Country Living in a Cariboo Valley

Homesteading in BC

Homemade Rooting Hormone – 7 Recipes to Make Your Own

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 Homemade rooting hormone is ideal for propagating plants and shrubs – here are 7 recipes to make your own!

There are plenty of different ways to make homemade rooting hormone, instead of buying a commercial product. These natural rooting recipes here are used to help significantly improve the growth of roots when you’re cloning a plant or growing from root cuttings, a stem cutting or leaves, such as begonias or primroses.

Homemade Rooting Hormone – Different Ways to Make Your Own

Rooting hormone on end of plant cutting being placed in soil.
Rooting hormone recipes that make propagating plants successful.

While I typically use willow water for my organic rooting hormone, sometimes these other options prove to be easier for a lot of gardeners. If you are an organic gardener interested in growing healthier and stronger roots, then check out these different ways to make homemade DIY rooting hormone today!

We’ve got seven different recipes for making rooting hormone for plants listed below. So make one (or more) of these recipes and give it a try. Want to buy it instead? We’ve even got a recommendation for what we feel is the best root hormone available on the market and you can buy it online.

How can I make natural rooting hormone at home?

You can use the below ingredients to make do it yourself rooting hormone at home and increase your chances of success when propagating plant cuttings. I have listed a handful of ways to maximize your root growth from cuttings with simple supplies most of you have at home.

Honey Rooting Hormone

A honey pot and honey stick with summer flowers on rustic wooden table
Honey works well for plant propagation.

To make honey rooting hormone you’ll need to place 1 tablespoon of honey into 2 cups of boiling water. Allow this mixture to cool and store inside an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You’ll need to store this honey rooting hormone away from light when storing it for later use.

Apple Cider Vinegar Rooting Hormone

You’ll want to be careful when using apple cider vinegar for homemade rooting hormone; too much will kill the plant. Mix 3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into one gallon of water.

You’ll need to keep this stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Then, when you are ready to use, dip your plants into the apple cider vinegar rooting hormone and transfer them to a rooting medium.

Using Aspirin 

While this option isn’t as natural as the other options, using aspirin as a rooting hormone is doable for people who may not have access to use the other more natural mixtures right now.

You’ll add one regular strength 325 mg aspirin to 1 gallon of warm water. You’ll need to let your cuttings soak in this liquid rooting hormone for several hours before planting.

Aloe Vera Rooting Hormone

Aloe vera leaves cut sit in a bowl, with the gel exposed.
Fresh aloe leaves and aloe gel can be used for rooting plant cuttings.

The rooting stimulant, salicylic acid is a natural plant hormone that is found in aloe plants.

Take some of the natural gel from your aloe vera plant and place it in the blender with some water. You’ll only need a little aloe vera gel and a little water mixed together.

Then take root rooting hormone and allow the cuttings to soak in a jar or small container in this blended-up mixture for several hours before transferring to your potting soil.

Using Saliva 

Homemade Rooting Hormone Recipes with cut aloe leaves
Aloe Vera can be used for propagating new shrubs and plants.

This is one of the options that may not be as fantastic as some of my other recommendations, but using saliva on plants works. I’ve heard of people licking their cuttings to help enhance root growth, but that could take hours!

Instead, simply spit on the bottom of the cuttings and place in your root medium to use this saliva homemade rooting hormone option.

Willow Water Rooting Hormone

A weeping willow tree growing by a pond.
The stems of willows make an excellent rooting hormone.

This is by far my favorite homemade rooting hormone option; willow water or willow bark tea as some may call it. It’s a little trickier to make homemade willow water, but you can follow my DIY willow water rooting hormone recipe here.

Basically you take fresh cuttings of willow pieces, break them down and use those chunks to make the water propagation solution for great root development. If you’ve got access to willow trees, try it!

