Put Up, Or Shut Up!

Don't mind if I do, thank you very much!

I am going to be so bold and say I am a canner. I decided this about 3 weeks ago on a recent trip to Meijer's with my mama and stumbled upon the aisle with all of the Ball Brand canning and preserving materials.  Anytime I've been out shopping and have seen preserving materials, I've always been drawn to the concept.  I love, love, love to cook and the thought of being able to even further control what I put in my body by "putting up" (i.e. preserving food) ingredients I've prepared in my own kitchen, is a win-win.  I heart tradition, and the thought of creating a new tradition within my family, makes this new adventure all the more appealing.

So, getting back to the story...I'm at Meijer and decide I'm going to go into it full throttle.  Allow me to mention that canning supplies are not cheap.  Purchasing all the supplies is definitely an investment, and the way I looked at it, would pay for itself over the years (at least that's what I told myself).  I've decided to hold off on purchasing the steam pressure canner, which will set me back $300 smackers, so that means I will be limited to preserving high acid foods.  So, it's water bath canning for me until then, and mostly means I will be gifting you all homemade fruits and jams.

After reading and re-reading my dog-eared copy of the Blue Book Guide to Preserving, I felt I was ready to begin:

I decided on two recipes to begin my canning adventure, and tonight it began with a recipe for Lemon Curd that I found here.  I love this blog and cannot recommend it enough to anyone who is even remotely interested in this amazing art.  Anyhooter, I digress...so I got all my loot in order, sterilized my jars and got to work on prepping my ingredients:

From start to finish, it probs took over 2 hours (not including the first batch of egg yolks and sugar that I scorched...oops).  Finally, the time arrived where I was to drop my golden goodness in the water bath to be processed and sealed:

Once the little buggers were snug in their water bath, they processed for 20 minutes:

After all was said and done, my jars came out, not only perfectly processed, but with perfectly formed seals. Done & Done!:

I can't wait until tomorrow, when the plan is to put up 4 half pints of sour cherry preserves for my deeder.  My pal Kris is the lucky recipient of this here lemon curd (guniea pig, anyone?) and I can't wait to bring it on Sunday for the BBQ...after all, that's the main dish.  Right, Kris?