How to make homemade pectin

Good info


via Off Grid

Homemade Pectin
Once I mastered jam making, inevitably, I began wondering how I could make jam without the expense of buying commercial pectin. If you’ve got access to apple trees, you can easily make pectin at home. Use the pectin just as you would commercial liquid pectin. Four cups of homemade pectin equals three ounces of commercial pectin.


Here are the steps for making homemade pectin:

1. Pick several pounds of apples. Thinly slice them, but don’t peel or core them. You can use any type of apple, including slightly green ones and those that are less-than-perfect. Young crab apples or Granny Smith apples work well. This is a great way to use up apples that have wormholes or other defects. Simply trim out the damaged areas.
2. Combine the apples in a large stockpot with water at a rate of one pint water for each one pound of apple slices.
3. Boil the apple slices and water for forty-five minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Line a colander with cheesecloth. Pour the apple slices and juice through the colander into a large pot or bowl.
5. Return the apple slices to the stockpot and add more water, using the same measurements as before. Simmer over medium heat for fifteen to twenty minutes.
6. Remove the stockpot from the heat and let set for ten minutes. Strain the apples and juice through cheesecloth as you did before into the bowl or pot.
7. Gather the cheesecloth up tightly around the cooked apple slices to make a bag. Squeeze your bag, collecting any remaining juice into the bowl or pot. The combined juice is the homemade pectin. You should have one quart of pectin for every one pound of apples you cooked.
8. Cover and refrigerate the pectin if you’re making jams right away. For long-term storage, ladle the pectin into four-cup freezer containers, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Cover and freeze for up to three months. To use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight. You can also can homemade pectin. Pour it into quart jars, add two-piece lids, and process in a water bath canner for fifteen minutes.

Making Jam With Homemade Pectin
Homemade pectin looks and tastes a lot like unsweetened apple juice. Unlike commercial pectins, it can stand up to longer cooking times, so you have more flexibility. In fact, it’s so flexible that you can make up your own recipes, based on individual preferences.
For example, a standard jam recipe usually goes something like this:

• 4 pounds fruit
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 quart liquid pectin

However, depending on the sweetness of the fruit, you can cut the sugar down quite a bit. You may also find, depending on the ripeness and amount of natural pectin in the fruit, that you need to add more pectin to thicken the jam. I usually combine the fruit and pectin in a large stockpot and boil it, stirring constantly for ten to fifteen minutes. Take a small spoonful of jam and place it on a plate. If it mounds up slightly on the plate, I know I’ve got the consistency I like. I can then add the sugar and simmer five minutes more. If, on the other hand, the jam spreads all over the plate in a runny mess, I simply add more pectin and boil it again. If the jam tastes too tart, I just add a bit more sugar.
The thickening ability of the pectin varies from year to year, depending on the ripeness of the apples, as well as the varieties and your preparation. Just plan on experimenting a bit with each batch until your jam is perfect.

Quick Tip On Making Pectin
Here’s another idea for saving apple pieces for pectin: Whenever you cut up an apple for fresh eating or cooking, save the peels and cores and place them in a resealable plastic bag. Store the bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, use the apple pieces to make liquid pectin. Also, once you’ve cooked the apple slices down for pectin, run the apple pulp through a food mill to make applesauce or apple butter. What a great way to stretch your resources!

I love the smell of bacon in the morning

Aporkalypse Now

Only in Texas...Hunt em from a whirly bird, full auto and with a suppressor.

 

Uncle Ted and Pigman do it up right.

You’re here because of your religious beliefs

With the recent news on the "detainment" of Brandon Raub for "mental health issues".  It now seems that this is a growing trend to silence those who are Christians, patriots, owners of firearms and dare to speak against the socialist regime in DC.

Doug Hagmann has a article at CFP about another patriot who has had the same thing happen.

The officer told Jason that he had to go with them based on a mental health complaint that originated solely from his friend, the physical therapist assistant in New York, who claimed that he was worried for Jason’s safety.

While this reason has been being used by the American Gestapo, it is being used by a profession medical diagnosis by those who are students of Joseph Mengele.