Coconut Water

Yes, coconut water can be used as a natural rooting solution. It has lots of great properties including phosphorus and contains auxin, making for a natural rooting recipe that works as well as any commercial type. Just dip fresh cuttings into fresh coconut milk (not canned)

Using Cinnamon

Cinnamon as a rooting hormone works best along with some other method, so this is used in conjunction with one of the homemade natural rooting hormone options listed. This spice will help naturally fight off fungus and bacteria on your cuttings so that the roots can grow healthy.

You can mix a little cinnamon powder with your willow water or apple cider vinegar to maximize root growth and encourage new roots to form.

 

Shrub cutting dipped in rooting hormone.
Our favourite brand of rooting hormone.

You can purchase commercial rooting hormones from a local nursery or an online garden shop. This brand of rooting hormone is excellent (we think it’s the best rooting hormone available commercially). We used this years ago when we grew an entire laurel hedge from cuttings. Want to see how we did it? For under $10 at the time, we grew an entire fast growing hedge.

You can also buy various types of rooting hormone powder, like these brands. However using natural remedies to boost root growth from cuttings is an ideal option for keeping the plants healthy and minimizing the pesticides or non-natural poisons that can be included in some store-bought rooting hormone options.

Use any of these homemade rooting hormone recipes to grow plants from cuttings this year.

I hope that this list of different ways to make organic rooting hormone has encouraged you to think of new ways to boost root growth with your cuttings. 

Rooting solution used on a now growing healthy berry bush.
DIY Plant Rooting Solution Recipes

 

 

Originally published Jan, 2023; latest update April 2025

How to Make Strawberry Wine

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Learn how to make strawberry wine using fresh strawberries from the garden or frozen strawberries will work as well.

Strawberries are one of our favourite fruits that we grow here in our garden. If you’ve got lots of strawberry plants, here is a strawberry wine recipe for you to try! Just a couple of ingredients are needed to make this easy version of Strawberry wine.

Glasses of strawberry wine on table
Learn how to make strawberry wine with this recipe.

This home made fruit wine is light and makes a nice dessert wine with a fruity flavor and taste. Before I get to the wine recipe though, I want to share just a little bit of information about how we grow our strawberries.

Since strawberry plants are a perennial fruit, they will die back in the fall, lay dormant over winter, then start growing again in the spring.

If your plants are treated right, you can grow a lot of huge strawberries every year. Read more about what you really need to do in order to grow big strawberries. There are some important pruning tips in that article, that will be of help.

We grow everbearing strawberries in a raised bed and because we use those tips every year, we grow lots of berries. Healthy, big juicy strawberries. 

We eat lots of fresh berries and once we have had our fill, I start making Strawberry Freezer Jam. This recipe is an easy way to make homemade jam and I don’t even need to can it. I just store the jars in the freezer and pull one out as we need it.

When we have a banner berry growing year and I’ve made enough jam, we will make some homemade Strawberry wine from our strawberries. It’s fairly easy and the wine is tasty, light and fruity. 

How to Make Strawberry Wine

You can use either fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries to make this home made wine. Since 5 cups of strawberries are needed to make one gallon of wine, I just pick ripe berries, measure my quantity, write a note on the ziplock bag and set it in the freezer.

The next time I pick, I again measure my berry harvest, add it to the same bag and make a note. Once I have 5 cups, I can get started on my small batch of berry wine.

This recipe makes a 1 gallon batch of Strawberry wine. If you want to make big batch Strawberry wine, just adjust the recipe accordingly.

Homemade Strawberry Wine Recipe

Weigh out a total of 5 pounds of strawberries. Wash the berries and hull them, so there is no stem, cap or leaves on the berry.

You can use either a crock or a fermenting bucket; add the berries to the container and, using a potato masher, mash them well.

(If you are using frozen berries, this part is much easier. You will find, as the berries thaw, they release a lot of liquid. Just mash as needed.)

Frozen strawberries thawing in a colander beside a pail of juice.
Use a colander to set frozen strawberries in to thaw.

You can also just set the frozen berries in a colander, above a large pot and let the berries thaw, straining the juice into the pan. Using this method means you will easily have removed all bits of the berries, leaving just the strawberry juice to be added to your fermenting container.

