Ball Blue Book, The Canning Bible

One of the most important items to own when preserving is the Ball Blue Book.  The Blue Book covers canning, freezing, dehydrating and is a planning guide.  I've been canning for years but I always use the book to make sure I remember the exact time I need to can an item.  No one who preserves food should be without this wonderful book.

Bread and Butter Pickles

On International Can-It-Forward Day and for my review of the green canning jars I decided to do pickles.  I made 6 quarts and 1 pint of Bread and Butter Pickles using the Ball Flex Batch Mix.  I love the flex batch mix because you can do a little or do a lot.  I thought pickles would look really good in the green jars and that is why I made them.  As you can see they turned out beautiful and would make a nice gift with a ribbon tied around the neck of the jar.

Review on Ball Dry Herb Jars

The Ball Dry Herb Jars come in a 4 pack with labels and are  4oz each.  Each jar has a snap open cap that the herb can be shaken out of..  I love that they can be stacked for space saving storage.  These are a nice addition to the Ball family of products.

Complete Details On International Can-It-Forward Day

Please click on the link below to get complete details on International Can-It-Forward Day.


http://www.freshpreserving.com/community/events/can-it-forward

International Can-It-Forward Day Giveway

Here's your chance to win the complete bundle of items from Jarden Home Brands that include the following items:

The New Limited Edition Spring Green Heritage Collection Jars  6 wide mouth quarts and 6 pints
Fresh Herb Keeper
Dry Herb Jars
Frozen Herb Starters
5 Blade Herb Scissors
Ball Blue Book

All you have to do to get your name entered into the drawing is to leave a comment on any of the International Can-It-Forward posts and tell me which item you would use first and why.  The contest starts now and ends Saturday August 16th at midnight.  I will draw one winner Sunday morning

International Can-It-Forward Day

I will be participating in International Can-It-Forward Day on Saturday August 16th.  I have the following items from Jarden Home Brands that I will be evaluating and Jarden will be giving one of my readers the same items to evaluate.

The New Limited Edition Spring Green Heritage Collection Jars  6 wide mouth quarts and 6 pints
Fresh Herb Keeper
Dry Herb Jars
Frozen Herb Starters
5 Blade Herb Scissors
Ball Blue Book

Watch my blog for a review on each item. Also watch my blog tomorrow Thursday 8/14/14 on how you can win the above package of items.

Ball Heritage Collection Jar, Product Review

I was contacted last month to see if I wanted to review some of the pint size Ball Heritage Collection Jars and I think I answered the email in record time telling them yes.  I received a case of 6 jars and have finally got around to using my first one.
I have to let them talk to me, have to let them inspire me and sometimes that takes a little time.
For my first jar I turned it into a light.  I took a jar light kit, small lamp shade form, vintage kitchen towel, vintage trim and vintage buttons and the lamp is finished.  It turned out real cute and could be used many places.  Use it in your kitchen on a counter where you need a little light and some decoration.  Use it on your desk in your home office or take it to work and use it on your desk there.  Use it on your shelf in your laundry room.  There are many places to use this.
I will be working on projects for the other 5 jars so watch to see what I come up with.  Better yet get yourself a case of 6 and come up with some projects of your own and share them with me.  The color is a little brighter blue than the original Ball Blue and I really like it.
I wish they would have made these in the quart size so I could use them for light fixtures.  I am going to try and use the pint size and hopefully next week will have it done.  The weather is holding me up as I need to spray paint the fixture and it hasn't been warm enough to do it yet.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.

If interested in purchasing the lamp it is listed in my Etsy store.

Ball Heritage Collection  Jar made into a light.

Used a vintage kitchen towel and vintage trim for the shade.

Filled the jar with vintage buttons.

