Food in Jars

There's several ways to approach home canning and freezing.

My mom was a full time homemaker, so her method was to spend an entire day in the kitchen canning green beans or tomatoes from my dad's garden. These are the only things that I remember that she canned.

My husband's mom worked in an office full time as well as tending a huge garden. Her method was to can a little bit each day after dinner.

Each method worked for them as they fitted preserving food into their schedules.

My approach is a combination of the two. If I have a lot of time or a large amount of food, I opt for the all-day approach to "Get 'er Done". If I am busy and don't have as much of something, I do the small quantity method.

These days, I think that the "small quantity" at a time idea works for most people. Last winter I came across Marisa McClelland's book, Food in Jars.  She is a "can when you can" type of gal. What I love about her ideas is that instead of making a whole lot of one thing with your produce, make several different recipes. This way, you have an interesting pantry.


On today's blog post http://foodinjars.com/ Marissa  explains how she turns apricots into many different treats, from butters to jams to mustards and ketchups (I know, right? apricot mustard? apricot ketchup? I just GOTTA check that out!) .

Now, today is so hot that the last thing that I am thinking of doing is kitchen work, but it IS a nice day to look up recipes and decide which ones I'll want to make.

Marcheta *researcher