Ok.  The honeymoon is over.  I'm so tired of canning, making lists of how much of everything I've canned and frozen, sterilizing jars and chopping veggies and/or fruit.  Tomorrow is my last day.   It will be the last time I see the canner for another 9 months.  We need a break from each other.  You know how it gets when you've been with each other just a little too long and the slightest thing can just set you off, right?  So, right now it's pissing me off that it's blue, that it takes 20 minutes to get to boiling and that it can't self regulate. Look, I know that it's just a pot.  I know that my expectations are way too high.  I know that it probably didn't choose it's colour.  But it's still pissing me off.

The Blue Canner

My food mill and I have had it with each other too.  I've got this small/normal hand crank food mill.  It works great for small jobs but when you are putting an entire bushel of tomatoes through that thing to make sauce... well, the food mill and I need a little break from each other too.  So after today it's going away for a little while.  We'll get a breather and it will be good.  These things happen all the time in relationships, it's normal.  I need a break from you for a little while and when I come back we'll be all the better for it 'cause I still love you no matter.
I think that it's important now, at the tail end of my canning adventure, that I submit to you all my insights on the experience:
1.  You have to be willing to put out money up front.  Jars are not cheap (you might get lucky though - garage sales, craigslist, that kind of thing - if you see 'em grab 'em).  The veggies and fruit aren't cheap either when you are buying them in bulk.  You just tell yourself that it's going to pay off down the road... fresher, fewer chems and you can eat that stuff in favour of buying something else at the store.
2.  Doing this really only makes sense if you are using local fruit and vegetables.  If I were buying strawberries in January from wherever and I was cool with that, then why would the hell would I ever put the money and/or time into canning and freezing local fruit in season.
3.  I totally understand why people do this in groups.  Understand, it's not difficult it's just... well, tedious AND LONG when you are doing it all by yourself.  It would be cool to have a few people doing it with me (that aren't 10 years old, but many thanks to Kid #1 for all her help) and maybe an extra person to keep us supplied with drinks and lunch.
4.  It is, despite my protestations above, very rewarding.  I feel proud of myself.  There it is.



So, since I've started making my own yogurt I've also decided that I need to have fruit stuff to have the yogurt with.  What a fantastic way to use up all the preserves and peaches and cherries and PEARS.  I've never done pears before (I've also never done most of the jams, cherries and tomatoes that I did this year either so this could all turn out to be a really really bad experiment) and I have to tell you that they smell beautiful when you are cooking them.  You should invite someone over just to enjoy the smell with you.  Seriously.  Also, if I were to make them again (and I think that I will - see, I'm not totally off doing it), I would booze them up a bit or at least some of them.  I would use a nice rum - you know, the stuff that has a lovely woody, vanilla scent - or a little bourbon.  Just sayin'.
I quartered my fruit 'cause I like it big and chunky but you could just as easily chop or slice the pears.
So quite honestly, what's keeping me going right now is the thought that we are really going to appreciate all of this in the dead of winter.  I'll keep you all posted on that one.


Canned Pears (I kinda got this from all over the place and just made it up when I actually got to doing it)
makes anywhere from 4 - 10 1litre jars but I got 11 jars out of the quantity below

70 - 75 bartlett pears, quartered, de-seeded and de-stemmed
6 cups sugar
3 cups brown sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
3 vanilla pods (used ones are fine here)
1/2 cup or so fresh lemon juice


1.  Divide the pears into 3 large pots (if you have one huge one then go for it in one pot) and add water just until the pears are covered.  Add both the sugars (2 cups sugar and 1 cup brown if divided into 3 pots), the cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods.
2.  Bring to a boil and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes.
3.  Turn off the heat and let the pears rest in the liquid 12 - 24 hours.
4.  Pack the pears (NOT the syrup) into 1 litre jars (Jars should be sterilized but to be honest I've been known to skip this step - huge gasp)
5.  Once the pears are packed then reheat the syrup until it's boiling.  If you wish you could boil it down a bit but I didn't do that.  Add in the lemon juice and add a little more sugar if needed.
6.  Pour the hot syrup into each jar of pears until the pears are just covered with the syrup.  Seal with a canning lid.  Place in a hot water bath for about 13 minutes.  Remove from the water bath and check the lids that might need tightening.  Place the hot jars on a clean cloth and cover completely with a clean towel.
7.  Let cool overnight, check that the lids are solid and have caved in just a bit (they shouldn't make a clicking sound when you push on them).  Store in a cool dry spot.  These will keep a good long time.
Serve with ice cream, use in cakes or pies, serve with homemade yogurt in January and think about all your hard work.