Canning

The last few days I have had my canners going. I got brave enough to try canning last year and I am hooked. This week I have canned pears, chicken, chuck roast, and pear jam. We get pears from Colorado. I don't care for pears in a can from the store. They seem to taste like metal. I canned some pears last year and yum! I use a light syrup so they are not too sweet.

When I thought of canned meat, I thought "Ewww, gross!" But after trying some, it is fantastic. It is so handy to have meat ready for a casserole or soup. Last year, I used the hot pack method on some chicken and pork. It was good, but really time consuming. This time I tried the raw pack method. Easy! I had a jar of chicken that didn't seal so I used it to make chicken fajitas. The chicken is so tender it falls apart. We also tried some of the chuck roast I canned. I used it to make some beefy noodles. It was really good also.

I have made sandhill plum jelly, grape jelly, pear jam, and apricot jam. If I am able to make jelly, I will never again buy it at the store. Homemade jelly and jam tastes like fruit! I have some strawberries in the freezer and can't wait to try some strawberry jam. I had a few pears left yesterday so I chopped them up and made a batch of jam. I added a little cinnamon and it turned out delicious.