This past weekend, I taught the first part of a two part canning class. The students were great, very enthusiastic and asked lots of very good questions. The first session was on boiling water canning and this weekend we’ll be doing pressure canning. We canned whole cherries in an extra light sugar syrup this past weekend. One of the students asked how I’d use the cherries.
It was an interesting question on a few levels and reminded me that not everyone has experience with cooking from scratch or more specifically experience with cooking from a pantry. It’s something I’ll be sure to cover a bit more in-depth this next weekend as the jars are processing. I get searches daily here at Two Frog Home on home canning and food preservation and figured it might be a good topic to cover here and get feedback from all of you canners in my virtual community as well.
I use my home-canned items pretty much in the same way I would use those same items if they were fresh.
- Fruits are generally eaten with lunches drained of the syrup or used in muffins, cakes, pies, etc. Good fresh fruit is near impossible to come by during a Montana winter and is usually outrageously expensive. I got in the habit years ago to have some fruit with lunch everyday and in the winter that means home-canned fruits.
- Vegetables are again, used as I would use fresh veggies. I use them in soups, stews, stir-frys, casseroles, as side dishes, etc. For soup, I just pop open a jar and dump the entire contents into the soup pot. You get the additional nutrition and flavor from the water used to can the veggies. I lightly salt anything I can so as to not overpower any recipe later on. A good supply of canned tomatoes is a recipe just waiting to happen in our house and in most houses I’m willing to bet.
- I can meats and stocks in forms that I’ll use most often. I can soups ready to reheat and eat for a quick night meal. I open cans of stock to use for everything from cooking rice to making soup. I save any that might be leftover in the refrigerator for later use.
Part of having a home-canned pantry for me includes having a well stocked store bought pantry as well. I don’t grow my own grains and most likely never will so I make sure to keep things like rice, millet, wheat berries, pastas, bulgur, etc. on hand for meal preparation. A well stocked spice rack will help make any meal of dried beans (or home-canned beans) and rice something more memorable and satisfying. Being an avid baker, I keep all those baking supplies on hand: chocolate chips, various flours, sugars, baking powder, honey, etc. Obviously, a pantry needs to be built around what a family likes and dislikes. There’s no point in stocking anchoives for instance if no one in your house is going to eat them.
We don’t eat much in the way of “fancy” food here, either. We want plain, simple, nutritous food that feeds our bodies. We like that and thinking in those terms keeps me from running to the grocery store to pick up some exotic item for a recipe every other day. I do that on occasion, don’t get me wrong, but most of the time I make do with simple whole food ingredients that are easy for me to stock. How do you use your pantry? Did I miss something significant?
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My pantry is just getting started. Right now it has a few jars of ham stew and some blueberry jam. Tomorrow (if it isn’t raining anymore) it’ll have some spaghetti sauce.
What do you consider “the essentials” of a pantry? What would you recommend those of us just starting out prioritize on our list o’ things to can?
good question Howling – what is considered an essential. My pantry is just starting; last nite I pressure canned 12 quarts of blue lake beans. Quite an experience and I am hoping I got it right.
If it does not rain tonite, my girls and I will go pick some red raspberries to make some preserves tomorrow eve. =) I hope anyway.
good question Howling – what is considered an essential. My pantry is just starting; last nite I pressure canned 12 quarts of blue lake beans. Quite an experience and I am hoping I got it right.
If it does not rain tonite, my girls and I will go pick some red raspberries to make some preserves tomorrow eve. =) I hope anyway.
Stocking a pantry is so very individual and really has to be based on what you and your family eat. For Jeff & I, the things that are must haves include:
A variety of canned fruit (cherries, peaches, pears, etc.)
Applesauce and lots of it (we eat it and use it in baking)
Salsa
Pizza Sauce
Tomatoes (whole, crushed, juiced, etc.) – I use a lot of tomatoes
Veggies in every variety we can find
Stocks (we eat a ton of soup around here in the winter and I need a lot of chicken and beef stock)
Pickles – Jeff likes, I don’t so 10 jars seems to be enough with a few for gifts as well.
Jams/Jellies/Butters – We don’t eat a ton of these but I make a few varieties each year for the occasional urge and for gifts.
I also can dried beans because its more convenient for me than having to remember and soak beans for meals. I try to keep a couple jars of stews and soups on hand for quick meals too.
This list only covers what I home can, not what I keep from the store or co-op purchases (grains, etc.) I don’t dehydrate currently but next year I’ll be changing that to dehydrate onions, peppers, etc.
Is that helpful?
I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy reading your blog. I’m more of a gawker and not usually a commenter, but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your posts and enjoy seeing pics and hearing news from your part of the state. Although we currently live in Ohio, my husband is from Whitefish, so we try to make it back there often (having a 2-year-old does make it a bit more difficult), and reading your blog eases the homesickness a bit for him!
Thanks again!
Growing up we always ate canned fruit as a side at dinner and anytime I’ve gone abroad, fruit has been the typical dessert after dinner. So the two have been carried on in my own independent life. I have learned though that I enjoy having some sort of fruit for breakfast, so at times will use canned fruit for that.
That being said, my pantry usually has canned peaches, cherries, and applesauce. Canned beans, green beans, tomatoes, and soups. Canned olives and cranberry sauce.
Things like peas, corn, spinach, and berries I prefer frozen however.
I haven’t started home-canning yet, but I appreciate this post as I could see myself canning things and wondering how to use them.
Your pantry sounds like mine, I shoot for at least 50 quarts of each fruit I can get my hands on.
One thing I haven’t canned is roasted nuts. My girlfriend does this and we trade – fruit for nuts. She roasts them and then cans them. They keep very well without getting rancid, and I don’t have to use up freezer space.
Great post Kathie.
Melissa – Thank you so much for the kind words and comment. I live just 15 minutes from Whitefish
Simply – I like my berries frozen too, and honestly I can only eat spinach when its fresh and raw. I’m not sure why that is…
Monica – Good luck on the home-canning, its so very rewarding! If you run into questions, please feel free to ask me and if I don’t know, there are plenty of canners I’ve gotten to know through this blog, certainly someone will know.
Nita – I haven’t canned roasted nuts either, in fact I don’t know anyone who does, I’ll have to look into it. Its something we don’t eat a ton of currently, but I do usually have some in the freezer. I’m doing some research on the best kind of tree nuts to grow here in NW Montana, I’d like to add a tree or two.
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