A Little Water Bath Canning

My friend Amy and I have been discussing canning, so I thought I’d post this for her.  Here you go, Amy.  I hope it helps a little.  Maybe it’ll help some other people too.  I’m no pro at this canning stuff, so for all of you who know what you’re doing please feel free to leave comments and tips for us.First you need a massive stock pot.  I like this one because I can fit seven jars in it at one time. I’m getting some salsa made up here.

 

A tool that I have grown to love is this funnel.  Actually, for me, it’s magical.  I didn’t use one last year.  I did a lot more cleaning last year.

This little lid lifting tool is pretty neat too.  I didn’t burn my fingers getting lids out of the hot bath they were sitting in.  It’s pretty much a magnet on a stick.  My kids liked playing with it.

Here, my jars are enjoying their nice hot water bath to seal their lids.  Once they sat in their bath for awhile I removed them with my jar lifting tool.  I highly recommend getting one of these.  You’ll have to trust me when I say you need one these.  Last year I used pot holders.  The pot holders got wet and the wetness was hot and still burned my hands.  Or if you don’t have much to can you can leave the jars in the water until the water cools.  Then you won’t need a jar lifter.

It’s kind of a fun tool to have anyway.   :) Maybe I’ll try and find some other good uses for it.

When it’s all said and done you end up with some beautiful jars filled with salsa and pasta sauce.  Come back later and maybe we’ll do some things with some apples.  I have a lot of those sitting around.