It should come as no surprise to any of you that I take a certain amount of pride in being on top of all things canning. I like to know about the preserving cookbooks that are in the pipeline. I do my darnedest to be aware of any tools that are being marketed with canning mind. And I want to have canned in every jar out there, so as to be able to answer questions with some level of knowledge and understanding.
So, when the folks at Sur La Table got in touch to ask if they could send me a box filled with some of the canning gear they sell in their store, of course I said yes (after all, I had to see if there was anything out there that I didn’t know about!).
The package arrived a little more than a week ago and contained an assortment of the Quattro Stagioni jars (the three sizes I got were .5 L, .25 L, and .15 L) a pair of these Le Parfait jars (these were new to me and I adore them! They’re the same style as used by Bonne Maman), and the box of canning essentials made by Progressive International (I wrote about these tools here).
The other thing that Sur La Table sent me along with this box full of goodies was a PDF fact sheet full of current statistics about local food, farmers market shopping, and canning and preserving. There was one particularly hunk of data that I found particularly interesting (that’s the image you see above).
I’ve always noted that when I teach a jam class, I mostly get women participating. The percentage of men goes way up in my pickling classes. It’s neat to see the numerical breakdown of something I’ve long observed.
Because it’s Monday and that’s giveaway ’round these parts, I’m going to share some of this goodie box with one lucky reader. I’m giving away the Progressive canning tools that they sent me (the lid lifter is the best one I’ve found) as well as the set of four .15L Quattro Stagioni jars they sent. Here’s how to enter:
- Leave a comment on this post. Tell me about your favorite jar, about something you’ve canned this summer, or your most beloved canning tool (we’re taking the grab bag approach this week).
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Friday, August 23, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random (using random.org) and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, August 25, 2013.
- Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left on the blog, I cannot accept submissions via email.
Bumper crop of blueberries this past month… made two variations of blueberry jam and a conserve, made (in quart canning jars, but am not canning it) both a kim-chee and sauerkraut…I had to do something with my blue-ribbon winning dutch-flat cabbage… perhaps I’ll make some more kraut and can that, and have made and canned both apple sauce and apple butter, as well as a green tomato relish, and took one of your posts and have oven-roasted a batch of grape tomatoes… those are in the freezer awaiting… and the Romas (17 big, loaded plants!!) are just starting to ripen.
Blueberry butter was a new one for me this year. The crockpot has become a new favorite
I just put SLT’s “late season canning” class on my birthday list! I don’t have a favorite much of anything yet, as I’m still a newbie.
Thanks for the chance!
Fave project: canning heirloom tomato seconds into the vintage Kerr two quart jars that I freecycled from my neighbor ‘s basement. Or maybe the big pladtic buckets of my fermented pickle projects….
This is my first season canning. Don’t have any favorites et but hope to soon 🙂
I have put my kids to work on the wall of blackberry bushes on our property. There are so many they often bring me big bags wiTh pink stained lips. I tend to add them to any jam or coulis that I make, most recently a honey-sweetened peach-blackberry jam. Yum!
Love making apricot jam…my all time favorite!
This summer my sister taught me how to can – pickle, and jam. My older sister who I thought hated me throughout my whole childhood, has lovingly taught me this amazing skill, which I will use forever more. We did the grandma basics: strawberry and raspberry jam, did Dilly Beans, and classic dills from your book…. favorite is still raspberry jam, in the Mason jar (Mason is our last name ;)) . I feel like a new woman, how did I go my whole life without this amazing life skill?! Thanks older sis, and Marisa – your book is a godsend!
Just started with making jams and whatnot, so far my favourite is still the good old strawberry jam, though i made a mean apple maple jam 🙂 i use bernadin jars, but wouldn’t mind trying others 🙂
Jalapenos – pickled and jelly! We have had very prolific pepper plants this year.
I just used Weck jars for the first time, and I think they are a new favorite! I went a little crazy and ordered 3 different jars the first time, and then after they arrived and I saw how beautiful they were I went back and ordered another 3 jars. My only concern is what to put in them – and how to ensure I get the jars back if I give some to friends!
I’ve never tried canning before but I do enjoy making apple butter, various pickles, and jams.
Just started canning this summer, and I love it! We had so much squash from the garden so I found a yellow squash relish canning recipe and it’s absolutely delicious! My good friend and I have been having canning play dates to can all our garden goods, have one today to can the Spicy Tomato and Peach jam. 🙂
My favorite jars came from a friend’s shed. They are probably 50 years old. When I found them they were filled with jam, preserves, etc. I took boxes of them and emptied them and washed them. They are lovely. My favorite thing I made this summer is fig and orange jam. My favorite canning tool is the magnetized lid lift.
