Jelling Jelly

When making jelly, sometimes it is hard to tell when the jelly point has been reached. There is a simple test that you can do to determine this.

Place a small plate in the refrigerator. When you think that the jelly is ready, remove the plate from the refrigerator and using a spoon, place a small dollop on the plate.

Using a knife, draw a path through the jelly. If the path stays and does not ooze back down, your jelly is ready for canning.

In A Pickle Pickling

You are making pickles and after you open the jar you notice that the pickles don't look quite right.

Here are a few results that you might find and the cause of them:

The Pickles are Hollow
Your cucumbers may not have been fresh or they were poorly developed when you started.

The Pickles Look Shriveled
When this happens, your solution may have been too strong. (salt, sugar or vinegar)

The Pickles are Soft or Slippery
Your solution may have had too little salt or vinegar. It is also possible that you got an imperfect seal or you did not process them long enough. In this case discard the pickles and try again.

Freezing Food 2

When freezing food, always leave some headspace between the food that you are storing and the lid of the container, especially with liquids.

The headspace will allow your stored items to expand as it freezes with out breaking the container.

If you are freezing your items in freezer bags you will want to make sure that you remove as much air from the bag as possible before sealing.

Easy Canning Tips

When canning, the recipe will always tell you to leave headspace at the top of the jar. Not all recipes will tell you how much headspace is needed. When canning the headspace must be there in order to get the ideal seal on your stored items.

If you leave too little or too much headspace you will not get an adequate seal.

Here is a quick list of different jars, and approximately how much headspace should be left.

Sugar or Liquid Pack: Wide top Jars ½ inch for Pint, and 1inch for Quart.
Sugar or Liquid Pack: Narrow top Jars ¾ inch for Pint, and 1 ½ inches for Quart.
No Liquid Pack: Unless otherwise noted, leave ½ inch.

Freezer Burned

You had put some meat in the freezer a few months ago and you are now pulling it out to cook it up for dinner. As you look at it, and it has some really weird looking gray spots on it and it looks kinda dried up.

What happened to it? Welcome to the world of freezer burn. Freezer burn occurs when the surface of frozen food becomes exposed to air. Once the food that has been burned is thawed, cut away the portions that have been burned.

If you cook the burned portions you may not experience the results from your recipe that you are accustomed to. If the item smells off or odd, toss it and use a new package. Better not to take the chance to ruin the whole dinner.

To prevent food from becoming freezer burned, make sure that it is tightly sealed in plastic wrap or a freezer bag with all of the air removed.

If you are going to be storing for more than a month, wrap it once in freezer paper with the name of the item written on the packaging along with the date that it was frozen.

Canning Hints

When canning, the recipe will always tell you to leave headspace at the top of the jar. Not all recipes will tell you how much headspace is needed. When canning the headspace must be there in order to get the ideal seal on your stored items.

If you leave too little or too much headspace you will not get an adequate seal. Here is a quick list of different jars, and approximately how much headspace should be left.

Sugar or Liquid Pack: Wide top Jars ½ inch for Pint, and 1 inch for Quart.

Sugar or Liquid Pack: Narrow top Jars ¾ inch for Pint, and 1 ½ inches for Quart.

No Liquid Pack: Unless otherwise noted, leave ½ inch.

Freezing Food

When freezing food, always leave some headspace between the food that you are storing and the lid of the container, especially with liquids.

The headspace will allow your stored items to expand as it freezes with out breaking the container.

If you are freezing your items in freezer bags you will want to make sure that you remove as much air from the bag as possible before sealing.

Store Bought Ice Cream Saavy

You may not know it, but when you buy commercial ice cream it has more air in it than home made. The most desirable ice cream is usually 20 to 50 percent air, which gives it just the right fluffiness and ease of scooping.

Unfortunately, the only way to determine this is by weight. A pint with 25 percent air will weigh approximately 17 ounces.

You will have the best ice cream experience if you can store it between 0 to –5f.

Once you open ice cream in a paper carton, place a piece of plastic wrap over the top before you place the lid back on. This will help give your ice cream a tighter seal blocking out flavors from other foods.

If your ice cream does melt too much, don’t re-freeze it, toss it. Once it re-freezes you will be left with something that is best not eaten.

FREEZING SOUP

When you are making up large batches of soup to freeze, you can try this little trick for soup that is easier to store and reheat.

Grab a large coffee can that is empty and place on your counter.

Place a large zip lock bag into the can.

Pour in your soup that has been cooled and seal the bag.

Now place the soup, can and all in the freezer.

Once the soup is completely frozen, remove the bag from the can and place back in the freezer.

Your can is now ready to use again.

SOUP STOCK STORAGE

If you decided to make up your own stock, you probably aren't going to use it right away.

