My freezer gets full so fast! And I do have to think about using things up in a certain amount of time, which is less of an issue with canned. And worry about power outages.

I freeze:
tomatoes
berries
peaches (but they are just as good canned)
green beans
grated zucchini
leftovers
broth and stock
herbs (packed with a little oil)
pesto
stuff I am going to make into jam when winter comes
greens when they bolt in spring
some pickles
meat
The only things I blanch are greens and beans.

I can:
jams and preserves
chutney
some pickles
applesauce
peaches if convenient

Looking at my list, I see a lot of what I do is habit :). I could freeze the jams and chutneys and applesauce; I just never thought of it because I grew up with my parents canning them.

I used to can tomatoes, when I bought them from growers and before the recommendation to add acid. I don't want the acid, though, and now that I grow my own it is easier to freeze anyway, because I have smaller quantities trickling in. I can add more to a bag as they ripen :).

I guess that's why I freeze berries, too. And because my parents did ;). But I would be canning one or two quarts a day, for months. That seems a bother -- although I suppose I could use the same pot of water for a long time... maybe next year!

So, for me: Habit and convenience. And cuteness. I like the little jars of jam lined up on the shelf :).

I think there are probably as many opinions as there are people and as you have noted, a few different ones right here in these posts. I think both methods have their pros/cons and just a matter of taste, use, and probably the time frame when you get the produce (freeze when you just don't have time). I prefer canned green beans and tomatoes. I do have frozen tomatoes right now but I like to do a roasted spaghetti sauce that these work perfectly for.

We have a large standing freezer, a smaller chest freezer and the fridge-freezer. We raise and butcher our own pigs each year and this year butchered our (yikes) bottle fed cow. So, not too much room anywhere for any large quantities of frozen veggies when I can can a lot of it without losing a lot of quality. I try to save my fridge freezer for every day items such as some staples (butter on sale, etc), left-overs such as pasta sauces, breads and rolls (it is just DH and I, so a pack of hamburger buns usually goes to waste if I don't stick them in the freezer). Occasionally I will get a few frozen dinners to stick in there to take to work when I wake up late and time doesn't allow for making a meal (rural hospital=no cafeteria at night).

Funny how all our tastes are so different. I prefer frozen spag sauce, corn and peas. I've never "put up" broccoli and cauliflower but would guess those would be frozen as well. As previously stated, I prefer green beans and tomatoes canned. I enjoy reading how others think in their "putting up" process, sometimes it gives me some good ideas.

I may freeze some items, but the bulk of the food I put by is canned. One reason not yet mentioned here is convenience. It may take several hours to thaw and then cook some vegetables like dried or green beans. Although one could freeze them already prepared, they usually don 't. I can pop open a jar of them, and heat them for ten minutes and it's a meal because they are cooked in the canning process. I may also have an easier time giving them to people, especially jams and jellies because I send them through the mail, or may cart them somewhere with me when I visit. I also live 'simple'. I'm not plain, but I do not use any more resources than necessary, and that means I don't want to, nor can I afford to run a battery of freezers and my house is designed to run off grid when we have a power loss without depending on a generator right down to a pitcher pump in the kitchen. We also sometimes will help butcher and if it's unexpected, like a cow one must put down or a deer, or I decide to butcher some of my chickens, I don't have to worry about using down my freezer first and finding room for large quantities of meat. It's canned and ready.

With green beans, I'm guessing that the preference for frozen vs. canned might have to do with how we like them cooked.

For me, canned green beans taste way, way overcooked, even right out of the jar. If I blanch and freeze them, and then as soon as they are thawed (on the stove or in microwave) they are at the degree of cooked-ness I prefer. And in the summer I mostly eat them raw, in large quantities :).

> It may take several hours to thaw and then cook some vegetables like dried or green beans.

Wow! You like your green beans very, very well done!

I soak dry beans overnight and cook them for 4-8 hours depending on size of bean. Yes, those ones I like much more cooked than most people. And I guess for green beans I'm the opposite :).

Yes, although I'll eat a nearly raw green bean in stir fry, I do like my fresh green beans simmered on low for hours, with a smoked hock or slab bacon and served with some soda biscuits. Yes, it's cultural and what you're used to. I picked up off this board how to pressure can soup beans, to pack in the pantry when you use down your stock through the winter. It is nice to open a quart of them and have them ready in short order. It dawned on my how much more cost effective it is fuel wise to cook up quarts of them at a time to can all at once in one canner.

