Learning a new, old skill

I didn't have a mother who canned anything.  She did learn to use her freezer but even the microwave was a bit exotic.  So I was quite excited today to attend a class taught by Kaila at church on canning.  We canned peaches, pears, strawberry jam, strawberry and peach jam and picked beets.  Oh it was terrific.  As Kaila said, it was something like a symphony in order to have all the parts ready and in the right order.

So we began with fresh fruit and vegetables,

The glass jars were run through the dishwasher to sterilize them and were packed with the produce,

A hot syrup/or hot brine (used for pickled vegetables) was added to each jar and a sterilized lid and band was added to each jar.  They were placed in a canner  -  [you can find these at the Goodwill or thrift store, unless you had a different mother than I did]

You need to 'process' the jar for the required amount of time - e.g. jam takes 10 minutes, beets take 30 minutes.  And then viola. . . . . .

Now this may not seem so exciting to you, but I am quite jazzed to know about this.  Will I go out and buy all the gear?  I'm not sure, but I know that it isn't nearly as exotic or mysterious as I had thought all these years.  We all got to bring home a jar of each of our efforts.  Lekker. (tasty)