The kit comes with a basket you use to heat the jars in hot water, three cute little jars that I'll use for lemonade if this canning thing doesn't work out, and a recipe book.
If you've never canned, here's the basics: You follow a recipe and cook some fruit, vegetables or meat. Then you put the food in jars, seal them up and heat them at high temperature in hot water. Once the jars are sealed you can keep them in your pantry for about a year. So if you love strawberry jam, you can make 10 jars of strawberry jam when berries are in season and enjoy it all winter long.
Yes, you can also go to the store and buy strawberry jam, but what's the fun in that?
The instructions that come with the kit are easy to understand, although phrases like "headspace" and "fingertip tight" are foreign to me. Whose fingertips are we talking about? Mine? My husbands? My 80-year-old grandmother? Thank goodness for 1-800 hotlines.
The recipe book is also pretty decent. It has 12 recipes and covers everything from Bread and Butter Pickles, to Tomato and Apple Chutney and Zesty Zucchini Relish. I'm actually surprised that it doesn't have recipes for simple stuff, like strawberry jam.
I think I'm going to start off with salsa. The recipe is not too intimidating and we can never get enough salsa in our household.
The kit cost $18.45 with shipping and handling. I think it's perfect for people like me, who want to try out canning without investing a lot of money. If it works out, my friends and neighbors will find some canned salsa under their tree this Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment