Canned beans and pickles
It has been a busy weekend! In addition to the spiced plum jam I made on Saturday, I took on two more canning projects this weekend: beans and cucumbers. Everything in the garden seems to be maturing (and require attention) at once. The beans in particular have been producing a lot lately. This morning I picked Santa Ana, Spanish Musica, and Maxibel beans and decided to can them instead of freezing them. This meant that I had to use the pressure canner for the first time. A few weeks ago, I ordered the All-American 21-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner. This is a giant beast of a contraption, but it should last forever. After reading all the directions, and many dire warnings about all the things that could go wrong, I managed to successfully can the beans without blowing up the house. In fact, it wasn’t that hard.
I finished up by making the Grandma Dill Pickles in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preservation book. This book is really helpful because it contains both detailed canning instructions as well as recipes. In addition to the pressure canner, the Ball water bath canner is new to me this year. I’m really getting the hang of using it. And speaking of canning equipment, Amazon has set up a canning store. If you are thinking of giving canning a try, they have pretty much everything you could need plus a lot of good, basic canning information.
Sandy
The 10 Year Challenge 
I was just looking that dill pickle recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Canning last night! I dog eared the page because I was planning to give it a try later when my pickling cukes are producing (after I get enough to do our favorite dill pickle relish first!).
The All-American pressure canner is considered to be the best there is. I am sure it will give you years of really good service. And now you have gotten through your maiden voyage with it – there will be no stopping you now! The pressure canner opens up so many opportunities that you cannot safely do with a water bath canner. Lots of fun and leads to some good winter eating.
I’ve still got the dill relish on my to-do list! The cucumbers in the green house are going gangbusters.
We used the last jar of the relish up the other day and are going into withdrawals. My pickling cukes are taking their time this year and we need them to hurry up pronto!
Just a thought that is probably to late now – I made all my relish this year from zucchini which I had no shortage of. It came out great since relish doesn’t have to be crisp and was a great use of something I generally can’t give away in the heat of summer.
Congrats on your canner! I got one this summer too. Now I need to get a good canning book…