Lisa, Boy, do I hear you! I started canning when I lived in the city and begain growing tomatoes in the backyard. Had a big harvest and wanted to not waste it. What I didn't realize was how good it would feel to have that sense of self-reliance. I first thought of my home-canned goods a special treats, to take out on special occasions or show off for guests. But I found it easy and fun to can and before long I was canning all the tomato products we ate in a year right from my backyard garden on the streetcar line in Toronto! Most of my friends thought it was weird --- at first I had a hard time even finding the equipment (I remember a young stock boy in the grocery store looking at me with a completely blank look on his face when I asked if they sold jars; he gestured at an aisle of commercial jarred tomato sauce (DUH, lady, there are jars everywhere), and when I said, "No, I mean, EMPTY jars," he clearly thought I was insane. ;-0 ). (In the end I discovered they could order it for me easily at the local chain hardware.) Anyway, I'm warning you that you never know where it will end! Somehow I'm now living in a tiny town of 4,000, buying most of my produce in the warm months at farm stands, and filling up my pantry every fall with home canning (I got a freezer, too). This winter I started making my own sandwich bread and adding a few meals a week based around beans, which I now cook from dried rather than canned. Just like you, I find it incredibly satisfying. Some folks on this forum put up almost all their own food, raise their own meat, etc.; I'm not nearly in that category. But I feel really good looking at shelves full of food I preserved, tasting summer in the frozen goodies, and knowing that if we don't have time or energy to shop or cook one evening, there's plenty of good, homemade stuff to eat in a jar or a freezer bag. My urban friends still think I'm odd but they love getting homemade goodies as gifts. Good luck! Z P.S. jude, great illustration of the "successful sauce" theory of "failed jam" ! ;-)

Actually, a pressure canner is going to reach a higher internal temperature than a boiling water bath, so you should be fine using the 5 pounds at the same time, but if you're more comfortable with it, use 10 pounds, which is the standard pressure for canning. I don't think you'll notice any difference in quality. I doubt the time to bring the canner up to pressure and bring it down after processing is any greater than the time required to bring a big BWB to the boil, so as far as convenience is concerned and certainly weight, you're probably ahead with the PC. Carol

Dried herbs are fine--except don't make basil, parsley, or cilantro pesto with dried. It's awful. If you want to preserve basil, you can prepare the pesto sauce with fresh and freeze it, or blanch the basil (15 seconds), and freeze that. My 2 cents.

It is in Small Batch Preserving and since Zabby does so much sharing I will save her the typing and put it up here. Thai Chili Sauce from Small Batch Preserving by Topp and Howard 1 small tomato, chopped 1/2 small sweet red pepper, chopped 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 clove garlic, minced 3 Tbsp minced gingerroot 1/2 cup chicken stock 1/3 cup fish sauce 3 Tbsp lime juice 2 Tbsp each: brown sugar and rice vinegar 2 tsp hot pepper flakes 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1. Combine tomato, pepper, onion, garlic, gingerroot, chicken stock, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, vinegar, and hot pepper flakes in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. 2. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch of rim. Process 15 minutes in BWB for half-pint and pint jars. Makes 2 cups. I'm surprised this can be canned in a BWB with the chicken stock and fish sauce, but Ellie Topp is generally reliable. Melissa