[windcliff]

Thanks for sharing. I think I’ll read more about the subject.

[Iron Munro]

Thanks for sharing. I think I’ll read more about the subject.

You can get started very inexpensively doing tomatoes and some other things in a boiling water bath. Al it takes are some canning jars and a large pot.

Modern canning jars are just about foolproof if you follow simple instructions.

Then you can move up to a pressure canner.

It all seems more complicated then it is.

A widely used book that will help you get started is the Ball Blue Book.
You can buy a used copy for as little as $1.00 in many places.

Here is one place: http://tinyurl.com/Get-A-Ball-Blue-Book

Good luck.

[ansel12]

If you like pickled eggs, can some of them.

My first canning exercise was canning pickled eggs, when all I had was a double hot plate and a hose bibb for water.

[bgill]

NEVER use an old canning book because there have been serious updated rules. Check the USDA site for the latest rules. The Ball Blue Book still has some questionable recipes. Whenever you combine two or more vegetables, meats and or fruits in a jar, ALWAYS process it for the ingredient which takes the longest time. Don't use canning recipes from the web if you're new to canning because they may have unsafe timings and have skipped important steps. About those steps, it's important to understand the WHY in them - timing, food density, headspace, multiple foods in a jar, etc.

Not to scare you off, but canning has rules for a reason.

[metmom]

If you need any advice on canning, let me know, too. Been doing it here for over 40 years.

And IM is right. Pressure canning is not as complicated as it seems. It’s more intimidating than anything at first. I had to teach myself, but I’m at the point now where I know the procedure for both hot water bath and pressure canning so well that all I need to check now if the processing times and that’s just more for verifying them. I’m usually right about what I recall them to be but I always like to make sure on that.