Rolling Acres - This and That

[RollingAcres]

Thank you everyone for your input on "old" canned goods.

@Baymule, Robin was a beautiful hen!

I used to feed some of the smelliest sour milk to the pigs and they loved it.

Things I've learned here about pigs: they love sour milk and boiled eggs.

 

[Baymule]

@Baymule, Robin was a beautiful hen!

Thank you. She had a bad attitude, was always the top hen and was her own personality. She slowed down when she got older, but was still Robin.

Things I've learned here about pigs: they love sour milk and boiled eggs.

they also love soured stinky corn!

 

[AmberLops]

Things I've learned here about pigs: they love sour milk and boiled eggs.

And snakes apparently

 

[Ridgetop]

Just saw this - I don't worry about home canned stuff being held too long If the top centers "pop" up showing they have lost their seal, I toss them. If the color turns too dark to be appetizing I empty it out and dispose of it. Mostly I just can jam, jelly, tomatoes anymore since this soil is not good enough to grow a really big garden. When I grew everything we ate (except lettuce, celery, etc.) we usually finished off everything in a year. Now with fewer children at home to eat PB & J, we don't use as much jam. I can't help making more than we need though since I hate wasting anything and tend to toss all fruit that is starting to go soft into the freezer. Then I turn it into jam in the winter. I need to control my desire to preserve everything edible! I am a compulsive canner! LOL

I did start emptying out my jam and jelly cabinet and discovered some jams that had been there a while. I finally found a date on them and !!! I had about 2 dozen jars of jams that were over 18 years old! I really need to clean out the jam cupboard more frequently apparently! I dumped them al but the apple butter did not seem to have changed color and the seal was intact. I don't remember the last time I went to the enormous effort of making apple butter, but it had to be about 10 years ago. It still smelled good so I tasted it and it tasted great. However, I went ahead and dumped it anyway. Then I opened the other jar and again it tasted great. I dumped it anyway. Then I realized that I might have poisoned myself by tasting 2 jars! I watched myself for any symptoms of food poisoning, but I was fine so maybe I should have kept those old jars of apple butter. I am very partial to apple butter!

As to store bought canned food I usually dispose of it a year or 2 after the expiration date as long as the can doesn't bulge. I did find some cans that were about 3 or 4 years old in the camper cupboards and tossed them. I felt very wasteful though. Probably part of my OCD canning compulsion to preserve food.

 

[Baymule]

I think I must have squirrel DNA. I was not starved or deprived as a child, so being some kind of GMO squirrel must be the only explanation.

 

[farmerjan]

I would not have thrown out the apple butter or the jams/jellies. They do not get the type of botulism that a vegetable can get from get. Been eating some apple jelly my mom made about 10 years ago before her slow demise.

 

[RollingAcres]

Mmmm apple butter...it's time to make some. Last Friday DH came home with a big plastic shopping bag full of apples. A customer gave him the apples, picked from his trees and he said he doesn't spray them. I was able to eat some fresh apples without any allergic reaction.
I also made an apple crisps with some of the apples. I might not have enough to make a big batch of apple butter.

 

[Bruce]

I was going to pick some of the apples off our puny tree to make apple crisp but they seriously did NOT want to come off. Given we've never gotten anything usable from the tree before I have a question. SHOULD the stem release when they are ripe and I shouldn't force the issue?

 

[RollingAcres]

SHOULD the stem release when they are ripe and I shouldn't force the issue?

As far as I know, when they are good and ready, they should pretty much just fall right off when you pick them. If you have to fight it off the stem then it's not ready yet. It's still early yet in apple season.

 

[Bruce]

Good! Because DW came home from the P.O. with a huge bag of apples today