Can it

Holy crap, you guys, I canned applesauce! This is, as far as I am concerned, the kind of thing that should be breathlessly exclaimed to anyone who might be willing to listen to me speak for more than a couple of seconds. Because, and maybe you missed this the first time, I CANNED APPLESAUCE! Now that I've internet-yelled it at you, I'm sure you understand the majorness of the situation.



Seriously, though, I am pretty excited about this, as it is my first foray into the world of canning.* It made me feel all self sufficient, which is, of course, awesome. I have yet to put the jars away on the pantry shelves because looking at them reminds me that I am now a canning rockstar finally got up the courage to try this thing I've been wanting to try for ages. And that it (so far...I think...we haven't eaten it yet...) worked out pretty well.



It was both easier and harder than I thought it would be. Easier because it is actually fairly uncomplicated...just heating and boiling and such. Harder because it took forever for anything to boil, putting things into and out of big pots of boiling water is kinda scary, and I'm still a little bit (irrationally) afraid that I'll botulize** my family.



I used about 40 pounds of apples, canned 7 quarts of sauce and froze the rest (about another 6 quarts, I'd say, but the containers are of varying sizes so it's hard to be precise). Not exactly enough to satisfy our applesauce needs for the year--Adelaide loves her some applesauce--but it still feels like quite the accomplishment!




*Well, aside from "helping" my dad can stuff from our garden. I remember very little other than that canning pickles made the house hot and smelly like vinegar.

**Totally a word. Not at all made up. Also, I followed all the instructions and know that everything should be fine, so I'm not AFRAID afraid, but I am a worrier and can't quite shake it completely. You know how it goes.

Canned stuff

So, I was down at my parents' house this weekend. There was a wedding to go to. Everything was lovely, the cake was delicious, and I only took one absolutely spectacular fall down the steps at the reception. Very nice.

As a result, I accomplished nothing over the weekend. Unless eating counts. Because I ate a ton.

But I came home with goods from my dad's 2008 fall canning spree! Yay! We've got two varieties of spiced pears, some applebutter, and--saving the best for last--a jar of sweet pickles!



One of these days I'm going to learn how to can things. We all used to help out with all the canning--mostly of pickles--when we were kids, but, at least in my case, the instructions didn't really take. I remember washing cucumbers, I remember a hot kitchen permeated with the scent of vinegar, and I remember eating the delicious results. And that's about it.