How to store canned goods

A lot of the time I'm annoyed with my 100 year old house- the toilet clogs easily, the rooms are small, and my basement is prone to seepage during heavy rainfall. However, I can't deny its charm and functionality when it comes to storing my homemade canned goods. Check out the cellar in my basement where I store all of canning stuff. Its beauty makes me fall in love with this old home again and again.

Canning bible

Even if you find most of your recipes online it's still helpful to have a reference book on hand. Pick up the Ball canning book when you're ready to can. I love to peruse it in late winter and dream about all of the canning I'll do when the weather is warm enough to garden.

How long does it take for it to seal?

Now in my fourth canning season I figured I knew what I was doing. I tried a couple minor tweaks with the canning recipes, but generally kept to task. Well, after a long day of canning tomato soup and juice I was unbelievably frustrated while I waited for the seven or so quarts to seal. This was 3-4 hours after I Re-processed these seven quarts that still didn't seal. So after 5 hours of processing and cooling these quarts did not seal so I put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. Here's when I answer the question How does it take for it to seal? Well, I took the jar of tomato juice out of the fridge today and guess what? Yep, it was sealed. I don't know when that happened, but I know now that sometimes it takes longer than you expect. So be patient- and just have another drink to pass the time.
Happy Canning!

How to can the best tomato spaghetti sauce- part b

Ok, here's the uber fab canning recipe from my Aunt Mae.  Process for 20 minutes in a water bath canner. A couple tips from my third season canning this recipe.  First- buy roma tomatoes. Second-get yourself an immersion blender so that you can skip the boil and peel tomatoes step and simply throw all of the ingredients in a big nesco, cook it for 4-5 hours, and then blend the whole darn thing into a beautiful ragu that can be used in many recipes.  I haven't told my Aunt Mae about skipping the peeling part.  I'm planning on doing a blind taste test at the next family gathering up in New Holstein to see if anyone can tell the difference.  Either way, I'm not going back to boiling and peeling the tomatoes because it's a pain.  Try it and let me know what you think.  For those of you non-canners- just make a batch and freeze it. 

How to can tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce

I've read a bunch of stuff on official canning sites and in canning books talking about NEVER include oil in your canning recepies.  Well, I've been canning my Aunt Mae's spaghetti sauce that uses oil and I still have not caused me or my family any digestive problems.  I just canned 14 quarts of beautiful spaghetti sauce that I use for lasagna, pasta, pizza sauce and more.  It's absolutely delicious!  I'll be posting the recipe shortly...

New Colander- from Grandma Hildy!

I am bursting with excitement to tell you about my new canning tool- the canning colander. It's an upside down cone shape with a wooden pallet to mush all the vegetable (or fruit) goodness. Jeanne and I were planning on canning on Tuesday, but the Chicago weather has thrown a big wrench into our plan. It rained more in one day than any other day causing major flood damage for both me and Jeanne. Our old (but vintage charming) Chicago homes could not withstand the rain so we will be cleaning up on Tuesday instead of canning- bummer! If we recover early we'll have a canning party later this week. I think it's about time to crack open the Tomato juice and add a big lolly of vodka - we need it after this mess. Just in case you're concerned- none of my canning supplies or canned stuff got damaged .

Canning Pictures

I haven't quite figured out how to add my canning pictures from my Flickr page but check out the new photos I uploaded separately.
thanks,
Becky