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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jun 20, 2010 8:02:45 GMT -5
They are quite safe. I've been using them for many years with no accidents. I'm pretty accident prone and absent minded too.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 20, 2010 20:16:14 GMT -5
I've used mine exactly once. I had a horrible time keeping the pressure steady. Of course, I have a different stove now, so I might not have that problem now.
The funny thing is, I use a pressure cooker all the time. I'm not the least bit scared of that and I've had one blow up.
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Post by Valerie on Jun 22, 2010 12:04:40 GMT -5
Well, dang, girl, if you can use the pressure cooker, the canner should be a breeze! You need to try it so you can reassure me so I can maybe buy one when I get spare money. All the tomatoes I picked off my one vine the other day froze in my fridge. Guess I fixed it too good. So, I sliced them up and put 'em in the dehydrator. My 2 cucumbers froze too, so I figured what the heck and sliced them up and put them in the dehydrator too. I put a little kosher salt and dill weed on them. We'll see what happens. If they're nasty, they can go in the compost bin where they would have went anyway.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 22, 2010 12:09:32 GMT -5
Valerie, before you fixed it, had you been turning your refrigerator up to try to keep things cold? If so, did you turn it back down?
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Post by Valerie on Jun 22, 2010 12:56:46 GMT -5
I did turn the fridge down, but I forgot that one day while it was not running, I thought I turned it up but had actually turned the freezer up. So when I got done fixing it I had my freezer on 7 and my fridge turned back down to three. They're both back on 4 now where they should be. I never would have imagined that turning up the freezer would impact the fridge, but I learned a lot last week!
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Post by meemo on Jun 23, 2010 21:39:45 GMT -5
I thought it would take a long time with them "helping" me but they kept right up, ear for ear. Abbey was a little slower because she was a lot more careful about removing the silks. they sure had fun learing how to "peel" corn. We did 6 doz ears.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 23, 2010 21:48:43 GMT -5
They'll remember today all their lives AND you've taught them a new skill. That's what I call a good day.
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Post by meemo on Jun 24, 2010 11:18:23 GMT -5
Me too, Gayle. Today I'm goin to turn 3 gal of plum juice into jelly. I cant decide what to do with a dishpan of blackberries. I['ve never used them to make pie filling with clear gel. Maybe I'll just can them in a simple syrup for pie/cobbler making.
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Post by Valerie on Jun 25, 2010 7:57:42 GMT -5
That's so cute! I made my kids help me 'peel corn' one time, but they were too old to enjoy it. They swore they would never eat fresh corn again. Sissies! The dried cucumbers were N-A-S-T-Y. I mean truly disgusting. At first, while they were still crisp they weren't too bad, but as they rehydrated (quickly) in the mouth, the taste was truly gross. Into the compost bin! I'm fixing to cut some more basil and put in the dehydrator soon as I get clothes on.
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Post by carla on Jun 25, 2010 8:21:03 GMT -5
Meemo, if you make simple syrup out of the berries, try adding the syrup to lemonade. Yummy!
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Post by meemo on Jun 28, 2010 10:13:41 GMT -5
I have two more ice cream buckets of blackberries and a dish pan of plums. I'm fixin to make jelly most of the day and get all this juice worked up. Freds had sure gel for $2 a box. I have enough to finish. The kids are back home with their dad so maybe i can get caught up.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 28, 2010 11:22:50 GMT -5
I got out early this morning and picked all of the bee balm blossoms that were fully open, as well as a few leaves (I accidentally broke a couple of branches, so I pulled off the leaves and threw away the stems). The kids picked the blueberries that were ripe, by bread bowl full, then poked a hole in each one and I put them in the dehydrator with the bee balm.
We ended up with 2 trays of blossoms, 1 tray of leaves, and 3 trays of blueberries.
We just had a quick shower, and it looks like it's going to rain more, so I'm glad we got all those picked early.
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Post by meemo on Jun 28, 2010 16:25:51 GMT -5
The canner is running with 3 qts of ground beef and broth and 4 qts of beef chunks with broth. I have enough of the roasts left to fill another canner. When I get caught up I think I'm goin to empty the freezer of chicken and can it all up. They are still running leg quarters for .39 a lb. My month has run out of money or I'd can some of them.
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Post by eyeofthestorm on Jun 28, 2010 18:35:50 GMT -5
Today I made (and froze) 3 squash cakes (cake, not bread - we ate one after dinner to check), three green tomato pies, and four half-pints of Hansen cherry jam.
Yes, those are the Hansen's I had written off. Last we were here (I'm at my sister's house), they seemed ready but tasted mostly like nothing and left a very tacky taste in the mouth. We got here yesterday, and I immediately noticed the bushes look pathetic (never picked the fruit off, they were still propped up). Checking them close, I found about half the fruit has shriveled to tiny hard raisins, the other half was much larger and darker, almost black, but plump. I tried one and lo, it actually tasted good. This morning I took the boys out, picked them all (the icky ones are in the compost and freed up the little bushes. Son #1 was not impressed with the flavor increase. I only ended up with a quart of fruit, but once I got it mixed with the sugar, it took on a very intense, distinctive cherry flavor. I just set it all in the freezer, and will defrost and try some thing weekend. That will be the true test for me.
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Post by michelle on Jun 29, 2010 7:10:21 GMT -5
Meemo - is your beef cooked or raw?
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