Canning Mode!

 You know the saying "Why put off until tomorrow what can be put off until the next day"?  We'll that's me.  I'm notorious for putting things on the back burner.  Problem is there are only so many back burners.  So today is the day to take some of those things off the back burner, and address them.  So we will now enter 

CANNING MODE!

I have Blackberries that need to become juice or jam.  Tomato sauce to can.  Ham bone broth and Chicken bone broth that need to be canned, and jalapeno peppers that need to be made into cowboy candy.  These are from last season, but I've had them frozen, waiting to have them dealt with.  Today's the day.  Getting all of these things out of my freezer leaves only some whole chickens, a brisket, a turkey, ham, and pork roast.  Fresh strawberries will be coming in soon.  Having room in the freezer to simply wash and freeze these strawberries is awesome!

In addition to all that; I've begun harvesting my herbs, asparagus, and spinach.  The herbs are taking their turn in the dehydrator and the asparagus and spinach are in the fridge.  It's a good feeling to shop from the back yard.  

Don't be intimidated by canning, and don't think you need all the latest gizmos.  Canning can be as simple as water bath canning.  Water bath canning is simply having your jars covered with water about an inch over the tops in a large stock pot.  Bring the water to a boil and start your timer.  You don't need a pressure canner for water bath canning.  You simply need a deep stock pot.  Water bath canning will be how the blackberries, jalapenos, and tomato sauce are processed today.  Pressure canning is what I'll do for the broths.  Jars are a necessity, either way.  However, and at the risk of endorsing a brand, Walmart has a Mainstays brand of jars that are very reasonable, and actually cheaper than the jars found at Goodwill.  I always recommend anyone wanting to start canning to simply start with a deep stock pot and begin canning jams, jellies, fruits, and pickles.  Even tomatoes can be water bath canned.  There is such a wide array of food items that can be water bath canned; one can get used to canning before dipping their toe into pressure canning.  

Aside from space in the freezer; canning a good portion of items normally stored in the freezer, allows them to be shelf stable and therefore immune to a power outage ruining my frozen items.  I'm entertaining the thought of taking the plunge and canning the meat I currently have frozen.  All I can say is let me get through this stuff first😁 .  

Okay.  Fast forward to afternoon and I managed to get 7 quarts of chicken broth,7 quarts of ham broth, and 5 pints of blackberry juice concentrate canned.  The blackberry concentrate will be used this summer in Blackberry tea.  It's a simple matter of brewing ice tea and adding the blackberry juice to the tea.  Very good, and can be done with juice concentrate from the store.  I recommend not using juice concentrate that is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.  I use cane sugar to sweeten ours.  Not wanting to toss the left over pulp from all of those blackberries; I made a fresh fruit crisp for tonight's dinner.  I also made one loaf of banana bread from some frozen bananas.  I still have enough blackberry pulp for a second crisp, but that is another nights dessert or I may use it to make cereal bars, which are a fan favorite.  Unfortunately the cowboy candy and tomato sauce will need to be done tomorrow.  It has to be because it's thawed now!