I am brand new to the world of homemade pickles, so I'm following the instructions in the Ball Blue Book. Did the sweet pickle relish on page 50 yesterday and was surprised not to get anywhere near the amount of relish yield but did have a great deal of liquid left over. From a DOUBLED recipe, I ended up with only 6 half pints of relish. The recipe said I'd get 8 half pints - from a SINGLE recipe. Any idea about why the yield of relish was so low?

I chopped up pickles for a good long while, 3 pounds of them, by hand, for the relish. There's got to be an easier, and much faster, way to do this. What is it???

Am now in the process of doing the Spiced Red Cabbage, using green cabbage, recipe on page 53. Instructions say to shred cabbage, 12 pounds of it, and place in a large bowl. Yeah, right...that cabbage filled up a crock that's about a foot wide and foot and a half tall. I used a lot of salt on it! Instructions say to let it sit in a cool place for 24 hours and then drain well. I'm wondering how much of that salt is being absorbed. Recipe calls for a cup of brown sugar and 2 quarts of white wine vinegar. Can't find white wine vinegar out here so will use cider vinegar. Is that small amount of brown sugar going to deal with all that absorbed salt, especially with no rinsing?????

Am really enjoying my canning and have a lot of things to do today and tomorrow - crops just now starting to come in well here in the mountains of Virginia. Tomatoes are still a week or so away, as is corn. Beans and squash are doing well and going into jars as fast as I can work them up.

How are other folks doing with canning???

Carol Mora in the Allegheny foothills of Virginia

-- Carol Mora (carollm@rockbridge.net), July 22, 2001

Answers

I personally have never come up with what the recipe said as far as amounts go. As for chopping the cucumbers or whatever you are using, try a salsa maker. It turns my sweet pickles into relish in minutes. It is a bowl with a lid that has a three blade chopping knife in it. You can see it on the buy this shows on tv sometimes, and there is always at least one booth selling them at my county fairs. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), July 22, 2001.

Carol, I'm visiting my parents and don't have the Ball book with me, but I think I've canned both things you mentioned. A lot of times the amount you get isn't what they say you'll get. It depends on the size and shape of the veggies you're using and how you cut them up. When you drain the cabbage, be sure to squeeze it; most of the salt will be absorbed in the liquid and drain out. Also the volume of cabbage will shrink as the water comes out. The amount of sugat will be enough. I made it one year and forgot the sugar; we're still eating those jars. I add sugar and cook it a little before I serve it; it's pretty bad! I've canned sauerkraut and jam this year and frozen green beans thus far, but as soon as I get home I start making and canning tomato sauce. I usually aim for 50 quarts. I'm really worried, though, because I just heard last night that my tomatoes are covered with potato beetles which are rapidly defoliating them. I've never had that happen and hope it won't be a major disaster..Especailly when I harvested over 100 pounds of onions to put in my sauce! Good luck with your canning.

-- Katherine (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), July 23, 2001.

I have an old Oster Kitchen Center with a grinder attachment. Since the auger is plastic and only the blade and discs are metal and I work quickly, I have used the grinder to "chop" cucumbers and other ingredients for relish. If you have a blender, put quarters or eighths of CORED cabbage in the blender container with enough water to chop the cabbage. Pour through a colander and allow the cabbage to drain but use the same water each time. You have to do the cabbage in the blender in pulses, quick on and quick off or you end up with cabbage puree'. The shredded cabbage is finer and not in long shreds but with care you can get decent uniformity in the product. Good luck.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), July 23, 2001.

Thanks for your replies and suggestions. I used to do a lot of canning many years ago, but never tried pickling, and never heard of the Ball Blue Book then. So some things I'm learning from scratch and some I'm having to relearn. But mostly I'm really enjoying this.

For what it's worth, the spiced cabbage may end up being compost material. I left it in the crock for two days instead of one - life got hectic and yesterday was just a blur for us. Even so, it was still a bit rubbery, semi limp but holding together very well. Finally drained it in the afternoon and processed it late last night. Ended up with two quarts more than the reported yield. Ran out of the vinegar mix way before reaching those extra quarts so I added more vinegar to the spices and boiled it more. Even so, I ended up using almost straight white vinegar on the last jar. Made a note in my book to double the vinegar mix next time - if there is a next time.

Annette, I will look for a salsa maker but will try the blender on pulse first, as Marilyn suggested. I tried using the shredder blade and got cabbage mush so I shredded it by hand.

Katherine, sure do hope the bugs leave you some tomatoes! If all else fails, use the vinegared red onion recipe in the Blue Book. I did some yesterday while waiting for the cabbage to drain the required 6 hours and it turned out GREAT! The deep purple red of the onions cooked down into a lovely pink. I trippled the amount of onions and doubled the amount of vinegar the recipe called for and it worked out just right.

After much urging by the county extension agent, we entered seven jars in the county fair. It's being judged this morning and I can't wait to see how we did.

Again, thanks for the help ladies!

-- Carol Mora (carollm@rockbridge.net), July 24, 2001.