I’ve Been Canning Raspberry Jam ~ Wanna See My Canners

Above are my 3 last batches of homemade raspberry jam that I cooked and canned yesterday.

I can’t even remember when I learned to can produce from my garden.  I know that even when I was little and living in Las Vegas, where produce was scarce, I would go on family trips to Idaho where we would pick chokecherries.  My grandmother, my mother’s friends, and my mother would make and can chokecherry jelly.

I was surprised a couple years ago to meet a couple of 70+ women who had never canned and knew nothing about canning. They spent several mornings watching me can jellies. They were fascinated. They said they grew up poor.

My mother learned to can from my grandmother who probably canned in the summer and fall so her family could eat well through the winter. I wondered what people who were poor and didn’t preserve food ate during the winter.

Although I learned to preserve food a long time ago, I now realize not everyone did. I thought I would just briefly show some lids and my canners.

Above is a two part metal lid designed to fit a regular mouth canning jar. Canning jars come in two sizes regular mouth and wide mouth. Both use a two part lid. The flat sealing lid goes against the jar. It has a rubbery ring that presses and forms a seal on the jar. The other part of the lid screws down the flat part of the lid. To seal the jar you need to process the jar in a canner.

I have two canners, the steam canner pictured above and a water bath canner. I think the steam canner takes less energy to seal the cans. It uses less water.

The jars sit above the boiling water. The lid is placed on top. The amount of time the jars need to be sealed depends on the size of the jar.

Above is my water bath canner. I have had the canner for years and I use it most years.  Jars are submerged in boiling water.  Again the processing time varies with the size of the jar.

ple handles that allow you to lift the jars out of the water bath once they have finished processing.

If you would like to know more about canning food, you might want to visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation.  They provide information on boiling water canning and pressure canning (I did not show photos of my pressure canner).  It’s not that hard to make your own jams and jellies or preserve vegetables from your garden.  The great thing about preserving your own food is that you know exactly what’s in it…and homemade jams and jellies make great gifts.