We Can Can

Last summer, I got the brilliant idea that I wanted to try canning our food. I had finally run out of the things my grandma had canned since moving from her old house, and I wanted to stop relying on store bought things in metal cans or pickled beets with too much cloves for my taste.

So Andrew and I went to a local bookstore, sat down with a couple of coffees, and started looking for a book we could follow.

You Can Can was the best in the stack. It had big glossy photos, step by step, and focused on the basic pantry staples (not full of things lavender - jalapeño jelly and coriander infused pickled corn).

We stated going crazy with canning.

Here's the evidence from early last fall:

We also froze everything we could freeze, and eventually we had to get a deep freezer - that I filled.

It was kind of nuts because we didn't know how much we could get through.

This year, we got a late start but it's been a lot easier because we know what is worth the hassle. For me, it's these:

(This is 40 lbs we purchased when we saw a sign as we were driving along a Wisconsin highway)

And these:

(Andrew doesn't like them)

Surprisingly, we didn't come close to finishing these:

Unfortunately, a huge amount of frozen food was lost in March when, over vacation, a circuit broke in our basement and turned everything in the freezer to soup. I don't know what made me feel more upset - having to throw away all that work or all that good, healthy and organic food.

This year, are goals are a little less lofty. We want to try to re-do a few things that didn't turn out so great (dill pickles - I used a packet to make them "dill" and ended up with scary neon over-salted pickles; red cabbage - tasted like vinegar so strongly that it couldn't be served warm). We've also learned that some things have a million uses (zucchini relish and canned tomatoes). Some things are darned delicious (sweet pickles, pickled beets, minted pears, peaches, spiced apples). Some things are great in smaller quantities (apple sauce, apple butter, cranberry relish, apple pie filling). And since our one jelly was a raving success (tomato basil), we want to try more of those.

Last week, we started with the essentials when we realized our CSA had given us an abundance of zucchini. We had a small quantity - just 4 jars - of zucchini relish, but it's a start.

This week, I decided to document the process for the blog as we canned tomatoes (from our own garden), dill pickles, and made freezer corn. Since we are a lot more comfortable with the process now, we basically did all 3 at once.

Pickles are crazy easy, and with fresh dill they are even easier. Here's what I prepped (after googling what a "head of dill" is. For the curious, it's the flower part).

And here's our basket of tomatoes. 

To peel tomatoes, you start with making an x on the blossom side (which is the opposite end from the attaches-to-the-vine side). This is important prep.

The pickling juice for the pickles was just vinegar, water, salt, and sugar. It's on the left. On the right, a nice hot water bath was getting started for the tomatoes.

Then Andrew and I went to our "stations" - on the left side of the stove, I get my mise en place together for filling the jars (top) and Andrew uses the right side for sterilizing everything.

We work pretty well as a team.

Pickles were first to be canned. I stuffed the slices and dill into the jars and then used the funnel to ladle the hot pickling liquid over the top.

They are gorgeous when finished - the fresh dill looks so much better than neon green!

Next in line, we tackled the tomatoes. We hated canning tomatoes last year because they made an unbelievable mess. But this year it went a lot better.

I did them in two batches and used a system of having a strainer in the sink with cold water to peel and core, and then threw the tomato into a bowl on the other side of the sink. Everything stayed nice and contained.

Here's the second batch (romas) in the hot bath to loosen their skin:

Then Andrew needed to go to the store, so I tackled the corn (with a little help shucking from my mom).

I use a modified version of my grandma's recipe. By modified, I mean that I don't measure the corn, use 1/4 c sugar and a sprinkling of salt. But I do measure out 5 cups of ice water for some reason.

Then it goes into the freezer. I try to get all the air out, but sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't. The corn always turns out yummy regardless. 

Today our yield was 4 quarts of tomatoes, 6 pints of dill pickles, and 8 2-serving bags of corn. Tomorrow is my favorite - beets!