A fermenter of strawberry juice being stirred.
Add your strawberry juice to a crock or fermenter.

To the juice, add enough boiling water to have a total amount of liquid close to 1 1/3 gallon, roughly, it doesn’t need to be exact. 

sugar sits in a scale beside fermenter full of juice.
Measure out sugar and add to the liquid.

Adding Sugar to Strawberry Wine

Using your kitchen scale, weigh out 1 1/2 pounds of sugar and add it to the liquid in the primary fermenter, giving the mixture a really good stir. Leave it alone for 10 minutes to let it settle down from the stirring.

Now, evenly sprinkle 1/4 tsp of wine yeast nutrient across the top of the liquid; don’t stir it in. Cover the fermenter or crock and let it sit in a warm place. This will help the yeast start working, to get things fermenting.

Note: If you possibly can, set your primary at counter level. Then, later when you rack it down, you can easily rack it down into the jugs, which need to be at a lower level. If you need to move the primary at all, you will be disturbing all the sediment that has already settled to the bottom.

Every day, remove the lid and just vent off the liquid a bit by waving your hand over the top of the open fermenter. Then recover it until the next day.

Racking Wine

After one week, the wine is ready to be transferred to jugs (or if you are making a larger batch, transfer the wine down to a carboy). You can also use wide mouth mason jars with these special fermentation lids.

homemade wine bottling with the Carboy and glass bottles
Use a siphoning hose for racking the wine.

The transferring is called “racking”, as in you are racking it down from the primary fermenter into a secondary fermentation vessel.

Use a siphon hose like this one to easily rack the wine. Keep the hose off the bottom! This way, you will be leaving any sediment behind on the bottom of the primary fermenter. If you mashed the berries in this same container, there will be lots of berry bits, so try to leave these behind as well.

 

Jugs of strawberry wine with bungs and airlocks
Add a bung with an airlock to the filled jugs.

When the wine is racked, add a bung with an airlock with water in it. Leave it sit for at least one week before racking it again.

One of the primary purposes of racking is to leave the sediment behind. The wine will be racked several times over the next weeks and in the end we will be left with clear wine, which is exactly what we want.

We set the jugs on a table fairly close to the woodstove; you want the wine to be warm enough to continue fermenting.

When the wine stops fermenting (no more air bubbles forming and releasing in the airlock), leave it for another week. Then it is ready to bottle.

After bottling, set the wine in a cool dark place; we like to lay them on their sides. Leave them for at least six months before opening, but longer is better.

Strawberry Wine Questions and FAQ’s:

How much fruit do you need per gallon of wine?

For each gallon of wine, 5 pounds of fruit is required.

How many pounds of strawberries does it take to make 5 gallons of wine?

​To make 5 gallons of wine, you need to use 25 lbs of strawberries.

How do you store strawberry wine?

You can store your homemade strawberry wine at room temperature for up to one year. Before serving, you may want to put it in the fridge, as it is best served at a temperature between 7 – 9C, which is roughly 44 – 48 F.

Do I have to add Campden tablets to the wine?

You can, but we do not add Campden tablets to our strawberry wine.

Glass of strawberry wine in front of fresh strawberries.
Pin for later!

 

More Wine Recipes:

Here are some of the other types of fruit wine that we make here, plus we’ve got vegetable wine and even a homemade flower wine!

Learn about wine you can make from your garden harvests.

This blended Saskatoon Raspberry wine is one we make every year; it’s a delicious red wine!

If you’re harvesting lots of Rhubarb, try this homemade Rhubarb wine!

This delicious Parsley wine has hints of citrus, thanks to the addition of an orange and a lemon.

Ever tried homemade Carrot wine? It’s light and yes, it tastes like carrots. It also has a bit of citrus added to it.

We make this Dandelion wine almost every year. Since we don’t spray our lawns at all, it’s perfectly fine to pick dandelion flowers to make this delicious light wine.

Learn more about the process of making wine.

