Monday is canning day!

This post is in preparation for Angels canning lesson on Monday. She'll do the post about the actual event. If this isn't Angel, who is it?

Hi I'm Gayle and I'm going to show her what to do. Hopefully I will do a good job. I've been canning (and freezing) food since I could stand. Really. My mother and my siblings "put-up" the bulk of our food growing up. Late July, August and September were serious canning months.

No matter how old you were you had a job. The older you were. The harder the job. My Nana sat on the huge pretzel can and ran the kitchen. Or at least my mom made her think she did.

Pictured are some of my moms books and booklets. The oldest is 1931 (The green one). The newest 1974. I also have lots of recipes. There's a ton of info on the web. Including a blog called the frugal canning. I think that will appeal to Angel.

If your interested in canning, I'd start with Ball. They've been doing it for 125 years.  Every farm market I've been to this summer has had a Ball booth. It's really cool. They even have a starter kit now. With three jars, and a little green silicon canner that will fit in any pot!

So how do you prep for a canning day?

PREP:

If you have jars get them out. If you don't buy some. Also buy lids and rings. You can reuse the rings if they are not rusty or damaged. YOU CAN NOT reuse the lids.

The jars need to be canning jars. (Mason, Kerr, Ball)  A random pickle jar won't hold up in processing. Save those jars for items that don't need processing.

Then you must clean the jars. Even if you just took them out of the box. If you have a dishwasher put them in and let the dishwasher do the work. If your me, you wash them by hand. Air dry them, then boil water and sterilize them.

Gather your recipes. Make sure you have all the ingredients. This part will drive Angel crazy. You know how she loves to substitute! Pickling salt is something she won't have laying around. It's okay, I do.

Also clean your work surfaces, cutting boards, big pots if they were in storage, ect. Have space available to fill the jars, and a place to put them after taking them out of the water bath. Have plenty of clean dish towels handy.

PICK (or buy)

Decide what you want to can, and gather the food. The fresher the better. Pick it from the garden. Or shop for the freshest veggies at the farmers markets and road stands.  We are still deciding on the menu. Growing up, we didn't plan. If my dad brought home a basket of "check" fruit from the orchard, all plans were canceled at that's what we did. (Check=Seconds)

When your prepping your food, throw away (or use it for dinner) anything that is not pristine. If something is starting to spoil, it might contaminate your whole batch. Moms rule of thumb was, "when in doubt, throw it out."

PRESERVE

For that you'll have to wait till Monday.