My First Canning Project

We have a community produce group that I've been buying produce from for over a year now. For $27 we get a giant Ikea bag chalk full of yummy fruits and veggies. The thing is, the volume of what we get is so much, that it's sometimes hard to find ways to use it all. Last year I kept getting 4 or 5 giant cucumbers. Cucumbers, as you might know, go bad crazy fast. I could only use so many in salads before they got mushy and gunked up my fruit drawer in the fridge. So, I rather ambitiously went out and bought a canner and a canning utensil set and a set of Bell cans and even a Bell canning cookbook. And then I got pregnant, and promptly had no energy whatsoever to do any of that. So, my canning goods sat in the basement for a good year.

Several weeks ago, raspberries were on sale for $1 for a small flat (whereas it's usually $3-4 for one of those.) My mother in law was here to help me watch the kids while Ryan was gone for work for a week, and she said she would help me learn how to can. So, we made two things: bread and butter pickles, and raspberry jam.

The bread and butter pickles we actually made in the microwave, which was super easy. We didn't use the canner for sealing the jars, so we just keep the finished product in the fridge and I don't see any sanitation issues. (We did sterilize the jars ahead of time, so there really should be no yuckiness there.)

Both of these recipes I've listed out here are courtesy of my mother-in-law, Joan.

Bread and Butter Sweet Pickles
1-2 cucumbers
1 small onion
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Slice cucumbers and onions. (Do not peel cucumber.) Place all ingredients in a glass bowl and mix. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove and stir with wooden spoon. Microwave and stir two more times (for a total of 9 minutes microwaved.) Remove and ladle into clean, sterilized jars. Place the lid on top, screw and tighten. Store in the refrigerator.

I have to admit, doing this when I had a one month old and a two year old was fairly exhausting, but I figured since I had been wanting to learn how to can for sometime and I had someone there to show me, we both pushed on after the kiddos had gone to sleep. I was rather shocked to discover it literally took 20 minutes, end to end, to make 5 quarts of jam. I think I know what my Christmas presents will be now!


First I smashed up the raspberries.

Next I let them simmer in the pot. We got a really nice Calphalon wide-bottomed Dutch oven for our wedding and the raspberries came to a boil ridiculously fast. I credit the nice pot for that, since my mother in law said it took about twice as long for her at home.


Here they are on the counter, with the heat sealing the lid in. It was fun hearing the "thunk" when we turned them upright and they cooled, bringing the lid inwards.

Berry Jam
Makes 4 pints

6 cups crushed berries
4 cups of sugar
1 box (pink) Sure-jell (less sugar)
1/2 tsp butter

Place 4 cups of sugar into a large bowl, minus 1/4 cup of the sugar. Mix the 1/4 cup of sugar with the Sure-jell in a small bowl. In a large pot, mix the crushed berries with the sugar and Sure-jell mixture. Add butter and cook until it bubbles (a "rolling boil"). Stir constantly. Add the rest of the sugar to the pot and keep mixing everything together while it's on the stove. Bring it back to a boil, and let it boil for one minute. Remove the pot from the heat and ladle into sterilized jars. Screw the lids on (leaving 1/4" - 1/2" space on top.) Turn the jars upside down for 5 minutes on the towel. Return the jars to an upright position and the lids will seal as the jars cool. Place finger on the middle of the lids to check for the vacuum seal. You will hear the lids "pop".