Help - glass jars

[yoanbob]

whats a freecycle group?

[auntsally]

Hi all
Very often you can get recycled jars etc from recycling centres. There are many around the country. They sell very cheaply and it seems better than giving lakeland your money to make more stuff...
ps The centre in Cardiff is called recreate.

[Squirrel]

whats a freecycle group?

It's a group of people who put on the internet in the freecycle group forum what they have to give away. If you need something you can also ask for it. You are not allowed to barter, sell or ask for anything in exchange. Each area has a number of groups that cater for your own area. The main web is Freecycle.co.uk I think. Well worth while registering with!

[JazzDuke]

Freecycle sounds interesting. Do remember to always buy new lids though. They should not be re-used.

[Dobby]

Jars

Hi
When we was looking for some jars for herbs we whent alover then we caled in M&S yea they had beetroot down to 10p so we got the lot abot 20 jars
just a thought keep an eye out
happy hunting
Dobby

[Nicos]

Jazzduke
Can I ask why you can't use the lids again? I'm new to all this bottling so am interested in getting thing right and yet recycling what I can.
I have collected a lot of little jars with small necks and have never seen little lids that size for sale in the shops.
I have put the lids through the dishwasher on 65oC and soaked them in boiling water and heated the jars in the oven at 100 for half an hour . (Am having a panic now that my produce might go mouldy) Would those plastic circles stretched across the top aswell as a lid make any difference?
Having spend all Sunday (well 7 hrs) making Hugh FW's tomato ketchup(lovely and yummy ) I really don't want it to go to waste. Help please!

[Dobby]

remove smell from jars

To remove any left over smell like if it was a curry past jar use Bicarbonate of soda
this is what I have used before

[Waffler]

Do any of you clever folks know the answer to this question? I thought I'd have a go at making Vicki's chilli jelly (it's the only one of it's kind which doesn't need a jelly bag - everywhere's sold out). What I want to know is whether I can substitue some of the jam sugar for cooking apples; the theory being that apples are high in pectin, are better for you than sugar and I have loads of them that I could put to great use. (Even better if I can use part apples part regular sugar, as that would save me having to go out, or waiting until I next go out.)
I'm kind of new to the preserving scene, so if any of you have trodden a similar path before me, I'd be grateful for your wisdom!

[Lesley Jay]

Waffler the jam sugar has the added pectin in it. Cooking apples are high in pectin but have no sugar (sweetness). When making jam the sugar is the preservative so if you want to play around with the recipe I would use the same weight of granulated sugar and throw in some cooking apples. If you cut down on the amount of sugar used in theory it shouldn't keep as long. Jam sugar does set whatever you make like a brick!

[Waffler]

Thanks for that LJ - I might have to tweak this recipe a bit and see what I come up with!

[bramble]

Hi Waffler, if you dont have a jelly bag do what my cookery book recommends. Turn a dining chair upside down. Tie a piece of muslin or cotton to the four legs and strain the juice through this. It works just as well. I am doing it at the moment as i am making apple jelly.

[Waffler]

Hmm. Had wondered about the muslin myself, but the woman in the hardware shop that has sold out of jelly bags said it would let too much... stuff... through. Maybe I'll give it a go, or maybe I'll stick to other methods of preserving until next year. Decisions decisions!

[dexterdoglancashire]

I've been wracking my brains trying to remember where I'd heard your idea from Bramble - I'm sure it was the "Victorian Kitchen" series way back on the TV. Sounds good to me though Ive never tried it. Could you pass your "jam" through it twice, obviously giving it a thorough wash inbetween, do you think? would that have the desired effect? DDL

[Earthbabe]

I remember something similar DDL, but was also thinking that a "first pass" could be made through a clean stocking or something similar.

Silverfox it might be worth asking neighbours to give you appropriately sized jars they have finished with. I have one neighbour who does this regularly and in return they currently get our aluminium cans. It seems to work.

[Waffler]

I think next year if I'm short of jars, I'm going to put a notice out with all the courgettes I provide the neighbourhood with for free. I would certainly be happy to pay a couple of empty glass jars for free food.
Or I could just grow fewer courgettes. 5 plants for 2 of us proved to be rather a lot of courgettes!