The things I make just to see what it is, how it is made, or "can it be done?". Last year I made fermented chili pepper sauce; this year it was olive oil. I may never make it again, but at least I can say I have and I know what it is.

I also enjoying making things that are intriguing: like ssommerville's "Brandied Pepper Melange"; Amazing Black Bean Brownies; kathleenca's "Market Mystery Cookies"; or even caliloo's "Pumpkin Whoopee Pies".

I think it's great fun to do something new... even if complicated or of long duration.

Ann, I think I know where you're going here....

When I was a young woman living in northern Indiana, I started frequenting the U-Pick farms. I knew hardly anything about canning, so I brought books home from the library to study and bought my first "Ball Blue Book". My best friend, who knew less about the process than I did, dived in with me. We were stay-at-home moms with two small children each, and money was always tight.

By Thanksgiving we were already into winter and of course the growing season was over in that part of the country. But having a pantry full of pickles, green beans, beets, peaches, applesauce, pears, grape juice and tomatoes gave Thanksgiving so much more meaning for me.

My mom always put up green beans and tomatoes, but I never paid attention to the process. We were 12 hours' driving time from family, but during that first spring vacation, my mother-in-law gave me my first supply of jars and her dill pickle recipe, which I still use.

Now we live in Oklahoma, where the growing season is longer but there are no U-pick farms, so I had to turn to gardening to have fresh produce, and in that one must learn to work around the searing heat of late July / early August. My children are raised and my grandchildren are almost grown. But when my fruit trees and garden have done well, and I'm searching for places in the house to tuck another 20 jars of something, I still feel that sense of having done something significant for my family. --Ilene

Having my own garden and canning vegetable soup each year is emotional for me. My grandmother had a large garden and was an avid canner. When I would visit her during the summer, she always sent me back home with tons of canned goodies and frozen vegetables.

When she passed away in 1998, she had an entire spare bedroom full of canned goods. Everyone wanted her vegetable soup - she didn't have a set recipe for it; it basically ended up being all of the veggies that were left over from other canning projects.

Now, when I can soup, I know it's not the same as hers, but it always reminds me of her.

All of our efforts at home food preservation have very special meaning to us. We both enjoy doing it and get great pleasure from just admiring our handiwork. ;)

Especially in economic times like now, cabinets and boxes and cellar and freezers packed to the brim are nice, but at our age we have made it comfortably through several recessions (whether the government wants to call it that or not) and carried an extended family with us in the process.

Country folk can always thrive...and for that we are thankful. ;)

Dave

When I can "Lime Pickles" I am reminded of my Aunt Violet (who really had violet hair!) from Oklahoma. My mom made her pickles for years - they bring top dollar at the Church Auction and more than a few guys were willing to bale hay for one of her ham sandwiches (topped off with a lime pickle or two!). Then there is Aunt Susie K's Green Tomato Relish. It has fans standing in line at our baseball concession stand. Polish Dills are my family's favorite (and certainly the easiest to prepare). My personal favorite is a picante sauce recipe that my former neighbors brought home from a MO vacation. Those dear folks have passed on, but their picante sauce lives on. . .this summer it won our boat club's salsa judging!

Mine is seedless red raspberry jam. My raspberries this year were none worth picking, as opposed to most previous years. Not sure why, but plan to monitor the issue more closely. When I do have some, I freeze them until I have enough to make a batch of jam. I use my Villaware food strainer to get the juices out them, and have seeds fall out the end of the strainer.

This was my first year to can, and I didn't grow up around anyone that canned, so I don't have sentimental attachments from my past. For me, the things that are the most meaningful, are the ones that my son helped with - Candy Apple Jelly, Cinnamon Applesauce, and Dill Pickles. He actually asked if I would grow cucumbers and make some homemade pickles last year when I had my first vegetable garden. So he got to see the process from seed to harvest to jar. The fact that he picks our homemade jelly, over the grocery bought jars that are in the fridge makes it even more special to me, and makes me want to do even more next year.

Bonnie

No matter what I am using or canning, I am so emotionally tied to every aspect of it. Remembering the nights sitting on the porch long after dark shelling peas or snapping beans because we were canning them the next day. It was about getting it done but also about the visiting and enjoying the company. Lots of times neighbors would drop by and just reach for a lap full of peas and an extra pot and start shelling. I remember having my hands burn from handling too many peppers...My freezer is full of veggies and fruit and every time I take something out to use or open a jar from the pantry, I am reminded of my years in the kitchen (and on the porch) with my Mama.

I inherited a calamondin orange tree from my aunt (long story, but the tree is almost 60 years old now). Each winter, I make marmalade from the oranges and give it as Christmas gifts.

Who would have known I'd be sending New Jersey-grown oranges to my father in Florida - LOL!

Never heard of any citrus tree surviving a Z6 or Z5 cold winter. Is this grown indoors? I can't even get boysenberry canes to survive a winter here.

Yes, inside in the winter - outdoors in the summer.

What a great thread! I'm very attached to making fig preserves with sliced lemon rinds. Each year I hunt for every kind of fig available and put up a few jars of each. There are never enough to go around, so we're putting in a second fig tree next spring.

Dinkans, your lime pickle and Aunt Susie K's Green Tomato Relish sound wonderful. I searched through the forum for recipes and came up empty-handed. Would you share them?