Product Review, Ball Pint & Half Jars, Day 2

Ball Pint & Half Jar

I used the Ball Pint & Half Jars this morning to can some acorn and butternut squash.  I now have 5 jars of acorn squash and 3 jars of butternut squash in the perfect size jar.  Again I love that the jar is wide mouth and it's nice slim shape allows me to put 8 jars in the canner at a time.  If you want a jar that is larger than a pint but not as big as the quart this is the jar to use.
I understand that the jar is sometimes hard to locate, I got mine at Big R, a farm type store where I purchase my chicken feed.  If your area stores don't have this size ask the manager to order some.

5 jars of acorn squash.

3 jars of butternut squash.




I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.

Product Review, Ball Pint & Half Jars

Ball Pint & Half Jar

I've been wanting to try the Ball Pint & Half Jars since I saw them earlier this season and today I got the chance.   They are wide mouth and would be excellent for whole green beans or asparagus.  For me I wanted them for things like potatoes and carrots to add to a roast.  I usually put 4 small potatoes cut in half and a few carrots in the crock pot with a roast when I have them.   This size of  jar was PERFECT for this.  If I buy a pound bag of carrots they go to waste.  I'm the only one who eats carrots and canning them with the potatoes makes it perfect for us.  Because of the waste I seldom had carrots with a roast.  
I have some winter squash that I'm going can this week and will be using this size for it.  This size is perfect and being a wide mouth jar makes it so easy to fill and wash.  This is a keeper for sure, love them.

Ball pint & half jars with carrots.

Ball pint & half jars with the potatoes added.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.

Ball Pint & Half Jars

Look what I got by UPS delivery today.

3 boxes, 9 jars in each box, of the Ball Pint & Half Jars, Bread & Butter Pickle Mix, Classic Pectin and Low or No Sugar Pectin.  This is like Christmas to me.  Ball sent me the items to review.

I am really excited to put the stuff to the test, the pickle mix will have to wait until next season but the jars and the pectin will be used in the next couple of weeks.
I have some grape juice that I canned when we were in Texas and will use the pectin to make some Wild Grape Jelly.  I will try both of the pectin's to see which one I like best.
I have been so wanting to use this size jar on things that a pint is not enough and a quart is too much.  I will be using them to can some pork and beans, potatoes/carrot/onion mixture to use for stew and some butternut squash.  I will keep you update when I use the products.  I love the look of the jar, wide mouth, and straight up and down.  My brain is churning at all the possibilities for this size and shape of jar.

Ain't she pretty?  Come on admit it, she is a pretty good looking girl.

Product Review, Tattler Lids

While canning chili beans this week I used some Tattler Lids for the first time.  I read the directions several times to make sure I did everything correctly.   Of the 12 one did not seal because of obvious user error and 2 others did not seal, reason unknown.  I also used 9 standard lids and 1 did not seal so the sealing rate is about the same.  The recipe used had tomatoes and tomato juice in it and the lids are stained now because of the tomatoes.  You know how if you put tomato based items in a plastic bowl and it will stain the plastic.  I use bleach in my water to wash my canning items and it did not remove the stains.  I also tried using a scrubby with baking soda with no luck.  The 9 jars that did seal are going to have the same problem.  The lids like I said earlier were stained from the canning so I soaked the 3 that did not seal overnight in a little water, bleach and soap.
I reprocessed the chili beans this morning and when they were cool I removed the rings and noticed that the lids are coming apart, pealing.  They are now two colors of white and you can see where the rings were and it won't wash off.   I contacted Tattler and they said "It appears the lids have been damaged by the bleach in your attempt to remove the stains.  Bleach is a strong oxidizing agent which is incompatible with the plastic used in Tattler lids.  The same is true for strong acids such as hydrochloric acid and both are not recommended for use in conjunction with this type of plastic."   I so wanted this to turn out better so I could find an alternative to buying the metal lids constantly but at this time I will not be purchasing this product.  
Everyone's experience is different and this was mine.  If you do purchase these or own them don't use bleach to wash them.  If you put them in a dishwasher you should check to make sure there isn't bleach in it.

