Final Canning Tally

So, today ends my canning for the year. And I barely got done what needed to get done today. I had a 1/2 bushel of apples that's been staring at me for over a week, and some were starting to go bad. I had this brilliant idea to can apple pie filling. It would be oh-so-good in the middle of winter cooked into some tasty treat. But then my fancy apple peeler wasn't working, so after I threw a hissy fit, I decided I would just use a potato peeler and do it the old fashion way. Well, I didn't have the patience for that, so after ANOTHER hissy fit, I cored all the apples, cut them into chunks and made the whole mess into applesauce. You can't really go wrong with applesauce. And it's probably healthier for us than apple pie filling anyway. So, after making 5 quarts of applesauce today and boiling the whole 2 quarts of sauerkraut I made, I. Am. DONE. No more canning for the next several months. But LOOK at that pantry, I did all that, MYSELF, can you really blame me for needing a break? I think not.

So, the numbers are in. And the total is as follows:

Jams:
Apricot-Black Raspberry:  2 3/4 pints
Blueberry-Peach: 2 pints
Sour Cherry: 2 pints
Strawberry: 4 1/2 pints
Apricot: 3 1/2 pints
Plum: 4 pints
Black Raspberry: 2 pints
Peach: 2 1/4 pints
Blueberry: 3 pints
Spiced Blueberry: 3 1/2 pints
Grape: 12 pints (left 6 1/2 pints with my parents)

Pickled Items:
Dill Pickles: 13 quarts, 4 pints
Dilly Beans: 9 pints
Bread and Butter Pickles: 4 quarts, 7 pints
Yellow Squash Pickles: 7 pints
Dilled Cherry Tomatoes: 7 pints
Watermelon Rind Pickles: 4 pints
Hamburger Chips: 8 pints
Green Tomato Pickles: 2 pints
Pickled Jalapenos: 2 pints
Pickled Hot Banana Peppers: 4 pints
Pickled Cauliflower: 17 quarts
Sweet Pickle Relish: 3 1/2 pints

Tomato Products:
Tomato Sauce: 8 quarts, 1 pint
BBQ Sauce: 4 pints
Crushed Tomatoes: 2 quarts, 7 pints
Tomato Soup: 6 pints
Stewed Tomatoes: 8 pints
Whole Tomatoes: 4 quarts
Salsa: 14 pints
Tomato Jam: 2 1/2 pints
Roasted Cherry Tomatoes: 2 1/2 pints

Sweet Treats:
Peach Chocolate Dessert Sauce: 2 1/4 pints
Peaches in Light Syrup: 27 quarts
Applesauce: 25 quarts
Pear Sauce: 3 quarts, 1 pint
Pears in Very Light Syrup: 12 quarts
Pear Syrup: 1 1/2 pints

Others:
Potatoes: 7 quarts
Sauerkraut: 2 quarts

Now that I'm looking at the numbers, that's 70 (SEVENTY!) jars of jam (half pints, of course). Although, I did plan to give all but one of the Spiced Blueberry away, so that brings it down to 64 jars. Still, I think I went a LITTLE overboard with jam this year. But lets put it this way, we go through almost 2 jars a week (we eat PB&J just about every day for lunch during the week. We're poor!). But listen to this FABULOUS idea I came up with (okay, it wasn't mine, I heard it from someone else), I'm going to make 1/4 pint jars of jam as wedding favors! We're trying to do this wedding cheap, so anything homemade is best. Plus, it's special, represents us very well, and is something people can actually use and not just throw away! I figure I'll probably just do strawberry since pretty much everyone likes strawberry jam. And I can make it in June, be done with it, and worry about other wedding details the rest of the year.

That's the canning side of things. Doesn't my little pantry in the basement look so pretty? You will also notice a few other food items I'm storing away. The plastic bag is full of squash from Dan's grandpa's garden, the onions hanging came from the farmers' market, the bin contains potatoes from Dan's grandpa's garden, and the Lowe's bucket is my newest addition. It's full of damp sand, into which I stuck carrots. I read that this is a proper way to store them. BUT, they would have probably been better off if I hadn't left them in the plastic bag on my dining room floor for 2 weeks. Yet, they are still in good shape (except the nasty top parts that were left that I proceeded to remove). Those are some tough veggies there! I'll keep you updated on how they store (maybe I'll get some fresher ones and stick them in the sand to remove the sitting-in-a-plastic-bag variable).

Just a final comment. I would like everyone to know that yes, there is only two people living in this house. And no, I don't plan to give any away as gifts (I'm poor, not unkind!). Although I would love to give goody bags of my creations, I do all this because Dan and I don't have a lot of money and this is just one way for us to save. Plus, it's a much healthier way to go than the canned products you get at the store.

Wait, I did slightly lie to you, and I feel guilty about doing that. I may be done with canning for Dan and I, but I'm not done canning altogether. This weekend, I am being enlisted by Dan's grandma to help make sauerkraut. You should note that, although the family is many generations remove from Poland, they are still very Polish, and they DO give away their canned goods. Which means A LOT of sauerkraut (especially for the pierogis that we'll make next month. It's quite an operation, I'll be sure to post about it!). So I will be elbows deep in sauerkraut this weekend (in between being in the woods hunting). I've been holding off posting my sauerkraut making technique until after this weekend when I'll have more pictures and stories and a better idea of how to do it (I just winged it with mine).

So, how's everyone else's pantries look? Have you canned anything? Sick of it yet?