Canning with Mehu-Liisa

I wanted to post some photos and info regarding processing steps using the Mehu-Liisa. Below are basic instructions and info about my juicing and pulp processing regimen for Blueberries and Peaches. My family loves Blueberry and Peach fruit spread so I always process the pulp when I juice these fruits.

Incredible Shrinking Fruit:

Fruit that has been steamed for juice in the Mehu-Liisa looses a lot of volume. Here are some images to give you an idea:

The first image is the full basket of berries just before I put it into the Mehu-Liisa (which has been coming to a boil). The second image is after 45 minutes steaming (I don’t go further as the juice after 45 min. is negligible). Sometimes, I only juice for 30 minutes if I plan on making fruit spread from the pulp. In this situation I let it go 45 mins. and added juice back into processed pulp.

These images are after 15, 30, and 45 minutes. The colander was full when I put it into the Mehu-Liisa at the beginning of processing. Peaches retain a fair amount of bulk after juicing and make excellent fruit spread. I also added juice back into the peach fruit spread.

Basic Processing Techniques:

Over the years I have developed habits when using the Mehu-Liisa. Here is one for drawing off juice (I’ll post more as they come to mind):

Drawing off juice:
I use a plastic mixing bowl (fairly deep) to hold the hot jars (direct from 250 degree oven) when I draw off juice. Notice I have a glove on as well, to avoid steam burns. Kid leather garden gloves work even better as they are more maneuverable and supple to enable grabbing jars from oven without using hot pads.
  

Process Timing (or how to avoid burning your waterpan dry):

I use large display digital timers to time my processing so as not to boil the pan dry. I set the timer for 30 mins. and when it goes off I check the water and add some if necessary. I check the juice level as well and if it is near the top of the funnel in the juice kettle I drain it off into sterile jars. Then, I set the timer for 15 minutes more. I usually get another quart of juice.

REMEMBER! – you DON’T need to use high heat and a furious boil. Once water comes to a boil set heat at medium high and keep a steady boil. Once the juicer gets up to full steam it will release excess steam from the top as the lid bounces up and down – also at the seams between parts of the juicer. This is totally normal and in fact, the juicer is designed to do this so that the juice isn’t diluted with condensation.

Steam escaping from the top of the Mehu-Liisa. Once done processing, it’s easy clean up.

Making Blueberry and Peach Fruit Spreads:

After juicing I process the pulp that is left through a Foley Food Mill. I keep track of how much pulp I get and then use Pomona Pectin and organic cane sugar to make fruit spread. This time around I added back a quart each of Blueberry and Peach juice to each batch to increase the flavor of the fruit in the spread.

     
I spoon the pulp from basket to Foley Mill and grind away. No time at all to extract the pulp. Not much left over.
Here are the basic steps for processing with Pomona:

- Mix calcium water as per instructions in Pomona Pectin box. Add 1/2 the sugar, lemon (if called for), and calcium to fruit pulp. Bring to a boil. Mix pectin into rest of sugar thoroughly and add to boiling pulp little by little stirring all the time. Stirring constantly (to dissolve the pectin) bring back to boil and boil for 2 minutes. Take off heat and ladle into steril jars. Water bath process according to fruit canning (not jam or jelly canning) guidelines.
Here are my ratios as per the Pomona Pectin instructions (they will be different for every batch):

Blueberry -

3 qts + 1 cp pulp (includes 1 qt added juice), 3/4 cp lemon juice, 3 cps sugar (too much after tasting), 2 TB pectin, 4 TB calcium water. This yielded 16 cups of fruit spread

Peach -

4 cps + 1 pt pulp (includes 1 qt added juice), 1 cp lemon juice, 2.5 cps sugar,  4 TB + 1.5 tsp pectin, 6 TB calcium water. This yielded 18 cups of fruit spread.

Here are a few photos of the juice, etc.:

Rich, thick golden peach juice (someone’s been at it already!). Beautiful dark blueberry juice. Hungry Mr. Clemm.

Well, it’s been fun sharing all this with you folks. Let me know what you think. Also, check out the recipe and tips forum on the website.

Take Care

Daniel

I headed out to Thistledown Farm in Junction City yesterday to get our second batch of strawberries for the season. It was an interesting drive out River Road to the farm. The farm is about 10 miles from downtown Eugene and River Road is a main artery from downtown to Junction City. About 5 miles out, in Santa Clara, the buildings start to thin and I noticed old fruit trees, mostly apples, growing in front lawns. Probably remnants of old orchards. There were a few smaller farms along the way with hazelnuts, berries and some small scale market farming. All not long for the world though as development pushes up against them. There were signs for other strawberry u-pick operations along the way. I stayed the course for Thistledown based on the evidence from earlier in the week when my youngest son had gone picking with a friend and her mother – large, sweet berries.

Back home, I had to soak the berries to remove the dust and dirt. Since many were very ripe I separated them out as I hulled to have as fresh strawberry sauce for morning pancakes. The rest I packed in quart freezer bags (without sugar) and put them to freeze. I got about 10 quarts of frozen and 2 quarts of sauce. Here is the pancake recipe, it is an excellent whole grain (wheat alternative if desired) recipe that is easy to prepare if a little noisy with the blender time:

Sue Gregg’s Blender Batter for Waffles or Pancakes

Take care ’til next time,

Daniel