Saving the crops by jaring them

Does anyone have any information on how to save vegetable crops by jaring them. I have too many tomatoes, green beans, peppers, corn, squash, cukes and more

I'm doing that right this minute! processing elderberry juice. I rely a lot of a booklet put out by the Ball company that makes canning jars. It has lots of recipies and step by step how-to pictures. If your county has an extension office they can provide you with information, some of it free, some for a small price. The extension office is connected to your state university which is or was originally agriculture based. Some things are better frozen than canned, and some you just have to eat fresh, cucumbers being one of those unless you make pickles. Older ladies in your community can help a lot because they have done this for years, probably most of their lives. I wish you lived close to me because I would take you under my wing and you could help me and I could help you learn how to do this stuff. Once you have the basics down you just do variations so it is not really difficult. Check out the Canning and Freezing fourm here on Davesgarden, you can ask questions and get answers there.

Thank you very much Mary. I got some information and I am pleased with the "Ball Jar" information that you pointed out to me. It is not as hard as I thought it would be. A bit time consuming but being an ameture at jarring I guess it is expected. I had to run out several times for more jars as it was hard to determine how many I needed. The initial investment will pay for itself in years to come I'm sure. Next year I'm going to try jelly and jams, luckily I gave away most of my friuts to neighbors, friends and the needy as I just was not prepared to do everything all at once. The jared vegetables will make some nice meals over the winter and spring months. I did freeze some but not all as I realized I really will need a stand alone freezer apposed to my regular kitchen fridge, but again my neighbors and friends and the needy were all very happy with my givings.

This message was edited Oct 10, 2004 7:07 AM

This message was edited Oct 10, 2004 7:07 AM

I'm glad you are enjoying getting into canning. Look for jars at garage sales and thrift stores, just be sure the rim doesn't have a chip or crack in it that would prevent the jar from sealing. Now that you know how much the new ones cost you will have an idea of how much you can save. Many of my jars came from a lady who was in her late 80's and decided she needed to put things up in pints since her husband had passed away, so she sold me all her quart jars for $1 a dozen. That was many years ago and it sure helped me get started. This year I have almost run out of jars to put things in.