Summer All Year

July 15, 2010 on 4:20 pm | In Health & Nutrition, How To's and Helpful Tips, Lunch Time Savers, Recipes, The Heart of Your Home | No Comments

Home canning has come back to the mainstream. Many home chefs are canning gourmet versions of common foods, saving the bounty from a garden, and making gifts for friends and family.
If you are thinking of doing some canning for the first time, or scaling up your operation, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Take advantage of farmer’s markets and sales on in-season produce. Right now, berries are at their peak. Jam is an obvious choice, how about also making some cans of blueberry pie filling to keep ready for a quick weeknight dessert? Tomatoes are also in season. If you are making a batch of your family’s famous tomato sauce, make the batch a bit bigger and can some to enjoy later.

• Home canned goods make great gifts: housewarmings, hostess gifts, holidays, reunions, gift baskets and more. Make some signature flavors and keep them on hand, your friends and family will appreciate that your gift is practical, healthy and made with love. But, watch out! You may get more requests than you can handle!

• When making big batches, it can be difficult to keep an even temperature with your heating element weighted down on the stove. The heat builds up underneath and can also cause discoloration to the stovetop. We make a  Canning Kit http://www.rangekleen.com/index.php?cPath=16_35_384 with a taller, sturdier element and deeper drip pan to eliminate these problems.

Also, check out our canning recipes at www.rangekleen.com

http://www.rangekleen.com/recipes.php?pID=5&category=Canning&submit=View+Recipes)