Oh, like collards! I had no idea some people ate green beans that way!

I just learned how to make southern-style collards this winter; before I only ever ate them lightly steamed or stirfried. Yes, I am culturally deprived :).

You brought up BEANS example. I personally believe that frozen green beans is superior to canned one. In canning, at near 250F, the texture and flavore is mostly destroyed. Whereas frozen beans can be very close to fresh beans. I have read somewhere that, for example, frozen broccoli is better than what you buy at the grocery store. Because, it has been frozen fresh out near the farm.

Another thing, I gather is the TRADITIONal factor. Your saw your great grand parents doing it. It goes way back to the time of pre electrification and indoor plumbing ... it is like the old saying genuine American tradition of Chevrolet, mom, apple pie, And CANNING. lol

"If I have to preserve A LOT of veggies, I would just get a myself a small freezer for storing frozen vegetables and forget about all the canning complicated work and rules"

I shall try to be as polite in this response as possible. It's pretty obvious that sentence in which you prefaced your ideas reflect you do not understand what a lot of veggies are. My garden alone produced over a thousand pounds of vegetables so far this season. I have a fall/winter gardenin now and expect to be harvesting from that until early November. That does not include the fruits from my bramble patches or orchards, meat we may have butchered or my nut trees. You couldn't even fit my apple production into a small freezer. You couldn't store what I have already put up in canning jars in three freezers. Many people who can and preserve put up in a couple months a major part of their yearly food supply. If you don't produce your own food, I don't think you can wrap your mind around how much space that takes or why we can. It is serious and hard work, and saves an enormous amount of money and provides us with unadulterated, safe food. It's not a lark and it all boils down to do it however you wish to suit your knowledge, lifestyle and preferences. It isn't about Chevrolets,mom and apple pies.

Tradition in canning, if that is the reason someone is doing it, can be quite hazardous. Canning has changed a great deal in just the last 20 years much less the last 70.

So no, tradition has little to do with it for most of us even when we are farm raised and come from generations of home food preservers. Like calliope said what you may consider "a lot of vegetables" may be very few to many of us.

So far this year - 150 quarts of pain tomatoes, 50 pints of salsa, 60 pints of stewed tomatoes, 30 quarts of carrots, 50 quarts of potatoes with still have the bed to dig, going on 70 quarts of green beans with the fall crop not even picked yet, 40 quarts of various pickles and relishes, not to mention all the jams and jellies, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, canned corn, squash, gallon bags of peppers, loaves of zucchini bread, etc. and we still have several more batches of onions to dehydrate plus all the fall chard and spinach and turnips to do.

Then there are all the quarts of chicken, sausage, and beef already done to supplement all that in the freezers and it isn't even deer season yet. That will top off my freezers plus fill more quart jars. Now if I could only get my hands on all the fresh tuna Carol and others do each year.

Lifestyles are very different for many of us. To each his own.

Dave

I don't can meat (yet) since I don't have a pressure canner, so all the meat goes in the freezer. And we don't even have/buy whole animals, I just buy at the store when I see a good price. We have a couple-year old chest freezer that is 10 cubic ft filled with meat, berries, and vegetables (we too prefer frozen green beans). Another 5 cf upright has 4 pies, a half gallon of ice cream, a tub of Cool Whip, and the rest of the space is filled with containers of clam broth, ham broth, ratatouille, tomato sauce, ham ends, and fish fillets. I have asked for a new PC for my birthday since if we could can the meat, fish, and soup, it would free up that freezer for berries and/or vegetables, and we could use the big freezer just for meat.

I do have to get making more jam and jelly (and apple butter season is starting) so I can free up more freezer space for green beans. The tomato harvest will have to be frozen this year too due to lots of septoria and other diseases of the plants (though the fruit looks fine).

We don't eat store-bought fruit preserves at all, though I do occasionally buy canned (in glass) peaches since I rely on my neighbor's peaches and we don't get enough - esp. this year, only got 6 pints canned due to SWD. The past couple of years I've also bought some applesauce since we've had poor (or no) harvests.

But even with our small family, and the poor harvests the past few years (last year wasn't bad but I sold a lot of tomatoes), we could not possibly fit all the fruits and vegetables we grow for our own use in the 3 freezers (counting the bottom freezer in the kitchen fridge) we own along with the meat I buy - that doesn't last long (OK, a turkey bought on sale after Thanksgiving may be in there until Easter).

Canning meat is fun. I especially liked the hamburger crumbles that I canned. No waiting to thaw the hamburger for chili, just drain, and dump in. Really a time saver.

