What does 438 jars look like?

Not to toot my own horn! But....

I've had a busy summer, apparently I've been more busy than I thought. Here's the proof. I've canned over 438 jars of goodies this year.

Stored in front of this shelf to the right are my boxes for empty jars-- once they are full of empties they get stored with my empties elsewhere. I also have shown my basket for carrying things up and down the stairs that I will use when I do my canning.

Here they are! Well at least this is part of them.

These are full cases -- green chili -under the stockpot, applesauce, peaches in white grape juice, pancake syrup-apple maple, tomato soup in pints, and out of view to the left of the green chili is a stack of 2 cases of apple butter and a case of apricot pancake syrup.

And just a close up view of the metal shelving unit where I store my soups-out of view above these shelves, juices - for making jelly and syrup later, and peaches, apples and oddball items leftover from last year's canning that need to be used up soon.

And possibly the best part is-- it's ALL REAL FOOD! Most of it organic, or at least very little chemicals in the growing process, and all local. No additives, MSG, mystery "spice mixes", refined sugars, icky mystery starches, and convenient to boot!

This is all just part of what I do to save us money and ensure that our food is the highest quality possible! This year most of it's been done without any refined sugar or miniscule amounts. I hope to blog more about using pomona pectin, and avoiding refined sugars in canning in the future as I know there are lots of folks out there hoping to avoid or remove those things from their diet. You may be asking what can you can? Besides just jelly and jam-- well check this out. I made a list of what is in my "inventory" so you can see the variety. Things with low or no sugar are starred. Much of this was gleaned-- pears, plums, crabapples, billberries, apples, apricots, chokecherries- making it all that much more affordable!! I did buy a box of apricots, a box of pears and 2 boxes of peaches from a local grower- but the remainder is what I've gleaned or grew myself.

Home Canned since summer of 2010.
December 27, 2010

Jellies and Jams: (69 jelly)
6 jelly jars peach preserves
6 jelly jars orange jalapeno jelly
12 jelly jars apricot jam*
8 jelly jars chokecherry jam*
14 jelly jars apple pie jam*
11 jelly jars plum crabapple jam
6 jelly jars cranberry jam*
6 jelly jars sugar free strawberry jam*

Butters: (76 jelly) (3 pts)
6 jelly jars pear butter*
60 jelly jars and 3 pints apple butter*
10 jelly jars ginger plum butter *

Sauces: (49 jelly)
11 jelly jars asian plum sauce
18 jelly jars maple apple syrup*
21 jelly jars apricot syrup*

Other : (3 jelly) (110 pts) (16 qts)
3 pints pickled jalapenos*
4 pints of zuchinni corn salsa*
6 pints and 3 jelly jars peach salsa*
14 quarts and 8 pints chicken stock*
72 pints green chili smother*
17 pints and 2 quarts tomato soup*

Canned Fruits: (43 pts) (46 qts)
4 pints spirited apricots in amaretto
6 quarts sliced apples in juice*
9 pints pearsauce*
30 pints applesauce*
18 quarts canned pears in white grape juice*
22 quarts canned peaches in white grape juice *

Canned Juice: (2pts) (21 qts)**no sugar here-- I will use these to make syrups and jellies once I have available jars.
7 qts crabapple juice
2 qts and 1 pt bilberry juice
12 quarts and 1 pt. chokecherry juice


197 jelly jars, 158 pints, 83 quarts
438 jars total

This post is my contribution to Real Food Wednesdays which can be found here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/12/real-food-wednesday-122910.html