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I miss canning so much. I used to do so much more of it. I have a zillion canning jars and want to pick it up again.

Thanks for the reminder!

Yesterday I canned some Salsa Verde from tomatillos and chiles in my garden. Earlier this year I canned 22 pints of strawberry jam, and later this week I plan to attack 50 pounds of peaches. Jam, chutney, and butter are all being considered.

Once the tomatoes really start going gangbusters I'll be making some red salsa and then canning the tomatoes straight up. My garden does dictate what I put up, but I also plant the garden according to what I want to can. The only thing missing this year is pickles, so I'm hoping to pick up some pickling cucumbers, as I only planted slicers this year.

I love canning. There's nothing like walking into my basement in the late fall/early winter and seeing all those glistening jars of love from the growing season.

So far I have canned rhubarb jam raspberry preserve and raspberry jam. I want to can peaches, blueberry preserve and tomatoes. I also at some point while I am in the mood for canning plan on making some homemade mustard. And I plan on freezing alot of corn.

I made Strawberry freezer jam last month. I will be canning hot pepper relish, pepper jelly and salsa.

@Erika Waz - wow!! Your pantry must be beautiful once the summer is finished.

My four li'l pints of dilly beans (with serrano peppers and garlic too) are processing as we speak. I plan on doing lots of little four-jar batches of things this year, then I'll do volume batches of the things that work next year...well, as close to "volume" as I can store in my small Brooklyn apartment, that is. The boy and I have talked about moving to a house upstate, and all I could think about was my spacious future pantry!

Oh, and if anyone has a non-secret recipe for homemade ketchup/catsup I would love to hear it. (@Library Lady, I am jealous!)

I hoping to do some peach jam. Maybe next weekend? Also my co-worker has apples & I want to try apple butter when her harvest comes in.
....I haven't canned before- and I'm totally intimidated.

My mom is canning all kinds of stuff. I am most looking forward to playing with all the tomatoes she's got coming along. Specifically, all the Reinas and Romas. Going to can those in some of their juices with basil from the garden. I am also going to make tomato paste with whatever else she wants to offer. I love tomato paste and can never find the extra concentrated kind that they use in Europe. So, planning on cooking those babies down to the most concentrated paste I can and canning it up.

Ok I'm going for it. Thanks for the encouragement! Now if I can find some time.... :)

Get the Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving
Great basics. There are tons of other good books and such out there too.

I have already done strawberry jam and apricot preserves, plus plain canned apricot halves.
Also blueberry ginger jam and lots of blueberry syrup. Black raspberry preserves and dandelion wine and jelly.
Next week is peaches, jam and halves and spiced butter.
The some tomato sauces/diced tomatoes.
I have sweet pickles sitting in the crock, and cinnamon pickles waiting in the wings.
In about a week I can pick my gooseberries for jam and pie, and the currants too.
Then apple season when it hits, so I can do apple butter, applesauce.
Squash and pumpkin for pie fillings and savory dishes. Also crabapple jelly.

I am actually freezing a lot this year also, as I keep running out of time to can all of what I pick up, plus I like some things frozen better than canned.

I want to try canning meat some time, but probably not this year.

I have canned dilly beans and strawberry jam (using apple juice instead of sugar this year, turned out quite tasty) so far.

I am determined that '08 is the year I finally can a decent dill pickle. I try them every year, and every year they are either not as crisp as I like or are too vinegary. I will hit on the perfect mix sooner or later that I can proudly share with family and friends.

Do you use the water bath method or steam method for canning? I have only done the water bath but would like to try steam.

This is probably my most favorite thing to do/therapy/pastime/hobby,etc. So far this year I've done pear preserves, fig preserves and chutney, a lady farquahar hot gingery tomato chutney, pickled okra, pickled yellow squash and zucchini, bread and butter pickles, b&b pickled yellow squash and zucchini ( thank god for my prolific garden), chili sauce, a tomato relish we call ketchup, regular canned green beans, regular canned tomatoes, pasta sauce, british pickled onions,salsa, a tomato thing we refer to as soup base. Waiting for more figs, pears, peaches, new fresh strawberries from louisiana and the omnipresent tomato. I use a compilation of my mother-in-law's recipes, our housekeeper/caretaker's recipes from when i was a child and some of my Pennsylvania-Dutch great grandmother's recipes and i water bath can everything that i do just because that is the way that the aforementioned multi-talented wonderful women did thier canning and none of us ever got sick or had a can explode or any of that sort of stuff. I do like to refer to the blue book--ball's canning guide- for approximate times for processing those low acid foods.

@stephie - pickyourown.org has some good basic canning directions. Their site is a little low-tech, but it's full of information. Also, your box of pectin or mason jars will include some guidelines, though they assume you're familiar with the basic terminology. It's really quite easy - I don't believe it's taken me this long to start canning!

With this thread as inspiration, I've done plum ginger jam, pickled green tomatoes and I have eggplant in the fridge in its first stages of pickling. :D