ML - we need a very detailed reveal of your house remodel. Every inch of it... lol!

I've wondered how your dh survived it all...

it's a stove top one. I also have a stove top pressure cooker. I love it, going on 15 years old now. It was expensive, so though an electric version sounds tempting I resist.

I love one pot meals. I also like few leftovers or leftover ingredients to deal with, so the attraction of the canner was the ability to cook a pound or two of beans and can them in half pint or 12 oz jars. Use what I need and not have a half can leftover.

You got a pressure canner, right. They are different that pressure cookers used to make dinner.

I love mine. A dear friend gave it to me several years ago. It scared the socks off me at first, but now "I ain't afraid of no canner!" I can put up 7 quarts or 14 pints in it at one time.

I wonder if they have a rack that would hold three tiers of the smaller jars?

I made piccalilli several times; and lots of jellies. The garden is doing so poorly this year I don't think I'll can anything. I may freeze a few bags of roasted tomatoes and peppers.

Here's my workhorse.

those new electric ones can do both. I'd get a larger one if I was gonna can but I don't see me doing that anymore. my cooker isn't a pressure one and is only 4 qt. I thought that was big enough for me and the little cooking I do anymore. I made mac n cheese in it tonight. no boiling water first to cook the pasta - it cooks in the pot using the rice function. love that!

Caroline, that looks like my canner. Is it a Presto 23 qt? I stumbled on a very good sale when I was looking to replace my water bath canner, which I stole away for dyeing and now can't use for food.

you can put in multiple stacks of small jars in the canner if you put a rack between each layer. Just find a round cake cooling rack the right size. I've been using the
rack from my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker. It's smaller and only holds a few jars, but it's been enough so far.

I'm going to friend's to pick plums this afternoon. Plum jam needed for a ketchup recipe and Asian plum dipping sauce.

I loved to do canning so much. So satisfying to see the pretty shining filled jars lined up at the end of the season. I think storing them anywhere you can find space is a good thing. I have very few jars go bad bit did have some pickles leak out of the jars onto the shelf. Turns out this is supposed to happen as part of the curing process. Glad I did not toss them before I went back to re-reade the recipe. As I remember it was a dill pickle. When they were done working they sealed them selves and were delicious. And here we all are so careful to wipe the jar rims for a good seal.

I did store jars in the low plastic under the bed containers with out their top part on but the jars always got so dusty I was not happy with that arrangement. Even though it was the guest bedroom and the bed rarely used.

"I loved to do canning so much."

isn't it weird to think that? it is a lot of work, but oh, the feeling of accomplishment! I loved it too. as a young wife / mother I spent my 2 wk vacation each yr canning. loved hearing the pops of the cans. I also loved knowing what was in the 'food' items. I made applesauce and jellies too. with 4 kids, jelly was in qt jars. now I'd do it in the smallest I could find...

That is like mine caroline, except mine is older. I finally bought the weighted rockers a couple of years ago.

I had a blast this weekend putting up a half bushel of peaches. Cardamom peach pie filling, peaches in raspberry sauce, peach butter, peach habenero hot sauce, diced peaches in earl grey tea syrup and diced peaches in ginger syrup. And a batch of triple berry pie filling. And a half batch of plum jam macerating in the fridge to make tonight.

The pie fillings are in half pint jars, everything else is in 4 oz jars. That means 105 little jars to store. There is a serving of peaches once a week for a year, not counting the pie filling, which should make 2 servings of cobbler or crumble about twice a month.

I was puzzling over how to build a shelf unit into the armoire when I realized, I have a wonderfully sturdy shelf in the broom closet and then realized, why not make the armoire the broom closet and store the canned goods in the broom closet.

So I will have a room change about on a much smaller scale than Chris.

Peaches and plums just about done. I will start on tomatoes and peppers next.

My much smaller than Chris' room changeover is well underway.

I pared down my broom closet contents and moved the cleaning gear into the old wooden wardrobe. I found a scarf hanger with large rings to hang from the rod. It holds all the cleaning bottles by their triggers. I found a home for the handheld steam cleaner I never used. And plan to find a home for the vacuum. I only have hard floors and it just spit grit out the back onto my feet. A broom, electric dust pan and hand vac are what I mostly use. I have a Roomba I haven't yet taken out of the box. A friend says it works well on her hard floors.

I had an idea for home canned and other pantry storage to go in the former broom closet, so I'll be getting one of these before long. Perhaps two, I think it would make a good clothing and linens storage rack too and could replace my dresser which takes up a lot of room in the closet. I can fit it out with inexpensive sheet pans for shelves, twelve 18 by 26 inch shelves at 5 inches high, from a restaurant supply store.

whoa, stringweaver - what is that thing on wheels? and where'd you get it?

I like your idea to make shelves for your jars - be sure they can be secured somehow so the whole 'shelf' doesn't fall and jars break.

can you post your recipes for the raspberry sauce and peach butter? 2 things I've been wanting to make. if it isn't too involved, maybe I can do it.

The thing on wheels is a commercial bakery bun rack. This one is from webstaurant.com

We have a similar one at work. Lightweight, but sturdy. The one at work is a little larger and hold cafeteria trays.

I haven't purchased it yet. It holds full rimmed sheet pans, also available from the website. Or two half sheets, etc. Each shelf is rated to hold 50 pounds, up to 400 for the entire unit, an average of 33 pounds per shelf , so it probably wouldn't work if I had pint or quart jars, but nearly all my jars are 4 oz jars. I have just a few dozen half pint jars.

Steph, I'll get those recipes soon. The peach butter couldn't be easier, halve and pit the peaches, roast in the oven for awhile, remove the skins and mash them, lower the heat and roast until slightly browned and the water is gone, mash well, add some sugar and process in a water bath, but you could also freeze it.