I don't use ground meat in chili, I use small chunks of stew beef but I can't wait to get the PC since it will definitely save time to have the meat cooked and just add beans, tomatoes and a jar of salsa, heat. Esp. in those cases when the power goes out and we're using the grill with side burner to cook, and don't want to open the freezer(s) any more than necessary.

Oh my, reading the amounts that are canned causes warring reactions within me. One is just plain ole jealousy and the other is ambition of being able to grow that much in a season. Some day, some day, some day...

I can say that the canning I do has nothing to do with tradition. My grandmother was more than happy to give up canning. Canning is one more piece of the puzzle in attaining a product that I want, giving me control over that product and giving me options.

I don't think my grandma canned at all, I never saw her can and don't remember seeing any homecanned goods in her pantry. My great-grandma canned, and my great-aunt, maybe my grandma did when she lived with them out of necessity but once she had her own house maybe she was glad not to. Of course by the time I was old enough to remember (8 or so), she had a career as a nurse and was too busy/working odd hours to can though she baked and every Sunday she had all her boys and their families over for dinner.

I got into canning as a way to preserve our garden's (which got bigger every year) harvest, and also to have control over what my kids are eating, they are sensitive to many ingredients in processed foods. Now I sell produce, jams and jellies at market. We've also found that homemade (fermented) pickles and (vinegar) pickled peppers, salsa, jams, etc. taste better than store-bought - I think better than even the "boutique" brands!

I am retired now but canned even when I was working sixty and seventy hour weeks, sometimes wrapping it up about when the roosters were starting to crow. I worked up another five gallon bucket of Granny Smith apples tonight, simply because this has been a banner fruit year and the store prices for apples are obscene. If I don't seize the opportunity now, I'm afraid I'll regret it. It's a given we'll eat at least a pint of it a week, and that means I need fifty two pints on that shelf. Then there is always that thought that we may have a bad garden year. I did last year on tomatoes, and had I not canned out my ears the year before, I'd have been buying tomatoes for a year instead of pulling them out of my supply. My MIL once teased me about having a flock of poultry, and canning but she quietly asked me once before she left for a visit if I would share with her a home-grown chicken because it had been many years since she had tasted anything other than a store-bought one. Yes, there is a major difference in taste.

Ye'all have fun canning. I have nothing against it,
I just come in and say what I think(Freedom of Expression. LOL)

As a small backyard gardener, I have very little to spare for freezing or canning. Maybe that is why I do not understand CANNING. And that is why I go grocery shopping every so often.

My mother canned vegetables when i was very small but then embraced freezing enthusiastically. We had a huge upright freezer filled with veggies from the garden, berries and, if Dad was lucky if the fall, venison.

I freeze green beans and corn because I prefer the taste. Also tomato puree and whole tomatoes. I also make Shirley's vegetable juice (from this site) which I freeze because I always add additional vegetables (parsley, celery, chard, sometimes spinach) and I don't quite know if that would still be safe to can. I also make many loaves of zucchini bread and freeze them to use all winter.

Canning for me is primarily jams, jellies, chutneys, relishes and salsa. My garden is relatively small so space is not an issue. Next year I retire so both my garden and my canning projects may expand.

Elaina

Now, now! don't argue! =)
I canned mostly tomato sauce about 35 or so years ago, also made goat cheese and milked my goats in my "back to the land" days.
Then I had kids....and a job.....and kids....and a job! LOL
I'm not saying you can't do it all with kids and a job, but I kinda put gardening on hold....or down to a trickle. I still had a couple of plants for the kids to enjoy, but I was far too busy for it all!
Back to the kids being gone! I've been a pretty serious gardener for the last 12 years or so, but have to keep it to how many raised beds we can build ( we're at 4 4x8s, 2 3x6's and 2 3x3s plus our new raised containers . 3 8'x40"x1'deep containers) unfortunately, the neighbors we bought the raised containers had the wrong soil and they didn't work out this year.
Anyway.....I have a foodsaver, and just love how I can make sauce as the maters come along, pour them in a bag, freeze them flat, seal them and tadaaaaa slab-O-sauce, easily stackable in the freezer! I do this with soup also through the year, and leftovers.My FIL loves when I show up with a cooler of SLAB-Os! His neighbors get jealous, so I make sure to make several! The slabs are less than an inch thick, so stack in the freezer. You can get a LOT of slabs in a freezer! It's also fun to give some soup to an ailing friend and just say "slab-O-soup?"
Also, until this year when I retired, Sept is the hottest month of the year! (hitting 100 this week! =P) and canning is just not in my agenda!
I don't do jams or jellies (don't eat them!), salsas I like fresh, but maybe a canning thought! Can they be frozen? Green beans I like almost raw, so I blanch and freeze, peppers chopped and frozen, radish, green onion, eggplant, greens, fresh. That's the most of it!
I'm pretty small time compared to most of you, and my foodsaver and freezer are good for me! Nancy

>pour them in a bag, freeze them flat, seal them and tadaaaaa slab-O-sauce, easily stackable in the freezer!

