Canning/bottling/preserving

I keep seeing FB posts about Canning (US) - what I would call bottling or preserving. There are racks and racks of jars containing items that I would never think of preserving like bread, potatoes, milk. They have 100s of jars of the same item. It would take me years to get through all the jars of food they store, if my consumption of homemade jam and pickles is anything to go by. 

 My Mum used to bottle a few jars of fruit a year but that was in the days before freezers. I hate wasting food but I can't help thinking that, if they need to bottle so much they are growing or buying too much in the first place.

What am I missing?

Yeah I also have joined (& left) several US based canning & preserving groups.
Some of it I understand. The fresh items that are difficult to store any other way.
What I found most mind blowing. Was how many people bulk bought tinned food so they could empty the things out of the tins. And put them into glass jars using the “canning “ process! ……………………………………………. Is it just me!!

Is that not a complete waste of ****** time, energy, money.

Leaving the food in the tin, it was brought in. Would do exactly the same job. Wouldn’t it????

First time I saw a post like that, I just giggled to myself and thought idiot. After seeing how many people in the comments were doing exactly the same thing. I ran away, left the groups and hid my sanity from the world   .



I think you will find I do it very well   .

What utter madness SC. I wonder if it's a US form of p*ssing contest 'I've got more preserves on display than you'.
Back in the day, way back when I was child free, I used to bottle stewed apple for P and his puddings. Our previous house had one very productive Bramley tree, not like the one here. We only had a small freezer but we did have loads of storage space, so the kilner jars were the answer.

I can't be bothered with the US canning with big saucepans of water etc.

The best crops are those that will keep without preserving - potatoes, onions, garlic, dried beans and peas and winter squash.

Next are those that freeze easily, peas, french beans and soft fruit.

After that preserves, jams and pickles but I don't eat too much of those.

The only vegetable I put in jars is tomatoes. The flavour is far superior to tin tomatoes and I haven't bought a tin of tomatoes now for years.

The best crops are those that will keep without preserving - potatoes, onions, garlic, dried beans and peas and winter squash.

Next are those that freeze easily, peas, french beans and soft fruit.

After that preserves, jams and pickles but I don't eat too much of those.

The only vegetable I put in jars is tomatoes. The flavour is far superior to tin tomatoes and I haven't bought a tin of tomatoes now for years.

That's an idea, Mark,  I freeze surplus tomatoes either roasted or pureéd but never thought of bottling them. I'll have to Google the process. Any useful tips Mark?

Some Americans seem to stockpile for Armageddon! I do like their straight sided Mason jars though. I tend to use recycled jars (jam or otherwise) which all have 'shoulders' where air bubbles can get trapped when filling, and from where it is so hard to extract that last bit of jam/pickle/preserve.

It's hard to find those giant pressure canners that they use over there, too. I would like to preserve tomatoes in jars because the freezer can only take so many takeaway containers.

It's hard to find those giant pressure canners that they use over there, too. I would like to preserve tomatoes in jars because the freezer can only take so many takeaway containers.

Saw this video on one of the canning sites where the man was saying that you don't need a pressure canner for tomatoes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmv_Z8IkGpo. UPDATED at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8rbp95xy24

Sounds doable to me, roll on next season. By then I might have sourced some big jars.

I've built up a stock of 49 kilner jars. The hardest part for me is removing the skins as Chris doesn't like then in cooking. but apart from that, I just heat them up to 99C in a big pan on the stove, about 6kg at a time. I generally add a dash of lemon juice to slightly increase the acidity and then put into hot 1L jars. I warm the jars up same as for jam, I have one full of water about 60C probably which I empty into a cold one when it has had a minute to warm up then fill it with boiling water. I warm up subsequent jars using these 2.