My first ever canning extravaganza!

My mom and grandma used to can all the time when we were little. Peaches and grape juice and tomato juice and pears and chili sauce. It took forever. I still remember my mom burning her hands when the clamp came off the grape juice! Canning is a dangerous business! :) But ever since I started working fruit, I've wanted to learn how. My sister is fast becoming the canner of the family so I'm taking tips from her and did my first EVER batch of Grandma's chili sauce. Talk about intimidation by food! Its a recipe not a peace treaty, for heaven's sake. And on top of that, I'm a home ec teacher! How scary could this be?!
First I started with my favorite tomatoes from the market. They're an heirloom tomato called Brandywine. I fell in love with them last summer. An heirloom means the seeds are original- they haven't been genetically engineered or mixed to become a hybrid of somesort. The skin is thinner and they are sweeter. They go soft much faster so you have to be ready to use them when you find them.

Along with my tomatoes, I picked up some fresh green bell peppers and onions. Can't beat the freshest stuff out there!

Then I cooked and boiled it down for about 3 hours. I could have done pints but the half size jars seemed perfect for me. And it made 12 perfect jars!

So there they are- currently sitting on my counter downstairs waiting to pop. And I only had to call my mom once and text my sister twice!

My next project will be peaches. I wish I could say when that will be but sometime in the next month is the closest I can get to a date. I'm just waiting for the Angeles peaches. They are soooo good.

I have to also say- when mom asked if anyone wanted her canning supplies out of the basement when we sold the house, I should have said yes. I debated and then thought- what the heck am I going to do with that?! That was Grandma seeing if I was paying attention- once again, I wasn't!