This gets a bit more interesting when Jason, who felt it best to accommodate the evaluating doctors, reported to the crisis counseling center as instructed. Mr. Ergoff furnished the handful of paperwork to the crisis center worker who spent a few minutes looking over the documents. After a lengthy pause, she looked at Jason and made the following chilling observation as if it was a matter of routine: “So, you’re here because of your religious beliefs.” As Jason tells it, this was not a question, but a statement of fact.

Hagmann states that Jason Ergoff is not the only one he has heard of this happening to.  it is a growing trend and will likely continue to increase in frequency.

Lest you think this is an isolated case, I have since heard from five-(5) other individuals in different parts of the U.S. that this has happened to within the last thirty-(30) days. 

 So if you get one of those strange calls....

he received another telephone call from a “restricted” number. It was “Officer Steve” again, although this time he was calling from the front porch of Mr. Ergoff’s house.

You come to the crossroads and contemplate your directions.  

No matter the direction, it will be a life altering decision.

Do you comply or take a step?

Damascus UN headquarters hit by bombs

Finally something good in the news.

Possible SPLC ties to the FRC shooter

via SNN

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been fanning the flames of extremism against the Family Research Council (FRC), a Christian lobbying organisation. Now we have word that a gunman, perhaps radicalised by the SPLC’s far-Left propaganda, has stormed the FRC’s headquarters in Washington, DC, opening fire on a security guard. The guard, who was shot in the arm, managed to wrestle the shooter to the ground and thereby prevent a possible massacre. The Washington, DC police are calling the security guard a hero for stopping this act of domestic terrorism.

SSA & the Ammo Bandwagon

Yep, they can't be left out. 

They need all that ammo to keep the old folks in line.

SSA 357 Sig Ammo RFQ

More TSA Bullshit-Buying 700lbs of ANFO & RDX

So in the past several month DHS has/is acquiring

•  450M rounds of 40 cal HP,
• an additional 750M rounds
• armored checkpoints 
• Primasheet plastic explosives 
• MRAPS, and who know what else is hidden.

Now it seems that TSA is acquiring 700 pounds of High Grade Ammonium Nitrate and 700 pounds of RDX.  

Again it must be to blow up scary suitcases

I know, try not to snort coffee out your nose, but you will when you see who comprises the company they are buying it from.  A company of ex-agents that are not a maker of big booms.  Checkout their site.  

It drips from the same poison tree as many others homeboy companies.

The American Homeland Security Consulting Group is a professional services agency comprised of former Federal agents of the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Treasury.

As Activist Post points out, if they don't manufacture the plastic explosives or ammonium nitrate where the hell are they getting it?

It also begs to be asked if there will be a "domestic right wing terrorist" who is found with a cache of either of these explosives.

That is the $64,000,000 question.

Ghosts of the woods

How many of you hunters have just had a deer materialize from no where?

I know I have.

I just had some family property logged.  Here are some of the prospects for the upcoming deer season.

Hopefully my girls will bag one or two of these nice bucks.  

My littlest one is 8 and this will be her first season.  Be nice if she could bag big this one.

Mapping the furture

Silly rabbit.  

You just think they ask for permission.

Red Dawn Trailer

I was at this party and....

Shit got real wild

A mother bear and her three cubs broke into a Norwegian cabin this week, reportedly drinking more than 100 beers, eating all the food and even knocking over a wall.

Another victim in the War on Drugs

From my neck of the woods.



Some local entrepreneur has taken a heavy loss in their business venture.  It is a large investment to cultivate that much acreage.

the grow was located on an 800 acre tract of land and had several fields along Sandy Creek that contained approximately 30,000 marijuana plants. 

While some cheer that these evil plants are gone, I look at this as a valuable intel trove.

You have all these faces and who they work for.  In a small community, it's easy to find personal details on them.  Plus, the whirly bird and the Winnebago just seem to call out.  Target.

One think I wonder about is the below comment.  Did they use trail cams or was it a drone.

The large operation was discovered about seven weeks ago and has been monitored by police and included the use of cameras.

