I've always wanted to can, but now that I have the time, I definitely don't have the room. It's probably just as well, because I might end up with botulism. I tried making a batch of Vietnamese salty lemonade and think I misunderstood 'cover loosely', they ended up all moldy. Freeze drying sounds interesting, but that's way out of my price range, although if I had the money I'd probably spring for it.
When I was kid we used to can corn. My grandparents had a farm and there was always a huge yield of corn. My sisters my mom, my grandmother and I would spend a day canning corn. Everybody had a job. I think that canned corn would last us through the winter. I have had gardens here but never had enough veggies to can. It can be a real money saver though for sure.
When I was kid, my family used to can all kinds of things to eat during the winter. We had fruit trees, grape vines, and berry bushes, and Grandma Bailey would can all of these things, making lots of grape jam, raspberry jam, and apple buter. When we went fishing and caught more than we could fry and eat, she canned the trout, which was almost like eating canned salmon, with its delicious pink meat. They lived nest door to us, and we all shared the food and the cellar where we stored all of that canned food. Apples, potatoes, and carrots were also stored in the root cellar over the winter. It was a good way to live. The only thing that I have ever canned was some relish, and sometimes I make that easy freezer jam. We seldom eat jam now; so I have stopped making it, too.
Do you ever do any of the pickling that is done like making sauerkraut, @Sheldon Scott ? I have watched tutorials on this kind of pickling; but have been afraid to even try it. I think it is because I have these visions of it exploding and pickles or saurkaut shreds (even worse !) flying all over the kitchen and sticking to the ceiling. I just watched this tutorial on making radish pickles, and it seems to me like they would probably taste delicious; so I am wavering back and forth (in my mind, of course) whether I should try making some or not. What is your expert opinion, Sheldon (or anyone else here); have you ever made pickles this way, and how easy/hard was it to make them (and did they explode) ? ?
No @Yvonne Smith , we make kraut but have never made fermented pickles. I don't know about radish pickles but my wife made pickles from yellow squash and they were great.
I canned some Bread & Butter pickles yesterday; 7 pints. I hope that's all the pickles although we're still getting loads of cucumbers. We're getting ripe tomatoes and sweet peppers now. We'll probably can tomatoes soon.
I have never canned anything, other than making preserves or jellies, but I'd like to have the ability to do that so that we can take advantage of bulk sales or buying things when they are available, then canning them for later use. I have been tempted to try it myself but, to be honest, if I figure out how to do it, this will become my job and I have too many jobs, so I've been trying to encourage my wife to do that. Hey, it's not a sexist thing, since I am generally the one who does dishes and laundry.
I've always wanted to do canning... never did it, though. My mom always canned tomatoes.... crushed for things like chili, and they were so good in soups and various recipes. My grandma had a whole wall of shelves in the basement for rows and rows of colorful canned goods. She canned all kinds of things but my favorite was the peaches and pears. Oh, they were so good and sweet. There was never the horrified screaming of "You can't eat that much sugar, it will ruin your health!" People just ate things like that without much of a second thought. I did can peaches with my sister one year... and it was a good time. Let's see... memories. I guess my favorite is listening for those lids to pop every time I was in the house where canning was going on. My mom, grandma, and aunt somehow subconsciously counted and always knew how many of them hadn't sealed yet. I would dearly love to have a shelf like my grandma had... if I'd have the space for it, (I don't ) it would definitely be the prompt I'd need to learn how to do it. Sometimes I buy home canned things from the dear Amish and Mennonites I've always had in my area, but the prices are rather steep because of the labor and costs of the jars, etc. I can't do a lot of that.
I guess it's just regional, but I thought most people in our age bracket grew up with gardening and canning as a way of life. Not so many young people doing it but we've sold some excess jars a few times and it was younger people ( 20's I'd guess) who bought them.
Here's what I know for certain, as well as what I don't know. Vegetables which are acidic, naturally, or made so using vinegar, "can" rather easily with little negative aftereffect. Sweet fruits are trickier, and meat is the "snake". All this is according to my wife! Don't quote me! She canned veggies she grew in Phoenix, and Missouri later. he used a "boiling water batch", Mason Jars with screw-top lids having a big center hole with a rim to bear down upon the convexed lids, which had a rubbery seal underneath, sealing on the rim of the jar. She boiled the empty jars, submerged in water in a big kettle, removed them while hot, and filled them with the veggies she had already cooked (maybe not always pre-cooked, though), then tightened the lids and caps, put the filled jars back in the kettle, submerged underwater, then boiled them until the contents of the jars could be seen to boil! I told her she was nuts! That the jars would burst! They didn't! Removed from the kettle, as they sat on the countertop, the lids one by one "popped" downwards, to become concaved. This indicated a vacuum was present in the jars. When they were cool, she did the next wacko thing: she removed the screwed down rings! Now you had only the vacuum maintaining the "seal" After I thought about her process a long time, I decided one of two things was happening: she either lucked out, that none ever burst, or the lids were able to vent steam pressure even while screwed down. Then, there is something called a "Pressure Canner". This I don't know even Jack Spratt about, but imagine it to be a Pressure Cooker, basically. Used to safely can meats, I believe. @Sheldon Scott being in Arkansas, where a multitude of folks grown and preserve their own foods, may be able to straighten me out a bit about my lack of "can" skills! Frank
Living in an apt. doesn't leave you much for canning of any kind, lol, but we do simple pickling of turnips like red radishes adding them to umeboshi juice to pickle overnight. They will turn red and is so good with rice. Now there is no umeboshi juice any longer; I don't know why there isn't no juice but when I was little there was a lot of umeboshi juice. Umeboshi is pickled plums good and salty to the max. image from http://www.japan-guide.com/g7/2349_13.jpg. We pickle other radishes like the long daikon with putting cider vinegar and salt. Let stand. Rinse off the salt and it's ready to add soy sauce to eat with rice. Recipes here http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2349.html.
You've got part of it dangerously backwards , Frank. Fruits are acidic and can be canned in a boiling water canner. Pickled vegetables, which contain a lot of vinegar, can also be canned in boiling water. Other vegetables as well as meats absolutely must be canned in a pressure canner.