Tres chic: Tomato Canning

By Sarah

I got married three years ago yesterday (happy anniversary, Chris! I hope you like the wallet!) and during all the wedding planning brouhaha, I went back and forth with what to do for centerpieces. I'm not much of a "cares about centerpieces" kind of person, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that was just going to get thrown away afterwards, but of course, you can't not have centerpieces, right?

In a moment of magnificent foresight, I decided that mason jars with candles inside were the way to go. "Fantastic!" Chris said. "Mason jars are cheap and they sell them right in the grocery store!" Well. Not in San Diego ca. 2008 they don't.

We scoured every grocery store and Target in a 10-mile radius to no avail. Not only did they not stock one single mason jar, but they'd also never heard of canning. We finally ended up at Michael's, where we found mason jars, but not in a 12-pack box. Two trips to Michael's later and we were finally stocked. (But don't get me started on finding inexpensive, white, unscented candles. That's like the holy grail.)

Now, as you might have noticed, mason jars have become in vogue in a serious way. Everywhere you look people are using mason jars for everything under the sun. In fact, our sister site Style Lush even showed different ways you can use mason jars. (Ahem, I'll be waiting for my royalties check, Mr. Mason.)

Needless to say, mason jars are easy to come by now, which is great, as I have tomatoes that are finally coming in and I need something to do with them. I'm not sure I'll have enough this season for tomato sauce, but I definitely see some jars of salsa in my future.

Have you ever canned? Any words of wisdom you can impart?

{Photo credit: Me and my trusty iPhone and Instagram}

Comments

[Rebecca (Bearca)]

I just tried canning this weekend during my initial foray into apple butter. It was not difficult and I totally want to do it again! You just need a pot big enough to hold and cover all your mason jars for the processing (i.e. boiling water bath at the end).

I talk as if I'm some sort of expert. I AM NOT. I have done this exactly once, but it was a lot easier than I thought.

[Marie Green]

The one tip I have about canning salsa- make sure you follow a salsa recipe that is specific for canning as it's important that your salsa have a certain level of acidity. If it doesn't you could get sick.

Also, we use mason jars for drinking (and jelly jars as juice glasses.)

[Elsha]

I haven't canned, but my mom always did growing up. Here's what I remember: canning tomato sauce takes like a gazillion tomatoes and the whole house smells FOR DAYS. Canning whole tomatoes is not nearly that bad. Pretty sure you need a pressure canner for either of those though.

[JuegosBarbie]

This page was helpful. I actually really loved reading it.

It makes me want to be portray a few more games than I usually might which isn't the best productive thing I have ever done but regardless thanks!