can if you do, can if you can't

one of my goals this year was to become proficient in food storage- and along with that, i wanted to learn how to can. i know, who cans anymore? it's really a lost art- like learning how to play the organ. it's really not worth it considering how you can buy a can of sauce for $3 and gardening, creating a sauce and canning is way more then that. but it's still a useful thing to learn and i had the tomatoes. 2- i mean really, if the world crushes down on us like it did in 'revolution', i will be prepared. like the prophet says.

in reality, canning is not that hard. the making of the sauce was hard. i now know some things though which should make it better next time.

1- peel and core your tomatoes before freezing
2- make sure i absolutly love the canning sauce recipe before making a gigantic pot of it
3- plan on simmering the sauce all day- not the 90 minutes it said
4- warn my husband to shut his trap upon penalty of death

for reals on the last one. i made the sauce, which was delicious, but not what we are used to. i used the 'our best bites' sauce which uses balsamic vinegar. it tasted more italy then it did prego, which is what justin likes. he took one bites and pronounced it was the worst thing he had ever eaten. after i had spent all night and all day making this stupid sauce. i almost threw a knife at him. for the record, when the bishops wife came over to help me can, she said it was the best sauce she ever had. so justin can suck it.

any who like i said the process was the hard part. i froze whole tomatoes so i left them defrost in my clean kitchen sink- this made it so i didn't have to blanch them to get the skins off. but it also made them too squishy in my taste. once my hands had frozen solid and they were peeled, i cored them. then i diced them. then i put them in the blender, which i wasn't going to do but my husband requested. i mean, i'm glad he but i'm not going to tell him that.

then in the morning i made it sauce in two pans, which turned into one by the time i was done bc it simmered the water out so much. then with clean jars, i put the sauce in them, wiped them down, put tops on and put them in a water bath. they had to cook for so long then i took them out. instantly they 'popped' which let me know the seal was good. after they completely cooled i put the rims on and they were done! like i said, it wasn't hard - just incredibly intimidating. now that i know how to do them, i might just can them as i go along, instead of freezing them. i might even try something other then tomatoes.

i'm super glad i learned but goodness gracious, i will stick to buying my sauce. because i have to give away all my precious canned tomato sauce this year.