Adventures in Canning

Summer, canning, and enjoying it all. These are the adventures of putting food in jars this year. I need a nap.

Man, I’ve been burning the midnight oil in the kitchen. Summer’s end is here, and the farms are bursting with fresh produce! I’m trying to get as much of it in jars as humanly possible. Tomatoes! Cucumbers! Berries! Beans! Peaches! Oh My!

Because, ya know, when there was a call from one of my favorite farms..

“Anyone want 20 pounds of cucumbers and 10 pounds of tomatoes?”

and…

“We have 30 pounds of peaches, come and get them!”

I whip out my checkbook (yes, checkbook) with shopaholic-like enthusiasm. Then I stare at the boxes, and know it’s going to be a tasty, tasty winter. After all the food processing of course.

My counter’s looking a little like this…

Ready? Sterilize! Peel! Slice! Mash! Stir! Boil! Water Bath!

Sadly canning is not as popular as it once was… it was a way of life in my house. My mother was up all hours of the night, peeling and preserving. Shelves upon shelves bowing under a heavy load of homemade tomato sauce, peaches, pears, and pickles. These are the things that make me happy today as well. Nothing is quite so satisfying as knowing exactly what’s going into those jars.

You’ve never done it? There’s a gateway, friends.

It’s called “freezer jam”, and if you can mix fruit and sugar in a bowl, put it in containers, and store in the freezer, you can make some of the freshest fruit to shmear on your toast. Honest. This is where to start.

So, what have I been working on?

This year I’m diving DEEP into pickles and tomatoes. I’ve usually done 5-10 rounds of berry jams, and this year I’ve cut back a bit. So, here’s what I’m making this year and where I got the recipes.

Canning Recipes I’m Using:

Strawberry Balsamic Jam:

Remember the “gateway”?… I just adore balsamic vinegar over strawberries, but they (the good local ones) aren’t available most of the year. This is the answer to that quandry. I don’t “water bath” this jam, but make it a freezer jam, to make sure it’s safe, as I basically swap out the called for lemon juice with balsamic vinegar. It works like a charm! Use any strawberry freezer jam recipe from a pectin box and do the same (check your instructions just to be safe). This is FAB over ice cream, in sparkling mineral water or fresh, hot biscuits.

Strawberry Vanilla Jam:

I got this little beauty off the box of Pomona’s Pectin, by just adding some vanilla at the end of cooking. YUM.

Strawberry Syrup:

Another one from America’s Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook. Yesterday, I made strawberry soda for my son and his friend by adding this to sparkling mineral water. Bright strawberry flavor, without the make-your-teeth-hurt-sweet of usual soda.

Triple Berry Jam:

Another recipe from Pomona’s Pectin, and with wayyyyy less sugar. It tastes like fresh pie filling, with actual berry flavors, not truckloads of sugar. YUM again.

Peach Raspberry Spreadable Fruit:

I used to make something similar with a girlfriend when I started canning, but it had a lot of sugar (oh, it was tasty, don’t get me wrong). I adapted this one with a teaspoon of almond extract at the end of cooking, and right before processing, just like we had done with the other jam. Yep, you guessed it, this one came out of America’s Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook. (Do you see a pattern here?)

This one is a more “grown up” type of jam. Put it in yogurt, or serve it with cheese. It’s not really well suited to peanut butter and jelly.

Canned Tomatoes:
This is more advanced – tomatoes are trickier than other foods in jars. They can kill someone if done incorrectly, so it’s REALLY important to find a reputable recipe to help you out. I found Talk of Tomatoes’ “Canning Tomatoes” article to be super helpful. I used her guidelines, and recipe at the end of the article. (You know, to use up those pounds of heirloom tomatoes I so quickly purchased…)

I like to preserve tomatoes this way so I can make nearly anything with them: salsa, sauce, dips, soup, whatever. Really versatile!

Pickles:

Garlic Dill Pickles
Curry Pickles (new to me!)
Pickle Relish
Bread & Butter Pickles

Yeah, I’ve gone a little hog wild on the cucumbers, and I’m not even close to done yet! I’ve been cooking up a storm from the America’s Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook. I’m LOVING how simple it is, and canning is just the beginning! (There may be Chocolate Hazelnut Spread in my future!)

Phew!

Ok, so that’s what I’ve made so far. I can’t wait to try some of them. Some of the pickles have to sit for a couple weeks to fully develop. *drums fingers impatiently*

More good stuff to come!

Are you into canning? Ever wanted to try it? Stay tuned later this week for my favorite tools!

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