Last night Curly T and I got together at around 8:00 pm to try our hand at home canning. We had already poured through the Ball Jar Complete Book Of Home Preserving last week and finally decided on a recipe we both thought sounded good.
Strawberry Margarita Preserves.page 65.The entire idea, of course, in beginning our adventure so late was that my kids would be in bed fast asleep. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Both The Boy and The Baby chose last evening to nut-up big time.
Curly T had a headache so bad she thought she was having a stroke. I was so irritated with my family I thought I was having a stroke. Finally, having had enough of the whining I decided on some adult therapeutic intervention.
No, we didn't drink the Tequila called for in the recipe. We ordered pizza. Pizza with gross things like mushrooms and onions and olives. Adult pizza. R-rated pizza that no child should or would consume.
It felt gooooood. Decadent almost.
The Teenager, who is
Knowing absolutely nothing about canning, we began with the basics.
No. I'm not exaggerating. Do you know how daunting the process is when you factor in exploding Ball jars, elevation gauges and botulism?We watched a few You Tube videos on preparing the jars deciding that there are some seriously sick folk on You Tube making canning videos. We poured over the Ball Jar book again and again. We pondered the altitude gauge for way too long. We Googled when we had to. The three of us took turns stirring. We jumped up and down at the sound of the pop-pop-popping of the jars sealing after we took them out of the water bath.
Yes, like 3 big dorks.
But the end result...
was oh so beautiful.
Curly T surprised me with an early/late birthday/Christmas present. Having suffered through my festering kraut escapade, but agreeing that the festering kraut was quite yummy, Curly T got on the internet and found a more efficient, sanitary way of making kraut.
A 3 liter pickle system from Pickl-It. The most fabulous pickling system around.Today we are off to the market to buy cabbage because one can never have enough kraut festering in the kitchen.
Next up: Pineapple Jam.
State Fair here we come.
3 comments:
I'm so impressed AND inspired. I have a friend who wants to do this -- I think I'm going to reply to her email and say, "yes."
Elizabeth: Do it! It really is so much fun. And I keep thinking...our jam has no high fructose corn syrup, locust bean gum, red dye etc etc etc in it. A good way to eat healthy and have fun cooking and we all know you are an excellent cook!
Next year I am going to have a garden of all my own. I can't wait to learn to can. Our parks and rec offers a course. I have no idea how to even start!
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