I’ve been reading a lot of books about food, agribusiness, and urban homesteading lately. Since I’m also trying to eat locally and in season organic food as much as possible (coffee isn’t grown in PA), I decided to try canning. That way when all my Winter CSA has are potatoes, carrots, and old apples, I will have a supply of my own canned vegetables. Now that I’ve been eating fresh locally grown produce, I can’t stand the taste of produce from the grocery store. And I’m not comfortable with eating food that has traveled thousands of miles.
So, I bought a whole bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers and decided this would be my first canning experiment before branching out. I know it’s a little early to start canning but I’m not going to have as much time in August as I do this month.
Since I had never canned before and stupidly didn’t pay attention when my grandmother was canning when I was a kid (I spent more time watching my Grandfather make maple syrup), I didn’t have any supplies at all. I decided to buy this starter set
that had all the supplies in one kit to start canning and then bought more canning jars from my small local hardware store. (That place is tiny but the only thing they haven’t had that I’ve gone in there looking for was a sled ;-)
The kit also came with a howto book and there is also a lot of information about canning online.
Sometimes I am stupidly stubborn and when I get an idea in my head I refuse to reschedule the activity even if it’s best to put it off. I’ve mentioned before that I only use air conditioning in one room and only when it is really hot. The rest of the house is usually 90F. The day I decided to can was about 95F, my kitchen is about the size of a large closet and the only cooling in there is the box fan in the window. But I decided to go ahead with the project – I was thinking, it’s already so hot in here I doubt canning will make it worse. Well, I was wrong. My daughter was reading and hanging out in the air conditioning and when she would come into the kitchen to check on me she would say, “wow, it’s really hot in here” – lol. I think on a different day she would have wanted to help but that day she decided to stay as far away as possible.
I made 6 pints of tomatoes and 2 quarts of dill pickles. I was just going to do the tomatoes but I already had the water going and the kitchen steaming so I decided I might as well do the pickles.
One thing that didn’t occur to me about being a problem before I started canning was the size of my kitchen. I joke that I have a Manhattan sized kitchen in Philly ;-) I wish I could switch it with my bedroom – I’m in the kitchen all the time and rarely in my room – even in the summer I sleep in the living room because it’s cooler. I had very little counter space to work with and the canning pot was way bigger than the stove burner. It worked out ok but it took a lot longer to heat up the water that it would have on a larger stove. Too bad I can’t can in the winter – I could probably heat the entire house.
The book said to wait 4-6 weeks before eating the pickles so all the flavors have mixed and I won’t use the tomatoes until the middle of winter. I’m eager to try them though – I keep looking at my jars like they are special little creations.
Next up will be pickled green beans – or dilly beans.
Have you done home canning? Do you enjoy it? I found it to be very satisfying although I was worn out the next day but I think that was from the heat.
photo credit: Chiot’s Run
Canning rocks Kim! We moved to an area where gas is hard to find so it is very difficult to can when on an electric burner. I still have jars of canned fruit from several years ago,and like wine, they seem to be getting better with age (even thought I know it’s just that I’m running out!). Keep it up. You”ll really enjoy it. I miss canning. We have our house up for sale and the home we will move into will have gas. Yeah!
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Hi Colleen – I didn’t know gas was better than electric for canning. I have gas so I guess I didn’t notice anything. My grandmother had electric – I wonder what she did …
I remember when I was young my mom canned on Coleman camp stove outside just to not heat up the house! I find that canning large batches is much easier than doing small ones. I try to do a canner load each time or several, like you to make use of the hot water. If I’m doing a small batch I use a small stock pot I have for few pints of jam or tomatoes.
I too wish I could can in winter, that would be so cozy, too bad in cold climates like the PA & OH (where I am) nothing’s growing at that time.
The longer I can the more I find myself searching for ways to preserve without canning. Although I’ll always can tomatoes for the winter as well as some jams & chutneys. I’ve been growing more things like potatoes in my garden that I can simply put in a box for the winter, although the constraints of a small apt would be difficult. And I’ve been trying to grow more cold weather crops that I can harvest in the winter, always fun to experiment.
Hope you have a long & happy canning career! No doubt this is the doorway to many more homesteading hobbies for you!
Hi – An outdoor stove would be ideal. I live in on a fairly busy street so it would be pretty comical. My grandmother had a section of the house between the garage and the main house that she called the breezeway. She had a 2nd stove out there and the doors could be opened on both sides – it was probably cooler out there and kept from heating up the house.
Even in a big kitchen, canning will heat things up to unbearable. And it’s *always* the hot day of the week that it needs to be done. :D
Outside is a good alternative. My mom wants a summer kitchen at the house she’s building, for just this reason.
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Hi Andrea – A summer kitchen would be awesome!
Lately every day is a “hot” day so I don’t think there’s any way to avoid it. We do still have a lot of produce here in September so I suppose it would be possible to can when it’s a little cooler.
Never tried canning but I have friends who did and they love it!
.-= vered – blogger for hire´s last blog ..Why Do You Like Me =-.
