I plan on letting the canner "rest" until Saturday.  Last night I Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce recipe that Suzanne had posted.  I'm not sure how that is going to turn out.  Living at this higher altitude has it's challenges when canning.  The recipe said it was done when cranberries begin to pop, but the liquid was just like water.  I kept thinking that the sauce should be thicker, but wasn't sure if this was actually to be a sauce or somewhat jellied.  So, I cooked it a bir longer at a slower heat and got it almost to the jell point.  I only had about a 1/4 cup left over that wouldn't fit into to can and hubby came home and ate it before it cooked and I had a chance to see what it was going to do.  Today the canned jars look as if the liquid has solidified.  I know a lot of people made this.  Can anyone tell me if this is to be a sauce with the liquid more fluid or if I should have cooked it like I did and make it more of a jelled liquid?

As for the canning, Saturday I start on my stash in the freezer.  I have tomatoes, pitted cherries, peaches, raspberries and blueberries to work with.  Also have a load of onions that I want to try the onion marmalade recipe out on.

And…I will be eternally grateful to wvhomecanner, who posted a lot of canning recipes for Campbell soups and V8 tomatoe juice.  I can't wait to try those out.  It sounds like she is the low-sodium expert on this site and her willingness to share her knowledge has save me hours of time and frustration. 

Every year we write out what we are thankful for.  This year top on the list for me will be that my husband survived his heart attack.  Second wll be for my grandmother and great-grandmothers (3 of them) that gardened and canned and baked and I was able to spend time with them as a child and can now pull those days out of my feeble memory to be able to can for my husband.  Third will be wvhomecanner and all of you on this site who have helped me fill in the blanks on my feeble memory and have the confidence to can and bake for my husband. Being able to ask questions and get help from you all have been so helpful to me!  Ross, my husband used your suggestion of opening up both ends of a can to help when bagging up home made chicken stock to freeze.  He loved it!  He comes home every night and one of the first things he asked is what was discussed today on this site. We plan on spending the winter learning how to make cheese and sausage and hope to get some help from the who know how to do this.

And, to close out my long novel, I have a question about making jelly.  In my childhood days my grandmothers saved the peels and cores from apples and pears, boiled them in a little water, then strained the juice to make jelly.  I know the canning rules have changed.  Does anyone know if this is considered safe and if so, any recipes?

Again, thanks to everyone!  I am so happy to have found this site and hope to be able to contribute back one of these days.  I hope everyone and your families have a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I know mine will be!

Tracy

Canned the day before Turkey Day!!  Made Suzannes cranberry relish with the orange and thought-hey-needs more "Maine"~the cranberries were locally picked from friends at the Farmers Market and their picking spots are super secret!!~so I threw in a couple cups of my Maine blueberries from the freezer-from the plant down the road!  and was it PERFECT!!  Made six pints -canned right up!!  Beautiful-I could gaze at my jars all day!!  My daughter wants to do up some chick soup and chilli for her long haul trucker husband-so thats next!!