 

 

originally published 2011; latest update January 2023

How to Store Fresh Eggs

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Here’s how to store fresh eggs so they last!

Do you have chickens in your own backyard or you are lucky enough to have a friend that likes to share their overabundance of farm-fresh eggs? Then, you will need to know how to store them properly to get the most from your eggs.

Storing them can range from leaving on the counter for a few days to keeping them more long-term through common food preservation methods.

Farm fresh eggs in a woven basket on the counter.
Learn how to store fresh eggs so they will last longer.

How to Store Fresh Eggs

Learning how to store farm fresh eggs is easy and means you never have to worry about waste. Eggs will last a long time if they are stored properly.

Read on to learn all about egg storage, washing eggs or not washing eggs, storing eggs at room temperature, ways to avoid any contamination, shelf life of fresh eggs, and lots more!

How fresh farm eggs are different than the ones from the store

Farm fresh eggs that have not been washed still have the bloom that is a natural protective layer around the outside of the egg. This bloom helps to prevent bacteria from entering the egg and starting the decomposition process. Store-bought eggs from the store have been washed removing the bloom. This actually allows bacteria to enter into the pores of the eggshell.

Farm fresh eggs are new and have not been sitting off to the side for a long time. The eggs that are laid by your home chickens or fresh from this past week at the local farm are truly fresh. The eggs from the grocery store can be weeks and even months old. This means they will not last as long before they go bad.

Storing your eggs on the counter

Farm fresh eggs that have not been washed do not need refrigeration. Unwashed fresh eggs can easily last on your counter for about 2 weeks. This means that if you know you can use them up fairly quickly you do not even have to think about moving your eggs to the refrigerator.

Cardboard egg box on wooden table
You can store fresh eggs in an egg carton on your kitchen counter.

To store on your counter, make a point to only store eggs that appear clean without having to wash them. Some dirt and mess is fine as long as you are not storing in an area where you eat or do meal prep.

Be sure to rotate your eggs using the oldest before you use the newer ones. This will help to ensure that your eggs are not sitting for long periods of time. You can find egg holders designed to make it easy to rotate your eggs.

 

Refrigerating farm fresh eggs

While you do not have to store unwashed farm-fresh eggs in your refrigerator, this is an option for storage. If you plan to use your eggs within the next three months and have the room to keep them in your refrigerator you can store them there.

Eggs stored in door of fridge
Don’t store eggs in your fridge door!

This is the best way to store farm fresh eggs that were not clean enough for on the counter. If you need to wash an egg it should always go right into the refrigerator. This will prevent bacteria from entering the shell and growing.

Like with eggs on your counter, you want to be sure to rotate the eggs that you store in the refrigerator. Rotating will ensure that your older eggs get used before you have to worry about them going bad.

Do not store eggs in the door compartment of your fridge because of temperature fluctuations every time you open the fridge door. Instead, keep your eggs in a carton on a shelf in the fridge.

 

Storing farm-fresh eggs in the freezer

If you want your eggs to last for a long time and have the freezer space you can freeze fresh eggs. You can freeze eggs by placing them into ice cube trays or silicone cupcake molds. Freeze them before moving to an air-tight container. The trick here is to always make sure that you have no air in your container. Vacuum sealing will give you the best result. Air can lead to freezer burn which makes eggs rubbery.

A bowl of beaten eggs with a whisk.
Beat eggs well before putting in ice cube trays for freezing.

You can freeze as is after removing the eggs from the shell or scramble them up to make it easier to use later. If you need separated eggs you will need to split the yolks and whites before freezing. Yolks will soften when they thaw and can not be easily separated.

 

Water glassing eggs

Water glassing has become a popular new way to store fresh unwashed eggs but it originates from generations ago. It is a simple process done by taking unwashed farm fresh eggs and placing them in a thick mixture of lime and water.

Sodium silicate used to be used for this, but now most people use lime instead.

 

Basket of fresh eggs on a counter
Safe ways to store farm fresh eggs.

