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Putting Up

Home canning is also referred to "putting up" - putting up food for use later in the year. Canning is making a huge come back, for economical reasons and because of the eat local movement. Home preserving is an essential part of local eating because it encourages you to shop and eat seasonally. With canning and dehydrating, you can preserve seasonal foods for use later in the year, out of season. The other day I had a canning marathon. It was quite an ordeal but, with the help of Food in Jars, I managed to put up:

3 pints (500ml jars) Homemade Spiced Applesauce. Total of 6lbs of Okanagan apples put up. 5 quarts (1L jars) Tomatoes Packed in Water, using 8lbs of Okanagan tomatoes. (I loosely followed my Grandma's method, but adhered to the USDA guidelines to ensure they are in a safe pH range). 3 pints (500ml jars) Peaches in Honey Syrup, using 5 lbs of Okanagan peaches. (I followed the directions on the Food in Jars website, but instead of 100% sugar, I used 50% honey/50% sugar. One jar also received a piece of Star Anise, a cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.) Add all this to the things I put up during the Preserve the Bounty challenge, and this summer I preserved about 25 quarts of fruit and vegetables for use this winter!

Still on the agenda for this week is Spicy Dill Beans, at the request of my mother. She loves them as a garnish in Caesars.

Posted by IamJill at 9:00 AM