The Canning Experiment

On Friday, I tried my hand at canning for the very first time. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. I don't know why, but if you've ever thought about canning, you probably have felt the same twinge of fear. There are so many things that you hear about going wrong with home canning...people getting sick from careless canning or the pressure canner exploding! It is terrifying! But if you actually sit down and read a few books about it (which I did to calm my nerves about the whole process) it really isn't that scary. Especially if you are just using the hot water bath canning method and not the pressure canner. I'm sure I'll have a nervous breakdown the first time I try to pressure can something.

For starters, as long as things are kept exceptionally clean and you follow the instructions, there is virtually no risk of sickness. As long as you get a good seal on the jars, they will be fine kept in a cool dark place for a few months. I was worried about the jars not sealing, one of them cracking and exploding in the boiling water, if I left enough head space, if I left too much head space, what did fingertip tight really mean? But I trudged on through and made my first batch of Pear Butter. It was quite tasty - I had to try it before I put it up, what if it was gross? It's a nice cinnamon pear flavor, much like a thick, sweet cinnamon applesauce. It will be very tasty heated on toast this winter. Mmmm. And did I mention that though it's not very pretty, it looks glorious in it's little jars all lined up on my shelf?

It took quite a while to make...about 3 hours for the pear butter, then another 30 minutes to can it, then 12 hours of sitting to let it seal. I did it at night, so the 12 hours sitting time I mostly spent sleeping. But in the end, I have 8 half pints of deliciousness sitting in my pantry that I am oh so happy with. If for no other reason, you have to give canning a try for the sweet satisfaction of doing something older than your grandmother. People have canned forever and really, it just recently went "out of fashion". My mom remembers helping her mom can. Now that I know how to do it, I will teach Moo someday. There is nothing like the feeling of pride that jumps to your heart when you hear the "ping" of that little button on the lid of a jar being sucked down, creating the vacuum you need for your preserves to keep. I literally laughed out loud when my first jar went "ping!" followed shortly by seven other "ping, ping, PING, ping!"s. It is a wonderful thing.