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  #1   ^
Old Mon, Aug-08-16, 12:53
JuliaR JuliaR is offline
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Plan: Atkins/eating to my meter
Stats: 170/132/125 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 84%
Default SF Recipes for Canning?

Hi all! It's canning season here so I'm on the lookout for new sugar-free canning recipes. The forum search feature doesn't seem to want to work for me lately; does anyone know if there are threads for canning recipes here anywhere?

I have some recipes for dill pickles and one or two for tomato salsa, but I'm open to new ideas. No-sugar ketchup for canning would be a pretty awesome find, too.

Thanks!
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  #2   ^
Old Mon, Aug-08-16, 19:35
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
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Location: NE WA
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I haven't found any no-sugar ketchup recipes, but I did find 2 that are relatively low in sugar. Don't know how it would taste to leave the sugar out, but you could substitute Splenda. As far as I know, it's the only sugar substitute that can take the heat of canning. The recipes are at the National Center for Home Food Preservation - http://nchfp.uga.edu/. The 2 recipes are Tomato Ketchup (http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_ketchup.html) & Country Western Ketchup (http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/cou...n_ketchup.html).

Then there are Pickled Green Beans aka Dilly Beans, Pickled Asparagus (a bit late for that), Artichoke Pickles - made with Jerusalem artichokes, Marinated Whole Mushrooms, Okra Dill Pickles, Pickled Onions, Marinated Peppers, Pickled Jalapeņo Peppers & Pepper Rings, Pickled Yellow Pepper Rings, Sauerkraut, Squash Pickles - II (#1 has sugar).

When I did a search for "no sugar added" I didn't come up with much - mostly it's jams & jellies. They do have a couple of Splenda recipes for pickled beets & sweet cucumber slices.

And, of course, there is always canned meat - it's definitely sugar free!
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  #3   ^
Old Tue, Aug-09-16, 07:45
JuliaR JuliaR is offline
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Posts: 226
 
Plan: Atkins/eating to my meter
Stats: 170/132/125 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 84%
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Thanks! I'm crazy about canning safety so it's making me even crazier that I can't find a tested recipe for Splenda subbing in canned foods. Also, why do so many recipes need sugar at all? So weird to me.

I have made freezer blackberry jam with Splenda instead of sugar; Ball has it at 1:1 for that. It tastes amazing, and way too good for my temptation level just now LOL

Maybe for the ketchup I'll can just the tomatoes and make SF batches of ketchup from that as needed.
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  #4   ^
Old Tue, Aug-09-16, 08:19
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Anything high acid - like fruit - can be canned without sugar at all. The sweetener of choice can be added when the jar is opened. Mostly sugar is added for the taste - cooking fruit makes it taste less sweet. That's why I went to freezing fruit - it tastes a lot more like fresh when it's thawed.

With the pickle recipes that call for sugar, I suspect it's to offset the vinegar taste. But since it's not a good idea to lower the vinegar a little bit of Splenda might work. For recipes that don't rely on the volume of sugar, liquid sucralose would probably work just as well, as that's the main sweetener of Splenda. Some small-batch experimenting might be needed.

I mostly can meat now, tho I do make regular jams & jellies for gifting.

As for tested recipes - the reason there aren't a lot of new sugar-free recipes is that testing costs a lot of money. The USDA is more apt to test for safety rather than taste.

By the way - I'm a long-time volunteer with Extension, so I have all the books. I don't always know the answers, but I know where to look them up.
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  #5   ^
Old Tue, Aug-09-16, 08:40
JuliaR JuliaR is offline
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Posts: 226
 
Plan: Atkins/eating to my meter
Stats: 170/132/125 Female 5'2"
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Progress: 84%
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That's awesome! I hesitate to ask for recipes sometimes because Pinterest and other sites are so full of, "My grandma did it this way and nobody died so..." misinformation. Seems every year every forum comes to blows about water bath canning green beans.