Hi Vered – There was something oddly satisfying about it. Any messy!
Canning does rock, doesn’t it? And if you aren’t sweating your head off where’s the fun? Pete is a real canner. He’s done it all, but is only doing tomatoes this year. He’s narrowed the garden produce to several kinds, and those, along with his pumpkins for pie, are the extent of his efforts. In previous years there has been much more, but you raise the important aspect of purchasing produce specifically to can. Good work!
.-= Betsy Wuebker´s last blog ..Knowing What We Know Now =-.
Hi Betsy – My gardening attempts this summer isn’t going to yield enough to can any of it ;-) I thought I would buy extra of the things I won’t be able to get in the winter and can it now.
talk about stupidly not paying attention as a kid, my grandparents operated the “canning plant” at the local country school….geez, now i have to read about what occurred all around me daily.
i have canned as an adult but having to buy food to can instead of picking it in from my own garden does unnerve me.
home grown tomatoes are the best. no?
a wonderous joy in life is your own red sauce mid-winter.
and yes, i’ve wanted to exchange my own rooms around, so that the kitchen and the bathroom become as large as those less used rooms….your report inspires–thx
Hi – I wish I could move the rooms around – my bedroom is such as waste of space. I am considering switching rooms with the kid because she would use the space more than I do.
My grandparents had a lot of skills and information that I didn’t pay any attention to – silly me. And my grandfather had some great stories that I wished I had asked him about – but I was a little afraid of him ;-)
Good lyck Kim and I hope it going to tast well after the 6 weeks wait. I cant do anything in the kitchen. I own a restaurants with my son, but I only testing the wines and the menus.
I love canning food. Here in Austria we have a special type of mushroom that gets cooked in vinegar and then pickled in oil and some spicery – it’s delicious. I like the tomatoes you made, I really have to try that out.
.-= Andi´s last blog ..Nackenstützkissen- Für einen rückenfreundlichen Schlaf =-.
Hi Andi – I’m not that fond of mushrooms but that does sound really good :-)
one of my daughters loves canning, but I prefer freezing and drying…Guess I have had a number of disasters in the canning world of my childhood.
I wish I did have another freezer though because mine is already full
.-= Patricia´s last blog ..Stopping to Smell the Flowers =-.
Hi Patricia – My freezer is tiny – otherwise I would definitely do a lot more freezing.
Good for you! Once you get the hang of canning, it’s not hard. But kitchen size is a problem. You definitely have to think through where the sterile jars will hang out before you fill them, then where they will hang out once they are piping hot. You really don’t want to move them before they’re done cooling.
If you’re looking for a good book on the topic, “Blue Ribbon Canning” by Linda J. Amendt is THE bible. It’s got detailed instructions and lots of recipes.
You will be sooo glad you made the effort in the dead of Winter when you have Summer tasting tomatoes. BTW, homemade canned goods make excellent Holiday presents. People will think you’re a super genius. (Oh yeah. You already are.)
Hi – I’m thinking of doing the jams as gifts. I was telling my brother about the canning and he was shocked. He lives in rural Vermont where it’s more likely that people would be canning. He was like you have to come live here ;-)
Thanks for the book recommendation :-)
Hi Kim,
Welcome to the wonderful world of canning! You won’t be sorry at all, those tomatoes you canned will make great starters for soups and chili this winter when the weather finally cools down. Yummy stuff!
We have been home canning for 3 seasons now using fruits and vegetables we raise from our own garden. Even though it does take up time and there is work involved we have really been enjoying the “fruits of our labor”.
I never expected to be canning and preserving either but I am so thankful to have started. You have a great idea about using your jams as gifts. I like to make little gift baskets to friends and family around the holidays. They always seem to be pleased and that makes me smile.
Thanks for sharing this post and your canning experiences. I enjoyed reading about your venture.
Christine
.-= Christine´s last blog ..How to Can and Process Grape Jelly =-.
Hi Christine – Thank you so much for stopping by :-)
I would love to can my own produce but I’ve only got a teeny tiny garden – it was a test and a learning experience – hopefully we will have a larger one next year.
Canning is a lot of work but it’s the fulfilling kind – so much more so than cleaning the bathroom ;-)
Kim,
I was so inspired by this post that I vowed to eat local as much as possible until the end of our growing season. I found a great farm right down the street. It has been there for years; it just never caught my attention. For the last few weeks we have been enjoying homegrown tomatoes (homemade spaghetti sauce and salsa), peaches (the best I have ever tasted) apple pie from homegrown apples, and corn. This week I am going to try a dish with eggplant, squash and a few other variety of peaches. I think I might also try canning later in the season. Thanks for the tips!
Hi Terri – That’s so great to hear :-) After eating produce from the Farmer’s Market and other local sources, I can’t eat food from the grocery store anymore – it just has no taste. So, in the winter we eat a lot of potatoes, squash and carrots. This summer I was so excited to get cucumbers because it had been so long since I had one. It cracked me up to feel so excited about something that seems so simple.
The canning is a lot of work but it can also be fun.