I thought it might be helpful to do a different spin on the greatest hit recipe thread of Zabby's. There are a lot of recipes out there that look very interesting, but you don't really know until you spend the money, time, ingredients, etc. if it would be worth doing. Old timers at this have a real advantage there. They know so much stuff!!! lol

I realize that everyones tastes are different, so thats not so much what I mean. Someone that has already made a recipe would know things about it that you don't on the 1st time out. Pit falls, problems encountered, why you loved/hated it. Everything isn't always spelled out so a newbee can do it with confidence. We could also come back and say what happened when we tried it. So instead of starting a zillion threads on "Has anyone ever made" maybe an all in one might be good.

Here goes, has anyone ever made Ball's recipe for:

Carrot Marmalade

2 Lemons

4 cups shredded carrots

4 cups sugar

2 cups crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 pouch liquid pectin

Peel lemons, removing just a small portion of the white pith. Slice peel into thin strips; set aside. Squeeze juice from lemons and measure 1/3 cup juice. Combine lemon peel, lemon juice, carrots, sugar, pineapple, allspice and nutmeg in a large saucepot, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in liquid pectin. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Slowly stir marmalade 2 minutes. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Yield: about 6 half-pints

Some questions I would have: Does the carrot flavor disappear into the background? Is there a brand of liquid pectin that works better than another. Should I drop the lemons in some boiling water or something else to get the wax off before peeling.

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Anyone ever made Ball's:

Yield: about 6 pints

Dilled Green Tomatoes

5 pounds small, firm green tomatoes

1/4 cup canning salt

3 1/2 cups vinegar

3 1/2 cups water

6 or 7 cloves garlic

6 or 7 heads fresh dill or 1/4 dill seed

6/7 bay leaves

Wash tomatoes, drain. Core tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters. Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Pack tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Add 1 clove garlic, 1 head of dill (or 2 teaspoons dill seeds) and 1 bay leaf to each jar. Ladle hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

This one I am doing a little backwards, as I made it yesterday. I have no idea what it will taste like as they need to sit a bit, so was hoping someone of you knows. Also wondering if I should have used generic pickle crisp?

What I learned in making it is that I had enough liquid to do 6 and 1/2 pints with quite a few tomato quarters left over even though I weighed them. I used golf ball sized and just a little larger. The larger ones were harder to pack without alot of empty spots (if that makes sense). I was thinking it might work better with cherry or grape tomatoes and then smaller than golf ball sized regular ones.