Canning or Putting Up Preserves

Either way we did it and it was a BLAST! Mom, my cousin Sheila and I decided we were going to put up preserves this past weekend. We did strawberry and blackberry and they are fabulous! Here are some pictures of the event.

You first have to chop up or mash the berries. I'm not a fan of blackberry seeds so we mashed the heck out of them. Some of the kids in the neighborhood stopped by and gave a try at it. Chandler was awesome!


Next you cook the berries with a tad bit of sugar ok 7 cups of sugar. I know you can use Splenda but I loathe that stuff. Add some lemon juice and pectin and cook away!
While it's cooking you need to heat up your jars.

Then it's time to our the jam into the jars and then place them back in the boiling water for the sealing process. Once they are done you can set them out on a dish towel to cool down and leave them undisturbed for 24 hours. You know your done when you start to hear the jars popping. That's the little seal actually locking in place. I loved that sound! SUCCESS!

These are strawberry. Don't you just LOVE the little jars. I'm giving them as Christmas gifts this year! Even Baby B had a great time. He was exhausted by the end of the day!
If you have even the smallest of desires to can I say go for it! It's so fun and easy. Here's a website that sparked my attention. It's Pioneer Woman and let me just say I LOVE this blog!

Have a great day!