The Joy of Canning

There is something that is extremely satisfying about preserving fruits and vegetables. What makes canning so great is knowing exactly what has gone into your food, being self-sufficient, and using fresh, local products.

Last year, I was quite ambitious and made strawberry jam, raspberry jam, saskatoon berry jam, red pepper jelly, bread and butter pickles, kosher dill pickles, cranberry salsa, tomato salsa and green tomato mincemeat.

Since there are only two people that live in my house, that is quite a lot.

This year, I was not quite as ambitious with my canning so I made only raspberry jam (with raspberries I picked) and tonight I have just made more kosher dill pickles. Mmmm. They look so good!

Still to come this year - homemade ketchup. Perhaps some pickled beets. Possibly other tomato -related products, depending on how many tomatoes ripen in my garden.

Be sure to let me know if you have any good canning recipes!