# What would you absolutely refuse to can?



## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

What is is you absolutley won't can? 

For me it is pickled beets! I remember sitting down to sunday dinner and my dad would put 2 of the nasty things on my plate and I HAD to eat them before I could leave the table.

I have been studying up on canning and gardening because I have been out of the loop and the more I think about it the more I just know PICKLED BEETS WILL NOT BE IN MY CANNER!

Caren


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## BakerBen (Apr 2, 2012)

i wont can anything thats super cheap to buy and i dont like anyways. like tomato paste lol


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Spinach! Can't stand cooked spinach!!!


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## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

I love pickled beets! (Michiganders love pretty much anything pickled) lol

I, however, will NEVER even attempt to can spinach. Love the stuff raw, even mildly cooked.... but that "slime" that happens when it is canned is beyond my want to ever see or try eating again.


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

I'd have to agree with spinach too. That and I can't stand pickles in any form, so I don't ever see me canning any of them either.


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## Digger (Nov 1, 2003)

We do eat canned spinach. I canned some at home and thought I'll not do that again. It took so much greens and only made 4 pts. But when we opened the first can,---- it was so much better than the store bought. Far superior to the store bought. I am now considering canning more, even if the pressure time is 90 minutes, it is worth it.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Yellow squash. I can eat just about anything, and will eat canned yellow squash if it's there. It's just that the product wasn't worth the effort.

I like spinach, but the leaves are too small to mess with, so I do swiss chard instead. Tastes about the same. Yeah, it takes a boat load to make a canner load, but ya gotta have those green leafy veggies.

Caren, you might want to re-try pickled beets as an adult. I do the "spicy pickled beets" and have no problem with them.

I wouldn't touch many veggies as a child, but as an adult I find them to be tasty. Turnips (raw in a salad), rutabaga (diced to make pasties) and lima beans come to mind.


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## Karenrbw (Aug 17, 2004)

Canned beets will never find their way into my canner or my pantry. Other than that, I am pretty much open to trying anything once.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

My husband likes beets, I figured I never did and never would. 

But my home raised/home canned beets are really good. Suprised me that I liked them. I even started liking canned carrots (which I hate store bought, don't like raw ones much either).

So I have tried canning many things once to see if I like them, and if we'll eat them up. I will not can pickled green tomatoes again. Not that they were horrid, but we never ate them. 

I have not tired spinach yet -didn't grow any last year.


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## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

I'm with you on NO BEETS! Thankfully my dad didn't like them either but he loved turnips and we could choose raw or cooked, double yuk on those too! 
Love my spinach and wild greens but prefer frozen over canned.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

LOL..ROAD KILL! ound:

Seriously though, I haven't found anything that I don't want to can...yet. But there are things that make a bigger mess and require more time. I don't enjoy them quite as much..like chicken. But I always enjoy it *after* they are canned!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I have never canned potatoes.
They keep so well in the cellar and I just wont waste my time and lids on them.
It seems impractical to me.


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

I guess I don't can the things I won't eat. I MAY can it for someone else as a gift or favor....but not sure why anyone would ever buy or can anything they aren't going to eat or...that their family won't eat. Also what gone-a-milkin said, the things that you are able to store well another way that makes more sense.

The only time I can potatos is if there are more than we can reasonably eat that have been knicked or cut.


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## Lazydaisy67 (Jan 28, 2008)

It's weird, but my husband and I had the 'beets' conversation just last night. I was telling him that since they're loaded with nutrients I'm going to can them this year. I remember my moms canned beets and they didn't taste nearly as 'dirty' as the fresh ones. They're still not my fav, but if I've got the room to grow them, what the heck, might as well can them.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I don't like canning sauerkraut. It stinks. I actually don't like making it either. I just buy the stuff in a jar off the shelf.


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## Guest (May 13, 2012)

I can pickled beets using a bread and butter pickling mix. pretty good. I also can a whole lot of pickled onions with same recipe. And pickled squash. I've never canned any sort of greens. Froze a ton of them though. I'm wanting to can some catfish. never done that before. Yet.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

zong said:


> I'm wanting to can some catfish. never done that before. Yet.


That is interesting. What would you do with catfish? Would you can them raw or cooked?
Around here, we fillet them then bread and fry fish. We honestly don't use fish any other way. I'm just interested in your use and plan.


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## Guest (May 13, 2012)

I have some notion of something similar to tuna salad, maybe. I guess it would depend a lot on the texture, after canned. I do make an awful lot of catfish stew, on up in the winter from frozen.
ETA: the bigger ones have a fairly "meaty" texture.


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## Citychick (Mar 27, 2008)

Oh would like your catfish stew recipe!


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

Sally I tried the delmontie pickled beets. Nasty! just nasty! My boyfriends daughter eats everything and she said they tasted like cold water lake! Yuck!


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## Guest (May 14, 2012)

Citychick said:


> Oh would like your catfish stew recipe!


