Friday, August 5, 2011

I Can Do The Can-Can!

Welcome to Maggie's Canning tutorial!! I canned salsa for the first time the other day, and I documented the entire process! :)
I received a batch of home-grown tomatoes from a family friend and decided to use them for my first canning experience. Daniel has been building our garden and I'm days away from being able to start planting (I am BEYOND excited about that!). So I'll be canning a lot of things from my own garden pretty soon.

For my batch of salsa, I gathered the following ingredients:

*3 1/2 cups of chopped tomatoes
*1 bunch of cilantro (you don't have to use that much, I just LOVE cilantro)
*1/2 of a yellow onion
*1 tbsp minced garlic
*the juice from 1/2 of a lemon
*a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce (my favorite is the Chili Pepper Sauce from Trader Joe's)
*1 tsp salt
*1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Here is a list of tools you will need:

Jars of your choice (this recipe filled six 8oz Kerr Mason Jars)
A large pot with a lid for the canning process.
A wide pot or dish filled with hot water to keep your jars hot.
A medium size pot for cooking the ingredients.
A caning basket and tools. I bought these at Walmart:

These came in a kit together:
This is another kit:


You want to start off by washing and drying all of your jars and lids. Place the jars in the wide pot filled with hot water. This will keep the jars hot so that they won't crack when you fill them with hot liquid. Next, chop all of the ingredients and place them in a the medium pot on medium/high heat. Reduce and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Carefully ladle the salsa into the warm/hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch of room from the top. There is a tool that helps you with this step! (it's the first tool in the top picture) Using that same tool, flip it over and run it along the side of the jar to release any air bubbles. Wipe the rim of the jars and secure the lid and ring. Place all of your filled jars in the caning basket/rack and set them into the pot of boiling water (make sure the jars are covered with water by at least one inch.). Put the lid on the pot and let the jars sit in the boiling water for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and wait five minutes then carefully remove the jars from the pot and let them cool for 12 hours to complete the canning process. Don't readjust the lids while they are cooling because this might mess with their seal.


Perfect for the pantry or as gifts!

2 comments:

  1. Love, love, love! Can't wait to have a "canning" day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! I know, we need to plan that ASAP! <3

    ReplyDelete