What’s your canning philosophy? It’s been interesting as I’ve been peering into other people’s pantries and cabinets to see what they preserve. And I’m wondering how and why we make the choices we do?
I’m of the keep my options open camp. By that I mean that I tend not to make anything elaborate to can, instead I can simple, mostly un-altered foods. Things that can be made into any number of dishes later.
I’ve never really thought about why that is until lunch on Friday when I was talking with a colleague. She asked what I can and then asked if it got boring to just have tomatoes and apples and peaches. And I launched into an explanation of how we rarely eat them straight from the jar. That peaches become ice cream topping and cobbler and flambe and marinade. That tomatoes become chile and pot roast and stew and pizza. That even applesauce can be lunch or warm on pork chops. And she said she’d never thought of it that way.
And frankly, neither had I. Mostly I’m just a bit lazy. If I decide now, for instance, that today’s 13.5 pints of tomato sauce will be Italian or pizza or Mexican or spicy, then I can’t change my mind later. If instead I just cook 25 pounds of tomatoes into sauce and can it with a bit of salt and lemon juice, I can make it into any of those things later.
Pickles are the one exception to that philosophy around here. But then again pickles require upfront commitment. Without it you’d just have vinegared cucumbers… 
So, what’s your canning philosophy? Do you make plain preserves? Or do you make fancy concoctions? If it’s the latter than I’m super envious of your ability to commit. How do you decide what to make? Do you usually use it all each year?
Now I’m off to admire my pretty red jars of plain old tomato sauce…
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I have canned food on and off for years. I never took canning as seriously as I do now.
I used to live in an old cottage rental that was surrounded by apple and pear trees. I canned applesauce, apple butter, and pears. I made jam with the wild blackberries on the side and made frozen grape juice concentrate with the wine grapes that grew along the other side of the house. At the time, I just didn’t want to see the fruit wasted and rotting on the ground. It felt like “free” food, and I felt like my work contributed to my family.
I will admit, I’ve frozen more than I’ve canned this year. I see things getting ready to go bad and I simply freeze them because it’s quicker.
My feelings around canning have changed. I’m more interested in growing and preserving my own food than ever before. I am thinking about food differently these days.
I still canned peaches I bought at market, but I bought them at a great price, and I love peaches. We eat them right out of the jar, and I should have canned more because I can see we’re going to eat them off before winter ends.
So far this year, I’ve canned peaches, pickles, several varieties of jam, preserves, strawberry syrup, and cherry butter. I’ve frozen tomatoes, marinara sauce, grated zucchini, pumpkin puree.
I have plenty more to can and freeze right now.
I also made my own vanilla, anise, and mint extracts, berry liquers, and infused cherries.
Oh, and I love that I can pop out a container of tomato marinara and have a quick dinner of chicken parmesan, pizza, eggplant parmesan, pasta, or a great Italian soup base.
I’m looking for a large box of apples to make applesauce. I do miss those fresh apples.
The majority of what I put up is straight fruit and vegs, whether frozen, dried, or canned. I didn’t put up as many preserves this year as I have lots left over from last year, but I did pickle more things. Mainly I’m like you, I want ingredients for recipes that can be altered at whim — but I do like to experiment and inevitably try some new jam combinations each year (this year’s success was mulberry with lemon peel and candied ginger) and to try new ways to preserve vegetables (I’m smitted with the Madras pickled eggplant recipe I found). The experiments tend to be small-batch work, so they don’t take quite as much time and energy as the massive tomato peel-and-crush frenzy of Labor Day weekend.
I’m with Anita — I hate to see food go to waste, so I have taken on more “gifts” of food this year to try new things. Somehow, I just find the time after all the big stuff is done to experiment a little more!
I also can in the purest form possible. This gives me a more well rounded pantry, enabling me to make anything. The only exception is salsa, which I also use in Mexican stews and soups, the rest is as simple as I can make. Some herbs and spices get bitter in cooking, or freezing so it is best to add during the final cooking for a fresher, brighter flavor.
We do the same with our pork, I prefer to make my sausage right before I use it, and I also mix it with our beef. So instead of having the butcher make up breafast sausage I just order ground pork, and then I have ground pork for any recipe, and can add any seasonings I like.
I prefer this way of stocking up, because I don’t want to end up with jars of spaghetti sauce, etc., that I didn’t use. Instead of canning convenience foods, I find this much easier, it only takes a few more ingredients to make tomato soup out of canned puree.
I do both, though there are a lot more “basics” sagging the shelves downstairs than “premade” things. But it is really important for me to have the premade, especially if I am on deadline and meals need to be quick. Therefore, I have lots of bean soups sitting on the shelves, as well as grab-and-go spaghetti sauce.
But don’t fear the commitment it’d take to make something particular, Laura. I am still very prone to fuss with things. For example, Friday was my brother’s birthday, and Tom roasted a pork picnic (basically the arm ham) all day long. I got home, opened up a pint of my green tomato chutney, put half of it in the food processor with a heaping tablespoon of hearty mustard, and voila: pulled pork sauce. (I also opened a jar of my barbecue sauce.) So don’t think that what’s canned is “done.”
I definitely go with the basics most of the time. So far this year, I’ve canned fig jam and tomatoes. Will probably do some applesauce in the next week or two as well. I like the potential that canned tomatoes represent – what fun things can I make with the tomatoes in the middle of winter?
I am afraid to try anything fancy because this is my first year canning. So far, soups, some peaches (husband will eat them, but I really don’t care for canned peaches), some jams and mustards. I think tomatoes and I are going to wait until I have someone to join me in the kitchen… it makes for a long lonely weekend when you can by yourself.
Productive, yes. But lonely.
I’ve done both. I have plain tomatoes, applesauce, tomatillos, peaches, etc. waiting to become other things. I also have assorted pickles, fancy jams, sauces, ketchup, and relishes that are similar to ones I used to buy.
Part of it depends on the item and what I know of our family and friend’s eating preferences. Almost without exception we love port, and so it was no contest to make fig jam with ruby port instead of plain fig. And whether I use it in tea sandwiches or on top of chicken, we’re not going to be sorry I made it that way.
When I pickled carrots, I couldn’t commit to a full batch of one flavor, so I split it up, adding dill to some jars and peppers to others, to get a variety out of a single day’s work.
Do we eat it all? I don’t know, since it’s our first year of real canning. I guess we’ll find out in a few months, but I have a feeling we will. We’re already going through it at an alarming rate, and friends keep sneaking jars into their coats as they leave.
Wow! Thanks all for all the great ideas and insights. Maybe I will try a few specific canning recipes next year. The only things we have left for this year are a few more quarts of applesauce and the last of the tomatoes (if they haven’t rotted in the garage by Sunday…)