The fruits (and vegetables) of last year’s gardening and canning labors:
From left to right on each shelf, starting with top shelf:
- Green beans, catsup
- Relish, pear preserves, more green beans
- Tomatoes w/fennel, onion, and garlic, straight up tomatoes
- Pickled beets, pickled onions, pears, more green beans
We grew everything pictured, except for the pears, which came from Matthew’s grandparents’ neighbors’ tree. Matthew’s mom did most of the preserving and canning last summer and fall, since we were a little bit busy with this. We contributed the green beans, lest you think we were total slackers.
Previous canning posts on HerGreenLife
Applesaucin’
Salsa, salsa, salsa
Pear preserves
We now return to our regularly schedule posting
Her Green Life 
Holy Moly! I am totally impressed! I have yet to venture into the world of canning because I have an irrational fear of botulism. Maybe I should try something really acidic… I’ve heard botulism can’t grow in acidic things. Still, it frightens me, so for the moment I’m just sticking to the freezer.
Re. botulism: we’re pretty careful to stick to the traditional canning guidelines as far as what to can, how to can it, cleaning things first, processing times, etc. When we go to eat the food, we make sure the lid is still tightly sealed — if it’s bulging or pops off easily, it’s compost!
As you can see, we would have to buy a 2nd (or 3rd if you count that one that my MIL has) deep freeze if we didn’t can.