Melba's Jammin' wrote:

[...]

> While I know there's at least one person who wouldn't be disappointed if
> you accidentally poisoned yourself, I'm not one of them. :-)


Gee, only *one*...!!!??? ;-p


If
> you've never done any canning before, please buy a good basic text for
> reference and follow the rules. My personal favorite is the Ball Blue
> Book (published by Alltrista Consumer Products Company); it's available
> from them online for about $5. Or look for Putting Food By by Greene,
> Hertzberg, and Somebody Else - Amazon has it. Or So Easy To Preserve,
> put out by the University of Georgia food safety/food preservation
> weenies. Online, you want to check in at rec.food.preserving for
> discussion; for good information look to the National Center for Home
> Food Preservation, housed at the U of GA (<www.uga.edu/nchfp/> will get
> you there, I think). I attended a food preserving seminar a couple
> weeks ago and the presenters recommended the three books I mentioned
> above.


I've got the Ball book, an Ortho book from about 20 years, and I think a
Sunset book...I used to can a lot in the mid - late 80's but haven't done
much since....


> What are you planning on putting up?


I'd like to do some okra pickles, some cantaloupe pickles, peach pickles,
chow - chow, dilly beans...I like pickled asparagus but's it's kinda late in
the season...I was eyeing some nice cherries to make brandied cherries with
but do I *really* want pit 20 or so pounds of cherries(been there done
that)?

Most all this stuff I would give away as holiday gifts...people are always
in awe that someone still does home canning so it's a good gift....

--
Best
Greg