Although I sit here in frozen Zone 6 anxiously awaiting spring, or at least until I can plant seedlings, summer hasn't yet escaped me. Last fall when the weatherman called for frost we stripped the garden of everything.
We had a hectic fall, including having our 1873 home completely replumbed, and getting our daughter back home from Santa Barbara after she graduated. Add to that the holidays and I knew I wouldn't have time to can everything that needed canning. We got most of it done, but I ended up running 6lbs. of ripe tomatoes through the puree attachment on the KitchenAid, and 16lbs. Of green tomatoes through the grinder. Everything was frozen in containers, and once it has become solid it was all transferred to vacuum bags.
I had run across a recipe for green tomato Salsa Verde that I wanted to try,
https://bunkersdown.com/2012/09/24/gree ... eserve-it/
so today 6 of the 16 lbs became just that. The fresh taste of summer lives on, the freezer and vacuum bags were the perfect way to put the produce on hold until I could get to canning.
But, that's not the reason for my post! (I do tend to ramble, eh?). The real reason for this post is to sing the praises of Santa Claus, who enlisted the help of my wife to ensure my requests were fullfilled. A nice new canning funnel that sits on the jar without holding it in place, a new KitchenAid immersion blender, and the coolest of all, a Maslin Pan. If you don't know what that is, don't feel bad. I had before heard of them referred to as a Jam Pot, or Jam Pan. They are made specifically for cooking down liquids without burning. The pan is conical in shape with the bottom fitting nicely on your large burner, and the top much larger in diameter to more quickly dissipate moisture. The bottom is extra thick to disperse heat. I was able to keep this salsa at a hard boil without constant stirring. No scorching, no sticking, not even a little bit.
The one Santa brought me also has a spout, a bail, and a tipping handle to pour directly into jars, and graduated measurements inside. I knew exactly how many jars I'd fill. This pan makes it easy. Up next, a half batch with a lot more heat!