First canning experience

[geoff]

So I have a garden with 10 tomato plants, I've already eaten so many of them and made about a gallon of salsa, I decided to buy a canning set up and can them.  Does anyone else do this?  It seems like so much f-ing work I'd almost rather buy whatever kind of canned tomatoes I wanted.  It's a hot water bath canner setup.  I started at 1030, have 6 quarts in right now, and I'm pulling them off at around 415am. Seriously, this first canning experience isn't that great. Any suggestions, happy canning stories, anything to make it look more worth it?

[KBCraig]

Lordy, how long are you cooking???

For tomatoes, you only need to blanch and peel, pack into wide-mouth jars, then heat to boiling, put lids on, and wait to make sure they seal. Should be less than 30 minutes from the time you pack them. No "cooking", as such, required. When you open your jars, they'll taste like fresh tomatoes, and will be great for sauces or cooking.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I haven't canned anything in years. At the moment canned tomatoes are cheap and plentiful. You probably won't be able to save any money canning your own and they may be even more expensive than the ones in the store.
The best reason for canning more and more every year is so that you will know how to do it if a time comes when you have more garden space and time than money, or, the stuff that you buy now gets hard to find.
It will get easier as you do it more. Next year you might find more Canners and you can all can together.

[jeremy2141]

I have 15 apple trees and have canned about 25 cans of applesauce.  I did 12 cans today, only spent about 2 hours from picking apples to pulling cans out of the water bath.  I also can my greenbeans, which is even easier, though I use a pressure canner for that.  Canning tomatoes shouldn't take all day!  I can because I want to have the tools and knowledge to feed my family if things ever go south....

[geoff]

Well, it was my first canning experience. KB Craig, I know how it "should" go, I had about 20 lbs of tomatoes and was trying to balance boiling/blanching each round of tomatoes with the next, that was the longest part of the job.  Then I had to boil all the quarts in the canner for almost an hour. Maybe it was inexperience and will get better with time. But dammit, that first experience almost turned me off.

[doobie]

I don't can as much as I used to... I used to can like 50 dozen quarts and pints a year, now I'm at around 10 dozen.  Though I've been doing better lately.  Unfortuantely garden sucked this year, so I'm working on canning fresh local stuff for the winter and spring...

[keith in RI]

i grew my first garden ever this year and got great results. ive also started canning for the first time and have done about 30 or so quarts of bread and butter and dill pickles. delicious! im picking peppers now and will try them next.

[toowm]

Here I thought this was about Cardinal Canning...

[Kat Kanning]

He would comment, but he's stuck in a jar right now.

[KBCraig]

He would comment, but he's stuck in a jar right now.

Sounds like he's in a real pickle.

...or a jam?