My canning craziness

I was introduced to the world of canning earlier this summer. My M-I-L came with boxes full of peaches and apricots and we did a few sets of each. Fresh from the Okanagan. It was tedious at first...peeling, boiling, filling, wiping, tightening.....making sure i only did one at a time lest any of the jars/lids get too cold that they wouldn't seal. I was actually quite the stress basket. At one point...it was like a revelation! Why am I worried about the chance that they won't seal? We can just eat them!!! Luckily for me...a big ego boost...was the sounds of lids popping!!! S actually made fun of me cuz I was doing a happy dance everytime one popped! So...we ended up not eating any...they all worked :D Heeheehee...i'm still giddy about it all.

My peaches...so beautiful!

My apricot jam. A nice golden brown-thanks to not adding the lemon juice soon enough :D

Next I tried blackberries. Blackberries grow everywhere here. I mean EVERYWHERE! They are mostly a problem plant-like a weed. They tend to overgrow taking over roads/trails. And they are a bugger to pick too! Expect to come out with a few battle wounds. But...in my personal opinion it is worth every berry. They are wonderful to me! My whole life I waited to live in BC where such yummy things can grow. And these things are expensive in the stores too...obviously a good portion of the cost is going towards the berry employee's danger pay! LOL. Well-one night we were driving around finishing a service project and we came across a large bramble just waiting to be picked...huge juicy berries were calling my name. S helped me and we only managed to pick maybe 1/3 of a shopping bag. I hoped it was enough-and it was plus some. I decided to use my Vitamix to puree my blackberries...thinking I was oh so smart....well.....turns out you don't puree berries when you make jam. Apparently Pectin is released from the seeds and skin and it makes the texture come out funny. So...although my jam tastes amazing...it does have a funny texture. *Mental note for next year-don't puree* Then we had some left overs so I tried making syrup. The syrup tastes even better than the jam-however-because of my puree problem-my syrup is more like jam. Very viscous. Oh well. A's dance teacher says "it's alright if you make mistakes-as long as you know how to fix it, once you know how to fix it, you'll start to notice you aren't making as many mistakes" Smart lady.

L-R Peaches, Apricots, Apricot Jam, Corn Relish, Zucchini relish,
Blackberry syrup, blackberry jam, pickled beets, corn salsa

So, after trying the blackberries by myself, I took to my next project. Corn Relish. This was the recipe I'd been eyeing since I decided I wanted to learn to can. I always loved the corn relish on my street meat in Toronto. So, I called a friend and she helped me and I successfully canned a few jars of corn relish which tastes...surprise surprise...like corn relish. It wasn't super spectacular...but it was still yummy. I'm still showing it off...it looks pretty :D Then i did zucchini relish, then corn salsa, then I did pineapple coconut freezer sauce (not shown in picture). Then the beets. While I was in the middle of preparations-the canner was boiling and I was just getting ready to prepare the beets. My house is old and has poor ventilation so I was canning...in almost no clothing...*gasp*shock and awe* when I get a knock on my front door!!! I ran to get a more modest cover up and it turns out my uncle who does not live here just decided to 'drop by'. He is a great canner so he jumped right in to help me. Gave me some great tips: Like baking your jars instead of boiling them to sterilize them! Turns out boiling them to sterilize them can be dangerous. I can attest to that as that very day O came running up to me while I was trying to get the jars out and I nearly spilled boiling water on him-thankfully I didn't but managed to spill it all down my arm-got a burn. It wasn't too bad-could have been worse. But so far-that has been the best piece of advice.The other thing is that you don't actually have to boil the rings...duh!! So it's not too hot when you tighten them! Also handy.
Also not shown are the Pears that I did. I also had left overs from that so i made a Pear/Cranberry conserve which went so nice with our turkey dinner today. I also took a nice big dollop of that conserve, added olive oil and white wine vinegar to it and it made a great vinaigrette with our salad of Romaine, apple, roasted pecans and feta!!! I am not a salad lover...but i loved this! 

I also did another conserve-made from blueberries, maple syrup, pecans, currants. all I have to say is DROOL! The recipe suggested serving it with Brie and crackers. So we tried it...it was good-but i'm gonna wait til the Brie ripens some more and see if it's better cuz I wasn't a huge fan. We did try it with ice cream though and OH MY! I had to have seconds-and I'm NOT an ice cream fan. Tomorrow I'm going to try it on breakfast crepes with ricotta cheese. I heart cooking.....so fun!

I also canned fresh strawberry jam. Found a neat recipe that suggested adding gingerale. I did...but I can't really tell the difference. The jam was really good though-and what are the chances?? I found just the right amount of strawberries at a local farm. Totally organic, small and sweet. Not those huge bitter ones you buy in the grocery store. And at the end of September no less! I love this town!

And we did more peaches...the last crop...freestones. Let's not talk about it. They were not good canning peaches. I shall try to remember that for next year. The left overs of the peaches I used to make GF Peach cobbler though...it was very good. So I guess they are better for cooking. 

Well...i think that's all the cooking canning i've done. But wait...i'm not finished! I canned all my baking supplies into cans. Raisins, nuts, oats, sugar, flour, etc! My baking cupboard is so much neater now! And I canned bath paints, and playdoh!!! HAHAHA....SOMEONE STOP ME!!! LOL

Here come's the deep and meaningful part of my blog.
With all this canning on my mind-preservation of food-I had a moment the other day where O was being cute, loving, sweet, cute...amazing! And I thought...can I somehow preserve this??? I need a jar that I can put all of my happy-amazing-more than words can describe feelings of love for my kids- in. There are videos, pictures, sentimental items-but we can't stop time from continuing-nor stop kids from growing. So-although our best efforts to preserve these moments are tried-we still need to enjoy the moments while they are happening-and be happy while we are here-

I'm off to can onions-ciao!!