The lime in the water then fills in the pores of your eggs helping the bloom to fully seal your eggs. This keeps them fresh for up to 18 months for long-term storage in your pantry.

Learn more about water glassing eggs here.

 

Dehydrating eggs

If you do not have a lot of space and you find that you get a lot of eggs in the summer but almost none in the winter because there is simply not enough sunlight where you live, you can benefit from storing eggs for the long term. One great way to store a lot of eggs in a small amount of space is to make dehydrated eggs.

A bowl of dehydrated egg powder.
Powdered Eggs after being dehydrated.

This can be done using raw eggs that are scrambled and placed onto a silicone sheet in your dehydrator so you can make scrambled eggs with only water to turn into egg powder. This tends to dry faster and turn into powder more easily.

After drying your eggs completely and conditioning them in a jar to ensure that no moisture is left, you can run them through a coffee grinder to make a powder. Dehydrated eggs can be stored for years in an air-tight container. These powdered eggs can be used for everything from baking to making scrambled eggs and take up only a small fraction of the space.

 

Make Pickled Eggs

You can make pickled eggs, as well, as another way to keep your eggs fresh for a long time. Pickled eggs will last for many months in a refrigerator – plus, they make a fast and healthy snack or lunch!

We store our pickled eggs in quart sized mason jars – here is the recipe for Pickled Eggs.

 

How to tell if farm fresh eggs have gone bad

When storing your eggs you may lose track of how old eggs are from time to time. This is okay because you can test your eggs to see if they have gone bad or are becoming old enough to need to use up right away.

Egg freshness test infographic
Use this egg freshness test to determine how old eggs are.

This is done through the float test. Place your eggs in a glass or bowl of ice-cold water. If the egg sinks it is still fresh. If one end of the egg is up they are getting old and need to be used up. if the entire egg is floating your egg should be disposed of because it has gone bad.

Learn How to Store Fresh Eggs

Now you know the different ways to store fresh eggs. If you’re lucky enough to have backyard chickens, be sure to regularly gather any eggs from the chicken coop. Then, choose your egg preservation method from the various ways explained above and store the chicken eggs from your backyard flock.

For us, keeping chickens for eggs from the hen is an important party of homesteading self sufficiency – we get to enjoy the awesome flavor of free range chicken eggs to use in cooking and baking.

 

 

Want to start raising chickens for eggs? Here’s Chicken Farming 101!

Lots of common chicken questions and answers from our readers.

The top 10 reasons I love keeping chickens!

 

 

 

 

Canning Supplies for Preserving Food

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Canning supplies are a necessary part of preserving food – here’s what canning equipment you need to get started!

This food preservation/canning essentials equipment guide is designed to save you money. Straight up, pure and simple. After all, if you’ve been reading my blog for any time now, you know how much I love to save money!

Preserving food through canning, pickling, and fermentation saves you a lot of money. But only if you don’t spend more on equipment than you would at the grocery store. And it’s easy to do just that!

There are always new products out there and new ways of doing the same old thing. If you aren’t completely sure about what you are wanting to buy, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Which products do you actually need? And which ones are just going to collect dust in a cupboard.

If you are new to canning, you need this canning guide full of home canning supplies. Even if you’ve been at it a while, you might find it helpful.

(I hope you’ll also check out my post on Preserving Food for all kinds of great tips and recipes for freezing, canning, and pickling food.)

The Ultimate Food Preservation and Canning Guide

Here are a few of the items that I prefer to have in my “canning arsenal” because they make my life easier. And since they are all Amazon canning supplies, it’s super easy to order these canning supplies online!

