Canning

 

Growing up, I assisted my parents for many years canning green beans, wax beans, carrots, tomatoes, applesauce, and pickles.  One of my prevalent childhood memories is sitting in the dining room many evenings during the summer and early fall with the canner steaming and rattling.  The pressure canner we had used specific weights (5 pound, 10 pound, 15 pound) you would put on a steam vent to build the pressure for canning. 

I mentioned a little while ago that I was going to can the green beans I picked from our garden.  We finally processed them the other day.  This was the first time I had ever tried canning on my own.  Finding the pressure canner, jars and lids was not difficult.  The pressure canner we picked up is different from the one I remember growing up is there only one weight (15 pounds) with a pressure gauge to measure the pounds of pressure inside of the canner.  You can still pick up pint and quart jars in stores, as well as lids and canning salt (you don’t use table salt because the minerals will end up as sediment in the bottom of the jar).

For this first go round, we only did 3 1/2 pints of green beans (that was all we had).  It was really weird to do that.  I was always in the cutting and filling of pints and quarts with the different fruits and vegetables we grew.  To actually be the person putting the water in, running the canner and getting them through the process was completely different.

 

We’re hoping to get more green beans (we even picked some up from the local farmers’ market to get additional pints) and carrots (store bought again at this point since my carrots are not yet ready).  To be able to have processed green beans and carrots without so much salt will help us as we try to change our diet.