End of the Canning Season

I’m tired, I have a few recipes that I have tested out lately that I really want to share with you all, but now is just not the time.  You are just going to have to wait my friends. 

I finished my canning last weekend.  I did a few fruits again this year now that I have more people in my household to eat them.  I had put up peaches a few years ago, but alas I was the only peach eater in my house, and it was more than enough for me.  Now that Albert is eating a ton, and Norah will be starting food this winter I thought now was the time to do a few peaches and pears that would be easy for her to chomp on and a little taste of summer for me.  Canning peaches for me now is a bittersweet activity.  It is the only thing I can remember my Grandmother canning, although I know she in her day did everything under the sun.  We would always bring her fresh peaches from our area to can, and she made great canned peaches! Now only if the rest of her cooking was the same…..Grandma died on Mothers Day of 2009, and when I put my peaches up I could hear her in my head saying that you must leave a pit in each jar to improve the flavor…She is probably rolling over in her grave because I chose not to this year.

Here is a photo of my summers work. I do not have a pressure canner, so I have stayed away from anything that is missing the acidity to safely can it in a hot water bath.  I’d really like to get my hands on a good pressure canner so that I can try my hand at some other goodies, but they  run pretty high, and since the entire point of me canning is to be able to feed my family on a critically tight budget, oh well.  But I do have a nice deep freezer that had been stuffed with quart and gallon bags of veggies, and we all know they will taste much better frozen than they ever would canned. 

Starting from the top left:

Left hand group of shelves:

Tomato juice,  BBQ sauce, corn zucchini relish, zesty zucchini relish        

Pears, Peaches, Salsa

Cinnamon Apples, Sauerkraut, ketchup     

Orange Marmalade, Blueberry jam,  crabapple jelly, blackberry jam

Strawberry jam, pear butter, peach jam, mint jelly

Raspberry jam, raspberry jelly, black raspberry jam

Currant jelly, raspberry jalapeño sauce, blackberry jelly, jalapeño jelly

Right hand group of shelves:

Maple syrup

Zucchini relish, raspberry vinegar, chive vinegar

Apple pie filling, applesauce

Sweet pickles, watermelon rind pickles, dilly beans

Sour pickles, dill pickles

Dill pickles

More dill pickles

We eat a lot of jams and jelly as you can tell, however I have made extra this year to use as holiday presents.  And we have already gone through about 6 pints of salsa, I hope that the salsa I made lasts till next years batch. 

I have had a lot of interest in my canning, do you think I could make some money teaching people how to do it?  What would you be willing to pay for my time alone, not including supplies?