I recently got into canning.  You know that old fashioned thing your grandmothers did when you were a child and maybe just maybe your very own parental units did.  It started out as a quest for knowledge because one of these days, my beloved Redneck (that would be my husband of 20+ years) is going to retire from the Army.  When that happens, we're going HOME to the farm!  But that's another story.

Canning started with pickles.  Now you have to understand that I don't eat pickles.  I don't like vinegary things, but it seemed like an easy thing to try and do and especially if you are water bath canning only and don't have a high dollar fancy pressure canner nearby.  Mama said she'd share hers when we got to the farm, but that's still aways to go.

So I found a really great magazine that is now tattered and torn and has corners bent on pages and Post-It notes attached as well with other notes that I started the summer with.  That magazine is still available out there and it is a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication on "Canning."  It made my mouth water looking at the recipes and so I paid for it and brought it home and began my journey into the world of canning.

I'm still working on my recipes and am tweeking some because my Dad made a delicious spaghetti sauce recipe when we were kids and canned it.  Even though I know I can't remember the flavors completely, I want to create my own sauce recipe and can it.  So stayed tuned for that ongoing saga ;-).

Pickles......I don't like pickles, but my Redneck does and the majority of the human population out there loves pickled vegetables.  So I followed the directions to the "T" and made Zesty Honey Pilsner Pickles for him.  I patiently waited the week until they were done.  Pickling takes time.  Some recipes take longer than a week others less time.  We opened that jar of pickles and I had him try them.  I got the look.......  You know the why in the world haven't you made these before look?  Then I had one jar that didn't seal and somebody had taken them home and he called and ate the entire jar in pretty much one sitting.  I was hooked.  I had to can.  I had to figure out what to make next.

My niece was with me for the summer and she tried the pickles and said they're good, but I like dill pickles.  You know what came next then, right?  I made quarts and quarts of dill pickles.  I had to scour the earth....no supermarkets....looking for dill seed because it's a hot commodity in pickling season.  I found some beautiful fresh dill weed at a local supermarket and put that in the jars as well.  I made pickles so that her aunt that she lives with wouldn't have to buy pickles for awhile.  Those pickles were lip puckerable according to her and delicious.

Now Redneck saw that I was having a good ole time canning because I had now delved into the land of jam.  The Better Homes and Gardens magazine had delicious jam recipes in it and let me tell you there is nothing like blackberry jam with thyme and honey slathered on a rack of baby back ribs.  I tried a blueberry jam recipe that called for cinnamon and decided to go with my Dad's current favorite cinnamon which is Saigon or Vietnamese Cinnamon.  It has a different flavor than typical cinnamon and it shows off the blueberries rather well in the jam.

At this point in my endeavors, my Redneck decided that it was time for an expenditure......the pressure canner.  He got on ye ole Amazon a favorite of ours for years now and found the All American Pressure Canner 21 qt version for me.  I was nervous about that one.  First of all, Mama said she'd share well with me when we reeee-tired.  I want to retire and go to the farm.  Second of all, it's expensive and what if I blow the house up?  No, seriously there's this story about Michael's Mama and some pinto beans and a pressure cooker and she covered her ceiling in pinto beans.  We now know from reading the directions....something Redneck's in this house do well....Army trained rednecks that is.  That pressure cooking loose dried beans is a no go because it will gum up the pressure valve and then BAM you just might get pinto beans on the ceiling.  So nope not going to do that one at all.

The Pressure Canner.....It's big, it's heavy, it's scary as all get out.  But oh when done just right will it make some delicious food.

So stay tuned and hear about my previous and ongoing endeavors into the world of canning, cooking fresh and health which includes attempting to grind my own wheat, make homemade pasta, bake the bread we eat in the house and get rid of the boxes of prepared foods in my pantry (a work in progress).

Anita
Military Wife, Mom to Three Girls in the House, a Cat, a Dog and a Guinea Pig