Canning Crazy

Our garden is in full swing right now so I've taken up a new hobby: canning. Last year instead of canning our garden bounty I thought I would just freeze it. I've discovered our freezer is like Las Vegas, though, because I've discovered that vegetables that go into the freezer, stay in the freezer (all year long). I still have a few bags of tomatoes and green beans and even a little zucchini lingering in the dark deep bottom of the deep freeze. So this year, to make amends, I've decided to can the produce that we can't eat. I started with our cucumbers and made some pretty delicious sweet relish (and I don't even like sweet relish!). Then I made some pickles using one of those flavor packets from the grocery store. Then last week I had a big relish day and canned some more sweet relish and a few jars of dill relish. The only unfortunate thing about relish is that it's very time consuming and you don't end up with a whole lot of jars. So last week it took me, literally, all day to make and can eight jars of relish.

Yesterday I decided to try and do something with all the jalapenos that have begun to weigh down my plants. I didn't want to pick them until I actually had time to can them. Last year I made jelly out of the peppers we grew. I thought the peppers last year were spicy, but this year's jalapenos definitely have more kick!! Just cutting them up and seeding them I thought I was going to die!! The fumes made me cough and have to leave the room just so I could breathe!! I also wore gloves because I've learned from too many past experiences that not wearing them is just plain dumb. I think I used about a pound and a half or two in the jelly, and I've probably got another picked pound of peppers left (say that five times fast!) so some more canning will have to happen and soon!

This is an attempt to take a "pretty" picture of my canning efforts. (Sorry it failed!) The jar on the right is the sweet relish, the one in the middle is jalapeno jelly, and the one on the left is dill relish.

This is how much jalapeno jelly I made yesterday. You think it's enough?

A close up picture of the jelly (I know you were just dying to know what it looked like close up!!!) Oh, if you didn't know, jalapeno jelly is not really fruit jelly like strawberry jelly or grape jelly. I pour it over a block of cream cheese and eat it with crackers. It's actually pretty sweet with a serious spice kick!!