I did it!!! I canned for the first time!!!

WooHoo!!! I made salsa today and canned it . I researched like crazy on canners and was going to go with a pressure cooker/canner that is online at Walmart with great reviews. And then I realized most everything that I will be canning this year is suggested to can using the hot water bath method. So instead of the $90 pressure canner, I went with the $18 hot water canner (the big black pan) and can always borrow my neighbors pressure canner if necessary. I bought the Ball Canning cookbook, but used a canning salsa recipe a friend uses. My friends recipe followed the Ball instructions so it worked out great. But salsa is a LOT of work. I had to blanch, peel, seed and dice 24 cups of tomato besides all the other ingredients and ended up with 11 pints of salsa almost 5 hours later.

It is nice to see so many veges from my garden all in one jar including tomato, green pepper, jalapeno, and onions.

This weekend I am going to can Dilly Beans, and hot pepper rings too.

Rebecca

CONGRATS!!! You give me hope. I am going to try canning this weekend as well. I am going to stick with hot water bath, and freeze the other things.

Your salsa sounds fantastic. My tomatoes are only just starting... had the first one just today. Can't wait!

milaneyjane wrote:WooHoo!!! salsa is a LOT of work. I had to blanch, peel, seed and dice 24 cups of tomato besides all the other ingredients and ended up with 11 pints of salsa almost 5 hours later.
Rebecca

Congratulations, it will get easier the more you do it. You are so going to love that salsa in February!!

That's going to be the best tasting salsa you've ever eaten! Now that you know you can do it, what's next?

WooHoo!!! salsa is a LOT of work. I had to blanch, peel, seed and dice
24 cups of tomato besides all the other ingredients and ended up with
11 pints of salsa almost 5 hours later.

Great job!!! I am encouraged !!!!
Ha-v-v

Very exciting! I was going to post on this today also. I started A LOT simpler. Half pint jars of pickles. LOL. They are still cooling - did not read about checking seals until I was done. Not sure I wiped the rims well enough and filled the jars a tad too full, but got the drift. Have been saving dill seed heads so got to use them. Can't wait to check them after they cool and to...eat them eventually!



Don't worry. Any that didn't seal properly I will redo with new caps or just use as refrigerator pickes. Hopefully they all took.

Chopper wrote:Have been saving dill seed heads so got to use them.

Did you grow the dill yourself? When do you pick the heads? When the flowers have developed into round heads before they go to seed? Did you dry them?

I need to pick my dill now, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I planted my Homemade Pickles cucumbers late, so they're just beginning to product cucumbers now. It will be awhile before I can use the dill heads.

Thanks!

-Michelle

glasgrl wrote:Did you grow the dill yourself? When do you pick the heads? When the flowers have developed into round heads before they go to seed? Did you dry them?

I need to pick my dill now, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I planted my Homemade Pickles cucumbers late, so they're just beginning to produce cucumbers now. It will be awhile before I can use the dill heads.

Thanks!

-Michelle

I planted my cukes late, too. I grew the dill myself and I picked the heads when the flowers were gone and it looked kind of brown. Then I put them in a brown paper bag closed with a rubber band. This way you don't lose any seed if they fall out. I figured that if the heads lost their seeds I would just use the seeds themselves. They were all pretty much intact after 3 weeks in the bag, though.

My cukes didn't last in the fridge. I can't blame them, they held for WEEKS but I didn't get off my keester in time to take care of them.

Tonight, though, I tried canning for the first time. I found a recipe in the Blue Ball book for Garlic Jelly and I just couldn't resist. I think it went pretty well, except for the boilover.... Lesson learned: Pick a saucepan much deeper than you think you need. I used my biggest one and it was still too small. Next time I'll use my second stockpot -- I used the first one for the actual canning. It was so great to hear them all ping after I took them out of the boiling water!

I am so proud of you all for canning! Your photos look great.

Regarding dill, I usually pick mine just after flowering while still green, in between the stage of flowers and brown seeds so I get the dill flavor, but don't have to worry about brown seeds floating around in my jars. The seeds give it a little different flavor - not better or worse, just different.

Megan, what do you do with your garlic jelly?

ander217 wrote:Megan, what do you do with your garlic jelly?

Don't know yet! I'm thinking it would make a great basis for a sauce, marinade, or glaze... and of course I also can't resist trying it on some bread.