Back Again...and Canning!

So it has been an entire month since I have posted. I have two words: grant. season.

Grant season still isn't completely over, but I have had a slight reprieve these past two weekends.  The first weekend I went to Myrtle Beach with my mom and we spent the weekend doing only what we wanted, when we wanted and not even looking at a schedule. It was glorious! The weather was amazing (I even got a little sunburned) and the food was awesome. It was a much needed break.  This past weekend I worked some, but mostly enjoyed my three-day weekend.  Most importantly (besides Easter and the Lord rising again) I made my foray into the world of canning.

First off - canning is cool. I had what I consider to be a unique and amazing childhood.  Some might consider it pretty contradicting.  I grew up a city girl, but my mom's family is from coal-mining Virginia.  My mom has had a career my entire life, but also cooked and baked and was quite domesticated. I like to say that I have a tiny feminist and country girl that live inside me.  I'm not entirely one or the other, but a mixture of the two.  I grew up on sweet pickles and pickled beets, things that most people don't like but I consider to be foods of the gods.  My grandmothers didn't can, but my grant aunts did.  I have always wanted to can, mostly so I will always have an unending supply of pickled beets. So to me, canning is cool.

Aaron thinks canning is cool because then we will be prepared for the zombie apocalypse.  No comment.

I started trying to can probably about three - four years ago.  I know that sounds like a long time, but really, I've had a crazy past 3 years.  But I've always wanted to can, so I've been working on my collection.  First, I bought a canning starter kit, but it really didn't have everything I needed and I hadn't found a good cookbook. When we registered for wedding gifts, I specifically got a huge stock pot that I could use for canning and other recipes as well.  I hate the kitchen one trick ponies because, really, who space for that?  I've since bought another set of tools and 12 mason jars. Finally, I found my canning bible at World Market, Food in Jars.

My canning bible!

Food in Jars is a great book for beginner canners, such as myself.  It explains how to process the jars, the tools that you will need (and where to find most of them in your own kitchen), gives recipes for many different types of preserves and how to complete the processing.  She has a little bit of everything - jams, jellies, curds, fruit butters, conserves, nut butters (hello homemade Nutella!), and even staples like ketchup and stock.

I followed the book for processing the jars and for the first recipe - Rhubarb Vanilla Jam.  This was the author's first jam that she made, so I thought it would be a good first recipe for me to try.  I pulled out all of my tools and got to work (okay, they were already out from when Aaron and I pulled them out earlier).

All my tools, laid out on the table.  So far, I've used everything but the tongs and the jar wrench. 

I used my stock pot for the jar processing, my 1 qt sauce pan for the lids, and my dutch oven for the mixture. Thankfully I had the basket (helps circulate the heat), but the author suggest a circular cake rack for the jars to sit on, which I think I'm going to try.  I love being able to use things that I already own, or will use again, and that the author is efficient.  She has you process the jars while you are preparing the mixture, so you don't waste any time.  There are very few things that make a super type-A person happier than efficiency.

I chopped the rhubarb, squeezed the lemon juice, and split and scraped the vanilla bean.  Aaron was thoroughly disgusted by the rhubarb - it's a long, red stalk (think celery, but red). He said in the grocery store multiple times that he wasn't going to eat anything made with it.  I chopped it into 1-2 inch pieces then boiled the mixture as dictated by the recipe.

My set-up.  Note how the rhubarb looks - solid, chopped into defined pieces. 

I was fascinated by how quickly the rhubarb broke down to a mushy, jam texture.  The stalks were so firm that I had to use one of my larger knives and within 15 minutes of boiling, it was mush.

Within 5-10 minutes, the solid rhubarb broke down into this consistency. 

Overall, I thought this was pretty easy.  From start to finish, it took me about 2.5 hours.  What I didn't expect was how much the jam would pop! I have at least three burns on my arms from the jam popping during the last 4 minutes when you bring it to a rolling boil with the pectin. I think this means that I can buy another Calphalon pot that is a little deeper (sorry Aaron)!

My messy stove.

Canning also takes up a lot of space.  I had all four burners going on the stove at one point (had to brew earl grey tea as part of the recipe), the entire counter top covered when it came to put the jam in the jars, and also used my cutting board with the strainer to create more counter space across the sink (those things are amazing in small kitchens).

My canning set up

Clean up wasn't too bad as I used the 10 minutes at the end while the filled jars were processing in a boiling water bath to clean all but two of my dishes.

What I really like about this book is that the recipes are for 3 or 4 jars.  It's more than we will eat, but it's also not huge batches that we will never be able to get through. I remember getting pickled beets from my grandmother's friend, Miss Simmons, once and asking my mom "Didn't Miss Simmons die a few years ago?" and my mom telling me "Oh honey, canned goods just get better with age!"   I know that jam/canned items last forever (until opened), but I don't have much storage, so this is a good option for us.  

Final product!

The best part is that when we tried the jam the next day it a) had a jam consistency and b) tasted awesome! I'm one step closer to never running out of beets!