Dorchester's Animals Need Your Support Now!

A letter from Suzette Stitely, Executive Director of Dorchester Humane Society:

Rarely a day goes by that the Dorchester Humane Society doesn't receive a call about an unwanted companion animal. The situation is grave; especially for cats. Kittens born under a shed, puppies left along a country road - these are the animals we want to help. Sadly, their numbers are too many and our resources too few. We have a difficult task before us, however we've been given a valuable gift to help us. We need you in order to be successful.

The Snyder Foundation For Animals, located in Baltimore, has heard our cries for help and they have issued a $5000 spay/neuter challenge grant to us. For every dollar we raise to end pet overpopulation, they will match one to one. Just think of the difference $10,000 in spay/neuter resources would mean for our community; how many animals will be spared a dump along a country road or worse.

Please join us and make a donation towards this challenge right now. No gift is too small - all gifts will be matched. Your $25 gift will spay a cat and a gift of $50 will spay a dog - larger gifts will ensure the challenge is met. By partnering together we will offer our community a humane solution to overpopulation; the only acceptable solution - spaying and neutering.

PS. When making your gift, please be sure to mention it is for the Snyder grant challenge. Please mail checks to: DHS PO Box 132 Cambridge, MD 21613.

Let’s Can Apples

by JR Coffey

The smell of cooking apples seem to say Fall. It is that smell and taste that we want to capture in the canning jar. I believe Fall is one of the busiest times in regard to canning and preserving. Many fruits are in during the Fall season, including grapes, apples, pears, plums and figs. Let’s get started canning!

The varieties of apples are endless. I prefer Golden Delicious to can for Baking, Ginger Gold for Apple Chutney, Winesaps, Grimes Golden or my favorite Northern Spy for applesauce and apple butter. The early apples such as Summer Rambo and Transparent are good for sauce and cooking as well. I use the same apples for pies as for sauce.

Apples for Baking

1 gallon apples, peeled and quartered

1 C. sugar

1 t. Fruit Fresh

Mix sugar and fruit fresh and sprinkle over apples. Cover and let stand overnight. Next morning, pack apples into clean jars, leaving ¾” headspace. Add hot water to juice left in container and dissolve sugar and divide liquid among the jars. Add more water to fill jars to within ¾” headspace. Wipe jar rims, seal and process (cold pack) 5 to 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Do half gallon jars 15 minutes. Do not process too long or they will turn to sauce instead. Golden Delicious are excellent canned this way.

A slight variation is to use 2 to 3 pounds sugar for a 5 gallon container of prepared apples. To serve, put your apples in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with about ¼ C. brown sugar and dot with about 1 or 2 T. butter. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 to 60 minute.

Apple Pie Filling

Please see Peach column for my pie filling to can recipe. Just add 1 T. ground cinnamon per double batch of glaze for each ½ bushel of apples. This will can 14 to 16 quarts each time. You could add some apple pie spice (1 to 2 t.) instead of or in addition to the cinnamon. Some also like about a teaspoon of vanilla as well in apple pie filling.

More of JR's Country Canning Corner blog.

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| Tags: Preserving Foods, Recipes, Food & Dining