Seedy Saturday - Canning and I Am Not Sure About These!

The garden has been winding down. 

Actually, it has burned up and I need to go out and clean it out and plant for fall. But I can't even get the yard mowed with how hot it's been.

But I am well pleased with what I have been able to accomplish this year so far.

Right now, I have a jar with fermenting hot peppers in it. 

There are scorpion, habanero, jalapeño and 1 Carolina Reaper pepper happily fermenting with some garlic. I have never made hot sauce and I don't really use hot sauce. But I have several people in my life who do use it, so this is an experiment. I am proud of myself in that I remembered to bring home some rubber gloves from work in order not to kill myself with super-hot peppers on my hands. 

This jar will sit for a week or two until it's all fermented and ready for the next stage.

One of the things I am really thrilled with is the tomato sauce I have canned to far this year.

I have canned 19 quarts, which should hold me over the winter for chili and soups. I removed a lot of the water which forms from canning tomatoes and it is a nice thick sauce. I'm so pleased!

Of course, peach preserves have been made. I have 8 pints of those. Of course, Texter and a co-worker are eyeing my stash of these. 

These are the Italian squash I grew for a friend. And they are huge and scary! Luckily, I don't have to deal with them other than growing them. I think next year, if I grow them again, I will only plant 1 seed!

But back to the canning.

I have a lot of blueberry juice I canned. After drinking a quart of it (diluted), I think I am going to dump the other 10 quarts. I don't have anything invested in them, other than time. And I don't like blueberry juice enough to continue drinking it, despite its benefits. I'm still on the fence about it. With the benefits toward weight loss and lowering blood pressure, among other things, it might be worth to hold onto. Especially this winter, when fresh, local fruits are not available.

However, something I am sure I am going to do is to go through the jams and jellies I have on my shelf and get rid of some of the experimental combinations. I have enough stuff on my shelves for 10 people!

Now to go out and tame the squash yet again!