I do this too, with everything!

I lay them on the tray from my toaster oven, which is about the right size, level and in the freezer, until frozen. Great for bone broth!

You seal them first, then freeze them flat, right? Just trying to figure out how you keep the sauce from leaking out of the unsealed bag when you lay it flat ;-)

I like the green beans almost raw too, blanch them, ice them, dry them then lay out on a cookie sheet like I do with berries to freeze before packing them into a FS bag and sealing. Not that I pour them out individually like I do with berries, I reheat the entire quart bag at once (perfect size for family side dish) but I think they reheat/cook more evenly that way rather than stuck together in one icy lump. Plus then I don't have to use the "Moist" setting on my FS and can get more air out.

I got a lot of tomatoes and peppers to use today, and very little freezer space (have some more beans to do), I'll probably chop and freeze some of the peppers for future use, but I'm definitely going to be canning some tomatoes (maybe mostly salsa) and pickling some peppers!

Yes, I do this in ziploc bags :). They do leak a drop or two at the corners sometimes, but the tray catches that. And the corners freeze first :).

I freeze the green beans and berries in one solid block, so I can get all the air out. I think you're right about them thawing better if not in a lump, but for my uses I'm more concerned about being able to store a longer time without freezer burn.

The berries, I use in one solid block :). I plunk the frozen block in the pan for pie or crisp, or I make jam in winter when not busy. I almost never use a partial bag, and if I do I just chip off a chunk, or whack the bag on the table to loosen them up if they are whole.

I make the tomato sauce in the crock pot, fill a FS bag, then lay it flat in a baking dish with a 2-3" area folded up, alternating each bag.
I don't know how else to describe it!
Once frozen, I use the FS to vac the air out and, voila! Sauce for a year or more! Nancy

You can also freeze things like sauce, in topperware type of containers and stack them up.

I hear that canning has the advantage that it has longer shelf life. But I wonder, who would want to store, say beans, for longer than one season anyway ?? But I admit that canned goods are easier to store. And in case of power black out they wont be spoiled.

I used to sell Tupperware and have a ton of it. The FS bags take up less room and keep the food better. Even if you "burp" them, the TW freezer containers still have a lot of air (esp. when freezing meat, say a roast, and you can't fill to the top) and food gets freezer burnt.

But I wonder, who would want to store, say beans, for longer than one season anyway ??

Many people. Most home canners work on a 2-3 year cycle with foods in their gardening and canning. 3 year old canned beans look and taste just like beans canned this year. We frequently eat and drink 3 year old tomatoes, juices, potatoes, etc.

Technically canned foods have an unlimited shelf storage life for safe consumption although 5 years is the recommended maximum for best quality. Only appearance begins to degrade and that takes several years.

Dave

Many people. Most home canners work on a 2-3 year cycle with foods in their gardening and canning. 3 year old canned beans look and taste just like beans canned this year(Dave)

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Good to know.
But how come frozen foods have much shorter life ? I am talking about completely sealed ones ? To my understanding, freezing relatively stops chemical/ biological changes. Whereas in canned foods at room temperature it can go on !

But how come frozen foods have much shorter life ?

Primarily because of the way freezers work. They cycle, defrost and refreeze, defrost and refreeze automatically. The result is frost burned foods.

Plus it is very difficult to fully seal and insulates most foods so air has access to the food.. That's one reason why vacuum sealing freezer food adds so much storage life to them.

Then there is the effect of freezing on cell structures. It causes the liquid inside the cells to expand and ruptures the cell membranes. When the food thaws those cells collapse resulting is loss of texture and flavor.

None of those things happen with properly stored canned foods.

Dave

Another reason to can for multiple years, some years things just don't produce as well as others. Like last year, when many of us were in a severe drought. By canning enough for a couple or three years, we have enough to get by in those lean years.

