Painless Home Canning
Easy Brandied Cherries and Simple Tips for Successful Canning
Canning is an easy way to preserve fruit and vegetables, allowing you to use the best of summer's bounty to enjoy food all year long
The first step is to buy jars, which can often be found at supermarkets, hardware stores, or even big stores like Target. Any brand will do. Bell is a popular brand that's widely available. Often an assortment of small preserves can be a nice gift, so if you start your canning early you can take care of some holiday shopping.
Depending on what products you will be making, you might want to buy several different sized jars to have on hand. Large jars are good for holding pickles, tomato sauce, or poached pears or peaches. Four or eight ounce jars are better for jams, if you are apt to use them infrequently.
Today, most jar lids are lined with a light coating of wax. This helps the sealing process by creating a natural vacuum seal as your product cools down. Properly canned goods will keep on your pantry shelf for years, but once they are opened, use your common sense. Jams, chutneys or pickles can keep refrigerated for weeks, but you would want to use leftover sauce within a few days.
Foods to Can:
By learning to can you can make
Easy Brandied Cherries:
makes approx. 1 qt.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1cup brandy
- 2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and stemmed
Method:
- Combine sugar and water and bring to boil.
- Once boiling, turn off pot and add brandy.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. This will be used to sterilize jars.
- Wash all jars and lids.
- To sterilize jars, place them in the boiling water and rotate, making sure all sides are covered, 1-2 minutes.
- Remove jars and lids from water bath and place on clean towel.
- Fill jars with pitted cherries.
- Pour brandy syrup over pitted cherries, leaving 1/4 inch at top.
- Seal jars.
- Place upside down to cool overnight or for several hours.
- Before storing, test jars to ensure a proper seal.
How Can You Tell if Your Jar is Sealed? If your jar does not seal properly, you can repeat the canning process to reseal it. Take care to wash and re-sterilize the jar should you choose to re-can. You can also safely refrigerate the product and use shortly. To tell if a jar is properly canned, lightly press the center of the lid. The lid should be sealed tightly and not yield to pressure. If the lid is flexible and you hear a popping sound when you press it, the jar is not properly sealed.
These steps should set you on the way to use your imagination to easily, safely can and store food.
Yummy Jam
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