LS
I just spent five hours with my folks and grandmother canning 20 quarts of stewed tomatoes (celery, onion, green pepper and garlic).
My favorite canning “tool” is my extra tall pressure canner which allows me to can up to 20 pints of corn at a time! With three young boys underfoot, the time savings is indispensable!
HI, I have had one of my family members give me some 25 lbs of black cherries this summer, and I made cherry jam and 5 gallons of cherry wine, mmmmm
thank you for the recipies in your blog, love it!
spicy pickled green beans – and sour cherry jam!
We had a bumper crop of peaches this year and my husband raises honey bees. Your recipe for peach honey butter was the perfect way to marry two plentiful ingredients. The recipe was easy and turned out delicious.
I made your Pickled Red Onions and I’m in love 🙂
I have so many blueberries to jam right now! I am planning to do a blueberry peach jam, blueberry plum basil and maybe a mixed berry jam.
I haven’t canned anything yet this summer, but as soon as my tomatoes ripen I will be canned sauce and stewed tomatoes. We are doing two batches of pickles today (1 batch of cukes / 1 batch squash). I missed all of my jamming as we got into a sorbet making fit and every fruit I picked was pulverized and thrown in the ice cream maker.
I made an amazing sweet and sour cherry jam in my adorable Weck jars.
I was chatting with a new lady organic farmer at the local farmers’ market a few weeks back. She’d hurt her back, because she hadn’t been doing her stretches and whatnot, and we were discussing how hard it is to put ourselves first. Her sad eyes turned to the open back of her truck, and she said she was likely to go home with a lot of goods this week. Huh? My ears perked up. Like what? Turns out she had boxes of beautiful, ripe tomatoes, so I loaded up at about $1/lb. Nothing gets me inspired to can like a deal on the product. Next stop was the farmer who likes to squeeze a bag of basil in your face when you’re standing in line. Onions? Plenty of those piling up at home from the weekly CSA box… Oregano and garlic? Check (those are two things I CAN grow here in the high-elevation desert). Pasta sauce it was! Eight hours of labor, and I had 24 pints of yum for the winter. As to jars… I’m so attached to certain older canning jars, that I can never give anything canned in them away… makes me feel stingy, but I just know I appreciate them more than anyone else would… right?.
I am just starting to learn how to can and am excited to have found your site!
The classic strawberry jam 🙂
Pickled asparagus — it was amazing.
What beautiful jars! I canned purple basil jelly from a link from your blog and it would look great in those jars!
Just got done canning one of your recipes from your book: rotel-style tomatoes. My oldest son is learning how to can all the vegetables from his garden so winning this would be awesome. Thank you for the chance…
I tried pickles again for the first time in 11 yrs this Summer with my friend and her teenage daughters. It was a great group canning project for me because I typically can solo!
I love canning anything with tomatoes, they’re so versatile! I have 22 tomato plants in my garden that have kept me plenty busy! This year I’ve canned whole tomatoes, jam, butter, whole tomatoes, and salsa. Looking forward to getting a food mill so I can expand to more sauces.
Strawberry jam is still my favorite. This year my favorite jars are the blue ball jars. I love the way they look.
i love reading what everyone has been canning! i have to admit i get jealous of many of your available food goodies. i have canned some wild raspberry jam and many quarts of green beans and peaches. my favorite would have to be the peach butter we made. delicious. i just wish my tomatoes would do any good. i grew all heirlooms this year and we’ve had too much rain. they all get a big black spot on the side and spoil. bummer.
I haven’t canned as much this summer as I did last summer, probably because I’m working more. But! On Independence Day, I made a batch of Cantaloupe-Vanilla jam from the Food In Jars cookbook. It was a really small batch–I think I got two half-pints out of it, which was kind of the point–but it reminded me how much I really enjoy trying little batches of jam with interesting flavors. I’m really looking forward to the next time I get a few minutes to try a new combination. All of my tomatoes are ripening, though, so it may just be all tomato jam, all the time.
My favorite thing I’ve canned this summer is nectarine butter. mmmm.
