I teach the kids to can in school today still and then they use it in the recipes we make through out the year. ( tomatoes and salsa). I can at home too. I see it is becoming more popular with people having to watch there $ and it tastes so much like fresh food. Also less of the preservatives.

I make jellies with fruit and
freeze the veggies

I make relish every year and sometimes jelly. I have a hard time finding some of my supplies. I tried to make concord grape jelly one year and the product I bought online was instant and it bound up on me, I barely got it out of the pan it was so hard. Clear jel, I think the product was called. Does anyone know where to buy the regular kind, NOT instant kind of Clear Jel? I'd love to try again to make that.

When my Mother was still alive, we canned together every fall & I LOVED it! I'd leave my kids with DH & off I'd go to Mom & Dad's for a week or so. We canned stewed tomatoes, made something she called "chow chow" out of green tomatoes, made bread & butter pickles, made grape jam, made apple butter, made apple sauce, made pickled watermelon rind, made pickled corn, (sometimes) made mincemeat & also made sour kraut. It was lots of work but I loved doing it with her & really miss it now.

I to enjoy canning I canned 28 pints of cherries yesterday and will do more I can all kind of stuff even my own tomatoe soup and pie filling also do my own jams and jellys some of grandkids won't eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich unless they have grandmas jelly

I can everything I can lay my hands on ... and that includes stuff that's been in the freezer when I need to make room for more. With inevitable power outages I don't have to worry about ruined food and since we have a gas stove, there is always something to eat.

I'm w/Krystyna, I usually can everything I can get my hands on and have for years. Also, remember my mother canning as well. My husband plants and maintains a garden every year and I pick, prepare, and can it. This year however, between working and my dad's health issues, I took a vacation from canning and have enjoyed the break. However, I'm looking forward to getting back to it next year, hopefully.

I am so glad to hear that others still can and freeze produce. I started canning as a child and I still to this day make jams,jellies,tomatoes and pickles. I can't make enough seems the quilters are always wanting to buy a jar of this or that. It is another way I relax. I know, I am nuts. But I love the response I get from friends who eat and enjoy my labor. I am getting ready to make peach jam, just did 37 jars of fig jam,46 jars of blackberry jam, and so many I can't count of hot pepper jelly, I always add other fruits to the hot pepper jelly and everyone goes nuts. One of my quilting friends has bought so much hot pepper jellies for her husband, he eats it on everything and I love to see how happy it makes him when I go to their house for a visit. Really, its not about the work I put in to the process, I love to see the expression and excitement the recievers show after trying my canned goods. I hate to see such a great art getting lost.

I used to can, but with it being just me... its just not efficient. I do freeze my tomatoes, cooking them to a concetrate before freezing. I can freeze in small amounts.

How do you make zucchini pickle spears? Those sound good and would help so zucchini does not go to waste. Also gals, how do you manage to make sure you get a good seal? I have not used the pressure canner very much so not experienced with it, but my water bath system seems lately that my seal is not real strong and I cook it the recommended amount of time and give it an extra five minutes. Not sure what I am doing wrong and I use Kerr.