Judging at the Fair and Putting By

I love this time of year!!!

Today I had the pleasure to judge at our local fair for Home Arts.  My area was canning, dehydrating and honey.  Beautiful home products were brought in.

We had wonderful group of gals and great questions were asked.  What do we look at? What are the criteria?, etc.

Well just in case you wonder as well what we use as guidelines, here are a few.

• Is it a standard canning jar
• Is it a standard canning lid
• Is the jar clean (not sticky or residue on the jar or rim)
• Is the jar labeled: contents, date, processed how and time
• Was the correct processing method used (hot water bath, pressure canner, correct time processed)
• Was it a USDA recommended recipe

Then after that...

• What does the product look like.
• Is it uniform in size
• Is it uniform in ripeness
• Does it hold it's shape (if that pertains)
• Is the liquid clear or murky
• Is there sediment in the bottom of the jar
• Is the headspace correct for the recipe
• And then there are additional items if it is jelly, jam, conserve, butter: consistency, thickness, etc.  

It is great fun and I'm always so pleased to see the lovely produce put by by such talented people.  

That was my morning so this afternoon I came home to get some of my own 'putting by' done.  

We lost two branches from our peach tree (very sad).  I didn't want the peaches to go to waste so I left them outside to ripen on the picnic table.  They were small but still tasty so I decided to make peach fruit leather with them. 

So I pitted them, whirled them in the blender with a vitamin C (which is ascorbic acid to prevent browning), some spices, honey and a little splash of water.  That is now out in the dehydrator.

I also had purchased some meat for the weekend that we didn't use.  My freezer is getting full. So I decided to can my meat.  I have nine pints in the pressure canner right now processing.

If you too would like to can meat, it is really easy, go HERE to the National Center for Home Canning Meat.  

That has been my day of judging and putting by.  I hope you are having a beautiful time harvesting the seasons' bounty as well.

a little bird