Michelle, your flavored oil is fine in the refrigerator for that small amount of time. As for vinegars, I think Linda Lou had recipes for a whole bunch of those and they sounded really yummy. She sent them to me, I'll see if I can find them. Yes, the dark side is lots of fun and you got here just on time for the big marmalade making season. (grin) Ken forgot a couple of sizes of jars, though. Now Ball has a cute little tiny 4 oz. jar, perfect for jam for one or for babyfood. I do most of my tomatoes, sauerkraut and beef in quarts. The two quart or half gallon size is nearly never found and gallons aren't considered safe for canning anything but they are great for fermenting pickles or sauerkraut. Right now I have: 4 oz. = 1/4 pint 8 oz. = 1/2 pint 12 oz. = 3/4 pint 16 oz. = 1 pint 32 oz. = 1 quart 64 oz. = 2 quarts or half gallon 128 oz = One gallon In addition to canning I use canning jars for storage for rice, beans, barley, dried peas, dried fruits, chocolate chips, anything where I use part of a bag and then end up spilling the rest. Gardengrl sent me some cute little squatty 8 ounce vintage jelly jars that don't take screw on lids. They are from the era when paraffin was used as a sealing agent and they just have metal lids that sit on top of the jars. They're cute and match my kitchen so I have sea salt in one, red Hawaiian salt in another, gray Fleur de sel in a third and packets of Equal in a fourth. Amanda wants a couple to use at her house for Equal packets and she thinks one would be a great butter dish! Annie

Sure, you can use red cabbage for sauerkraut. Check out the link. When I have made small batch kraut, I have used a small food-grade plastic lid (think sour cream or yogurt containers) that I cut to fit just inside the shoulders of the jar I am using. A paper pattern helps if you make that first as a guide. Then make a cut from the outside of the circle to the center. This allows you to squeeze the disk to fit inside the jar. It will then pop back to a flat disk. Place a small clean glass (shot glass works well) or jar on top of the plastic to keep it under the brine and thus keep your kraut submerged, then put the glove on top. Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of red sauerkraut

I love the cranberry-pear-lemon jam and the autumn fruit jam (apple, pear, & plum; I usually call it "October Jam" because it's one of the last things I can can with fresh, in-season fruit, even in October!). But I think my fave thing about that book is that it includes several recipes from non-Western cuisines that have been adapted & safety-tested for canning, which are very hard to find anywhere else. I love the Indonesian peanut sauce, the Madras pickled eggplant, the Indian-spiced cucumber relish, and the Thai chile sauce. Enjoy! Z

I remember helping my mother put up quarts and quarts of dill pickles or peaches or pears in all day marathons, but I rarely can that way myself. I'll typically can maybe 8 quarts of dill pickles in a year, 1 or 2 quarts at a time. Why? Well, I don't NEED 30 quarts of dill pickles, and I have only a small patch of pickling cukes in my garden which typically yield enough for a quart of pickles every day or so. So, I come home from work and make a quart of dills. A typical recipe for jam yields 5-6 half pints, so that's what I make unless I have a real plethora of some fruit or another and it makes a jam people particularly like, in which case I'll make 2 batches. The most I ever do at any one time any more is probably bread and butter pickles - I'll make 9-15 pints of those at a time. I also freeze fruit in quart bags for pies and other baking during the year, and pretty much only freeze tomato puree anymore. I use the puree more than I ever used canned tomatoes, it's easier to do (the pressure cooker is a pain in the arse IMO), and ultimately it takes up less storage space. I do more canning and preserving when I do small batches of things, because I can do a bit of this or that when I get home from work, rather than taking on a marathon in the kitchen.