End of Summer
The summer is coming to an end. Here in my midwestern college town the students are coming back. The weather is cooling (although yesterday was 90F and 75% humidity). And the canning supplies are here.
In every hardware store and almost every grocery store there are canning supplies. Jars, lids, pectin, all bearing the Ball or Kerr logos. Even in grocery stores where you're lucky to find barley or decent produce. Is this normal across the country? I don't remember it from other places I've lived. It's not like I live in a tiny rural town. We have a population of over 220,000. We have a major university and lots of government and an airport and all that.
This week we gave in to the lure of Home Canning. I prepared 25 pounds of tomatoes this weekend and on Monday night Drew canned 4 quarts. It doesn't sound like much, and doesn't look like much, but that was all that would fit in our canning pot. When you're canning on a weekday night after dinner, you can only do one batch because the USDA and UW Extension agree that tomatoes packed in juice need to be boiled for 90 minutes. Last night we bought canning tongs (they are curved at the bottom to fit around jars) and a round cake rack, so our next batch should be much easier. And having seen Drew translate the written word into real life, I can do the next batch myself.
I'm excited to have local tomatoes available for spaghetti sauces this winter!
ETA: To my friends across the pond -- What do you call preserving veg in jars, like putting up marmalade? I want to write to my grandparents about this, but I want to be sure I use the right words. Thanks!
In every hardware store and almost every grocery store there are canning supplies. Jars, lids, pectin, all bearing the Ball or Kerr logos. Even in grocery stores where you're lucky to find barley or decent produce. Is this normal across the country? I don't remember it from other places I've lived. It's not like I live in a tiny rural town. We have a population of over 220,000. We have a major university and lots of government and an airport and all that.
This week we gave in to the lure of Home Canning. I prepared 25 pounds of tomatoes this weekend and on Monday night Drew canned 4 quarts. It doesn't sound like much, and doesn't look like much, but that was all that would fit in our canning pot. When you're canning on a weekday night after dinner, you can only do one batch because the USDA and UW Extension agree that tomatoes packed in juice need to be boiled for 90 minutes. Last night we bought canning tongs (they are curved at the bottom to fit around jars) and a round cake rack, so our next batch should be much easier. And having seen Drew translate the written word into real life, I can do the next batch myself.
I'm excited to have local tomatoes available for spaghetti sauces this winter!
ETA: To my friends across the pond -- What do you call preserving veg in jars, like putting up marmalade? I want to write to my grandparents about this, but I want to be sure I use the right words. Thanks!