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Some time back I had a conversation with a friend about huge harvests of apples and turning them into enough applesauce to last several years. She told me how much her kids loved the stuff and that they had it practically at every meal and even for snacks and still they never ran out of the stuff before they had yet another huge harvest and put up more jars of the yummy, wholesome, homemade, no-preservatives-added applesauce.
When the talk came around to the actual work involved and I mentioned how horrible my hands look after peeling all those apples, she laughed and said, “We just throw the apples into a grinder and make the sauce, peels, stems, cores and all. It’s easy as can be.”
I gaped at her. “But surely you know apple seeds are toxic. They contain arsenic. Don’t you get sick from eating all that applesauce laced with arsenic?”
She looked as if I’d hit her with a ten pound bag of apples. “Arsenic? Like the poison?” she squeaked. Obviously apple seeds containing arsenic was news to her.
After an awkward silence I asked, “So, ever make tomato sauce? Tomato seeds aren’t toxic.” It was lame, of course but I had to try. I’m rather certain she never made applesauce again.
Having probably destroyed a family tradition for this woman I vowed to rectify my blunder by touting the value of preserving the garden bounty safely and with no chance of poisoning your loved ones. It is indeed a very simple process though canning is a bit time consuming but well worth it. Imagine having the things you grew in your own garden put up in neat little jars to supply your winter fair with the taste of summer. How amazing is that?
And the best thing is anyone can do it. With the right equipment canning is easy as pie. Of course, that’s assuming you know how to make pie. But that is the trick, isn’t it? Knowing is everything so here are a few tips for successfully preserving your bountiful harvest.
For proper canning you’ll need a large kettle, or canner, one big enough to hold several canning jars with enough room to spare for at least an inch of water over and above the jars. A canning rack to hold the jars in place and for easier placement and removal is good to have and often comes with the canner along with tongs to safely grasp the burning hot jars. Pot holders needless to say are also a must. A wide-mouth funnel is great to have and makes filling jars a snap.
Jars is next on the list. They come in all sorts of sizes and shapes and are sold in quantities of a dozen at supermarkets and garden supply shops all through the growing season but towards the autumn the supply usually runs low so buy as much as you think you’ll need before they run out of them. The small pint containers are excellent for jams and jellies and the quart for vegetables, tomato and apple sauces. Of course you can use them whichever way you want. These come in wide mouth and regular, round and somewhat square shaped jars. Personal preference prevails here so pick the one you like best or get an assortment.
The jars come with the rings which hold the lids in place. The rings can be used over and over if still in good shape but the lids are only to be used once for canning so new ones will have to be purchased each year. This is to ensure a perfect vacuum seal to prevent any contamination and food spoilage. If, however, you like to store dry goods such as pasta or cereal in canning jars the lids are perfectly safe to re-use.
Many never consider this but the proper stove top is vital. The canning process requires many hours of constant heat first to sterilize the jars, to cook the food and then to actually can a small batch at a time. Depending on how big a harvest you’ve got, this can cause some problems. Canning is murder on the fashionable glass and ceramic stove tops so popular these days which simply are not made to withstand all this intense cooking.
Gas ranges work best but the regular electric one with the curling element does fine too. Some industrious people like to use their barbeque grill for canning large amounts which serves two purposes. First you can get out of a hot kitchen and second your stove and kitchen stays clean. Only thing is the grill better be big and strong enough to easily hold the kettle containing a considerable amount of heavy and very hot water. It won’t be a good day of canning if this pot full of boiling water crashes down splashing its content on somebody. Extreme caution is to be observed when canning.
For ensuring a good finished product that will last through the winter months as good as the day it was canned, use clean fruits and vegetables with no bruising or rot. Prepare the fruit according to your recipe and get ready for the busy work. Canning consists of two processes almost done simultaneously. There is the cooking of the fruit or vegetables and then the actual canning. These things have to be done so close together that it can take trial and error for the process to mesh properly for you.
If making apple sauce, for instance, you’ll have to peel and core the apples and soak them in a citric bath to prevent browning until you got enough ready for a batch to cook. While the applesauce is cooking you need to sterilize the jars, lids and rings after washing them throughly. The dishwasher is great for this. You should try to time it so the applesauce is ready as soon as the jars are ready. As all this is going on you need to bring the kettle of water to boiling point for the actual canning. Everything has to be consistently hot to prevent shattering of glass and to properly can the ingredients quickly.
It may sound complicated but truly it isn’t. You have to remember it isn’t a precise science and you can adjust it to suit you and your pace. For further and more detailed canning instructions and over a hundred recipes for canning, freezing, drying and pickling fruits and vegetables get Carol W. Costenbader’s “The Big Book of Preserving The Harvest”. She makes everything super easy even for a beginner.
As the book will tell you, canning is not the only way to preserve your garden’s bounty. Freezing works well and at times is better for some things. If you’ve ever grown zucchini or pumpkin you’ll know how easy it is to have too many of these prolific vegetables. The zukes can be shredded and stored in plastic containers, like those that ready-to-spread cake frosting comes in. This is a perfect quantity for zucchini bread. The pumpkin can be either cubed and stored in freezer bags for adding to soups and stews a cube at a time for thickening and added nutrition or you can split the pumpkin in half, bake and puree the flesh until smooth then store in useable quantities for pies and soups. What could be more simple?
Even tomatoes can be frozen if you have too many and simply have no time for making the sauce and canning. Toss them into freezer bags until you can devote a day for the whole canning thing. They can even stay frozen all winter and tossed a few at a time into soups, stews and chili. No need to can at all.
And you thought having too much of a good thing was bad. What were you thinking?
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 Short Stories @ Helium: http://www.helium.com/users/32782/show_articles
How to create your own backyard bird sanctuary: http://www.helium.com/zone/2884-how-to-create-your-own-backyard-bird-sanctuary
Ornamental Grass Zone: http://www.helium.com/zone/2775-ornamental-grasses http://www.helium.com/zone/2774-
Violet’s in Bloom, a novel: http
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