And the Canning Season Begins...

So today I have spent the day trying to take care of some of these fruits and veggies that I received yesterday. Tomatoes, red and green peppers, onions, garlic, apples, and 3 cases of cherries!! most of that was in trade veggies where if I do the processing of it I could have half and bring him back half. That means for a little work I get food for the family to help get through the winter! IT ROCKS!! He can't do that for everyone because he does pay for all the food out of his own pocket and then resells it, but still I feel really lucky he choose our family to bless with this opportunity. Last year I didn't know much about canning. A few little things here and there but picked it up with full force late in the year when I started this deal with Justin. It was late in the year then but this year we are starting early plus going to have the added benefit of growing what I can in my own little garden for the first time. ( I know I am scared too!) Anyways like I said we spent today working on what we could get done.

First we started with the little bit of yellow and green beans he gave me. There were only enough for two jars but they are the simplest things EVER to can. I had learned how to do peaches quite a few years ago but had never done them alone so didn't have to pay attention to all the steps... Yeah that was dumb! It's like I figured someone else was always going to be around. So the first thing I learned to really can on my own was beans. I will be honest here I HATE GREEN BEANS! Yep there are foods I can't stand to eat, but I do anyway ( in small portions ) because I feel I can't expect my kids to eat foods they don't like if I don't do the same. So when we lived back in Squamish a wonderful lady named Darlene taught me an easy and almost tasty way to can beans. The trick is to not over process them.. so many people make that mistake. To help keep the fresher taste of the beans all you do is cut off the ends and stuff them right into the jar.

Cut them into smaller pieces if you want, but you don't have to.

You toss in a little sea salt maybe about 1/2 a teaspoon and then fill the jar with hot water.

From there you put on your boiled canning lid and then put it in the pot for the boiling process. The reason most canned green beans and yellow etc. seem over cooked when you go to use them is because they ARE! yep if you blanch them and them boil the jar for canning you are cooking your beans TWICE. We don't take fresh beans and cook them for dinner and then before putting them on the table cook them again! Doing it this way you are keeping more of the freshness when you can your beans. I will admit even I eat a few more beans when they are done this way.

The next thing we worked on was getting some of those cherries done up. 3 cases is a lot but Mike and the boys love cherries. Here comes my next confession of this post.. I hate cherries any other way but fresh. You are probably thinking I am crazy at this point doing all this work canning things that I don't like. Well my family loves them and that's all that counts. Plus when I do it at least I know what went into it so I am less paranoid about eating them. Now I have never canned the cherries before, just frozen them as they are good to put in my smoothies. But this year Mike asked me too and since I still have a lot of cherry jam left from last year so Mike wanted cherries canned for cherry pies in the middle of winter. So here I am canning cherries for winter. They again are pretty easy.. first thing you need is a cherry pitter.

I did it the hard way last year for the jams and such where you cut each cherry in half and then then pit... yeah that was hours WASTED in my life that I will never get back. Good thing I got smart this year ;) Even smarter was picking up more than one so I could put a few kids to work and help me with it. Ben did most of the work and even broke one of the pitters at one point and had to put it back together.

We put as many as I was comfortable putting in a jar before fearing I was squishing the cherries. Looking at the jars now I probably could of put a few more cherries in. Good thing I used this first batch as really a test run. Kind of like all my canning last year :D After we were finished stuffing the jars with the cherries we added a simple syrup to them. When I say I really do mean SIMPLE. It is 2 cups of water to every 1 cup of sugar. Yep pretty simple. I also add in 2 tsp Fruit Fresh for each recipe as I find it really helps the fruit keep it nice color and makes it more appealing come winter and you are craving fresh fruit.

You really don't want to open a jar of peaches that is looking all brown and icky... okay maybe that's just me being picky. Maybe I am more of a picky person than I think I am. Hmmmm random realizations that come from blogging. So you top up the jars with this simple syrup and then you stick a butter knife down the side of the jars to get the bubbles out (you actually do with anything you can.. but I forgot that part with the beans when writing about it earlier in this post)

You put your boiled lid on and then you put all your bottles that are ready in your giant pot for the boiling process. Bring the water up to a boil then boil it for 15 - 20 minutes.

When you pull them out sit them on the counter for cooling and wait for the magical sound.. when you hearing the popping you know you did a good job and your food is safe in the jars until you go to use them :) I LOVE the popping sound. It lets me know I did something right that day :)  The best part of canning though is the team work we create as a family and the yummy foods we get to enjoy during the winter that remind of the hard work we did as a family. There was some other things we canned as well but I will save those for another post. I have to admit we did crack open a jar of cherries to taste because who can say no to Sam's super please eyes? LOL!