Most directions for freezing recommend blanching vegetables first and not everybody does. Freezing does not 'stop' all chemical reactions and that includes enzymatic ones. The enzymes making food break down will continue in frozen foods if not heated adequately first. IOW freezing is not actually suspended animation.

Am I correct in understanding that there is no safety issue with frozen foods, as long as they were kept frozen, and it's just a matter of them not tasting so great when they get old?

That's the way I understand it as well.

Am I correct in understanding that there is no safety issue with frozen foods, as long as they were kept frozen, and it's just a matter of them not tasting so great when they get old?
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That is probably correct. because at deep freezing temp, most (if not all) chemical reactions stops within the food items. Also, no known bacteria can grow or produce toxins. As I understand it, only enzyme can cause some minor changes. But if you blanch (things that have starch, sugar ..) you can minimize that from happening too. So the only rule that is applied to frozen stuff safety is shelf life.

I guess I'd consider myself a recreational canner. I like making things that you just can't get at the grocery store. I don't know where I'd find peach bbq sauce, or peach chutney or lemongrass jelly (syrup really). Or basil jelly based on orange juice (delicious!).

I really wanted to grow a lot of veggies this year so I could do more canning, but we were hit with record breaking rain all summer. Couldn't catch a break. Next year has got to be my year to do some serious canning (for me anyway).

I never had deer until this year. Now I have to contend with them as well. next year should be fun.

You can (pressure) can venison too ;-)

Mmmm... venison!

Dave aka DigDirt,
i cant wrap my mind around stockpiling 500+ jars of canned food from a single growing season.

A family of 4 could consume 2-3 quarts/pints daily and not run out before the next growing season.

Thats one impressive accomplishment.

macbettz - canned goods can be stored for much longer than one growing season. Many home canners work on a 2 or even a 3 year cycle with their crops and canning.

A family of 4 could consume 2-3 quarts/pints daily

That would all depend on how one uses their home canned goods. If only used as side dishes of if one relies primarily on store-bought foods that may be the case. But when all the meals of the day are made exclusively from home canned goods and very little store-bought food is consumed through the year, canned goods go much faster than that. :)

Dave

I don't can everything, we have a family of 2, and we could easily go thru 500 jars in a year. I've always tried to can enough to last 2-3 years, because you never know if the next year will be a good year or not. This year, I've went thru over 700 so far.

>This year, I've went thru over 700 so far.

Now that is some serious canning!

> But when all the meals of the day are made exclusively from home canned goods and very little store-bought food is consumed through the year, canned goods go much faster than that. :)

Depends on where you live, too.

Where I live, in the PNW, I grow pretty much all our vegies year-round. But we get kind of tired of greens and potatoes in the winter and zucchini, beans, and tomatoes in the summer :).

Fruit is here june through maybe march (stored apples and pears keep till december, and persimmons longer).

I grew up in a colder climate, where preserving was a much bigger deal. When I moved here, at first I still did a ton of canning, but in the middle of the first winter I realised there was not a lot of point to it. Why eat canned food when fresh is in the garden?

So now my preserving is more about special items (blackberries in february , and lime-mint pickles anytime:). I do up seasonal stuff like shredded zucchini and tomatoes and figs because we have a surplus, and for variety, more than because it will be needed.

Right now I am struggling to keep up with asian pears and figs, and I JUST got through the main zuke season. And now I have foolishly bought a flat of nectarines at the farmers market because they were so good.... :).

I just can't imagine where to store all those jars - though I probably have 300-400 myself if I count the empties (mostly quarts, I haven't used many since I had a had time BWBing them). I buy (and sell) jelly jars like crazy, have bought some WM pints and the new pint and halves (before they're discontinued again), but most of the pints and quarts came from yard sales, some from my godmother's basement after she died. I save the older ones for our own us though.

Lime-mint pickles - please share! Cukes are past here (as is most everything - in fact, everything might be dead by morning with frost expected) but there's always next year!

DH walked into the laundry room (where I only had 1 box of tomatoes I need to process ASAP, and 1 dishpan-sized plastic basket of cherry toms picked today for market tomorrow) and said "There are tomatoes everywhere!" OK, I have a few on the kitchen counter, and shelves of ripening ones in the basement picked 12 days ago, and stacking baskets full of ripe ones ready for market down there too, but it's nothing compared to the laundry room full when the kids and I picked everything before the last frost forecast! I mean, I *have* sold/used some in the past 2 weeks!

Apples are coming in now though...

