from top to bottom, front to back: jam, peach conserve, peaches, pears, apple sauce, apple rhubarb sauce, salsa, pickled beets, plum sauce, plum chutney, cherries, tomatoes, pickled cucumbers
1. You need expensive tools to do it properly.
When I first started canning, I thought that it would be an extremely difficult task and I would have to invest in a whole bunch of tools and learn a whole lot to do it properly. Not true. For those who are just beginning, here are a few things you can use to get started:
A big pot: Have a large pot that you can fit a bunch of jars in? That’s all you need to begin your canning experience. As long as the pot can cover the jars by an inch or so when boiling then you are good to go. While a larger canner is better for big batches, a big pot (such as the one seen in the right side of the picture at the beginning of this article) is all you need to process most things.
Actually, that is really all you need to get started. Other than some tongs to pick the jars up out of the water (available at any big box store for 5 bucks), this is enough to get you going. The rest is just convenience stuff.
2. I’ll do it wrong and it will taste horrible.
Luckily, in most cases, sugar and Mother Nature do the work in making your food taste awesome. See the apple sauce on the second shelf, four jars in? First batch of apple sauce I ever made and it won second prize in a local fall fair competition. Most canning recipes are easier to follow than the simplest cooking recipe. Many websites such as Allrecipes.com are even now adding canning recipes to the mix to help make interesting recipes easy to find.
3. It takes too long.
Granted, no one likes peeling apples for hours on end, but in the big picture, canning doesn’t take much time at all. Almost every recipe I make takes about an hour or two. If you time things right, you can even do other things while you can like cook dinner, or can more than one thing at a time. Also, if you find someone to can with, it’s a great way to spend time together. Plus you have something to share afterwards (can’t say that about going to see a movie!).
4. I’ll get botulism and die.
This is the risk that you have always heard about. People actually joke that I am going to die of botulism one day. I really think this fear is because people are afraid of doing something different. The risk of botulism is low for anything with sugar in it. Plus the warning signs are pretty hard to miss (bloated jar, bad smell, weird colour). Basically, use common sense and you will be fine.
5. Everything I need to learn about canning is on the internet.
Ok, this is sort of true. You can definitely find all the knowledge you need to can successfully on the internet. However, there is another source that is not documented online...the elderly! I talked canning for an hour with my Grandma the other night and you have never seen a grandma so excited to see her grandson interested in something she has been doing since she was a kid. Plus grandma’s know all of the secret tricks of the trade that they don’t tell you in the books. Did you know you can make jam out of beets? Did you also know that it is amazing?!
After two months of canning, I can now supplement my diet throughout the winter with locally grown fruits and vegetables. While its only a beginning to becoming more sustainable, I would have to say it is one of the best behaviour change choices I have made in a long time.
Bonus tip: a lot of things don't need to be processed. My Grandma doesn't process her jam, or her pickled beets and cucumbers. Just make sure the jars are sterilized and hot when you fill them. Ok I admit I am a little nervous about this tip, but my Grandma is in her 70's and is doing just fine...it must be ok right?
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