My first crack at canning

Okay.... after posting about my homemade salsa the other day and having camprn give me a nudge on the benefits of canning, I thought I would try my hand on a small batch of bread and butter pickles since there was nothing else to do except watch it rain.  I went to Wally World a couple of days ago and picked up everything I needed to get me started and then I watched a whole bunch of Youtube videos on the subject as well as a lot of Google reading while waiting for my Bell Blue Book to get here.  

Armed with a bunch of info swimming around in my head and a fridge full of cucumbers from the garden, I proceeded to put together my first round of canned food ever.

First I prepared the food to be canned, cucumbers, garlic and onions all from my garden.  I retrieved some red and orange bell pepper from the freezer for color.



Then I got my liquid prepared and my jars and lids started with the sterilization process.



Filled all the jars with ingredients and liquid to proper level and wiped the rims down ready for the lids.



Jars all capped and ready to lower into the boiling water for 5 minutes as directed.



Mission accomplished and waiting to the lids to go "POP"



As I was composing this post I listened for and heard the 4 distinct "pops" which means I must have done it right X 4   

This was not difficult at all and I am most likely going to go crazy with it from here, it just goes hand in hand with gardening and that's all there is to it.  Now to watch the yard sales for additional jars and maybe even a pressure canner.

Thanks for your "nudge" camprn(more like a shove  ) and also to those who encouraged me in the other post.

Oh my goodness, those are BEAUTIFUL! Well done! and didn't you find the pinging noise incredibly satisfying? Today you get a blue star!  

Whoa! Nice, Bob! I haven't done the water bath canning yet but I do the pressure canning and it's just as easy.

Those jars are just beautiful! Well done!

CC

Very nice. Do you remove the rings? I would be scared to for fear I would bump the lid and make it loose. Can't wait to try canning. Bought a pressure cooker of eBay.

Congrats on your first attempt, they look great! Be careful... canning is very addictive. I've been at it for 25 years and am always looking for a new recipe to try. Just canned eight pints of cherry pie filling made from the cherries off the old tart cherry tree in my front yard. Jams and Jellies are especially fun to make and there's nothing like spreading some your own homemade Raspberry jam on warm toast on a snowy winter day. Yum.

Awesome 

sanderson wrote:Very nice.  Do you remove the rings?  I would be scared to for fear I would bump the lid and make it loose.  Can't wait to try canning.  Bought a pressure cooker of eBay.

Recommendations are to remove the rings and store the canned jars of food without the rings. Removing the rings will not compromise the seal. Leaving the rings on may encourage bacteria growth and rusting.

Holy Moly I am so impressed, Great Job!!

WOW! Thanks for the nice comments everyone, they certainly encourage me to continue on. I am quite proud of the results of my first batch and can't wait to get more tomatoes for some serious salsa canning next.

Stay tuned.... more to come  

Now remember it is best to let your pickles rest for two months before opening............. but they get better with time. Looks like you are well on your way with the thanksgiving menu.  

2 months????? That is going to be oh so hard  

Thanks for all your help camp!

OMG I'm sorry I had to laugh Bob.  Camp got you all revved up and canning. 
 Now all you can do is look and drool. 
 Some evil irony huh?

llama momma wrote:OMG I'm sorry I had to laugh Bob.  Camp got you all revved up and canning. 
 Now all you can do is look and drool. 
 Some evil irony huh?

Yeah... first I wait on strawberries and asparagus and now this!   aaaaarrrrrhhhhhh  

Now you may want to consider entering those jars at the fair.

camprn wrote:Now you may want to consider entering those jars at the fair.

uh uh... no way! The Fair is 3 months away and you said I could eat them in 2.

 

bnoles wrote:

llama momma wrote:OMG I'm sorry I had to laugh Bob.  Camp got you all revved up and canning. 
 Now all you can do is look and drool. 
 Some evil irony huh?

Yeah... first I wait on strawberries and asparagus and now this!   aaaaarrrrrhhhhhh   

Bob. I think the idea is to keep your canning to eat when there is little fresh stuff around, like in the winter.
But if you are going to eat it now, go on then, provided you do a lot more so that you can have something to eat later. lol A bit like my wine making, I drink it too soon before it has properly matured. When I drink the last bottle, then I wished I had been more sparing with them in the first place.

Nice job. Since I do not have a way (yet) to do a proper water bath, I have only made refrigerator pickles this year with our cucumbers.

NAR56 wrote:Nice job. Since I do not have a way (yet) to do a proper water bath, I have only made refrigerator pickles this year with our cucumbers.  

 Do you have a Dutch oven with a steamer insert?  You can use that to make a water bath canner.  The pot just has to be deep enough to allow you to have the jars off the bottom and covered by an inch of water.  That is what I use when I can in 4 oz jars because they are so small they won't stay in the regular bakset that we use with the canner.

Those pickles look fantastic! My cukes fizzled out last year so I didn't get to make any so I resorted to making dilly beans instead! Everybody loved them, I just used the ball mix from the store and canned away! If you have an excess of green beans to use up  

Can the Dilly beans be made in a hot water bath or do they require the pressure canner?

Hot water bath!

Thanks! Looks like I need to add this to my list.

bnoles, generally speaking foods that are high acid or sugar (pickles, relish, jellies and the like) may easily be processed in a waterbath canner. Low acid food need to be processed in pressure canner where the temperatures can get higher than the boiling point of water. Read and follow all recipe instructions for success.

Thanks camp! I think I am getting there. Is there an easy way to water bath a single jar or 2 without dragging out that BIG pot and using all that excess water?

Bob, I'm by no means an expert, but I think the biggest thing is to not rest the jars on the bottom of the pot, and having the proper coverage. Also, if you're just wanting some quick, easy pickles, refrigerator pickles are excellent.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t4232-canning-preserving-101