Canning

I have a new love and it (of course) involves food.  A week ago, Gretchen and I took a canning class from Marisa McClellan, the author of the lovely book and blog, Food in Jars.  During the class Marisa gave basic instruction for canning whole tomatoes, but more importantly for me was her ability to make canning not so intimidating.  I've wanted to try my hand at canning for some time but there is this little fear of mine called killing someone with botulism that has been a deterrent to trying it.  

This past week Gretchen and I set aside an entire day to can diced tomatoes.  We started off with an amazingly large amount of tomatoes but between the two of us we were able to get a fairly streamlined system for coring, blanching and chopping.

Our canning of the tomatoes went so well that we decided to go ahead and can peaches.  We used Marisa's recipe from the book for boozy peaches .  Our only setback here was that the peaches would not peel!  That was a bit frustrating but we persevered and the result was definitely worth it!

I've found that canning is immensely satisfying and I really can't stop myself from gazing at the beautiful jars on the shelf!  In fact, I've already canned marinara sauce and am plotting on trying a jam next!

Canning Lessons...yum

On Saturday I had an opportunity to attend a canning lesson. Gretchen won the lesson at her church auction and invited me to go along. Canning is something that I have wanted to learn but have always thought it to be a laborious and time consuming process. Well... I still think that it is somewhat laborious and time consuming but I really enjoyed the lesson and the outcome! I love the idea of having bottles of beautiful food put away to enjoy months after the season is over. There is something very comforting in knowing that you can make something now that your family can enjoy later.

We made hot pepper jelly that made my eyes, mouth and Gretchen's throat sting as we cut the peppers but boy was it good (it seems to me that 5 cups of sugar can make just about anything good!). I think that I might try to can some applesauce this fall, and I'm going to make it a goal to learn how to can Marilyn's salsa. My mother-in-law makes a salsa that is so good Bryce and I hoard our precious jars. Thanks to Gretchen for letting me tag along and thanks to Ted for letting us into your kitchen!