More info HERE with video

He said nobody has been found on the site and no warrants have been issued.

USMC New CQB Pistol Cracks Under Pressure

The Marines just spent $22M on some new 45's.

But after 12k rounds through them, it seems it's back to the drawing board.

Not pretty.

Guns 11, 12, 14 and 15 (1-10 were not fire tested) fired 12,000 rounds before being deadlined due to visible safety-critical cracks found in the slides. Each slide had cracks in the same location, but they varied in size.

Some people have all the luck

Order a $300 TV and get a $1600 black rifle, thanks to UPS mix up

When D.C. resident Seth Horvitz ordered a flat-panel TV on Amazon, he didn’t expect to get a military-grade assault rifle in return.

Horvitz ordered the TV, a Westinghouse 39-inch LCD, for about $320 from a third-party electronics seller on Amazon.

On Tuesday evening, a large, oblong box arrived at his doorstep via UPS Ground.
“When I saw some metal parts inside the box, I thought, ‘Maybe this is a TV stand or mount or something,’” Horvitz said in a phone interview with Wired.

“When I realized it was an assault rifle, it was pure shock and disbelief.

I know there is lots wrong with the article.  Hit the link to read the rest of them.

Sometimes it good to keep quiet.

Hoover Dam: Show your papers!!!

Why does Hoover Dam need active check points?

They are 300+ miles form the Mexican border.

Go figure?

A man didn't stop at a checkpoint approaching the Hoover Dam Tuesday evening before peacefully surrendering to authorities after realizing he was unable to get out, officials said.

After driving through the check point on the Nevada side, authorities raised a barrier trapping the man between a SWAT truck and the barrier. He attempted to turn around, but had nowhere to go, said Rose Davis, a Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman.

Oct 7, 1780-The Battle of Kings Mountain

On this day in 1780 the battle of Kings Mountain, NC was fought.

American patriots achieved a huge victory over larger Loyalist forces.

This battle lasted only 65 minutes.

It's not over until it is.

With out hope, there is no tomorrow.

Date	Saturday, October 07, 1780
Weather	~22 `F, winds 13knots
Location	Near Blackburn, SC and King's Mountain, NC
	Great Britain	The US Colonies
Belligerents	Loyalists	United States
Commanders	Patrick Ferguson	James Johnston, John Sevier, William Campbell
Casualties	Force: 1200 Killed: 290 Wounded: 163 Captured: 668	Force: 900 Killed: 29 Wounded: 58 Captured: 0

BOCK...BOCK

DHS trying to buy Primasheet

 

So now along with the 450M rounds of 40 cal and the armored check points, DHS want to buy thin, flexible, waterproof sheets of plastic explosives called Primasheet


Plus they don't want anyone to know about it.


Yep, cut it into strips and BINGO-BAMMO you have a nice breaching charge for small DIY projects.




via Activist Post

What was lacking in the solicitation was the quantity required, budget requirements, shipping dates, and other pertinent information a business would require to know in order to put forth a bid. Here is a screen capture of the solicitation request:

The TSA might use Prima Sheet to destroy luggage and other contraband. Fine. But when a request for more information is requested – that request is ignored.

When the material being solicited for does not show up in the search engine, and the solicitation number vanishes from the FBO website, now we have something here. We have a secret.

Government Bullies

Four Types of Government Operatives: Bullies, Muggers, Sneak Thieves, and Con Men

 It seems that the fine upstanding barristers at the justice department have decided to once again rewrite the laws so they can intimidate & bully anyone they feel like.


This is from the Kim Dotcom/Megaupload case.

The United States government said Friday that even if the indictment of the Megaupload corporation is dismissed, it can continue its indefinite freeze on the corporation’s assets while it awaits the extradition of founder Kim Dotcom and his associates.

 

You couldn't pay me enough for this!!!

How to Make Lye

If you don't know how to make lye for soap, here it is.


Practice making some, as well as some soap, to become familiar with the process.


Here are some good recipes for cold and hot soap making as well as other old timey recipes.


