Friday, July 16, 2010

Learning the Can Can

I am the type to jump into things with both feet. When an idea catches my fancy, I can get a bit obsessive. I consult the Google about it. I ask friends. I search blogs for information and pictures. I have to find out as much as I can about whatever thing it is RIGHT NOW. Don't get in my way! I'll lose sleep doing research and I get mighty cranky when the internet connection at home decides to become unreliable which it normally does just when I am on one of my quests.

My newest thing is canning. Well, it isn't new. I have always been a bit of a frontier woman at heart. A few years ago, after we suffered a second major hurricane in our area just two weeks after the first, I was a happy camper in the aftermath. Of course, that was because we didn't suffer any major damage but, mostly it was because things got a lot more simple and I had to be much more creative to work with what we had.

Husband and I were both off of work since the roads weren't safe and we were making food on the grill daily, washing yesterday's clothes in the sink in the morning and hanging them on the line outside just as the sun was coming up. Going out and searching for food in the few grocery stores that had generators and making do with what they had on their picked-over shelves.

Canning, for me, is one of those life skills that I think everyone should know how to do. It saves fruits in the peak of the season when they taste best and when they are the least expensive. It can also provide lots of homemade good food in case of some natural disaster like those hurricanes.

This modern housewife has to consider such things when planning for summer.

I decided to order a canning starter kit. It has the big pot and the rack and jar lifter and whatnot. I was giddy with anticipation of the equipment for my new hobby winging its way to my door.

I was so excited when it arrived. I opened it up and admired it and took out the rack and the canning utensils. And then I saw it. I saw the label that said I can't use it on a glass top stove!! The woman in me who doesn't want to wait one second longer to try something new threw a toddlereque tantrum.

Being the crazy Googler that I am, I quickly found a solution. If we buy one of those countertop burners, I can use my new canner on that instead. I found that this problem wasn't so uncommon.

This weekend, we are headed to Walmart to buy the burner and some new jars so that I can can some raspberry jam- my favorite. No doubt I won't be able to wait long to put these things to their first use so.....

....if you don't hear from me by Monday- send help!

3 comments:

  1. Oh! Home made jam. That is totally the reason to start canning. I need to see if my friend will let me "borrow" her stuff...

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  2. Yeah, I wish I had someones stuff to borrow just to see what works and what doesn't for the setup I have going. But, I guess I just have to experiment with my own stuff until I figure out what works. It's great if you guys can can together!

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  3. We will be can canning! she'll bring her stuff, and jars! and we'll both split the ingredient cost. I have a much larger kitchen area than she does, so we'll do it at my house. Good to know about not being able to put the pot on a flat top.

    We'll be doing this in a few weeks... yay!

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