I made green tomato relish for the first time this year when our summer didn't bring enough heat for our 40 tomato plants. We had a friend come over to can with us and it was so special to share the experience.

My fig is in a huge pot. Its a very hardy Brown Turkey type. This passed summer I was not able to water it during the fruit set, and lost every last fig. I think its going to have to be planted in regular soil soon. The main trunk is as big around as my wrist. There are some smaller shoots nearby the main plant. I cut off most of the big limbs as they were just mostly leaves at the ends. Its got to be root bound now, as they are showing up on the surface of the soil. In its pot, it weighs about 65 pounds right now, and is so heavy, its hard to move it to my garage for the winters.

Seatlesuze,

I'm always proud/happy to share my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy these, thanks for asking!

LIME PICKLES
1 cup lime (hydrated)
1 gal. water
7 lbs cucumbers, chunked or sliced 1/4 inch thick (don't peel)
Syrup: 2 quarts vinegar
11 cups sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon pickling spice

Slice cucumbers and put in a large non metal container (I use a 5 gallon plastic bucket). Stir lime into water, mix well. Pour lime mixture over cucumbers. Put a plate on the top of the cucumbers (to hold them under liquid). and let them soak 24 hours. Remove cucumbers and wash lime off under running water. Let washed cucumber slices soak in cold water 5 hours.

In large pot bring syrup ingredients to a boil. Drain cucumber slices and add them to hot syrup. Let cucumbers soak in syrup mixture over night. Simmer all ingredients about 40 minutes (or longer) until slices become transparent and sort of float to the top. One at a time place slices in prepared canning jar, pack tightly. Pour hot syrup mixture over slices to cover cucumbers. Seal jars in a hot water bath.

These pickles are a lot of work; but they are delicious! They are especially good used in potato, ham, turkey and chicken salads. My dad (and husband) love to eat them, but have to leave the house when they're cooking in the hot syrup.

AUNT SUSIE K'S GREEN TOMATO RELISH
4 cups onion
1 medium head cabbage
10 green tomatoes
12 green peppers
6 red peppers
1/2 cup salt
Syrup: 6 cups sugar
4 cups vinegar
2 cups water

Grind vegies together (I use a food processor). Stir in the salt and let mixture stand over night. Rinse vegetables and drain. Heat syrup ingredients together to a boil. Add vegies and simmer 3 minutes. Seal mixture in prepared canning jars in a 10 minute host water bath.

It's fun to read what is important to everyone. Seems the major themes are that either it reminds us of someone or the satisfaction of providing healthful, home prepared food for the family. Certainly both of those are meaningful to me. I just love when we sit down to a meal and everything we eat has been grown in our garden, or raised down the road (beef), or otherwise is local. And I've found that I buy very little prepared food any more, which is great.

Thanks for sharing everyone.

Seattlesuze, I was just looking at old threads and this one caught my eye. Looks like I'm going to have a good many figs this year and wondered if you'd mind posting some of your recipes.

Thanks,
jude

I love this topic! I think people underestimate how meaningful it can be to "put up" something fresh and delicious for who-knows-when.

I am a newbie to canning on my own, though I was a constant companion of my mother's growing up. The most meaningful things to me are beets, applesauce and tomato juice.

I love the tomato juice for the pure and simple reason that nothing tastes better than creamy tomato soup (made with garden juice, of course!) and a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold nasty winter day. It's like sunshine in a jar.

Beets are interesting because I loathe the taste of them but love the color. They are such a beautiful veggie and jars full of them are so lovely on the shelf. I was always responsible for getting the peels off the cooked beets and the slimey slippery-ness of it is fun for a kid.

My grandfather lived a simple, happy life and he had homemade applesauce with EVERY meal I can ever remember. Last summer he passed away and shortly thereafter my husband and I found a great deal at an old, barely running, u-pick orchard. They were offering bushels $5 a piece. I couldn't resist, so I made SO much applesauce and have enjoyed it sincerely this past year without Grandpa.

Grandma's sweet relish is sentimental for me. I grew up eating the stuff, but when Grandma passed away, the recipe was lost. Many of her recipes and documents didn't survive a house fire a couple of years before her death.

I spent several years trying to recreate that relish without success. Finally, one day I was visiting my Aunt Lulabelle, who was canning relish. I tasted it and it was a lot like Grandma's. When I asked, she laughed and said it SHOULD taste like Grandma's, Grandma had given her the recipe about 25 years before.

The odd thing about that is that Aunt LulaBelle was my father's sister, and Grandma was my maternal Grandmother. Apparently it didn't stop anyone from swapping those recipes back and forth on both sides of the family.

Annie

No matter what, I put up my famous 'Taylor's Wet Eye Salsa' every year. When my niece Taylor was 5 or 6 she loved to help me in the kitchen. The first batch of salsa was getting started and she insisted on helping so I gave her a peeled onion and a dull knife. After about 5 minutes she said..."Aunt Nete these onions are making my eyes Wet". Wet Eye Salsa was born. My DH lost his job in March. Our lives are very stressful right now. I was canning peaches this morning and he started helping me. It took about 3 hours but it was the most relaxed we have been in months. And this winter when we eat those peaches they will taste better than any we have ever eaten!