This summer, I have begun canning for the first time. I bought a case of peaches and made a huge variety of things, but the thing I have the most of is peach butter. A few weeks ago, I had a dream that my three younger siblings were confronting me about the fact that everything I had canned so far was disgusting. I have no idea where this came from since they always love what I cook. Only a few hours after I woke up, I got a text from my sister telling me that the spiced peach butter she had just opened from me was the best she had ever had, and that it had so much more peach flavor than other preserves she had tasted. The timing of it is kind of strange, but it still makes me laugh. I just finished a small batch of strawberry fig jam from your blog and it’s wonderful.
Although I’ve always had access to amazing, gorgeous fresh fruits and vegetables from my family garden and local farmers’ markets, I didn’t start canning until very recently! I made a killer strawberry balsamic black pepper jam and my friends couldn’t get enough. Ten batches of jam later, I can’t stop. As much as I love the half-pint Ball jars, I love the aesthetic of Weck jars and would love to try using those with my next batch.
My favorite jar is an 8 oz. squarish specimen, with the words ATLAS MASON embossed on 2 sides. I only have one, and don’t know where it came from. Right now it contains tomato marmalade. Thanks for the contest opportunity!
I just started preserving in earnest this summer in response to the need to save some of the free produce I get for volunteering at my local farmer’s market (fav time of my week!). Anyway, this summer so far my favorite has been a spicy Indian plum chutney but am really looking forward to making a tomato chutney soon!
I have several funnels, but I love using my progressive funnel. I like this one better, because of the measurement’s it gives you for the neck of the jar.
I am looking forward to canning tomatoes in pint and a half jars this year! I also love 4oz jars for the little bit extra in many jam recipes.
Well, let’s see! So far I have tried out your recipe for garlic dill pickles but I used zucchini, I always make some homemade applesauce as my fiance is a fiend, I made some honey sweetened canned peaches last night and today my amazing fiance is going to the farm to get me two bushels of tomatoes and the canning fest will begin!
For some reason I’m obsessed with the quilted jars. I would use them for everything if I could. I’ve been looking into some wecks, but have never used them before and the ones I like seal differently…guess this year is the time to experiment!
I’m a newbie at canning but am enjoying the journey! Right now I’ve got peaches, small tomatoes and mild peppers on my table begging to be canned.
Peach slow cooker butter & strawberry vanilla jam! –djs
Weck tulip jars are usually my favorites – and I can’t can without my amazing Progressive canning rack!!
I just last night canned pears in a light syrup. My father loves pears and peaches for dessert so I’m canning both for him this year.
I canned salsa my first time. I love any jar. They are so versitile
Ball and Kerr jars are my favorite
I canned sweet corn for the first time this year, and it was my first failure. Not to worry, I will attempt it again when I feel more confident.
Thanks for the chance to win. I have only done a little pepper jelly making but would like to try more.
I’ve never truly canned anything, but I do a lot of fermenting and quick-pickling. I keep meaning to learn how, but I have a tiny kitchen, live alone, and don’t have a ton of time. I think before school starts is the time, though…
After over 20 years of living life without them, I think I’ve finally figured out my late aunt’s recipe for the most bliss-inducing watermelon rind pickles this afternoon. Now the battle with my conscience (and appetite) to let them rest for the requisite two weeks …
I love canning marinara in the late summer. It gives me such a sense of satisfaction to see the pretty red and green sauce and knowing I’ve got this healthy taste of summer for quick winter dinners.
I love to do a quick pickle with all the cucumbers from the garden. Also the tomatoes are rolling in hot and fast, so salsa for them. The Italian jars are just beautiful.
applesauce for cooking all winter!
I guess I defy logic as I love to can, pickle, dehydrate etc. Just this summer I put up some blueberry preserves, bread and butter pickles, tomato sauce, pickled beets and strawberry freezer jam. That doesn’t count any fresh venison and striped bass I put in the freezer. Currently my favorite canning jar is the retro new blue ball perfect mason jars. The look of something old without the worry of chipped glass.
I started canning last year and enjoy it very much. So far, I have used Ball canning supplies – would love to try these giveaways! We are using up the last few jars left so I need to get started again. My favorite is tomato jam – our vines are full of red ripe tomatoes!
Peaches and strawberries are my favorite fruits to can. We will be canning some while they’re in season – these jars are just perfect. I hope I win!
It’s hard to pick a favorite. I seem to like whatever is the latest. Some fun stuff has included corn cob jelly and strawberry syrup made from the the heads
I made strawberry rhubarb sauce but I froze it instead of canning it. I’m still learning the basics of canning.
