Canning Chaos!!!

Chaos reigns supreme around here during the canning season. So far this year we have canned the following:


Plum Jam - 31 Pints and 9 Half Pints. I got these plums from one of our neighbors. They are an Italian variety of plum and are really sweet. I had to fight off the children, and Joe, so that I had enough left to can.
Marinara Sauce - 42 Quarts and 7 Pints. I went with some of my neighbors to Day Farms in Layton this year and picked two bushels of Roma Tomatoes. They were the biggest, meatiest tomatoes I've ever seen and they only cost me $20.00 for the four boxes. The sauce took me two days to can up, but was well worth it, it's DELICIOUS!!
Peach Syrup - 22 Pints. The Peaches we picked off my next door neighbors peach tree. We had a big rain and wind storm and I decided to get as many off before the wind took them. I ended up only collecting one box worth before the rain started. It was plenty.
Plum Syrup - 18 Pints and 11 Half Pints. We went up to visit my parents and got sent home with three 5 gallon buckets of Damson Plums from my mom's tree. I liked the peach syrup so much that I decided to try a Plum version. It didn't turn out as purple as the Italian Plum jam had, but I suppose that's because they are a different variety of Plum. It sure tastes good though. (My mom said you can add the cake decorating food coloring to your canning to change the color, but it needs to be in paste form in order to work. I didn't have any of that around so brownish/orange plum syrup will have to work!)
Praline Syrup - 3 Half Pints. I found this recipe in the Ball Blue Book. It sounded really good and we are all pretty big Pecan fans here, so I gave it a shot. It didn't make up very much, but it tastes delicious. Quin licked the spoon clean and made short work of the pot afterwards. I think it would taste great on vanilla ice cream....yum!
Peaches - 12 Quarts. I picked the last of the peaches off my neighbors tree Thursday and ended up with just over half a box. I couldn't think of anything else to make with the peaches, so I decided to just bottle them. They sure looked pretty and I tested a bottle after I finished and they were really yummy. I used a light syrup and it was plenty sweet.
Plum Jam - 33 Half Pints. I only used two of the three 5 gallon buckets of Damson Plums for the syrup. I waited a few more days to let the last bucket ripen up. I decided to dehydrate half of them (8 trays worth) and then I turned the rest into jam. I used a different recipe than the first, and again the color is not as purple, but it tastes just as good.
Apple Butter - 8 Half Pints. I got this recipe from my brother in law. His mother use to make it when they were kids. He did a batch of it up while we were visiting last weekend and it smelt heavenly!! I decided I wanted to try some and I'm very pleased with the results. It makes you think of pumpkin pie and the holidays...I can't wait!!!

My neighbor call yesterday and said she wouldn't be using her half a box of peaches from her tree and wondered if I wanted them.....crap. Just when I thought I had finished! So, today I am making Frozen Fruit Cocktail. It is made with peaches, grapes and pears (picked from another neighbors tree) and it is VERY delicious. You take it out of the freezer about an hour before serving and it is slushy, but the fruit is still pretty frozen....yum. I should have enough to fill four or five gallon size freezer bags.

Happy Canning!