Grabbed from post last summer:
I've been canning okra recently as well as jalapenos and cucumbers for pickles. I use a family recipe that always gets rave reviews, and the juice is awesome in bloody mary's.
Ingredients:
Dill (fresh or frozen)
Fresh Garlic
Dried chile Arbol
Canning Salt
Vinegar
Okra or cucumbers
Materials:
Jars w/bands and lids (quart or pint)
Large pot to boil jars
Jar grabber thing
Wash the jars first, also rinse the veggies.
Concoction: Pour 1 quart vinegar, 2.5 quarts of water, and .75 cups salt into a pot. Turn heat to med-high.
Fill your large pot with enough water to cover the jars by about an inch. It will help if you have the jar rack to out in the pot, they're cheap at wal-mart. If not, put a towel in the bottom of the pot to keep jars from banging the bottom, and have a couple of rags handy to wedge between the jars so they don't rattle and break during boiling.
Put on high heat, it will take a while to boil.
Jars: Put a handful of dill (enough to fill about .5" to 1" of bottom of jar), 3-4 thin slices of garlic, and some of the dried peppers into the jar. If using quart jars, put 5-8, depending on heat preference. Pint jars get 2-4. If you're pickling peppers, leave all this out, you'll just fill jar with fluid after packing.
Pack okra as tight as you can into jar, we need to maximize the jar space. Same with cucumbers and jalapenos, pack them tight. I use pint jars, so I have to spear my cucumbers or slice them for sandwich/burger style.
Place lids (not bands) into a bowl with hot water. This will soften the rubber seal a little and help ensure a proper seal on the jar.
By now the concoction should be boiling, if not, turn up heat and make it boil.
Pour boiling/simmering/hot concoction into jars, leaving about .5"-.25" space below top of jar. Place a hot/warm lid on and tighten band hand tight. Not too tight, but snug. Maybe half a turn past finger tight.
If you have the jar rack, hang it over the boiling water pot and lower the jars in once you have a rolling boil.
If no jar rack, let water get very close to boil, and use the tongs to place the jars on the towel, then use standard tongs to place towel spacers between. Bring water to rolling boil.
Boil jars for 8-15 minutes. I do 9 minutes because I like crunchy okra. More boil time means softer canned goods, IMHO. As little as 5-6 minutes may be plenty to seal the jars.
When the timer goes off, turn off heat, let the boil calm, and retrieve jars with your handy-dandy jar tongs. Place on level surface. I like to put a towel on the counter.
Leave the jars overnight. You will hear the lids "pop" as the jars cool and the vacuum formed in the jars pulls the lids down and makes the seal.
In the morning, check your lids. If they're down (sucked in) then you're good. If they're still up (domed up a little) and you can push them down, then it didn't seal. Put any that didn't seal in the fridge, they'll stay good for 4 months or so.
Put a date on the lid with a marker, and stash away for 4 weeks. Then open and enjoy. Put them in the fridge after they're open. The longer they sit, the better the flavor. They also get hotter.
When the jar is empty, toss the lid, save the band.
Here are a few pictures of equipment and such:
Canning rack
Pint size water bath canning pot:
Fourth of July canning run at the coast:
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Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04