Father's Day 2012

Well, another Father's day has come and gone. As it falls near my June 9th birthday I usually get a combined gift, and, most times since my girls have a difficult time figuring out what I want they just give me a gift certificate, which is fine! I used my combined certificates to get a load bearing vest with a hydration bladder to go in my survival gear.

I got to spend Father's day canning with my oldest daughter. I like to cook but had never done canning before. Canning is the process of preparing foods for long term storage by boiling them to death. First you prepare what it is you want to can, it should meet certain requirements to be either water bath canned (the easiest) or pressure canned (the hardest). We just did water bath canning. First you prepare the food you want to preserve, such as fruit preserves, vegetables, etc. usually this involves some type of heating for a specific period of time, for example, for the green beans we used for Dillibeans you steamed them for 3 minutes.  You then prepare the brine solution, usually a combination of water, white vinegar and spices (which of course you boil).

Then you boil the jars and lids to sterilize them. You then add the prepared vegetables or fruit to the jar, pour in the brine, a bit of canning salt and crisper, and any additional seasoning, for example the dillibeans had some dill and a clove or two of garlic in each jar. The you seal the jars and pop them into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes or so. The boiling water sterilizes the contents of the jars and forces a bit of the air out by heating it, then when you remove the jars from the bath and they cool, the contraction of the contents and whatever air is left pulls the lid to the jar down tight, sealing it in a germ, mold and bug free environment until you open them.

The Wasabeans (which used Wasabe and red pepper for spaces) and dillibeans described above will be ready in about 2 weeks, I can't wait! I am enjoying the various Strawberry jam, butter and other sweet things right now. All in all a very enjoyable day with my daughter.