I'll get the specific times, amounts and temps later today. And the peach raspberry jam.

Since I did the peaches, I have added caramelized onion relish, blackberry hazelnut conserve, plum jam, chai spiced plum jam with macadamia nuts, plum chutney, asian plum sauce, vanilla cantaloupe jam. And roasted poblanos and jalapenos which were pressure canned. Tonight; asian pears in lemongrass and ginger syrup.

Great rack Stringweaver. All of your canned items sound so delicious. Times like this I wish I could still eat sweet stuff. I did love to can. So mostly you are preserving in single sized containers. Nice to be able to pack in lunches and quick meals. For the two of us I always used quarts and pints. LOVE the tiny jars. They are so cute.LOL

Exactly. I'm aiming to get lots of fruit lunch packs made up in very light syrup. Pears, applesauce, pineapple. The tiny jam jars are good for 3 or 4 servings of jam in yogurt. The spicy condiments are going in teeny Weck 2.7 oz jars-talk about cute jars!

When the fresh food glut passes I'll put up some dry beans in half pints. I'm looking forward to this winter, making white bean chili with a jar of beans, one of corn, one of diced poblanos, one of pickled onions. Nearly instant, 2 or 3 servings, no ingredients left over.

no problem waiting for the recipes... not like i'll be up to it real soon. the jars just need covered in the water, right? I think my corning pot would work to do the tiny jars. i'll look at jars next trip to W. tiny, tiny jars...

Steph the jars need 1 to 2 inches of water over the top, and a rack between them and the bottom of the pan. A round wire cake cooler will work. So will extra lid rings tied together to form a trivet. You should find 4 oz jars at W. The very tiny 2.7oz jars I had to order directly from Weck or from amazon. They are pricey, with glass lids clipped on, and reusable rubber seals. Very cool, great for adding another layer of fancy to gifts.

Chris, I used a new to me pectin last night. Pomona's Universal Pectin, uses calcium rather than sugar to set the gel. So you can use low or no sugar or Stevia or xylitol, fruit juice concentrates, even dried fruit for sweeteners. Because there is less sugar, they won't last as long once opened. There are directions in the box, as well as a book, which I suppose will end up in my kindle before long. I used it with coconut sugar last night to make strawberry cocoa jam. I didn't get a stiff set, but I kind of cut cooking short, since I thought this stuff would make an excellent saucey jam for stirring into yogurt or drizzling over pound cake. I haven't seen this stuff locally, I ordered it from Amz.

Oven Peach butter

I believe I got about 10-12 4 oz jars.

heat oven to 350F. Halve the peaches and remove the pit. Place in a glass or ceramic pan (mine fit in one 9 by 13 with a little squeezing) cut side down. Bake about 1/2 hour. Remove from oven and turn it down to 250. Let the peaches cool a little, then remove the skins, they should lift right off. Mash the peaches with a fork or potato masher and return to the oven. Continue baking, checking occasionally to mash further and stir around, 2 to 3 hours. The peaches are done when they have darkened, they are not watery and they've reached a spreadable consistency. Add sugar to taste, up to 2 cups. Stir in the zest and juice of one lemon.

spoon into jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space and process 15 minutes (plus any time needed for elevation..at 4500 feet I have to add ten minutes). This could be frozen. Because of the low sugar content jars should be used within 6 months.

Peaches in raspberry jam

I think I got about 13 4 oz jars

3 pounds peaches. cut an X in the skin at the bottom of each peach. Blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove and put into a cold water bath. When peaches have cooled, peel away the skin.

cut the peach into about 12 slices and remove the pit. To fit into tiny jars, I diced the slices into ~ 1/2 inch sections.

put the peaches in a ceramic bowl, drizzle with the juice of one lemon and stir.

Put one pound of raspberries through a food mill over the bowl (or press through a fine strainer with the back of a spoon if you haven't got a mill). Add 3 cups of granulated sugar and stir well. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours.

Next day, pour the fruit into a colander set over a bowl. Let it drain for about 20 minutes. Pour the syrup into a non-reactive pot. Set the colander over the bowl again to catch any remaining drippings.

Cook over medium high heat until a candy thermometer reads 215F, gradually increasing the heat to high ( a very strong boil that won't stir down). Add the peaches and cook until thickened and the foam has cleared and the fruit starts sinking in the gel. About 25 minutes. If there is still a little foam, stir in a half teaspoon of butter to collect the foam and leave a very clear gel.

Ladle into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, wipe the rims and apply the lids and rings. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes, plus any extra needed for your elevation. This will keep on the shelf at least a year. After one year you'll start to lose color and some nutrition.

stringweaver - what's a 'non reactive pot' ? would a corning pot do? I gave away my canner, rack and food mill 30 some yrs ago... silly me...

i'll check out the 4 oz jars and measure their height - and that of my corning pot. I think the 4 oz will be fine for me.

non reactive is stainless steel, ceramic, non-stick or enamel. If you use bare aluminum or iron the food may pick up some metallic flavors and colors. My 4 oz quilted jelly jars from W are just under 2 1/2 inches tall.

I've used my non-stick wok, my stainless steel pressure cooker pan to cook the jam. Both work. I have a small 2.5 quart non stick lined iron casserole I use for half batches. The heavier pan, the less likely for scorching, but I stand by it and stir pretty constantly, especially during the last five or ten minutes. A deep pan is nice, the jam will spatter as it thickens. I had blackberry juice all over my stove and me (ouch) when I made a half batch in a too shallow pan.

btw, you can halve the recipes, but don't double, the cooking time will be off and it will cook the fruit too much.