I’ve been “consumed” by the sweet simplicity of old-fashioned bread and butter pickles this year. I am one of the unfortunate who never liked onions. Still cook with them, but they’re always minced into bits so small that only a subtle flavor makes it through. I’ve actually had family members, in complete disbelief, snapping photos of me eating the sweet tumeric-infused yellowed ringlets of onion from the pickle jar… with incredulous grins all around.
I have a bumper crop of peaches, so I am trying the peach chutney for sure.
My favorite jar so far is sour pickles.
I just started canning last fall, and the last thing I canned was a dozen jars of apple cider butter. I’m about to pickle some green beans and make some peach butter.
I’m still new to the canning world so I don’t have a favorite tool except all of the Internet recipes! Would love this box!
I have put up peach jam,preserves, tomato jam,pickles and starting fig jam in the morning!
my neighbor just brought me a box of jars from his deceased mothers basement, great except they were full. The exciting thing is 2 were old wiretop jars, still sealed and an old jar that was sealed with wax. It had a little piece of paper that said March 28, 1937! That jar I did not open or dump. It is so cool! Not sure what it is but I think it must be maple syrup……
2 weeks ago, i put up some preserved figs – they turned out so nice. looking forward to having some over vanilla ice cream.
my girlfriend and i made ketchup out of bargain bin tomatoes a few weeks ago. it. is. awesome. we should probably make some more before the season ends!
I made your pear vanilla jam couple months ago but it came out so thick. I use a regular candy thermometer that I think is faulty. I definitely over-cooked it! But I will not be conquered! I’m going to the local farmers market to load up on zucchini and whatever else I see. My zucchini plants were eaten up by squash bugs. I managed to get 6 zucchini which I promptly turned into zucchini bread.
This is my first year canning and I am LOVING it! My favorite recipe has been blackberry jam or maybe the pickled radish or green beans or green chilies or…too many yummy ones to choose just one favorite!
Blackberries are quite abundant in my patch this year so have been making blackberry jam, blackberry syrup, and, while it is not something that is preserved, it is still no less delicious; blackberry sorbet!
I am putting up quarter pint jars as wedding reception favors for October and so far have canned summer stone fruit, strawberry rhubarb, apricot vanilla & tomato jams and Meyer lemon curd. Soon to be canned is roasted tomatillo salsa & some fun variety of mustard!
I loved watching my grandmother can but was never brave enough to try it myself until recently. A friend helped me make a batch of pickles and now I am hooked. I am looking forward to trying some of your recipes. There is a lot to learn but I am excited to try.
I’ve enjoyed canning so many of your recipes so far this summer, Marisa! There was some small batch strawberry jam, rhubarb chutney, rhubarb-strawberry jam, pickled red onions, so much more to do before the end of the season. All so delicious!
I’m new to canning by myself. I helped my mom when I was younger. I love this website. So many good tips and delicious looking recipes. I look forward to more canning in my future. 🙂
I grew up watching my mom can everything from strawberry jam, tomato sauce, salsa, and pickles. Nearly everything she canned was home grown. I picked it up canning after I bought my own home and had my own garden. I always remember my mom being so overwhelmed with canning until I canned on a ‘normal’ scale . . . ever had to deal with 50 tomato plants? Too many tomatoes and not enough jars! I have expanded my canning skills from mom’s traditional efforts to butters and compotes with great success and have shared with friends who have been a little intimidated with canning. And in the process, found a shared liking for preserving your own food with the knowledge of knowing how it was grown and what went into the jar. I just finished putting up salted caramel pear butter – so delicious, I made sure I used several spoons so I could lick them all after I was done!
I have some jars with glass lids from my grandmother that I never got to meet. I don’t can with them but they hold dry goods beautifully.
I have done peach preserves this summer that are delicious! I have tomatoes I’m tackling tomorrow, I’m thinking stewed. Pretty excited to get those put up. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Just canned a baby batch (three half-pints) of peach butter. Can’t wait to start cracking open the jars!
am loving the squat 4-ounce jam jars. i make jam in small batches and give them as gifts.
last week i made an incredible fig, cognac and lemon zest jam. it was so good — honestly i ate the first jar straight up with a spoon. i was able to exert more control with the next jar and ate it atop plain non-fat yogurt. super delicious, the seeds and zest gave the jam good texture, the fruit was chunky and beautiful, the coganc imparted a lovely perfume.
tomatoes are peaking at my local farmer’s markets and prices are plummeting to $1.50/pound. tomato jam coming up. i bought a dozen more 4-ounce jelly jars today.
Raspberry Orange Jam. SOOOO yummy. We ate it on brie.