Can you can can?

It's getting colder outside now, finally, and that means its that time of year to start canning. Now, I must admit that I am a novice canner. This was my first year canning and it was quite fun. My first experience canning was canning tomatoes, specifically salsa.

If you recall, I bought all those tomatoes from a farm stand in Westfield this past weekend, so I thought I would go ahead and can them over Fall Break. I think I used about 8 large tomatoes and it made 2 quarts of salsa.

Its pretty simple, canning that is, if you have the time to do it. First, you have to flash boil the tomatoes for about a minute and then keep them in a bowl full of ice water. This loosens the skins of the tomatoes so that they are easy to pull off. After that step the process seems to go pretty quickly. You just chop the ingredients, add them to a pot and bring them up to a boil, then add them to the jars, and then finally boil the jars in a water bath for about 20 minutes. Voila, you have canned salsa. Let them cool on the counter top over night and you are all finished.

The website that I used to help me out you can find here and they also have many other recipes and tips about canning. I might try some jam or jelly next. Oh, you can find canning jars at several places and in different sizes. I got mine from Big Lots and for a dozen of quart sized jars it was $10. You can also get smaller jelly jars as well. I know that they do sell canning supplies at Payless Grocery stores around West Lafayette and Lafayette. Happy canning!