Basic Canning Supplies and Canning Equipment

Canning Kit Essentials

Whether you are just getting started with canning – or are a seasoned pro – this Norpro Canning Essentials Set is a pretty great setup. This handy canning kit offers 6 of the most essential canning tools you need when canning or dehydrating food. You get:

  • long-handled tongs – which help keep everything sanitary during the canning process
  • a vinyl-coated jar lifter – for removing canning jars safely from boiling water
  • an extra-wide funnel – which helps you fill your canning jars with less spilling
  • a jar wrench with vinyl coating – to help you tighten your jar lids to keep them well-sealed
  • a magnetic lid lifter – for lifting lids out of boiling water while keeping them sanitary
  • a bubble popper/measurer – serves the dual purpose of making sure no air bubbles are left in the food you are canning and that you aren’t overfilling your jars

Water Bath Canner

Water bath canner and jars on a kitchen counter
Water bath canner for canning jams, jellies and fruits.

When canning fruit, jams, jellies, and home made salsas, you want a good water bath canner! I have used one just like in the photo for over 20 years now. These canners are still widely available. The only disadvantage is that I really can’t cook a big batch of soup in it. It’s made for canning, period.

So, if I was to buy a new canner, I really like this McSunley Stainless Steel pot. At 21.5 quarts, this pot is plenty large enough to hold up to 7-quart jars, 9-pint jars, or 12 half-pint jars. Comes with an inner rack to help you safely raise and lower your jars during the canning process.

This heavy-duty pot is meant to be tough enough to resist dents and it even comes with a 10-year warranty in case something goes wrong with it.

And when you aren’t canning, you have a huge pot you can use to cook up an extra-large batch of soup or stew or chili! (Which you can always pressure can jars of leftover soup or chili!)

Crock for Pickling

 

Crock for pickling sits beside a cupboard.
A crock with a lid is just what’s needed for batches of sauerkraut.

Pickling or fermenting food is a wonderful way to preserve it. Pickled foods are good for you, too. They taste delicious and put a smile on your face while providing you with great nutrition. They are a wonderful source of probiotics, too.

One of the best tools for pickling or fermenting is a good-sized crock like this one – along with the cover and a weight for the top.

Note: Try to find a crock with a lid! You can always buy the crock lid separately but it’s nice if you can get a crock that comes with the lid.

When not being used for pickling, this attractive crock simply looks good sitting beside our dining hutch. This crock makes pickling so easy, you may never buy store-bought pickles or sauerkraut again!

Here’s my recipe for Home Made Sauerkraut – I make this every year in this crock.

Ball Blue Book of Preserving

Every canner needs the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Put out by the same people who make those wonderful Ball canning jars and lids, this helpful book teaches you all about preserving food. There are over 500 recipes in this book – and it is complete, too.

If a type of food can be preserved or canned, you’ll find it here – along with ideas of how to utilize your canned food when you pull it out of storage.

With this book, you’ll have one more tool to make sure your family has all the delicious and nutritious food they need to thrive. And with so many tasty recipes, this canning guide product also makes a great gift!

Presto Pressure Canner

Dial Gauge pressure canner on a stove
A dial gauge pressure canner used for canning homegrown vegetables, meats and fish.

Unless you’re making something acidic like jam or jelly, the safest form of canning is with the use of a pressure canner like this Presto. If you have vegetables, meat, chicken, or fish to can, this is exactly the tool you need to do the job.

This large pressure canner is 23 quarts – the right size to handle the biggest jobs. The deluxe pressure dial gauge helps you make sure that whatever you are canning gets processed at the right amount of pressure to do the job correctly and safely.

But this flexible canner can also work as a water bath canner, too. This Presto canner wants to be the only canner you need!

Stainless Steel Strainer

Straining Jelly
Filter fresh berries through cheese cloth to make jelly.

Do you dream of going a step beyond just canning the basics like cut vegetables, meat, and fruit? If you need a tool to help you with jellies, creamy soups, broths, mashed berries, apple sauce, and so on, this 3-piece Stainless Steel Strainer is just what you need.

Be sure the strainer you buy comes with a pestle, like this set has!

This strainer lets you take your food preservation to the whole next level, allowing you to fill your storage with tasty and convenient canned treats to make your life a little easier.

Food Strainer

For really large jobs processing fresh produce, this Johnny Apple Sauce Food Strainer is a dream. It makes processing applesauce or tomato sauce a snap.

