Strawberry, Marionberry and Grape Jelly

Before it all gets eaten, I decided to show off a photo of my canning from  this year. By no means do I have a pantry full, I just have a few jars but a few is better than none! The marionberry and strawberry jams were done at the LDS Church cannery, which has sadly closed. I had so much fun there with my friends – we canned spaghetti sauce, jams, ketchup, soup, etc.  Even though I am not LDS they welcomed me and I had a great time. The grape jelly I made on my own. It didn’t set up quite enough. I think I added too much juice, but it still tastes good! I also made homemade salsa. It took hours of preparing bottles, boiling and peeling tomatoes, chopping veges and hot water bathing. After all that work I ended up with a grand total of only 6 quarts. They are all gone so I don’t even have any pictures to remember them by. Still, it’s satisfying to know that your family enjoyed your food so much that they ate it all up!

In 2012 I plan on canning tomatoes, fruit (maybe I’ll try peaches again – I did some a year ago and they were so awful I threw everything out, including the jars!) and pickles. We’ll see if there’s anything else good to can, too. I bought a HUGE canning/pressure cooker from a woman on Craig’s List who was retiring from canning. I have only used it for hot water baths and not pressure canning. My coworkers have made me afraid to pressure can because it is “dangerous”. I was going to buy new seals and have the pressure gauge checked, but I haven’t done so.

What I learned about canning:

• It’s a lot of work
• It’s worth it
•  Do as much prep as you can in advance – chopping, peeling, sterilizing jars
•  Only use NEW lids (the flat, round lid with the rubber seal). You cannot reuse them because they won’t seal properly and you could get contamination and food poisoning
•  You can reuse the rings that hold the lids on during the water bath/pressure cooking. Once your lids are sealed you can take the rings off and reuse IF you haven’t bent them accidentally.
• Do not water bath in hard water. The minerals will cling to your lids and jars and leave a white, scaly deposit that you cannot wash off.
• Don’t sterilize your lids and jars in hard water for this same reason
• Make sure you have the proper tools to can, like a jar lifter to take the hot jars out of the boiling water. Don’t decide you can probably do it with a spatula and a wooden spoon. You cannot.

There are lots of resources on canning – books and the internet.  A great resource is the USDA Canning Guide.