I also see recipes at the Bernardin site referenced a lot, and almost everything there has sugar. Like, why does pickled garlic need 1 tbsp for 5 jars? It's negligible but still... I object on principle.
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  #6   ^
Old Tue, Aug-09-16, 09:05
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
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Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JuliaR
I also see recipes at the Bernardin site referenced a lot, and almost everything there has sugar. Like, why does pickled garlic need 1 tbsp for 5 jars? It's negligible but still... I object on principle.


I object, too! That's the sort of recipe you can experiment with by leaving out the sugar or using less Splenda. I've adjusted various meat & veggie dishes that call for sugar - have no idea why - by eliminating the sugar. Tastes fine to me. Sometimes that's the only thing that needs changing to make the recipe low carb.
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  #7   ^
Old Wed, Aug-10-16, 12:36
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Squarecube Squarecube is offline
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Plan: atkins/paleo/IF
Stats: 186.5/159.0/160 Male 5' 11"
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Just a warning, I've made sugar free jam from blueberries and blackberries and they go bad very quickly once opened. Sugar is a preservative. Using the very small half/quarter? pint jars lets you finish the jar in a day or two.
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  #8   ^
Old Wed, Aug-10-16, 13:43
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
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Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Squarecube
Just a warning, I've made sugar free jam from blueberries and blackberries and they go bad very quickly once opened. Sugar is a preservative. Using the very small half/quarter? pint jars lets you finish the jar in a day or two.


IIRC, it's recommended to refrigerate opened jars of SF jams & fruit for that reason. It's a good idea to refrigerate sugar-sweetened jams & fruit, too, if you're slow at eating them. Husband is all on his own when it comes to eating any kind of fruit, so everything is refrigerated.

Four oz. jelly jars are a good idea - they're especially nice for gifts when you don't know how fast they'll get eaten. It's fun to do a gift basket of 3 different jellies in the 4-oz jars. I have some nice little jelly/jam spoons I put it with the jellies. I don't think there's any way to make them low-carb, but wine jellies are easy & taste great. I miss them.
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  #9   ^
Old Wed, Aug-10-16, 15:00
Verbena Verbena is offline
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Plan: My own
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Check the "Ball Blue Book" book on preserving. They have (in my edition from 2009) a (very short) section on "low sugar, low salt" recipes. Mainly they recommend using sugar substitute instead of sugar, or cutting back on real sugar, or none at all - for the reasons given above; sugar isn't necessary for the safety of canned fruits. The Ball/Bernardin site probably has the same information.
I also don't understand the addition of sugar to many recipes, either for canning or just for dinner. I was astonished to learn some while ago that many people seem to believe that sugar is a necessary ingredient in spaghetti sauce. But then, I've never particularly liked cooked tomatoes, so usually ate my pasta with a herb & butter sauce ... So what do I know? LOL. I've always been one to play around with the sugar/salt/herb/spice quantities in recipes (NOT when it comes to safety in canning however)
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  #10   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-16, 07:24
JuliaR JuliaR is offline
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Posts: 226
 
Plan: Atkins/eating to my meter
Stats: 170/132/125 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 84%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Squarecube
Just a warning, I've made sugar free jam from blueberries and blackberries and they go bad very quickly once opened. Sugar is a preservative. Using the very small half/quarter? pint jars lets you finish the jar in a day or two.


Yeah, I should have listened to my gut about that. I have half pints in the freezer now but probably should have gone smaller. Ah well, live and learn! Thanks!
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  #11   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-16, 07:25
JuliaR JuliaR is offline
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Posts: 226
 
Plan: Atkins/eating to my meter
Stats: 170/132/125 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 84%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
IIRC, it's recommended to refrigerate opened jars of SF jams & fruit for that reason. It's a good idea to refrigerate sugar-sweetened jams & fruit, too, if you're slow at eating them. Husband is all on his own when it comes to eating any kind of fruit, so everything is refrigerated.