You can use the hand crank for smaller jobs, or replace it with the optional Electric Motor when you have a lot of work to complete.

This sturdy grinder/strainer can handle the toughest jobs, but if anything goes wrong, it also has a full 1-year warranty!

Canning Jars

Empty glass jars for canning
Buy canning jars with lids and seals by the case to save money.

The price of canning jars has climbed quite a bit in recent years. However, one place you can just about always count on getting a great price on canning jars is at Amazon, and they have any size you could be looking for.

They also have replacement canning lids, if that’s all you need. Be sure to grab all the jars you might be needing before the prices go up again!

HINT: The very best time to stock up is in the off season!

Canning Racks

Canning rack for between layers of jars
Graham made this canning rack for our pressure canner.

A versatile rack is a canning guide game-changer when you slip it into your canner. It elevates your jars, which allows for proper water circulation all around.

It’s necessary to use a canning rack like this one if you have more than one layer of jars in your canner! Jars should not be touching each other.

Heavy enough to handle the biggest jars, it is also a wonderful place to set your hot jars after you remove them from your canner. You’ll definitely want to consider having a few of these racks around once you see how handy they are.

You can even use them in your air fryer, Instant pot, or for cooling pies and cookies. 

Jar Lids and Bands

Canning Lids sitting in hot water
Stocking up on canning lids and rings is a good idea.

For certain foods, you really need wide-mouth jars. The trouble is, it can be tough to find a replacement for the lids (which you really should only use once) and the bands. But I found these for you and wanted to share them here.

It’s a pretty great price and you get 12 lids in each box! Personally, if you like wide-mouth jars, I would stock up on several boxes of these canning lids and bands so you don’t run out before you find them at a great price again!

Dissolvable Food Labels

Whether you have ever heard of these or not, no Canning Guide would be complete without mentioning Dissolvable Food Labels. Gone are the days of proudly sticking a pretty paper label to your jar of canned beans only to be cursing that very same label months later when you try to remove it from your jar again.

These labels literally dissolve in water. It doesn’t even matter what temperature the water is – they just go away. And they don’t leave behind any of that sticky stuff.

Best of all, you get 500 of these wonderful stickers per roll, so you don’t have to worry about buying them constantly. And just like that, life got a little easier!

Fermentation Kit for Pickling

Jars of cabbage kimchi and sauerkraut sour cabbage.
A fermenting kit is a great way to make small batches.

Venting is an important part of the fermentation process, and this awesome Fermentation Kit makes it easier. You get 4 complete sets that are made to fit wide-mouth jars, so you can easily have four different foods fermenting on your counter at once.

(If you have the counter space, why not?) Fermented foods (kimchi, anyone?) are delicious and so good for you. And this kit gives you one more reason to try it for yourself!

Canning supplies make preserving food much safer and easier!

I hope that reading about some of these basic canning supplies has been helpful and inspiring. I would love to hear about some of your favorite products for canning and preservation, too, if you care to leave a comment. I’m always on the lookout for a great new idea!

Check out my post on Preserving Food for all kinds of great tips and recipes for freezing, canning, and pickling food.

Here you can find out all about storing home canned food safely.

 

Canning equipment on a table with canning jars
Save to your Pinterest board for later!

Apple Walnut Muffins with Streusel

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Perfect for Fall, these Apple Walnut muffins are a yummy treat or great for a quick breakfast.

Looking for a treat guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth? This super easy recipe for apple walnut muffins has you covered. These healthy muffins can be made with walnuts or pecans, your choice.

Make a batch on the weekend and have some on hand for a fast breakfast that’s healthy and filling. Or, grab a muffin or two to enjoy along with a hot cup of coffee on a cool afternoon.

 

Apple Walnut muffins with streusel topping in a basket
These delicious Apple Walnut muffins have a streusel topping.

 

Why You’ll Love these Apple Walnut Streusel Muffins

These muffins are easy to make with a delicious apple flavor, plus they are full of healthy ingredients along with your choice of nuts (or choose to use both types of nuts). 

