Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Do the can can can!...by Juli

There are some times in this big wide world that Jessica and I are on the exact same wave length and have the same thoughts at the same moment. The other day I said I was planning on making making pickles. Jessica says, I made pickles yesterday...weird! Ok so here is my little canning adventure/tutorial {be patient...its a long one...}

Your canning/surgery tools

You have to boil the jars and lids in order to keep them sanitary.
Since they are super seedy you will want to process them through a food mill, thanks Coletti's!

Always have a cooking buddy at your feet
Cook with sugar (i used 2 cups) and the juice of a lemon
Cook the berries/sugar/pectin mixture until it cools to the right consistency

Remove the sanitized jars with your surgical tool

Fill
Cap off!
Sealing the jars in the canning kettle for about 5-10 minutes
Now the Pickles....
In action
Toasted the spices, and almost died when accidentally inhaled the fumes, gasp!
Here's my home grown pickling cucumbers! FYI, don't let them get too big or else they get super seedy
Must have fresh dill
Pickle brine: white and apple vinegar, garlic, dill, mustard seed, peppercorns, red chili flakkes and sugar

First pack your cucmbers with garlic and dill then add the brine
Wallah! Put them In the canning Kettle and they are done!

This was a lot of fun {and a lot of work, and a lot of dishes} and I can't wait for my next canning day....Lemon curd here I come!!!










2 comments:

Jes said...

Wow! I'm impressed! Where did you get all your canning supplies? Like the canning kettle?

Jessica said...

I want to try canning, maybe next year...but do I need all those supplies or can you do it without most of that stuff?