At the farm, Jerry frequently cans a variety of things.

I like the idea of canning. It uses up surpluses (especially when you’re so sick of whatever it is that you can’t eat another bite, but you know it will taste so good in a few months), and it doesn’t take up freezer space. And as Brad mentioned, we have a lot of green tomatoes right now. My recipe search turned up some really delicious looking jams and marmalades.

But I’ve been afraid to try canning myself. It seems scary. You know, botulism and all that. But then I read up on it and thought hey, millions of people do this, and I’m reasonably capable, so let’s give it a try.

Turns out it wasn’t really that hard.

Jars boiling in a pot I borrowed

Final product

Here’s the recipe. I used slightly less sugar and two lemons instead of one. I also cooked it for 1-1/2 hours to get it syrupy.

It was really delicious (and no one has died so far). It was so good that I even made a second batch.

After doing this and also making cheese last week, I am feeling very pioneer-like. :) What’s funny is that it is the Internet that has allowed me to learn about all these ways that people did things before “modern” times. Ironic.

(And yes, for those of you who aren’t on FB, I’ve passed the 50,000 goal on NaNoWriMo. I’m currently at a little over 68,000 words and so treated myself to a little happy blog writing as a reward.)