Lye and HERE

1. Start a rain barrel to catch soft water. This is a key step. Depending upon how much lye you want to leach, make sure that you have 2 or 3 gallons of soft water before you proceed.Water from a dehumidifier works as well.You can also use electrically distilled water. The purer the water, the more potassium that can be leached from the ashes. Do not use bottled spring water or water from the tap! (You can use bottled distilled water that was processed using steam distillation.)Get a wooden barrel and a cork about 3in (7.6cm) long. A cask-sized or waist-high barrel will work. You can find these at a local brewer's supply house.
2.  Drill a hole in the barrel approximately 2in (5cm) above the bottom. Make sure that the cork will fit snugly into the hole.
3. Put the barrel on a brick base someplace where it will be undisturbed. Lye is caustic; take the necessary precautions. Put some bricks down and place the barrel on top of them. The brick base must be stable. It raises the barrel up so that you can easily drain off the lye into a container when it is ready. Give yourself room to work.
4. Cover the bottom of the barrel with some palm-sized clean rocks (e.g. river rock). Cover the rocks with approximately 6in (15cm) of straw (this can be hay or grass). This will filter the ashes and help your lye drain cleanly.
5. Gather branches and/or logs of oak, ash, or fruitwoods. Remember that the best lye is made from hardwoods, so avoid pine, fir, and other evergreens. Palm leaves work well if they are completely dried and brown.
6. Burn the branches to ash. You can do this outside in a pile or, better yet, in a freshly-emptied fireplace or woodstove where the ashes won’t become mixed with anything else.
7. Scoop the ashes out and put them in the prepped barrel. (Make sure that the ash is completely cold, or you could set your barrel and anything around it on fire.) You can fill the barrel with ash, but it is not necessary; you can make smaller amounts with less ash.
8. Soak the ashes. Put a pan under the hole and remove the cork. Pour the soft water in until you see it start to drain into the pan, then put the cork back in tightly. After a day, the first ash should settle and you can add more ash.
9. Let the ash soak for at least three days. If you want to use more ash, you can add it all week and drain it regularly (ex. on a specific day of the week).
10. Check to see if your lye is ready. For what purpose are you leaching this lye? Body soap or heavy cleaning? Lye concentration gets stronger with each leaching. For average soap making, measure the concentration by dropping a fist-sized potato or a raw egg into the barrel (making sure to throw either of these away afterwards). If it floats enough for a quarter-sized area to rise above the water, it is ready. If it doesn't, you need to add more ashes or drain all the water and re-leach it (pour it back into the cask and let it set for one more cycle).
11. When it's ready, catch your lye a wooden crock or glass container. Put it under the tap, gently pull the cork, and fill your containers. Leave enough head room so that they will be safe and easy to pour. Make sure that you have tight, fitting lids.
12. Store your lye in a cool dark place until use. The sooner you use it, the better.

Pigs Wanted

I was cruising the local message board to see if there were any good deals and came across this post.


I got a good chuckle out of it.

Pigs wanted

Posted By: Bobbie McWhorter
Date: August 4 at 9:26 a.m.

I want to buy two pigs about 25 to 50 lbs. I am willing to pay up to $50 a piece. Please call 409-xxx-xxxx.

Posted By: EricT
Date: August 4 at 9:54 a.m.

In Response To: Pigs wanted (Bobbie McWhorter)

if you dial 911 you can get some for free and alot heavier

Once again: white male is villainified as a terrorist

A "TRAINING" video made by Houston on how to survive a shooter.  But in reality it is anothe attempt to make the white male look like the villain.

The local news outlets had this vid on their nightly news the other night, but nothing in-depth...I know nothing new there.

Of course the money for this propaganda was from federal sources.

Using a $200,000 federal homeland security grant, the City of Houston has produced an active shooter public service announcement describing what citizens should do

Easier than Fish in a barrel

The newest campaign tool for the Dick-tator is a app that lets you see where the nearest democrat obama ass worshiper lives.


This new tool makes it easier than shooting fish in a barrel.     

 Here is the app

 via ProPublica

Curious how many Democrats live on your block? Just download the Obama campaign's new mobile app.

