Hitting a wall with gift giving ideas? Everyone loves delicious homemade goodies! Marisa McClellan’s canning classes welcome you to the wonderful world of preserving. She’s the brainchild behind Fork You, which used to host those free cooking shows at Foster’s. Since then, Marisa’s been whipping up some awesome recipes, that she shares with us through her website, Food In Jars, and I hear she’s also writing a book soon! So stay tuned. In the meantime, check out this great recipe for Apple Cranberry Jam, and keep an eye for upcoming classes in 2011. If you act quickly, you might be able to get in on one this Saturday, December 4th, featuring Apple-Pear Chutney. Now, we know all know this method of preserving scares some of you to death. Maybe it’s something your grandma used to do, but you’d rather leave it to her. Either that, or you’re just afraid you might kill someone if your product isn’t cooked or sealed properly. However, one class with Marisa will leave you feeling like a pro, with the right set of knowledge and tools. We assure you, it really is no sweat… except for the slaving over the stove part.

There’s a few tricks we learned that, if you’re a beginner, will probably be helpful to know.

Tip #1 You can buy canning supplies at a bunch of different places, like 20th Street Hardware and Target, but what seems the most affordable to us is to order them from Ace Hardware (they’ll ship it to a store near you for free) and pick it up a few days later.
Tip#2 Set your glass jars (with no lids) on the tray inside your pot of boiling water. You can leave them in there for the entire time your boiling down your product. You’ll want to put your warm fruits or veggies into warm jars, so the glass doesn’t shatter. Also, be careful if you have a stone or granite counter top (put a towel down, if you do).
Tip #3 You’ll want to dip the lids (the piece with the colored rim) into the boiling water for a few seconds/minutes to allow the rim to become gummy. This will help form a proper seal.
Tip #4 If your vaccum seal doesn’t work the first time you can try a second time with the same lid, but it’s not recommended after that.
Tip #5 Most of the time you don’t need to worry about having extremely high temperatures, nor having a pressure canner. Acidic fruits become sterile around 212 degrees Fahrenheit (typical boiling temperature). Less acidic produce, like plums or pumpkins, which have a pH from about 4.5 – 5.5, will be guaranteed sterile at 240 degrees, which you can do easily in a pressure canner. Apples have a pH of about 3.5 and cranberries have a PH of about 2.5, which means higher acidity. Remember, the lower the pH, the higher the acidity. Anything with a PH less than 4.6 is considered safe for canning. If your unsure of the acidity of the product you’re trying to can, just look up the PH of your fruits or vegetables before you start! Also, adding lemon juice helps to add acidity to your concoctions as well.
Tip #6 In some cases when making jellies & jams, you don’t need to introduce any additional pectin into your mix, because certain fruits and veggies are already naturally high in pectin. These cranberries and apples for instance, only need to be heated to 200 degrees, and they’ll set up naturally.
Tip#7 If your going to make a big batch of jarred goodness, pick up entire crates of fruit from farmers markets to get real bang for your buck!
Tip#8 You can keep most of your food in jars and cans for up to a year!

Godspeed domestic adventurers!