Canning Challenge

A to Z blog hop at Patterings.

A week or so ago, I took my first solo trip into canning tomatoes. My mom used to can tomatoes when I was a child, but she did water-bath canning.

My husband bought a pressure canner recently, and well I wanted the canning to go faster.

I’d never used a pressure cooker before, much less a canner. I was nervous. Not to mention the fact that it barely fits between my gas cooktop and the microwave (which hangs above the cooktop).

But I did it. Here are the pictures:

I started with vine-ripe tomatoes, fresh from the garden. Then blanched and skinned them.
The prepared jars and lids being heated:
I decided to do a cold pack with the tomatoes. I put them in the jars with lemon juice and a bit of salt then poured very hot water in until it reached 1/2 inch from the top of the jar, which really only wound up being about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water.
A jar before processing:
My completed jars in the canner:
After they cooled, they looked watery, so I decided I would not be doing the cold pack method again. But it’s only 7 jars, and I didn’t blow up the house. 🙂
So there was my canning challenge. LOL I hope you enjoyed it more than I did. 
Have you canned successfully? Or unsuccessfully? Tell us canned and if it taste good?

Blessings,
Ginger

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10 thoughts on “Canning Challenge

    1. Usually I freeze, but all four of my freezers–a full-size upright, a full-size chest, and two side-by-side fridge freezers–are FULL, and I’ll need to make room for Cutey-Pie(the steer) when he returns from the butcher at the end of September(he’s in the pasture right now getting nice and fat LOL).

  1. I grew up canning everything from beans to cherries to peaches. My grandmother canned prolifically. I wish I could remember how to do it. As for tomatoes and green beans now, I freeze them. They are so much easier to freeze and much less time consuming. I don’t have my own garden so I depend on the kindness of neighbors for fresh produce. Great post. Brought back lots of memories.

  2. LoL, yes, I probably enjoyed this more than you enjoyed canning those tomatoes!! I sooooo understand that! I did a bunch of canning last summer and I do NOT miss it this summer. 😉

    Pressure canners are great, but yeah, they can be scary at times–even for someone who’s used pressure cookers and pressure canners for a very long time.

  3. G’day Ginger!

    Yes, I do lots of canning (or bottling as we call it over here). I’m sure my facebook posts document my forays into preserving fruit/veg.

    I smiled when I first saw your pics of your finished jars of tomatoes. My first thought: you left them in too long to heat, or brought the heat up too fast. I can tell cos the tomatoes rose in the jar. 😉 Apricots rise easily as well.

    Have fun bottling! I peeled and juiced, and then canned/bottled about 6 large shopping bags full of oranges today. Fun, fun.

    Must say I think you are brave using a pressure cooker. I’m not game enough! lol.

    All the best,
    Lucy

  4. I love that canning is still do-able and teachable. I have to confess that my tomatoes come in a glass jar marked “Picante” or in a can labeled “Del Monte.” Maybe “one of these days” I’ll take this on. Thanks for a fun and informative post today.

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