Can I Can? ...That is the question.

I think that's the question on the shoulders of today's home-growers. Are we really qualified to can like our grandmas and mothers used to do? I don't feel like I have this tugging at our wallet quite like the Depression, like my grandma did back when everyone canned and wasted nothing, but I still want to do my part. She made it look so easy and that makes me feel a little inadequate on whether or not I'll be successful at it canning. But I'm willing to try, and this week I wanted to try pickling. I mean, we grew the cucumbers, so let's do it!

I was very careful to follow the directions in the Ball Blue Book! That meant clean, hot jars and lids to work with and a large canning pot of hot water waiting in the background.

I think my cucumbers are a little big but I picked every one I could find so I would have the right amount. The recipe called for 8 lbs of cucumbers so we got out the scale and started adding...

...they were so pretty and green...
Chop, chop went the knife into workable sizes of spears.
Here I packed the jars as full as I could stuff them. Sometimes I got a little frustrated and chopped the cucumbers into smaller pieces and shoved them in just so I could win the battle of space inside that jar (I'm not sure you are supposed to do that). Then I laddled the hot brine (vinegar, sugar, canning salt, and pickling spices) inside the jars until the liquid was about 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. The handy blue tool I'm using inside the jar is to squeeze out air bubbles, an absolute must! If there are air bubbles insied your jar, bacteria has the perfect place to grow, so smoosh those cucumbers down all the way around until no more bubbles rise.

The jars go into the water bath for cooking. A water bath just means a big pot of boiling water.

15 minutes later, out they come.

You can see here the bright green jars have not been cooked yet in the water bath. The "dill" looking pickles are completely cooked and ready for storage.

There are a couple of wonderful things about canning:

I love keeping something we grew.

I love that there are no preservatives in this wonderful food.

I love that people appreciate these items as gifts (genuinely appreciate, no faking).

I love that our children are seeing where food comes from and they do have a choice in what they consume.

I love having a full cupboard.

I love actually tasting summer in the dead of winter...it just can't be reproduced!

I can't wait to try these but here's where patience begins...the recipe says to wait 7 weeks for them to cure so I'm not sure our hard work has paid off yet. I'm hoping for the best and I'm glad I'm not getting graded.