Crazy Canning Lady 2013 (and some useful links)

My most-used hashtag lately has been #crazycanninglady. What you see above is what I made from 100+ pounds of tomatoes over labor day weekend: 38 pints of salsa; 8 quarts, 5 24 oz jars, and 4 pints of crushed tomatoes; 5 pints of thin tomato sauce; and 12 pints of tomato juice that I squeeze out of the seeds and peels at the end of the weekend. I bought 4 cases of seconds (the less-than-perfect tomatoes that go for cheap and are just fine for canning) for a mere $12 per case, and then because I'm a nutter I bought another box the following weekend used the whole box to make another 7 pints of thick tomato sauce.

In the last month I've also made kosher style dill pickles, tomatillo salsa verde, dilly beans, stone fruit + blackberry jam, mixed berry jam, and Asian style plum sauce. I've got tomatoes at home destined for tomato jam tomorrow night, and we're going apple picking this weekend which will inevitably lead to overbuying, so I'm guessing there's apple jelly in my future. (Thanks for the idea, Mom! I bought a jelly strainer the other day!)

If you want to be a crazy canning lady like me, here are some extremely useful links about how to do it safely:

Understanding Acid and pH in Boiling Water Bath Canning from Food in Jars.

How Not to Die from Botulism from Northwest Edible Life

Canning Q&A: The Difference Between Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Preserves from Food Fanatic

Canning Q&A: Differences Between Jam vs. Jelly, Marmalade and Preserves - See more at: http://www.foodfanatic.com/2013/05/canning-q-and-a-differences-between-jam-vs-jelly-marmalade-and-p/#sthash.ZaewyQv7.dpuf

Canning Q&A: Differences Between Jam vs. Jelly, Marmalade and Preserves - See more at: http://www.foodfanatic.com/2013/05/canning-q-and-a-differences-between-jam-vs-jelly-marmalade-and-p/#sthash.ZaewyQv7.dpuf