Four oz. jelly jars are a good idea - they're especially nice for gifts when you don't know how fast they'll get eaten. It's fun to do a gift basket of 3 different jellies in the 4-oz jars. I have some nice little jelly/jam spoons I put it with the jellies. I don't think there's any way to make them low-carb, but wine jellies are easy & taste great. I miss them.


They will be refrigerated, agreed; I still don't know if we'll go through a half pint before it goes off though. We'll have to power through!
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  #12   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-16, 07:29
JuliaR JuliaR is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 226
 
Plan: Atkins/eating to my meter
Stats: 170/132/125 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 84%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verbena
Check the "Ball Blue Book" book on preserving. They have (in my edition from 2009) a (very short) section on "low sugar, low salt" recipes. Mainly they recommend using sugar substitute instead of sugar, or cutting back on real sugar, or none at all - for the reasons given above; sugar isn't necessary for the safety of canned fruits. The Ball/Bernardin site probably has the same information.
I also don't understand the addition of sugar to many recipes, either for canning or just for dinner. I was astonished to learn some while ago that many people seem to believe that sugar is a necessary ingredient in spaghetti sauce. But then, I've never particularly liked cooked tomatoes, so usually ate my pasta with a herb & butter sauce ... So what do I know? LOL. I've always been one to play around with the sugar/salt/herb/spice quantities in recipes (NOT when it comes to safety in canning however)


My Ball book is missing. So frustrating. We went through a cleaning binge and the kitchen, which is mostly used by my husband, was cleaned by him, too. He can't remember what he did with it. I can't complain, he does feed us almost 100% of the time.

When the season is over I may copy in recipes/links to recipes for the SF items I'm canning. It's ridiculous how many things have sugar for seemingly no good reason! One of the Mrs. Wages mixes has no sugar but you're supposed to add it when you open the jar; I think I'll try that one and see how it goes without adding anything at all.
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  #13   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-16, 10:46
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katmeyster katmeyster is offline
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Posts: 918
 
Plan: Keto (LCHFMP) + IF
Stats: 265/188/150 Female 61 inches
BF:Highest weight 290
Progress: 67%
Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico
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I'm not a canner, but am interested in doing it -- I just thought sugar was a preservative and maybe necessary. We don't go through a lot of food around here, so sometimes things go bad even refrigerated.

I usually have a lot of garden tomatoes, but I've been roasting and freezing -- I would love to can the roasted tomatoes (on the grill with garlic and basil) and give away as gifts. Is this possible without sugar? I'm also thinking of making salsa without sugar and canning that.

I'd prefer not to kill any of my friends and relatives off, if I can help it

Thx
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  #14   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-16, 11:08
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Posts: 2,573
 
Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katmeyster
I would love to can the roasted tomatoes (on the grill with garlic and basil) and give away as gifts. Is this possible without sugar? I'm also thinking of making salsa without sugar and canning that.

I'd prefer not to kill any of my friends and relatives off, if I can help it

Thx


Yeah - killing friends & relatives isn't a good idea.

I've never heard of canning roasted tomatoes. I'll look into it & get back to you. I do know (from sad experience) that basil doesn't can well - it gets bitter.
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  #15   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-16, 11:44
Verbena Verbena is offline
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Posts: 1,056
 
Plan: My own
Stats: 186/155/150 Female 5'4"
BF:
Progress: 86%
Location: SW PNW
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You can roast your tomatoes & garlic - I do it in the oven so the juices caramelize, and don't get lost - & put the finished product in small, sterilized jars, & cover with olive oil (run a small spatula or chopstick around the sides to release air bubbles, and make sure the oil fills all the nooks). Put them in the freezer, but keep one in the fridge, making sure the tomatoes are always covered in oil. Give them to your friends, but specify freezer/fridge storage. They keep just fine for quite awhile. (I don't think I've ever added basil at the time of cooking; I'd recommend only adding it to one jar at the beginning, and seeing how the flavor holds up)
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