She Puts Four Tomatoes In A Glass Jar And This Is What Happens

One of the many things that I find annoying as I scroll through my Facebook feed or browse my Flipboard articles are headlines such as the one above. Have you seen them? Do they intrigue you and entice you to click on the link to find out what happens? They have the opposite effect on me most of the time. Occasionally I’ll give in to curiosity and click the link and, more often than not, find myself disappointed and irritated that I took the bait.  (Oh, it just occurred to me that some of you might have that same reaction to this post. I hope not, but that’s a risk I’m taking today.) Most of the time, though, my stubborn streak kicks in and I scroll on refusing to be taken in by a sensational headline.

As I was thinking about today’s post, for some odd reason this title came to mind. Will it entice more readers than something like An August 21 Canning Update or What I Did On My Summer Vacation? Who knows. For that matter, I have no idea what happens if you put four tomatoes in a glass jar despite the fact that I’ve canned my fair share of tomatoes in recent weeks. There’s so much more to it than just putting things in jars . . . perhaps that’s a story for another day.

Anyway, to the point, I decided to post a quick inventory of what I’ve been spending a good part of my time on recently as I work on restocking our pantry. If you follow me on Facebook you’ve seen my–almost daily–updates showing what’s been happening in the Hoye canning kitchen. I wanted to do something here as it serves as a record of sorts for me. I hope you’ll find it interesting as well. (Maybe you’ll poke around in the recipes I’ve linked to and find some new favourites for your kitchen too!)

I decided to be a bit more organized this year so I took inventory of what I had left on my canning shelf in June; some of which has been used since then. I’ve added links to the recipes for most of the items as a reminder to myself which ones I still need to document here.

• Potatoes – 1 quart
• Coleslaw – 8 quarts; 1 pint
• Green Beans – 8 pints
• Strawberry Jam – 2 pints
• Cranberry Jelly – 2 pints
• Honeyed Onions – 4 pints
• Pickled Red Onion – 4 pints
• BBQ Beans (Bush’s clone) – 10 pints
• BBQ Beans (For cabbage soup) – 8 pints
• Quebec Pork Meatballs – 5 pints
• Beet Pickles – 4 quarts
• Sweet Dill Pickles – 1 quart
• Dill Pickles – 4 quarts
• Spaghetti Sauce – 1 pint
• Peaches – 2 quarts
• Vegetable Broth – 7 quarts; 1 pint
• Black Pepper Rosemary Apples – 3 pints
• Cranberry Mustard – 2 pints
• Cherry Pie Filling – 4 quarts
• Kidney Beans – 4 quarts; 1 pints
• Apple Butter – 1 pint
• Watermelon Rind Pickles – 1 pint
• Applesauce – 4 pints
• Mushrooms – 4 pints

Now, on to the point of this post–a listing of what’s been put up so far this year. My kitchen is a mess but I love waking up to a counter filled with jars of the previous day’s canning effort.

• Dilly Beans – 12 pints
• Beet Pickles – 17 quarts
• Sweet Dill Pickles – 4 quarts
• Dill Pickles – 16 quarts
• Peaches – 16 quarts; 1 pint
• Sungold Tomato Jam – 2 pints; 1- 1/2 pint
• Split Pea Soup – 13 pints
• Stewed Tomatoes – 4 quarts
• Tomato Soup – 18 quarts; 13 pints
• Vegetable Soup – 27 pints
• Bread & Butter Pickles – 5 pints; 1-1/2 pint
• Salmon – 5 pints
• Cucumber Relish – 4 pints
• Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Sauce – 10 pints
• Tomatoes – 3 quarts; 1 pint

The garden is still producing so there will be more vegetable soup, stewed tomatoes, canned tomatoes, and perhaps cucumber relish added to the mix. My second crop of beans should begin bearing in a few weeks so I’ll do more Dilly Beans and will likely freeze more. We’ll purchase apples next month and I’ll do applesauce, apple butter, and maybe some apple pie filling.

This, along with the freezer we have filled with crab, halibut, and salmon from Gerry’s fishing trip; a good supply of summer produce I chose to freeze rather than can; and the 60+ bottles of apricot wine Gerry corked yesterday, is a good start to keeping us well-stocked for the winter. Some time ago I considered setting a personal goal of not going to the grocery store for one month and feeding ourselves exclusively from our pantry–with the exception of milk which I need to make yogurt and soy milk which we use in our coffee. I may still do that. November seems like a good time to give it a go. Stay tuned.