Everything I cook is open to interpretation and adaption. Basically, I start out with some homemade salsa. potatoes, onions, butterbeans, okra, and corn. Cook it all, add big chunks of catfish last. It don't take a whole lot of cooking to turn fish into mush. Then you've gone too far! Once the fish is done, its ready to eat with some corn bread. Maybe some slaw, if you got cabbages still. Back home they pour it over a plate of rice. I think there's still a law in SC about "rice with every meal"
More of a jumbalaya than anything else, I reckon.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

Sweet potatoes. To try get the skins off them and get them chopped up and back into the canner while keeping everything hot is a mission unto itself. I had to do pounds and pounds of it for a woman's shelter in our area. 

Eventually I just resorted to freezing it, much easier!


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Beets are good and so is most everything else mentioned fresh, canned or even frozen.
The thing I'd never can - OKRA!
Never liked the stuff from first time I put it in my mouth and spit it out......
Apologies to those that like the stuff......


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Oh Micheal, you should try my sister-in-law's pickled okra. I never knew that okra could taste so good - or not be slimy!

About all the pickled beet bashing - you guys are nuts. Pickled beets are amazing! I use the recipe from the Farm Journal Canning and Freezing book and the extra spices make it wonderful! We probably have them at at least one meal a day until they are gone. For that reason, I will be planting at least 4 rows this year since I like them cooked right out of the garden, too. God's gift.


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

LOVE pickled beets! Would not even try to can broccoli or asparagus. Can barely stand the smell of blanching it!


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## udwe (Aug 8, 2009)

wish I could get enough asparagus to have a whole side dish with a meal...


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I will never can ham again. I canned a whole ham this Easter and it tastes like salty pork. I think they use chemicals instead of smoking the hams commercially because it lost the smoked taste.

I love pickled beets, I will can them any day of the week.


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## Peggy (Feb 14, 2010)

Asparagus.. I love it cooked fresh, but hate it canned. changes the flavor and it is too mushey.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I won't can broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus or spinach again. The texture was just not right and the taste was off. We had to force ourselves to eat it (most got snuck in quiche). Doubt I'll do plain squash again, but it was fairly nice pickled.

I won't ever can burbot (like a cross between a catfish and an eel) again. It's great fresh or frozen, but they are huge and we caught a bunch so I canned up what didn't fit in the freezer. Yuck! Tasted like dirty rubber erasers. I'm thinking that any of the "mud" fishes would be tend to get funky in the canner, since the same thing happened with the eel. It might be ok pickled, like herring, but not plain slabs like tuna or salmon.

I'm not a fan of beets, so most of what we grow gets fed to the critters, but I do can up a few 4oz jars of pickled ones for when we get desperate for _anything_ different come mid-winter. But I actually do can a bunch of quarts of plain beets because the hogs love them and the spring weaner pigs eat them up while we're waiting for this year's crop.

I will never ever can okra. I've tried it a gajillion different ways and the only way it's even vaguely tolerable for me is Indian kurkuri bhindi which needs to be fresh.

I also will never ever can brussells sprouts. They aren't my fav to begin with, and canned they're even worse!

I have canned roadkill -- fresh moose hit by the snow plow, not something I had to scrape up with a shovel


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## MuskovyMom (May 31, 2012)

Peas. I just love 'em fresh (or frozen), and I'd rather dry them than can them. I would have to agree with the spinach, and I can't stand beets but everyone else in my family loves them so will have to do pickled beets sometimes (ugh).


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## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

I LOVE pickled beets and have been out in recent days fretting over our new garden as the beets aren't coming up well!

I can EVERYTHING, i.e. veggies, meat, fruit, pickles, jam, etc. But my failure about a year ago was taco soup. Why? I dunno! I used everything in the jars that I usually put in my crock pot, but somehow it's better if the ingredients are canned separately. But the chickens have loved it!


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

I like pickled beets, but the wife and kids don't..... Not worth canning 2 Â½pts.  Other than using the beet juice to make pickled eggs purple.

Not can? Sweet pickles, bleeech. I love dills (both regular and Kosher) and bread and butter. I love everything dilled, brussel sprouts, asparugus and so on. I LOVE pickled chicken gizzards, MMMMMMMM!

So Caren, I shouldn't drop off some pickled beets one day 

(Caren lives about 5 miles from me, yet we have not yet met)


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Anyone like Harvard beets?

3/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup beet juice
1 quart sliced canned beets, drained
3 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, vinegar and water. Bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes. Add the beets to the liquid, and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. Stir in butter, salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Serve warm or chilled. 

....James


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

Riverdale You can keep the pickled beets but I will help relieve you of some of your dill pickles.

Riverdale I need a garden buddy. I am trying to do a garden by myself. I am not having good Luck. I think I have to replant my corn. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since I planted the corn and only a half a dozen corn plants have come up!


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## Feisty Farm (Apr 10, 2012)

I'm not a beet fan either, but I will say, if I can CAN it, I will.....someone will eat it! LOL


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

Caren said:


> Riverdale You can keep the pickled beets but I will help relieve you of some of your dill pickles.
> 
> Riverdale I need a garden buddy. I am trying to do a garden by myself. I am not having good Luck. I think I have to replant my corn. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since I planted the corn and only a half a dozen corn plants have come up!


PM sent


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