Tuesday, September 17, 2013

party time

Over five days this summer I had hand in doing up just over 300 jars of canned yumminess. Right now my basement is full of jams (raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, peach, & grape jelly), salsa (peach & regular), peaches, peach barbecue sauce, crushed tomatoes (plain and seasoned), rotel, pickles, relish (corn & zucchini), and pickled jalapenos.

The bounty of the county. #canningfest


I get asked, a lot, why I can. Well first I enjoy it, it's also cheaper (or it will be once I build up a big enough stash of jars), it tastes amazing and I know everything that's been put in the jar. So my crushed tomatoes are just local tomatoes and lemon juice. That's it. Also crushed tomatoes super easy to make. It's all fairly easy to make when you get right down too it, but it is time consuming. Especially if you're canning on your own.

Salsa time!


Last year was my first time canning large batches with a friend. This is totally the way to go! Split the cost, split the work, double the fun. This year we added another friend to the mix and pumped out that much more. Some tips if you're thinking of having a canning party... have a sit down and decide what you'd like to make, figure out who's going shopping and how much you'll need to buy. That's always a bit tricky in the beginning. I'm lucky that my girl JB tracks how much we spend, what we buy and how much we get out of it, so this year was a bit easier to figure out. Oh... yeah totally do that. Even if you're not sure you'll ever do it again. We do all our buying at our favourite Farmer's Market. It's a bit of a hike from here, but huge nd we know we'll get absolutely everything we need in one spot... sometimes we get more than we need even. The relish wasn't even on my radar this year, but I'm glad we ended up doing it. I think, haven't tasted it yet. Hope it's good.

Pickles, relish, jalapenos and salsa!


Canning seems to be a bit of a dying art, so there is huge value to all those jars in my basement when holiday gift giving time comes around. Everybody expects a jar or three to find their way into their gift bags this year and odds are good they will. They just have to promise to give the jars back.

Have you or do you can?

3 comments:

Betsy Hart said...

I would LOVE to do canning. Someday =)

Lynn said...

My mom was a huge canner when I was a kid, so I kind of feel like I should - even though I'm a little terrified of the work involved. Lately I have been a little bizarrely fearful of how our family might survive if we had to live completely without the Superstore, so I've been thinking I should learn to can. Caroline Ingalls probably did it, I should too!

In any case - totally drooling over your cans, they look amazing and delicious.

Goofball said...

Wow

you are a mother, you have a job, you volunteer so much
and you find time to do this!?! You must be superwoman.

I'd not have the slightest clue how to start such a job (then I hardly ever cook anyway, that's what my husband does). Holy, that is impressive and that salsa looks great.