Another Busy Processing Week - Apples, Beans, and Raspberry Syrup - by Sunscape

I had 4 quarts of Raspberries frozen in the freezer that were picked this past month. They are still coming in strong, but I already had enough to do a batch of syrup for hubby.

Waiting for them to thaw a bit before starting to cook them down.

Here, the berries are hanging in double-layered netting to drip the syrup out. The bag hung there for about 2 hours before being returned to the pan to boil.

It is amazing that you only get 3 pints of syrup out of 4 quarts of berries. This is the third batch I've made this summer, along with a half-dozen jars of jam. When the rest of the berries finish ripening, I'm going to freeze them whole for smoothies.

Beans:

Earlier in the week, I decided to start canning some of the bags of dried beans for the pantry. I much prefer doing this than buying canned beans at the store. It really makes a difference in price.

Getting set up for the process. Washing jars, heating them before filling them with beans. The first batch was Northern White beans, and the second batch was pinto beans.

The beans need to be rinsed and placed in a large kettle covered with lots of water for 24 hours. Then they are drained, returned to the kettle, and covered with water to cook for 30 minutes. Once they are ready, it is time to can them. Beans have to be processed in a pressure canner for 75 minutes for pint jars.

Earlier in September, I had done a round of black beans. Now, I have three varieties to use for different recipes. I have 10-12 jars of each.

Apples:

I had a half-peck of apples left to process after making 24 jars of applesauce. Since I use diced apples in different dessert recipes, I decided to dice them for freezing.

To keep them from browning while I dice them all, I put them into a bowl with water and lemon juice.

Once they are finished, I drain them well, place them on a baking sheet with parchment, and freeze them for a day. Then they were vacuum-sealed in 3-cup portions for recipes.

Some peppers are the last to be picked sometime this week. I will be figuring out what to do with those, but for now, I have to spend the morning restocking breakfast meals for hubby. There is always something to do in the kitchen, right?