Jar on left was done yesterday, the jar on the right was done today.  The lid used on the right was one I soaked in water, bleach and soap to remove the stains from the tomatoes.  If you look closely you can see the plastic on the lid is pealing.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.

Product Review, Orrington Farms Broth Base, Vegan, Ham Flavor

I picked the last of the green beans for the season and used the Orrington Farms Broth Base, Vegan, Ham Flavor to cook them with.  I added the green beans, about 2 handfuls, water, a little ham, onion and 2 TBSP Vegan Ham Flavor Base to the pan and cooked until done.  It smelled so good as it cooked and I was anxious to try it.  It was very good and added a smoked flavor to the beans.  This will also be good with some dried beans (pinto, navy).  The next time I have some whole potatoes that I canned I am going to add some of this to them to give a nice flavor without added fat.
All of the flavor bases I tried added flavor without adding fat to achieve this and I like that.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.

Product Review, Orrington Farms Beef Base

Beef stew for a nice fall day sounded good so I decided to make some.  I put some cut up chuck roast in the crock pot along with some water, 1 TBSP of Beef Base, carrots, potatoes, salt and pepper.  I cooked this all day while I went to some yard sales.  The Beef Base is a paste that needs to be refrigerated after opening.  The stew was not bland and had a very good rich flavor and look forward to using it again.  Next time I make a beef roast or vegetable beef soup I will for sure be using it to give them more flavor.   Very good rich flavor.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.  

Beef stew made with Orrington Farms Beef Base with some homemade buttermilk biscuits.

Update:
I had the leftover stew for lunch today and I can't stress enough how good this is.  I'm going to make a pot of vegetable beef soup this weekend when we have our sale.  My daughter Renee and 2 grandchildren will be here so they will get to taste it.

Tattler Lids, Review Coming Next Week

I received 1 dozen regular mouth lids and 1 dozen wide mouth lids yesterday in the mail to try.  I read all the info that came with the lids and am anxious to use them.  I will be using the dozen regular mouth lids to can some chili beans and want to do some black beans in some wide mouth jars.  I'm not sure how many wide mouth jars I have now and will have to check.  This year I have put up close to 700 jars of food and have paid $1.40 for regular and $2.20 for wide mouth lids.  The initial cost for Tattle Lids is a little pricey but the ability to reuse them sounds wonderful.  I will post my results next week when I use them.

Tattler Lids that I will be trying next week.

Product Review, Orrington Farms Chicken Broth Base

I have been wanting to try a broth base to add flavor to soups, stews and noodles that I make so I contacted Precision Foods about trying some of their bases.  They sent me some chicken, beef and ham base to try.  The package arrived today and it came at a perfect time.  We were having chicken vegetable soup for supper so I was able to try it right away.  I started out with a quart of water, shredded chicken from the freezer, a little salt and pepper and added 2 TBSP of the chicken flavor.  I brought this to a boil and added 1 quart of the mixed vegetable soup mix that I canned earlier this week.  I returned this to a boil and simmered for 10 minutes.  We let it cool down and then served it.  I've never used a base before so I was not sure how much to use and next time I will add a little more.  It had a very good flavor and my husband ate 2 bowls of it.  He said the flavor was good and agreed that the next time I need to use a little more.  I liked that it added flavor without using fat to achieve this.
My fall green beans will be ready to pick on Saturday and I will be using the Vegan, ham flavor when I cook them and will let you know how they turn out.  Now if I could get my husband to eat beef vegetable soup tomorrow I would try it but it will have to wait until next week.
Would I buy the chicken flavor base, yes.  An added bonus for me is the containers are the perfect size to use to put dried herbs in so I will be saving and recycling the containers.

 I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it and no other compensation was received for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions.  

Orrington Farms Base to use for added flavor.

Chicken vegetable soup made with Chicken Broth Base.

Bowl of Chicken Vegetable Soup.