Canning and Preserving 101

I woke up yesterday morning and wanted to do something traditional. I wasn't sure what exactly, but I knew there had to be something. I had my morning coffee, was reading through my list of blogs I follow, as I do on a weekly basis, and more than one person was talking about canning. Of course, they all live on farms, so they have massive amounts of produce to preserve. All I have is a substantially-sized much neglected herb garden with one green pepper plant and one jalapeno plant. I needed to do some trimming anyway, so I walked out with my scissors, when I came to a screeching halt by the back door. I turned to look at the table in the breakfast nook, and there was Comma, sleeping by two large bags filled with produce from my garden. 

I have quite a mess to clean up outside, but here are some photos of what Comma sees from outside the window.

There in the middle. That's three basil plants, gone to flower, attracting bees, spiders, and all other sorts of creepy crawlies. Here are more pics of the rest of the garden.

The Bougainvillea is coming along nicely, isn't it?

Alright. so I did some research, and this website had 5 different ways to preserve Basil. Yay! When I told my mom what I wanted to do, she got out a few recipes and suggested that she teach me how to can. It was something she used to do with my grandmother. I've been wanting to learn for a while now, but never really thought I had enough produce to make it worthwhile. We looked at recipes, and settled on a few. I popped out to the store to buy some vinegar, sugar, pectin, and a stock pot (which I got on sale for only $5!).

When I got home, I started on the Basil preserving. I made Basil ice cubes, which are nice because they can be taken out of the freezer and go directly into a soup. I made Basil pesto ice cubes. I made basil butter.

And I infused some Basil into white wine vinegar, to use with salad dressing or over pasta.

Then, we started with the canning. It was intensive, only because we were trying so many different recipes. I wanted to have a sampling so that I can determine which are the best, and possibly make a massive amount of it to sell at the Christmas Fair at work. I still haven't quite determined if it's worth the effort. It also might be nice for Christmas gifts.

Here's a sampling of the finished product.

Back row from left to right: Bell Pepper Relish, Sweet Pickled Peppers, Jalapeno Salsa, Jalapeno Jelly, Strawberry Peach Jam, Hot Pickled Peppers.
Front row: Cran-Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly, Apricot Jalapeno Jelly.

And this is the whole family together.

I really feel like I learned a lot. :) I must confess that the whole time I was working, I was daydreaming that I was living on a farm, with goats and sheep and a huge orchard, with an extensive and well-balanced garden outside my kitchen door. Maybe someday, and at least I'll know how to preserve it all.