Many years ago, I canned about 30 quarts of pear chutney. I had never tried pear chutney, in fact I had never even heard the word “chutney” before that day. But our pear tree was producing a bumper crop that year and I decided it would be fun to try something new. {ahem}
No one liked it…not even me. However I was so determined that we would eat it eventually that it stayed in our cabinets for four years. Finally, we moved and I didn’t want to move them, so I put the contents in the compost, washed the jars and packed them up.
I learned a lesson from that failure, don’t can things that you have never even tasted.
I would love to say that’s my only failure in preserving food but in reality, it’s only one of many. But that’s okay, because I learn from my failures and that means I can share with you. Which means it’s not really a failure, right?
Here are some other lessons I’ve learned from my years of preserving food.
Small batches are great. Obviously, that kind of goes along with my first lesson of not canning things I haven’t tasted. But this lesson is also great when I want to can things that I know we’ll only use a few times a year….like a sweet onion marmalade. Or when the garden is producing but not enough to do a large batch of one thing. This is why I usually make small batches of pesto instead of larger batches.
Keep notes and inventory of what you preserve. I have a set of worksheets I print each year to keep track of what I’ve preserved. You can get the worksheets emailed to you by filling out the form below.
Figure out how much you really need. Can I confess something? I love having home preserved food for my family. I do not LOVE preserving said food. I know, some people love the process. I do not, I love the end product. So why would I spend time preserving too much? I would much rather be out in the garden and since we can garden year round I don’t feel a huge need to preserve a bunch of stuff. For vegetables, I need enough to get me from mid-July to October. This is the time of year when not much is available in our garden and I rely on our canned and frozen vegetables. Fruits are a little harder for me to determine because we eat a lot of fruit but most of our trees are not producing yet. I buy fruit in season and freeze, can or dehydrate it. But do I really need 20 quarts of canned peaches? Or the dehydrated zest from 100 lemons? Is it even possibly okay to be “done” before the trees or garden stops producing?
You have to actually eat what you preserve. I’ve actually been guilty of letting home preserved food sit in my pantry or freezer and not use them. And it’s not always because we don’t like it as it was with the chutney. It’s because I forget about it (or I put up too much). Instead of making zucchini bread with the frozen grated zucchini, I choose to make banana bread with bananas that I should be freezing for smoothies. But the bananas are on my counter and brown and the zucchini is out of sight. I’m not completely sure how to overcome my forgetfulness, but each month I go through my outside freezer and bring things into the kitchen freezer that I want to make sure and use that month.
Variety is important. It’s good to preserve the same food in different ways. Each year we order several cases of apples. We’ll eat some fresh, but we’ll also freeze and dehydrate some and make applesauce with some. With the zucchini, we grate some and freeze it but we also dehydrate some for winter soups. You can see all the things we do with tomatoes here. I’ve found that when I preserve foods in different ways we wind up eating it more than if I just preserve it in one way.
Learn the rules and follow them….when it’s a safety issue. So I’ve already confessed many times that I’m not really a rule follower but there are times when it’s super important if you want to safely preserve food for your family. The main rule for canning you need to know, is that there are some foods that cannot be canned in a water bath canner no matter how long you process them. They need a pressure canner. The main rule for dehydrating you need to know is that you need dehydrate the food until you are sure there is no moisture left and if you are unsure, you can store it in the freezer. I’m not sure of any “if you don’t follow it, you could die” rules for freezing.
Break the rules…when it isn’t a safety issue. For instance, you don’t have to peel. This one always gets me in trouble, but I’m in good company. The only thing I peel before preserving is tomatoes since that’s the only thing my family complains about. Maybe because I’ve never peeled produce before preserving my family just doesn’t know any better. Not peeling saves me so much time. You also don’t have to blanch before freezing. I know, you’re supposed to. But my family can’t tell the difference when I blanch and when I don’t, so I don’t.
Melissa Stutzman says
These jars would be great for canning all my applesauce!
Elaine says
Great tips on preserving our harvest. Love giveaways 🙂
Sandy Rees says
I would use the smaller jars to gift jam in. The larger jars would be used as drinking glasses. They’re so nice
Jamie says
I would use them to can some homemade blackberry jam and zucchini.
Faye Gates says
My husband would use these for his tomatoes and hot peppers.
Gertrude Ezell says
I would can the applesauce that my Mom wants to make and also make some home canned tomatoes – which we haven’t done in years. Thank you!
Pam says
I once canned a bunch of pickled beets (never tried before). They were the worst pickled beets ever! It took 4 years before I tossed them, I just couldn’t throw them out!! Lesson learned, always test a new recipe first!
Angi Schneider says
lol…I’m glad I’m in good company.
Tonnie Rogers says
I have a large garden that I preserve much of. Tomatoes, cucumbers for pickles and relish, beans, cantaloupe frozen for smoothies, etc. Friends have fruit trees and grape vines that they do not use the produce from, so I am blessed with fruit to eat, freeze and use for jam. So… I could use these jars for everything! Thank you for offering them to your readers
Angi Schneider says
That is such a blessing!
Lori Marple says
i would love to use these jars to can our banana peppers and to learn to can other foods. I am just starting my canning journey!
Jeannette Olton says
I would use the smaller ones to gift my homemade catsup. It is my grandmother’s recipe and always a favorite. The larger ones would be perfect for salsa and pickles.
Angi Schneider says
How fun to have your grandmother’s recipe!
Amanda says
I would use the jelly jars to make my signature ground cherry, scotch bonnet and vodka pepper jelly. So good. Possible make some ketchup or apple butter with the pint jars. The jars are cute.
Kimberly says
I would love to try to make some pickled peppers! (Now that rhyme is going to stick with me all day!)
Angi Schneider says
lol…now me too!
Gabriella says
Pickled grilled peppers
Angi Schneider says
yum!
Cheri S says
Hope I win the canning jars! I’m mixing up batches of medicinal honeys for the coming Alaskan winter and those jars would make them look so nice.
Jessie Gillespie says
Oh man. I always run out of jars around Christmas, because I love giving homemade Christmas gifts. I love all the good advice in your post, and I would love me some jars!
Angi Schneider says
We do the same thing! I’m always on the look out for jars at garage and estate sales throughout the year.
Jennifer says
canning or crafts
One of God's says
Whatever comes up next in the queue. Thanks for the chance.
Jamie says
I would love to have these jars for:
8 oz. jars for jalapeno pepper jelly and orange marmalade
16 oz. jars for pear preserves … several different flavors (spiced; vanilla bean; and cinnamon red hot’s are the three most requested)
Katrina says
I need to make chokecherry syrup or some sort of jelly/jam. My kids go through a ton of it!
Tina Nichols says
My new house came with a large concord grape arbor and I plan to make grape jelly! These will be given as Christmas gifts.
Angi Schneider says
wow! What a blessing. I bet your friends and family will love the jelly.
Terressa Ferguson Zook says
I want to try my grandmother’s, (whom I’m named after, btw), recipe for pear honey.
chickie brewer says
I am not sure how will use them, but jam does sound good!
tree says
i’ve been canning all summer and my garden is finally starting to slow down. i’m still hoping to get some apples this year so i can can apple butter and apple sauce Would love to win this! thanks for the chance!
Nicole says
I would make all kinds of tasty sauces and dips 🙂
MaryBeth says
Mostly I will gaze at the beautiful purple lids, but some peach and plum jams, some tomato base ‘sauces’ (marinara, salsa, bbq…).
I usually freeze my tomatoes whole until I am ready to “do” them (like November when soccer season is over), and the peels slip right off when you thaw them!
Sandy says
My husband and I have canned pickles and sauerkraut over the years. This year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and I canned 24 quarts of stewed tomatoes. Our apple and pear trees have lots of fruit and plan on canning them. I can never have too many jars. I also store my dehydrated fruits and vegetables in them.
Emily C says
I would can up some pickled peppers and some applesauce!
Arin says
I once made salsa and it was great so I made another batch to can and it was terrible! Never made canned salsa again.
Angi Schneider says
Well, that’s odd? I wonder why the second batch was terrible.
Sarah D. says
I’d probably save them for next year. We didn’t put in a full garden this year, just a couple tomato plants and some hot peppers, but are moving to the country and are planning a big garden for next year! =)
Angi Schneider says
How exciting!!