The app, released last week, includes a Google map for canvassers that recognizes your current location and marks nearby Democratic households with small blue flags.

For each targeted address, the app displays the first name, age and gender of the voter or voters who live there: "Lori C., 58 F, Democrat." 

Texas: It's a Whole Nother Country

Very valid and realistic reasons Texas should break off and once again become a Republic.


via Brock

Texas would be better off as a free republic in many ways. First, the taxes paid to the federal government by Texas would now be staying in Texas. In 2007, this amounted to $225,390,904,000 . The most recent Texas State budget amounted to $182,000,000,000. By shifting the location to where these tax monies go, Texas could operate effectively on the monies currently paid in taxes to the federal government without increasing any taxes itself. The monies currently collected for Texas's use could then be used to pay down debt and national defense.

As a republic Texas could protect its own borders effectively and set up a sound immigration policy to replace the current federally-mandated one. Texas would also be free to deport illegal immigrants. A Lone Star republic would also be able to refuse services to illegal immigrants, which currently drains State resources to the tune of $4.3 billion annually. A refusal of services to illegal aliens and their families would force them into a track of seeking legal immigration status. Texas needs population growth. With Texas in control of immigration policy, the future of her demographic make-up could be managed in Austin rather than in Washington, DC. This means that the needs of Texas would take priorities over political paybacks to ungrateful nations whose children we school and immigrants we are forced to absorb under the US plan. Presently, unfunded federal mandates cost Texas over $4 billion each year. This kind of burden hurts educational effectiveness and slows economic growth.

In terms of national defense, Texas could provide the manpower to protect its national interests. Rather than having our sons and daughters fighting imperialistic wars, they would be kept in Texas to protect our sovereignty and borders. With Texas as a free republic, there would not be obligations or treaties to protect other overseas nations unless Texans wanted there to be. By going independent, we would keep out of foreign entanglements and wars. Texas sons and daughters would not have to die in jungles and deserts around the world based on fuzzy foreign policy or defending a UN agenda.

Regarding technology, the fighter airplane plants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and other factories would provide Texas with state-of-the-art defensive capabilities, including combat vehicles, missiles, ships, and avionics. Presently 65% of the united States defense contractors are located in Texas. When a policy of defense rather than offense is sought, the type of weapons needs also change. Texas could become the world leader in military technology.

Texas would not need a fleet of carriers to patrol the seven seas or bases in the Indian Ocean like Diego Garcia. Maintaining a presence in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic would adequately provide for our defensive needs. With the shipyard facilities in Texas, such vessels could be constructed within the republic. Texas is poised to be a player in space technology as well, although it would need to work with other nations in launching its own satellites. 

In the area of energy, Texas could provide for its own needs without the federal red tape currently in place. A Lone Star republic could develop its own oil fields within its own land boundaries and offshore. Texas already produces 1/3 of the petroleum in the U.S. The Texas oil fields would be able to improve their productivity. The petroleum produced would also be a valuable export that could be traded with other nations. Texas also has its own electrical grid, which could be maintained independent of other nations, such as the US. 

In the areas of banking and economics Texas has many large banking interests already in place. She is already the largest exporter of goods in the United States. By going independent, that trade would increase rather than decrease.

In terms of trade, the Port of Houston is already the sixth largest in the world. Texas has three of the 10 largest US ports located in our borders. The air cargo facility at DFW is viewed as one of the world's best. We already have more farms and more farm acreage than any other state. Transitioning to an independent republic would be easily accomplished without major interruptions in agriculture, trade or economics.

Texas also has its own culture, cuisine, art, music, and literature. These areas are important in establishing a national identity. With these items already in place, the transition from forced Statehood within the Union to independence could be accomplished easily in terms of having a separate culture and identity. 

All in all, Texas would be served better in providing for the well being of its citizens, national defense, economic stability, education, and trade as a sovereign, independent republic than as a part of a sinking imperial union. Leaving the Union would remove many of the restraints and shackles from a powerful nation that has been held back. Texas would be allowed to blossom and achieve its fullest potential as a separate republic. It will never reach its full potential as a subservient political sub-district in this current bankrupt Union.