The muffins freeze well, too, so it’s easy to make a double batch and freeze together or individually to grab as needed.

Be sure to use muffin liners – not only will they make clean up a breeze, but they are great for keeping your fingers clean while noshing on these treats.

Apple Walnut Muffin Recipe Ingredients

Apple Walnut Muffin ingredients measured and on a counter
You can use walnuts or pecans in this muffin recipe.

Muffin Ingredients:

eggs
olive oil
sour cream
applesauce
pear puree
all purpose flour
sugar
baking powder
baking soda
salt
cinnamon
ginger
nutmeg
chopped walnuts

 

Streusel Topping Ingredients:

butter
flour
sugar
cinnamon
walnuts

 

Apple Muffin Instructions

Streusel topping mixed together in a bowl
Mix together the Streusel ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get a muffin tin and set in the paper liners. Mix all streusel ingredients in a small bowl, until crumbly, then set this mixture aside for later.

Beaten eggs with oil, sour cream and vanilla in a bowl.
Vanilla and sour cream added to beaten eggs and oil.

In a large bowl use hand mixer or whisk to beat eggs and olive oil, then add in vanilla & sour cream. Now stir in both the applesauce and the pear puree and mix together well.

Mixing together the eggs, oil, spices, sugar and flour for muffins
Adding in the dry ingredients.

Now it’s time for the dry ingredients. Mix in flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, stirring together well. Also, stir in the walnuts, again mixing together well.

 

Muffins with streusel topping ready for baking
Top each muffin with some streusel topping before baking.

Scoop batter into muffin liners, then sprinkle on the streusel topping onto each of the muffins. 

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and toothpick in center comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pans. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack before serving (if you can wait that long!)

 

Baked muffin in a muffin liner.
Let muffins cool before serving.

Don’t they look delicious? What a treat for a cool Fall morning!

Why not make up a batch this weekend and just pop any leftovers in the freezer? Your family will love these – guaranteed!

Apple Walnut Muffins with a streusel topping in a basket.
Click to save to your Pinterest board.

Substitutions and Variations:

You can easily substitute whole wheat flour for all purpose flour in this recipe.

Switch out maple syrup for the oil for more delicious flavor. 

You could also substitute coconut oil for the olive oil.

If you want to use apples instead of apple sauce, a variety like Granny Smith apples work well. Other apples that will work well include Jonagold, Golden Delicious and Honey Crisp.

 

More Yummy Recipe Ideas

Learn how to Dehydrate Apple Bites – kids love these!

Stuffed Pork Chops with Apples and cornbread – a hearty dinner recipe.

Who doesn’t love a good moist Banana Bread – try this recipe!

This yummy easy Apple Crisp is a great way to enjoy the apple harvest!

This no cook Strawberry Jam stores in the freezer – so convenient.

Try this Butterscotch Schnapps Apple cocktail on a cold afternoon.

 

Apple Walnut Muffins with Crumb Topping Recipe

Apple Walnut Muffins in a basket

Apple Walnut Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

These healthy Apple Walnut muffins are a great choice for a fast breakfast or an afternoon snack!

Ingredients

  • Streusel:
  • 3 tablespoons cold butter
  • 5 tablespoons flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ¼ cup walnuts, chopped
  • Muffins:
  • 2 eggs, room tempurature
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • ½ cup pear puree
  • 1 â…” cups flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¾ cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix all streusel ingredients until crumbly, set aside.
  3. In a large bowl use hand mixer to beat eggs and olive oil, then add in vanilla &
    sour cream.
  4. Stir in applesauce and pear puree.
  5. Mix in flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger.
  6. Stir in walnuts.
  7. Scoop batter into muffin liners.
  8. Sprinkle on streusel topping.
  9. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and toothpick in center comes out clean.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 322Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 174mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 2gSugar: 15gProtein: 5g

Did you make this recipe?

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© Annie
Cuisine: American

 

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