Home Canning

Most people don't can fruit anymore. For the most part people had jobs, and coming home to a hot waterbath canner in the evening was not their idea of fun. Now people don't have jobs, and they're thinking cheap. The cost breakdown may be comparable to store bought cans of food, but the taste test is the proof of the pudding. OTOH, gleaning is free. Look around in your neighborhood to see if an elderly person or some lucky duck who still has a job has a tree that's overproducing, and ask them if you can pick fruit. Perhaps they'd be willing to let you have fruit in exchange for some of the jars of preserves or jam that you make. My experience has been that most people don't want to pick up more apples from the ground to mow the grass than they have to, so they'll give you the go-ahead. Be Careful of the Buds! When you pick apples you have to be very careful not to break the stubs off the branch where the apple attaches. That is where next year's fruit will come on, and if you don't twist the stem off gently, you will ruin next year's crop and make yourself persona non grata.

All that said, really canning is very satisfying and not so very difficult. Living out here in the woods with a store that closes early and has high prices has taught me how to make things from scratch. It's not hard, it's not intimidating, and with great websites like allrecipes.com out there you can check reviews to see if recipes are worth making, rather than buying a stack of cookbooks and not knowing what modifications are necessary. And modifications are always necessary! ;) A really great site for home processing is pickyourown.org, with pictures and step by step instructions for newbies or for those that haven't done it in a few years. One thing to keep in mind is that jams, butters, and chutneys make great gifts. It's fun to have guests over that rave over the product of your effort, and then off-handedly say, oh, here, have a jar! Watch their eyes light up! :)

And now I need to get back to that box of pears... Should I make pear butter with the whole thing, or can some??? Hmmmmm.