Let me preface this post by saying that the National Center for Food Preservation is the bomb. They make food preservation so simple! If an unfamiliar method or term is listed in the recipe, you can bet it’s hyper linked to a full description, often with accompanying photos!

So, this mad day of canning all started when bulk produce was available through the co-op. It’s so easy to get ambitious when there’s a good week before you actually receive the food. So, I added 25 pounds of imperfect peaches, 10 pounds of cooking tomatoes, and 10 pounds of green tomatoes to my online “cart.”

I consulted web sites, the canning section of my 1970s Doubleday cookbook, Edible Austin‘s pickling section, and the aforementioned web site to prepare for the can-athon. I don’t see how canning food can not take a full day. If I’m lugging out all this stuff—stuff that I don’t store in an accessible manner (jars, large pot, rack, lids)—I might as well make a day of it. So, that’s what we did. I say we because my wonderful husband kept me sane throughout the entire process. We worked in our swim suits because our a/c is out and we wanted (nay, needed) to be ready to take a dip in the pool at any moment. Don’t worry, he wore a shirt so we don’t have Matt-hairs in the jam.

So, what did we make?
13 jars of peach jam
5 jars of salsa
10 jars of pickled tomatoes

Lessons learned: