Last weekend I took on the little adventure of canning, which was very appropriate because it happened to be National Canning Week! I stumbled onto this website and tried to do as much research as possible…I read blogs, found forums, and watched tutorials. If it's not obvious by now, I was VERY nervous about this uncharted-cooking territory.
Canning…How nerve racking! How does it even work?! Where do I get all the supplies?! Is it even going to be worth it?! These were all the fear-based questions I had as I got out my ‘Canning Kit’ and cracked open my instruction booklet. Luckily, the recipe I used was for small amounts, it was simple, and made me feed confident in my canning potential.
I decided to make pickles as my first experiment, mainly because I had accidentally bought cucumbers instead of zucchini at the farmers market and I HATE cucumbers… When life gives you cucumbers, make pickles!
I started by slicing 6 cups of cucumbers and 2 onions, with some pickling salt poured to the specific amount of 1/3 cups.
The recipe called for a glass bowl and I was nervous to steer from the instructions; my trifle dish was the biggest bowl I could find.
After these steps I was too preoccupied (and nervous) to pick up a camera to document my progress. Quick Recap: I heated vinegar, sugar, and other spices to the perfect temperature, then mixed in the cucumbers and waited anxiously until the concoction was done. Then I placed the mixture in the cans exactly ½ inch from the rim then dunked the jars in the boiling water for the allotted time to finish the preserving process.
SUCCESS!!!!
They were super good! Better than store-bought pickels...and incredibly fresh! This got me excited about my next attempt. Maybe this coming weekend has Blueberry Syrup in the forecast? Lets hope the Farmer's Market has some goodies!
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