Pitfalls of Canning

Today is overcast, rainy and only 15C!!! That is 59F. Last night it went down to 3C...holy batmoblie fall is approaching too fast!

Yesterday I was busy canning yet again. I do enjoy it and it gives me a good sense of accomplishment.

On Wednesday night I had done the first step for making crab apple jelly. I cooked up the apples and then poured the mixture into my chinois and let it drip over night. They said this would make the jelly less cloudy vs. squeezing the juice out and canning all in one day. Honestly it didn’t look any different the next day, but I followed the instructions...lol

On Thursday I went to finish the jelly; however my big pot was still dirty from canning the night before so I just figured I would use a smaller clean pot. Boy let me tell you that was a bad Idea. When I added the juice to the pot there was still a lot of room. After adding 7cups of sugar there was about 2inches left. I figured that still okay I will watch it so it doesn’t boil over. Well I did. I sat there and waited for the sucker to boil and then it started to spew over the edges of the pot. I tried to stir it down but it was beyond that point so I picked up the pot and tried to move it to another burner. However, it continued to spew right on top of the hot burner. At one point I thought there was going to be a fire so I cut the power to the burner and ran for the fire extinguisher. I then put down the extinguisher and frantically tried to stop the sugary mess from moving to the burner that my water canner was on. Oh nuts it was crazy in this kitchen for the next 10mins. Trying to clean up the mess, get the liquid pectin in the jelly so I didn’t ruin it, and get the jelly into jars.  

So long story short my burner now looks like this.

My husband figured if we just get a razor and scrape it off all will still be good. Since we won’t be able to get to the city till tomorrow, I am not sure. I hope that I haven’t ruined the stove top for good.

After all that I still made another batch of pickled cauliflower last night. The recipe says I should get 6 jars. The batch I made on Wednesday I got 4 and the batch I made last night I got 4...so that was a little disappointing. So was using only one burner to both heat up your mixture and then the water canner.

Pickled Cauliflower from Wednesday night

Crab apple Jelly and Pickled 

cauliflower