We had our ward temple night this evening. Afterwards we went to a icecream social with some of the ward members. There was a couple there that had recently gotten home from a mission in Wyoming. Already they have planted in their garden!! They have only been home a few short weeks. They have strawberries, peas, lettuce, carrots, etc. I had NO idea of the many things you can grow here in AZ over the winter months. I guess I better not complain about the TOO HOT growing season ever again...since in actuality we probably have 2 or 3 'growing seasons'.
Gardening can (and will be) a whole other post or 2, or 3...
Why I mentioned gardening in the first place, is because what do you do when you have extra produce? You should CAN it, of course! ;) Well, at this gathering we talked about all of the different things you can Can. From peaches, to pinto beans, to chicken, and even cakes and breads! Bet some of you didn't know that! One person mentioned how canning is becoming a lost art, and how when he was growing up it was just automatic at harvest time to start storing up foods in jars. (Yup, been there, done that..Mom still cans a lot of things). Another gal said that she would much rather learn how to can, and preserve foods, then learn how to better scrapbook. She said scrapbooking is fun, and all...then her husband said that he guessed the would have to get a pressure canner. She said that is what she wants for Christmas, and also a steam canner. :)
I really REALLY want to try some of these interesting and unique things. (A couple of months back I went to a Preparedness activity where they canned butter!) Oh the amazing things you can do with canning jars!
Ok, so...what is one of the most unique or enjoyable thing that you have canned? Please share...and then give the directions of how to do it. Also which canning method you used. Whether you used the bottle bath method, a steam canner, or a pressure canner.
skillet baked macaroni and cheese
19 hours ago
2 comments:
Bottled salsa would have to be my all time favorite thing I have canned. I swear my husband could live on chips and salsa. I'll have to learn how to make really good corn tortillas so that I can fry them into chips. I used the water bath method, but I can't remember how long. Sadly, I still rely on my mother when it comes to how long I need to do each different kind of food in the water bath. I also thoroughly enjoyed making apricot jam (although the whole kitchen was a sticky mess :) My friends have done chicken and pinto beans. THAT'S what I want to learn! Mom used to can beef cubes and new potatoes and carrots, then all she had to do for stew was open a bottle of each and add some onion. Yum!
My favorite thing to can is Tomato Juice or maybe peaches or maybe Rhubarb jam. I can't quite decide. We use more tomato juice than anything else. It's just a way of life for us to can what we use and use what we can.
The best book I have for answers to canning questions and recipes is the "Ball Blue Book". I use it a lot so I don't have to remember everything.
I don't can beans or corn anymore because it takes such a long time to pressure them and I wonder if there is any nutrition left and they don't turn out very pretty. So we buy canned vegetables.
Thanks for the blog. I'll keep coming back.
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