I will usually make up stock after I have prepared a beef or chicken dinner that left me with some decent bones.

Just pour the finished stock into plastic containers and refrigerate immediately. It will keep fresh for a few days.

If you don't plan of using the stock for at least 6 days, place in the freezer after you have marked the container well.

You should be able to freeze it for 6 months.

If you find that you need smaller quantities of stock you can also freeze it in ice cube trays.

Once it is frozen, dump the trays into tightly sealed plastic containers or zip lock bags.

Each cube will be the equivelant of about a tablespoon of stock.

You can also freeze any left over stock from a can in this manner if you don't need all of it for your recipe.

FREEZING TIPS III

When you are preparing your meat for freezing, you want to make sure that you get the best kind of freezer paper as possible.

The kind that you can get in the grocery store is adequate for short term freezing.

If you want better quality paper check your local warehouse stores and see if they have any large rolls available. These rolls will be quite large and cost between $20-$50.

If you do not have access to any, just wander down to your local butcher and ask if you could purchase a roll or section of their paper.

DEFROSTING MEAT

Frozen meat should be defrosted in the refrigerator not on a counter top.

Place the meat in your refrigerator on a platter or in a bowl to catch any juices that may leak from the package.

For a large cut of meat allow 4-7 hours per pound, for a small cut of meat allow 3-5 hours per pound, for Steaks allow 12 – 14 hours.

You can also defrost meat during cooking time; just increase your cooking time to 1 ½ of the original cooking time to the recipe time.

You will want to monitor the cooking process closely to make sure that it is cooking according to your schedule.

FREEZING TIPS IV

When you are freezing meats, if you know that they are going to be in the freezer for a bit longer than normal, take the time to double wrap the meat.

Wrap the meat the first time making sure that you force out as much air as possible and seal well.

Now wrap the package again the same way as the first time. Make sure when you place the meat in the freezer that you place it seam side up.

FREEZING TIPS IV

When you are freezing meats, if you know that they are going to be in the freezer for a bit longer than normal, take the time to double wrap the meat.

Wrap the meat the first time making sure that you force out as much air as possible and seal well.

Now wrap the package again the same way as the first time. Make sure when you place the meat in the freezer that you place it seam side up.

FREEZER SAFETY II

If you place something in the freezer, check on it in about 24 hours.

If the item still is not completely frozen, check your freezer temperature.

The dial should read no higher than 0ºf. Usually between –10º to –20º is better.

If you think that your freezer is not keeping cold enough place zip lock style bag full of ice cubes in the top of your freezer.

If the freezer gets too warm the ice cubes will melt.

Each time when you open your freezer check to see if there is any water or frozen water in the bag.

If there is, it means that your freezer did not stay cold enough and your food may not be safe to eat.

FREEZING MEAT I

When you are freezing meat, make sure that it is wrapped securely in freezer paper.

The easiest way to wrap it is to cut out a piece of butcher paper 3x larger than your cut of meat in a square.

Place the meat at one of the points.

Holding the point to your meat, roll the meat toward the center of your paper.

Once you have reached the center of the paper, take the 2 opposing sides and fold them tightly over your meat.

Continue to roll the meat toward the last point and tape securely.

When you place the package in the freezer place it so that the seam is facing the top of the freezer.

If you do this then you have less chance of excess blood leaking out of the package and making a mess in your freezer.

PRESERVING YEAST

To extend the life of baking yeast, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 months past the expiration date.

If you do not use baking yeast very often, you can also keep it in the freezer for up to one year past the expiration date.

The expiration date is clearly marked on the packaging of the baking yeast when you buy it.

If you are going to freeze it, place the baking yeast in a tightly sealed plastic container.

Make sure that you bring it back to room temperature before using if you freeze it.

MAINTAINING YOUR FREEZER

Most people buy a freezer and stick it in the corner hoping for the best.

There are a few hints that will help you get the most out of your freezer.

To help maintian an even temperature in your freezer, never freezer more than 3 pounds of food per cubic foot of your freezer. If your freezer is 10 cubic feet, do not freeze more than 30 pounds of product.

If you add too much frozen food at once you can raise the temperature of the freezer too much and your already frozen foods may start to defrost.

Try not to overload or underload your freezer.

If you can keep it about 2/3 full at all times, this is the optimum space for allowing air circulation and minimal effort for the motor to work to keep the food frozen. If you don't have enough food to keep it full enough, fill it with containers of ice, or fill old milk jugs 3/4 full with water and place in the freezer until you have more food to put in.

Try to defrost your freezer every 2 months or if the ice reaches a depth of more than 1/2 inch.

Label and date all foods stored in the freezer with masking tape and a permanent marker.

Store foods that are similar to each other together. I found some small plastic coated wire baskets that I use to separate different kinds of food.