalou. Remember the chemicals that leave the plastic. I like to marinate some veggies before I dry them. Especially if they are used for chips.
waterbaby12347. Got it. I am learning the computer on my own. So it has been slow. Like over a year of banging my head on the computer. Hey good on the beets! I have 2 large rutabaga in the sink ready for drying. Want to make them into chips, so will marinate them over night. Thats where the Food Saver Marinade container comes in handy.We get Walla-Walla sweet onoins, Took only two, to fill up a 5 tray dehydrator.There now done and ready to pressure.
Beany and Waterbaby, what do you think about using unbleached paper towels like they have at Whole Foods. OR I was just thinking, I used to put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker to keep the salt from getting damp. Would this same idea work in the sealed canning jars?
Waterbaby, all my family in Mississippi has evacuated 300 miles north, except for my son who will have to stay (work related). My cousin in Baton Rouge is enroute to her mother’s in NW Florida. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what Gustav and his little sister Hannah decide to do. I’ll keep you posted.
OMG!!! My sister, Please be safe!!!
I can’t be a judge of paper towels since I don’t use them… The rice thing, hummmm seems to me it wouldn’t be necessary since vacuum sealing removes the air and dehyration removes the moisture… I think the towel was to keep the food away from the plastic that could become punctured by the food… But just my guess… GRIN
I’m another boomer here. I just discovered this forum as I am drying tons of fruit “roll ups” for the future. I have lots of peaches I picked from son & customer’s trees they didn’t want. I’m thinking of a Food Saver too but now I collected all your wealth of sharing and apppreciate it so much. Got any model numbers. I think there is one that seals even the jars that have carrot or other juices put in them. Thanks
Carolg, you make atleast the fourth boomer to chime in on this thread. Welcome. I don’t think the specific model is so important if you’re main interest is not sealing bags. Just be sure there is a “port” for connecting the tube that attaches to the jar and bottle “gadgets” which are purchased separately. Beany, Waterbaby, do you agree here?
Carolg~ Yes Emtpdmom is correct, you need the large &/or small jar top and the connecting tube… It is wonderful to seal, open and re-seal the jars with the same lid… Honestly, I don’t know how anyone lives without the foodsaver…
I recently bought so many tomatoes that when I got home, I realized that even if I placed them in the refrigerator, they would all rot after a while. So I bought a vacuum sealer and vacuum sealed them. This vacuum sealer includes both dry and wet settings, which protects me from a financial collapse.