>OK, I have a few on the kitchen counter, and shelves of ripening ones in the basement picked 12 days ago, and stacking baskets full of ripe ones ready for market down there too, but it's nothing compared to the laundry room full

::laughing::

I was just about to go pick today's figs, here, and then it started to rain so hard it sounds like hail. Looks like will clear up in 5 minute, though. this is our fall weather. I cannot imagine frost in september -- well, I guess one year we had it in mid-october, but that was a fluke.

For tomatoes, it looks like this year will be like last, when most of the crop had to be picked green at the end of the season. I was all asking people for their green tomato recipes last fall, but then ended up just letting them ripen in the kitchen. We had fresh tomatoes into december :).

The lime-mint pickles are freezer pickles. They are on the Wisconsin Extension website somewhere.

I keep wondering if I should double bag them or something. My whole freezer smells like sweet mint pickles :). I may regret this later when everything tastes like them. I think I would recc jars or plastic containers.

Nila, really, 2 little boxes in the laundry room - nothing compared to bags and bags covering the floor (est. 100lbs) picked green Sept 6. Fewer now, they're just spread out between the basement, kitchen, and laundry (I tend to use the top of the washer as extra counter space). I'm using my mini-greenhouses (2 of them, 4 shelves each) for ripening. Oh, and the market baskets are now stacked, I did have DH take them in from the garage (my "stand") the other night and put them on top of the chest freezer, I went down the next AM and sorted more ripe ones to put in each basket, took overripe ones out (those are the ones in laundry room now) and then stacked them (neat handles flip in so basket rests on them not stuff below) by the stairs. So I'm all ready to go tomorrow once I take the row cover off the tomatoes and peppers, label all the jars of apple butter and jam I've made in the past week, print more business cards, and load the truck tomorrow.

Oh, DH and DD did gather some hickory nuts but not many and most are husked so they don't take up much room. They're in the basement by the dehumidifer too.

We often get frosts by mid-late Sept. The one forecast for the 6th was early and it was a false alarm. So was last night - we'll see about tonight. But I usually count on one by the end of the month, though we may have a week or 2 of Indian summer in Oct. The past 2 years we've had snow in Oct - in 2011 the snowstorm right before Halloween knocked out power all over the state (leaves still on the trees) and they canceled trick or treat in many towns b/c it wasn't safe.

What y'all need to do is install yourselves a different kind of ocean stream :). We are north of you, and don't get frost till mid-november, usually. Maybe earlier this year.

We usually don't have snow until Nov, and it doesn't start staying on the ground until Jan. But average low is 32 by end of Oct, we have geothermal heat that does well until about Thanksgiving and then we need to turn on the breaker for the electric backup. Feb is the worst for snow and cold - you don't want to see my electricity bill then!

Nila, where are you to be a 7b and north of CT.

I'm in the pacific northwest. Solar heat works for us, except december and january. Those are our coldest months, and the sun angle is so low. Lotta people leave town for a bit in january :).

Some years we get snow and some we don't. It rarely sticks around for more than a few days, though. We are usually cold and clear or warm (40ish) and wet -- not often cold and precipitating.

Some winters we don't get below 24 degrees! Surprisingly, the summers after those warm winters we have LESS of a slug and snail problem than usual. Something about their life cycle, I guess.

Basically we have English weather in the winter, I think. The brassicas and chard love it :). I think 45 is their favorite temperature.

Luckily, I don't have to can or freeze. LOL
Today I made some HOT RED pepper sauce, mostly from store bought. I just bottled them. Since it is basically made with vinegar, I am cont concerned about its shelf life. But probably refrigerate.. After the frost, I might pickle some green maters. I like the better than cukes. They have a natural tangy taste and stay crunchy for ever, without any pickle crunch.

BTW: I am also a new PNW transplant. We may not get very cold winter but we will have six months of rain /drizzle / clouds. This will start some time in November. Pacific Ocean, as the name suggests, is pretty calm but sends lots of drizzles.

Yep. the drizzle and clouds are what keeps us warm! When the sun comes out it get COLD.

Sounds like lots of 'canning' days.

::laughing::

Yes, canning is very popular, here. As are reading, knitting, board games, making music, brewing... and of course we are famous for our coffee drinks :). All things cosy-weather-related!

And in the summer, we never set foot indoors :). We have no mosquitoes, no flies, no humidity, long northern daylight -- everyone goes camping and hiking and mountain climbing and river swimming and park-picnicing, and we have outdoor festivals every weekend.