One of the things I was hoping to accomplish while living in Azerbaijan was learning how to can. I prepared over a year ago in America by taking the fabulous Preserving Food at Home Self Study out of the University of Georgia. The only thing that really threw me was that all American information, or all canning information on the web for that matter, assumes you are using ball jars with their fabulous sticky tops and screw lids. People here don't use ball jars, they use these:
Notice the implement in the back with the round part and the handle. With these jars, the lids don't actually stick or pop during the boiling process, they are crimped on afterward by hand. After many panicky questions to neighbors and our medical officers I figured if no one else was freaked out, neither would I be (This works for the lack of a lot of things: Lysol, baby gates, toilet paper...). I'm happy to say we've had no ill effects.
Then put the applesauce and process in a water bath canner. Mine will look different than yours because I'm using these weird Azeri/Russian Jars. If you've got ball jars, you're done! If you are using what we've got you use your handy crimper thing, spinning the handle around and around the lid, tightening it every round. Check to see that it sealed and you're done!
Notice the implement in the back with the round part and the handle. With these jars, the lids don't actually stick or pop during the boiling process, they are crimped on afterward by hand. After many panicky questions to neighbors and our medical officers I figured if no one else was freaked out, neither would I be (This works for the lack of a lot of things: Lysol, baby gates, toilet paper...). I'm happy to say we've had no ill effects.So far I've canned 8 quarts of tomato sauce, 4 quarts peaches, 2 jars of Quince preserves, and 4 jars of applesauce.
Canning makes a lot of sense when you can only buy produce in season and its great if you are Scottish. Why Scottish? Example: my peaches cost roughly 1.75 manat to produce while the same amount canned at the store cost 4 manat. Right now apples are 1 Manat for 3 Kilos (roughly $1.20 for 6 pounds!) and won't be easy to find in the summer. Yes, I can feel the approval of the Campbells now!
And its not as hard as you think. Take applesauce:
First peel and core and slice. Put peelings in your compost bin to become worm and plant food and put apple bits in a pan with a quarter to a half inch of water.
Cook apples, stirring and mushing with your spoon until it looks like applesauce.
First peel and core and slice. Put peelings in your compost bin to become worm and plant food and put apple bits in a pan with a quarter to a half inch of water.
Cook apples, stirring and mushing with your spoon until it looks like applesauce.
Then put the applesauce and process in a water bath canner. Mine will look different than yours because I'm using these weird Azeri/Russian Jars. If you've got ball jars, you're done! If you are using what we've got you use your handy crimper thing, spinning the handle around and around the lid, tightening it every round. Check to see that it sealed and you're done!
Not gonna lie, I feel much more satisfied at the end of this than I ever was at the end of "CSI: Miami" (But that might be David Caruso's fault).
2 comments:
Is canning really a hippy skill?
Wow, this looks a lot like my adventures with canning things! Only mine was never so much "canning", and was more "bottling", and the goods were not nutritious and tasty, but more intoxicating and calorie rich... So really they weren't that much the same, I guess.
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